Captain America: Brave New World Captain America: Brave New World

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Now Playing: Captain America: Brave New World

Sam Wilson is Captain America 

Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America in Marvel Studios' CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo by Eli Adé. © 2024 MARVEL.

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This article is mostly spoiler-free but let this serve as a spoiler warning should you want to go into the film completely blind.

For a hero who takes to the skies, this film felt pretty grounded. Well, as grounded as you can be following cosmic, galactic, and multiversal events. Captain America: Brave New World keeps the focus on Sam Wilson and it’s all the better for it. 

In the “Before You Watch” we published earlier, there was one movie we missed – The Incredible Hulk. It’s the often forgotten movie that’s actually canon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU. There are key events in that film that informs a large part of Brave New World’s story. 

You already know Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross will turn into the Red Hulk as shown in the many marketing materials shown prior to the film’s premiere. Some things that occurred in that film have direct links to Thunderbolt Ross’s motivations and decisions in Brave New World.  

Red Hulk/President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.

Ross and Sam Wilson’s Captain America drive the majority of the film. It is their actions, decisions, and how consequences arise from them that move the plot of the film forward. 

A Captain America film

(L-R) Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), Joaquin Torres/The Falcon (Danny Ramirez) and Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.

Brave New World follows the general DNA of the Captain America films in the MCU. The stakes are high but most of the action and events are relatively grounded. 

As revealed in the trailers, the film finally addresses the emergence of the Celestial in the Indian Ocean. But if you’re looking to learn more about the Celestial, this film doesn’t exactly say much about it. 

The film does introduce a key element – Adamantium – that can be mined from the Celestial’s body. Adamantium is famously the metal that X-Men’s Wolverine was infused with when he was being experimented on. 

The USA as well as France, India, and Japan are key nations involved in an effort to mine and distribute Adamantium across the world. The involvement of Japan is particularly interesting as many of Wolverine’s stories find him in that part of the world. Don’t hold your breath on any Wolverine references though. 

Much of the film feels like the action-spy-thriller films that the rest of the Captain America films have felt like. The hand-to-hand combat action is an absolute treat. And the political machinations in the plot aren’t heavy-handed. But they make sense for the story that Brave New World is trying to tell.

The antagonistic elements naturally influence the plot. They’re interesting characters that, thankfully, were not immediately sidelined and we could possibly see them in future films. 

Sam Wilson is Captain America

Anthony Mackie behind the scenes of Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo by Eli Adé. © 2024 MARVEL.

At the heart of it, Brave New World, is all about Sam Wilson still grappling with the mantle of being Captain America. Yes, it sounds like the plot of the Disney+ Series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,  but it really is more of a continuation of that. 

In Brave New World, Wilson is more confident and assured of himself as the new Captain America. The early part of the film suggests that he’s been working with the American government in some military missions but also that he’s still relatively acting independently. 

Soldiers and civilians acknowledge him as Captain America. But the events of the film and him having to deal with forces much greater than his own lead him back to question once again if he’s the right man for the job. 

I initially thought this felt redundant. However, this hammers home the point that Sam Wilson is human. And it is human to doubt one’s self despite tangible achievements. That’s especially true if you’re facing enhanced individuals that are even more formidable than the Flag Smashers he faced in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. 

The dichotomy of regular human vs enhanced individuals is even more evident in the highlight fight of the film – Captain America vs Red Hulk. 

Brave New World is a Solid MCU film 

Captain America: Brave New World

Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.

Captain America: Brave New World does a good job of building up Sam Wilson’s Captain America. The film showcased his qualities that would more than qualify him to lead a certain super team despite being a regular human being – no super strength, no super speed – just skill, grit, resolve, and yes a couple of handy Vibranium tools. 

The film is mostly devoid of the multiversal madness that has plagued the MCU and its most recent films. That’s not to say it’s not hinted at, though. Stay for the post-credit scenes for that. 

Entertainment

UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony gets two more shows

Both shows will be held on the next day.

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The Philippines has an unquenchable love for game-based concerts (so *wink wink* please bring more of them). Though these concerts do generate a lot of hype, the drawback is that they often sell out way before most fans can grab tickets. If you’re an UNDERTALE fan, that experience might be rocking you right now, as both shows have already sold out. But fear not: UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony has just opened two more shows.

