There Are No Lessons in Death

We watch several movies a week. Every Friday, we'll talk a little about some of the movies we watched that we felt were Worth Mentioning.

Cody marvels, Clint Eastwood keeps going, and Joe Bob hosts.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD (2025)

In the final moments of Avengers: Endgame, the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, retired from the hero life and passed his shield over to his pal Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a veteran United States Air Force Pararescueman who used a winged jet pack to become the superhero known as The Falcon. The decision of whether or not to actually become the new Captain America was one that weighed heavily on Sam, as we saw in the Disney+ TV series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But, even though he’s just a regular guy and has never taken the “super soldier serum” that enhanced Steve Rogers, Sam decided to take on the title of Captain America – and with Captain America: Brave New World, we get a Cap movie that’s all about Sam.

One thing I’ll never understand about Hollywood decision-making is why studios and producers will push a project into production when they haven’t really, fully cracked the script yet. Too often, it’s not clear what exactly a major Hollywood movie should be until it’s in post-production. Then come the reshoots. A certain number of reshoot days are always part of the plan for these projects – but sometimes more days are required. And if the reshoots are too extensive, it brands a movie with a stigma that it may never be able to shake. That seems to be the case with Captain America: Brave New World, as this one had extensive reshoots that are said to have, at least, reworked three major action sequences. Due to these reshoots, the movie’s release date was pushed back nine months – but Disney couldn’t push back the release of the McDonald’s tie-in Happy Meal toys, so kids and fans had those toys for nine months before the movie even reached screens. And one of those toys was for a character who was entirely cut out of the movie! So, when the film was finally finished and released, anyone who was aware of the reshooting and reworking was analyzing the movie every step of the way to see if they could tell where the reshoots were patched in.

Well, we know for sure that the opening sequence was one of the replacements, as it features Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder, the leader of a mercenary group called the Serpent Society, and Esposito wasn’t cast until the reshoots. In the comics, the Serpent Society is a group of snake-themed supervillains, the movie originally leaned into their comic book style more, putting wrestler Seth Rollins in a flashy outfit as a character called King Cobra and casting Rosa Salazar as the pink-haired Diamondback, who got her own McDonald’s toy. But, in post-production, it was decided that the Serpent Society should be a grounded team of mercenaries rather than over-the-top snake-themed characters, so King Cobra and Diamondback got the axe and were replaced by Sidewinder, some anonymous lackeys, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Copperhead, who is only around for one fight scene.

Being a former Falcon, Sam has kept his wings even while being Captain America, which means his movie has some very different types of action sequences than would have been possible with Steve Rogers. Sure, he engages in some ground-level brawls, but he also does a lot of flying around – and he’s not the only character flying around, as he has passed his old wings over to fellow U.S. Air Force airman Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), who is now the new Falcon. Falcon aids Captain America in a couple sequences here, including an encounter with fighter jets that some have described as being reminiscent of Top Gun.

The action involving Esposito’s Sidewinder and Jóhannesson’s Copperhead are rather low-key, which makes me wonder what the sequences with Rollins’ King Cobra and Salazar’s Diamondback would have been like and looked it. That’s another problem with movies that had extensive reshoots; you’re always left wondering what the alternative version would be like. I would love to see the original footage surface in deleted scenes, but I don’t have high hopes that Disney or Marvel are going to unveil that footage.

Despite the reshoot stigma and the fact that there were a whole lot of cooks in the kitchen on this one (director Julius Onah is credited as a writer alongside four others: Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, and Peter Glanz, with Matthew Orton, who was brought in to write for the reshoots, not getting a credit), I was pleasantly surprised at just how well Captain America: Brave New World turned out. Onah was going for an old school political thriller vibe (much like Captain America: The Winter Soldier), and he successfully achieved that. In the moments between the superheroics, this is a dark, heavy, serious political thriller. So much so, that it’s difficult for me to image Marvel’s child fans getting much enjoyment out of watching this movie.

At the core of the story is the newly emerged Celestial Island in the Indian Ocean (this thing started to rise, and was stopped, in Eternals), where a new metal called adamantium (the stuff we know laces the bones and claws of Wolverine in the X-Men franchise, which isn’t quite part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet) has been discovered. Japan has mined some of the stuff, and America is looking to sign a treaty them so they can get in on the adamantium action, too. This turns out to be a shaky situation for newly elected U.S. president Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford as a character who was played by the late William Hurt in several MCU films) to deal with... especially since he also has to deal with an assassination attempt, health problems, and increasing anger management issues.

At the heart of the story is Sam’s friendship with “the forgotten Captain America,” Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley. Isaiah was given the super soldier serum and served in the Korean War... then he was imprisoned and experimented on for thirty years. Isaiah is part of the assassination attempt, firing a gun at Ross during a presentation – but it’s clear to Sam that Isaiah was not in his right mind when he pulled that gun. There’s some kind of mind control going on here, and Sam sets out to get to the bottom of it – and save his friend from another stay in prison – with the help of Joaquin, as well as some reluctant assistance from Ross’s security advisor, a former Black Widow named Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas). I have seen a lot of mocking references to this character, but while Haas does have something of an odd screen presence and her scenes are shot in a way that make her reportedly 5’2” height look a bit funny when she’s next to her co-stars, I thought she was actually pretty cool.

