James Mangold, director of films like Logan, Ford v Ferrari, and Walk the Line, on the MCU-ification of most of big cinema in an interview with Rolling Stone:

It’s weird that I’ve even worked in the world of IP entertainment because I don’t like multi-movie universe-building. I think it’s the enemy of storytelling. The death of storytelling. It’s more interesting to people the way the Legos connect than the way the story works in front of us.

Preach! I think the MCU was novel and fun for a while, but it’s exhausting at this point, and doubly so when everyone seems to want to do it. I just can’t deal with anyone else telling me that I can’t really enjoy or appreciate a movie if I haven’t also watched 100+ episodes of a TV show or several other movies in the same cinematic universe. In my opinion, good stories should stand on their own. They can be enhanced by knowing more about previous stories as well, but a good story stands on its own as well.