gavinp9

'Captain America: Brave New World' is the 4th Captain America film, and the first one post 'Endgame' and post 'Falcon & the Winter Soldier' (and the first Cap film in 9 years!) meaning it's Sam Wilson (Mackie)'s first film outing as Captain America and not the Falcon. Giving him Torres (Ramirez) as the new Falcon/his sidekick is a nice touch. Think this is MCU film #35, and surprisingly has a lot of links back to MCU film #2, 'The Incredible Hulk' (the 2008 version with Edward Norton), as well as 'Eternals', finally dealing with the giant Celestial in the middle of the ocean.

Just as Norton was replaced by Ruffalo, this time General Thaddeus Ross is played by Harrison Ford, as William Hurt has now passed. The main villain is also returning from that film - Sterns (Blake Nelson), who I believe is "The Leader", even though I'm not sure that's ever mentioned. We also have Sidewinder (Esposito), as he's been typecast and has to be a bad-guy in everything! The screentime is almost shared equally between Mackie and Ford, as you can tell Ford is having fun playing the new President and being in a big popcorn movie again. The plot is not bad, more of a political/conspiracy thriller (in-line with 'Falcon & the Winter Soldier') and less of a super-hero film, with Sam still having no powers - even though he does have upgraded wings/suit.

While no 'The Winter Soldier' or 'Civil War', this is certainly not one of the MCU's worst - it's <110min before credits (no mid-credits scene for some reason), has some great action/fights, some good ariel combat, a strong cast and some little jokes here and there, all while keeping the pacing up. Ford is good to watch and only turns into the red Hulk in the final 25min or so, therefore it doesn't turn into a drawn-out CGI slugfest. While not progressing the overall MCU narrative too much, it does help set-up what's going to happen over the next 2 years.

'A Complete Unknown' is not the first Bob Dylan biopic, but does a good job of just focusing on his early years as a recording/performing artist when he gets to New York, from 1961-1965. Dylan is portrayed excellently by Chalamet and you sometimes forget it's not a documentary! We follow his first relationships, with Joan Baez (Barbaro) and Sylvie (Fanning), and arguably as importantly, how he meets his folk music heroes Woody Guthrie (McNairy) and Pete Seeger (Norton).

Director Mangold (of 'Logan' fame) knows what he's doing, having also directed 'Walk The Line'. In this film, Johnny Cash is played by Boyd Holbrook and a few great cameos. While not focusing solely on having the audience listen to Dylan songs, we do get to hear/see a few of them from this period, which is impressive if it's actually Chalamet (& Barbaro) doing their own singing! All the actors are good, especially Norton with his prosthetic nose, and also a notable effort from Grossman (Fogler).

There's obviously some artistic licences/liberties taken, and Dylan is left feeling as enigmatic as ever. Plenty of funny moments, and some great set design make it look exactly like 1960s New York. As good as, if not better than, 'I'm Not There', mostly thanks to the great acting and singing performances.