Late last month, Film Concerts PH, in partnership with SOHO Live, announced UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony happening on October 17. As expected, both shows, at 3pm and at 7pm, sold out very quickly after sales opened.

Today, the concert experience is opening two more shows on the next day, October 18. Like the original date, the two shows will happen at 3pm and at 7pm, allowing more fans to experience the concert.

The concert will be performed by the Filharmonika Orchestra and conducted by Thanapol Setabrahmana. Personally curated by creator Toby Fox and developed by Lambert Jackson with Materia Music, the concert experience showcases the game’s most recognizable tunes laid over gameplay footage playing simultaneously. Plus, for the world tour, the experience will have expanded scoring.

Tickets are available through Ticketmelon. Both dates will be held at The Proscenium Theater in Makati.

SEE ALSO: UNDERTALE: The Determination Symphony hits Makati in October

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Here’s what you should watch before Avengers: Doomsday

The road to Doom begins here.

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As of today, the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will take around 650 hours to watch. So, if you wanted to catch up with everything before this December’s Avengers: Doomsday, you would need to allot around 5 hours per day to watch content from Marvel. For a lot of us, that sort of commitment is completely untenable. Thankfully, Marvel has released an official watchlist, paring the list down to something much more manageable.

Before the MCU got as big as it is today, it was fun to do a movie marathon heading into a major Marvel release. For example, when Avengers: Endgame came out, some theaters held continuous marathons lasting a few days. Take note that this was before Marvel officially included every TV show and legacy movie (like the X-Men universe).

Now, heading into Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel will not ask you to devote the rest of your year just for homework. Instead, here’s an official list you can use to catch up:

  • X-Men
  • X2
  • Captain America: The First Avenger
  • The Avengers
  • Avengers: Infinity War
  • Avengers: Endgame
  • Loki
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
  • Captain America: Brave New World
  • Deadpool & Wolverine
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
  • Thunderbolts
  • The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Compared to the extensive list of everything Marvel, this official list is much more manageable, especially since there’s only one show (Loki). It’s also a veritable who’s who of the MCU, so it’s hard to get bored.

The official list as seen on Disney+

There are, however, a few surprises and spoilers. For one, if you’ve been avoiding the teasers and trailers, the X-Men films might be a shock to you. Likewise, the inclusion of the critically panned Brave New World is interesting.

The exclusions are just as noteworthy, too. Though the two earliest X-Men films are included, the list doesn’t add Days of Future Past, one of the first Marvel films to use time travel. Thor: Love and Thunder isn’t on here, despite Love, Thor’s adopted daughter, appearing in the trailers. Brand New Day is also missing, but that’s likely because the movie isn’t on Disney+ yet.

Avengers: Doomsday premieres in cinemas on December 18. Four months should be enough time to catch up on these titles.

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Now Playing: The End of Oak Street

A more grounded, relentlessly suspenseful take on human-dinosaur coexistence

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All photos c/o Warner Bros. Pictures

For years, cinema has repeatedly tried to answer the age-old question: “What if humans and dinosaurs co-existed?”

Executions have varied wildly from standout franchises. There’s the corporate greed-driven, sci-fi techno-thrills of Jurassic Park.

There’s also the colossal, kaiju-laden spectacle from modern monster movies led by Godzilla.

The End of Oak Street, on the other hand, approaches the premise from a much more grounded and relentlessly suspenseful angle.

Led by A-listers Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, director David Robert Mitchell delivers what feels like a Marvel-style “incursion” — except localized entirely to a quiet 1980s suburban neighborhood.

⚠️ Some spoilers ahead! ⚠️

Well-paced buildup to an 80s nightmare

The End of Oak Street doesn’t waste time getting its board pieces into position. It quickly establishes the Platt family dynamic: Anne Hathaway’s Denise is a frustrated aspiring writer, Ewan McGregor’s Greg is a moonlighting pizza delivery rider struggling to keep his family afloat while striving to be a better man, husband, and father.

They have two children: Brian (Christian Convery) and Audrey (Maisy Stella) plus their family dog Starbuck. The Platts aren’t picture-perfect, and a brief argument early on reveals this fractured marriage on the brink of divorce.

