Captain America ain’t having your dogma! Movies (and a TV show)

CAPTAIN AMERICA: Brave New World (2025) has Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), the former Falcon turned Captain America (as he did for a while in the comics) give his backing to President “Thunderbolt” Ross’s (Harrison Ford) push for a treaty governing the new super-metal adamantium despite past issues with the former general. Then Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), a former super-soldier, attempts to assassinate Ross. Is it revenge for having been imprisoned for 30 years or is something more going on?

Option B, natch. It turns out Sam Stearns (Tim Blake Nelson), the gamma-irradiated super-genius from the early MCU film Hulk (in the comics he’s the Leader, though here he possesses probability calculating abilities more like the comics’ Mad Thinker), has been locked up for years, with Ross forcing him to use his abilities for the government; now he wants revenge and mind-controlling Bradley is part of his plan. Much worse will follow …

This was enjoyable entertainment with a solid cast but a little unsatisfying. Unlike the CWverse the MCU still avoids being too comic-book which makes things dull: Sidewinder and the Serpent Society are interesting foes in the comics but here Sidewinder leader of S.E.R.P.E.N.T. is a generic merc. Big whoop.

Also, as comics writer Erik Loomis pointed out online, it’s a very continuity heavy story with its callbacks to Hulk and to The Eternals — a lot of people may have been confused why there’s a dead stone giant lying in the sea (got to say, though, it was a very cool visual). I got lost as to who a couple of characters were, though as I don’t catch the Marvel stuff on Disney Plus, that’s not surprising. “Don’t be boring, Captain America — don’t be boring.”

TYG is a huge fan of Kevin Smith’s DOGMA (1999) and I like it too, so when the Carolina Theater showed it on the big screen, we went. The premise is that Cardinal George Carlin’s attempt to make the Catholic Church cool and hip gives fallen angels Ben Affleck and Matt Damon the chance to return to Heaven. As God, however, has decreed they will never return, that would contradict divine will and such a contradiction means reality itself will end. Can abortion clinic worker Linda Fiorentino save the day — and why is Metatron (Alan Rickman) asking her of all people?

This is wonderfully cast, with roles for Jeanine Garofalo, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, Alannis Morrisette and Jason Lee, and it’s more thoughtful about religion than some films of more serious intent. “Is it true chicks fart if you blast them in the ass?”

The third season of HPI (second season review here) continues jacking up the stakes. Morgane (Audrey Fleurot), the crime-solving protagonist, and cop Karadec (Mehdi Nebbou) know they want each other but at the start of the season she’s off the squad and he’s with someone else. Eventually, Morgane returns to law enforcement but her personal life is increasingly messy and by the season’s end she’s in a worse place than at the start (the individual mysteries are good but it’s the personal arc that held my attention). “When the eagle points to the moon, the fool looks at his finger.”

Comics covers by Gene Colan (top) and Herb Trimpe (bottom). All rights to images remain with current holder.