Visually, the film nails its 80s aesthetic right off the bat. There’s warm color grading, period-accurate costume design, and of course, backyard activities to build-up the overall setting.

The mystery kicks off when Denise photographs a mysterious plant suddenly appearing in her neighbor’s yard, only to be identified as Pleuromeia, a species that had been extinct for millions of years.

Moments later, a violent storm and a blinding flash of cosmic light would rip Oak Street out of normalcy as dinosaurs and other prehistoric wildlife would be transported into the same timeline.

Dinosaurs galore, relentless suspense

Once the neighborhood shifts, the film becomes a continuous gauntlet of prehistoric terror. Mitchell fills the screen with an impressive array of creatures.

There’s all kinds, from the flying pterosaur, the harmless but massive Stegosauruses and Triceratops, the heavily-armored but likewise herbivorous Ankylosaurus, and the main threat, the Allosaurus. In between, there’s even giant pre-historic crocodiles and eels.

Cinematography works exceptionally well here. It balances full creature reveals with the more subtle, tension-building frames, like the tip of a tail disappearing, spikes moving behind house roofs, or just the simple rustling behind bushes and trees.

Also noteworthy is how these various species all mostly played a role in the plot’s progression, not just thrown visually for mindless fanservice or eye candy.

Arguably, the two most suspenseful scenes were the attack of the mighty Allosaurus in a brutal, wide-open chase, and the claustrophobia-causing slithering prehistoric eel that held the Platts’ collective breaths while trapped inside their home.

Logically, when you’re in a state of panic, you wouldn’t be able to notice what’s happening around you, which was exactly what happened to the Platts when discussing a strategy just as the apex predator was about to get to them.

Worthy performances, well-timed sequences

Hathaway and McGregor carry the film’s emotional weight, from the portrayal of their strained marriage to trying to stay intact amidst the chaos for their children.

Greg gets a tragic, redemptive arc when he sacrifices himself in the mid-film shocker as he gets caught by the Allosaurus. All he wanted to be was a better husband and father figure, afraid to lose everything.

This leaves Hathaway’s Denise to process grief when there is no time to waste, and when the immediate goal is to steer her kids to safety. She somehow finds a way to express these emotions when she repeatedly stabs the prehistoric eel later on.

Convery and Stella also hold their own as the Platt kids with their portrayals of panicked youngsters. There’s bone-headed, irrational decisions and just plain annoyance when their seniors are trying to focus on problem-solving.

Involving Brian’s neighborhood crush, Jeannette, along with his bullies while everything is falling apart feels natural. It’s something kids would definitely do even with Oak Street getting torn apart.

For the most part, it felt like filmmakers timed the sequence of scenes well. They knew when to zig and when to zag, and when to insert particular elements.

But letting Starbuck loose into the jungle felt like a stretch, given how it’s filled with predators, although I get inducing even more anxiety to viewers when there are several question marks yet to be answered.

Endless chase, intriguing finale

At a 99-minute runtime, the final third of the film transitions into a long, heart-pounding chase to sustain the energy high.

Eventually, Denise, the kids, and Jeannette find the wormhole atop local librarian, Mrs. Valcourt’s house.

They fend off giant prehistoric crocodiles and pterosaurs in a gripping final scramble. Starbuck miraculously reappears, and the survivors plunge back into the wormhole and are able to get home safely.

This brings everything to the resolution. Denise lands back in 1982, just a few minutes before the incursion occurs. Knowing what’s about to happen, she calls Greg to deliver pizza so he can avoid the radius of the cosmic event entirely.

As with movies involving time-travel, resetting the timeline is what’s logical and realistic.

However, it does feel a lot anti-climactic, wiping away the entire journey that involved character growth, trauma, and heavy emotional stakes, for a happy ending and the success of Denise’s writing career.

Should you watch it?

On our Watch Scale, The End of Oak Street sits comfortably under Watch at your convenience.

The creature variety, sustained tension, and shrewd pacing make it a fun, heart-pounding ride.

Its reset-button ending and occasional logical flaws prevent it from being a top-tier dinosaur movie, but it’s one of the better ones we’ve had in a while.

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