One issue I had with the movie is the fact that a whole lot of scenes involve people having conversations in small, dimly lit rooms. Not only to the cramped sets give the film a claustrophobic feeling at times, it also has the effect of making it seem either cheap or like an episode of a TV show. Much of Captain America: Brave New World really could have played out in a “very special episode” of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but then there are a couple of action sequences that would have been too pricey for a TV show. Like the aforementioned aerial sequence, which takes place around Celestial Island, and the climax... which the marketing let us know well ahead of time involves Ross transforming into a Red Hulk.

It was a pleasant surprise to me that much of this film’s story is strongly tied to the events of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, an MCU entry that I feel has been unfairly overlooked over the years. 17 years later, we finally have resolution to the moment in The Incredible Hulk where cellular biologist Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) was infected with the gamma radiation-infused blood of the Hulk, Bruce Banner – and it even comes with an explanation for why we haven’t heard from the guy for so long. Sterns, now hideously mutated into the villain known as The Leader in the comics, is the source of all the troubles the characters have to deal with, taking control of people’s minds with flashing lights, triggering them to commit violent acts with the song “Mr. Blue” by The Fleetwoods (because, when he was secretly communicating with Banner back in the day, Banner went by Mr. Green and Sterns was Mr. Blue), nearly causing the United States and Japan to go to war with each other, and turning Ross into the Red Hulk. It was very glad to finally be able to see Nelson play The Leader, and the character brings a twisted edge to the film.

The Leader and the Red Hulk are typically adversaries the Hulk has to deal with, but The Leader’s schemes also allow for an interesting Captain America thriller – and I thought it was a great idea to pit Sam Wilson’s Cap against the Red Hulk. I saw some online say it was a stupid pairing, but I think the fact that Sam is a regular guy and not a super soldier is what makes it so great. It would be fun to watch the Hulk fight the Red Hulk, but we’ve seen the Hulk knock around other big characters before. It’s even more interesting to see a hero who’s outmatched by his opponent have to figure out a way to bring down the bad guy. Of course, Sam is greatly helped out by the fact that he’s wearing a vibranium-laced costume, a gift from the Wakandans (from the Black Panther movies), which is an advantage I didn’t expect him to have. But it’s fun to see a winged Captain America fight a Red Hulk nonetheless.

Even after the extensive reshoots that were meant to make it more impressive and cohesive, Captain America: Brave New World has its issues. I don’t consider it to be a great entry in the MCU – but I do think it’s a good one, and better than its initial reputation would imply.

JUROR #2 (2024)

Director Clint Eastwood was 93 years old when he went into production on his latest directorial effort, the legal thriller Juror #2, so it makes sense that there was a lot of talk about the possibility that this could be his last movie – but with the legend currently closing in on his birthday #95, I would love to see him continue making movies. There was a Portuguese filmmaker named Manoel de Oliveira who made a feature when he was 103 (he made it to the age of 106 before passing away), and it would be awesome to see Eastwood pull off the same feat. But, whether or not Juror #2 does turn out to be his last movie, it is a good one that’s worth checking out.

The script by Jonathan Abrams centers on a recovering alcoholic named Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult), whose wife Ally (Zoey Deutch) will soon be giving birth – their second attempt to have a child, after a previous pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Justin was so devastated by that miscarriage, he nearly fell off the wagon. He even went to a bar on the day that was supposed to be the due date... but he kept himself from drinking and drove home. During the drive, he was momentarily distracted and may have hit a deer, but he couldn’t see any sign of the animal when he got out of the vehicle to check.

Then Justin is chosen to serve on the jury during a murder trial where James Sythe (Gabriel Basso) is accused of beating his girlfriend Kendall Carter (played by Francesca Eastwood in flashbacks) to death... on the same road Justin was driving down when he hit that deer, on the same night, after they had a fight at the same bar he was at that night. Which causes Justin to wonder, did he really hit a deer that night, or did he hit Kendall with his vehicle and not realize it? Did James beat her to death, or is Justin to blame?

Justin tries to figure out the truth of the matter and how to handle the situation. Would he get in trouble for coming forward? Would anyone believe the former alcoholic wasn’t driving drunk that night? Should he allow James to be convicted of murder? It’s a fascinating situation, and Eastwood assembled a great supporting cast for Hoult to interact with while Justin tries to navigate through this problematic scenario: Toni Collette as the Assistant District Attorney, J.K. Simmons as a fellow juror, Chris Messina as the public defender, Leslie Bibb as the jury foreperson, Kiefer Sutherland as Justin’s sponsor and lawyer, and more.

Eastwood probably didn’t need to make the movie 114 minutes long, as there’s not quite enough going on to sustain that running time, but it’s an intriguing film nonetheless and will leave viewers discussing how they would handle the situation Justin finds himself in.

THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS (1984)

The scheduling line-up on The Movie Channel on the night of April 1, 1988 into the morning of April 2 went like this: the Roger Corman production The Warrior and the Sorceress at 11:30pm,  the Oscar-nominated action thriller Runaway Train at 1am, and the Gene Kelly musical An American in Paris at 3am – and since The Warrior and the Sorceress was the one presented by drive-in critic and movie host Joe Bob Briggs (who gave it 2 and a half stars), that’s the one I have watched.

Directed by John C. Broderick, who crafted the script with The Return of the Living Dead production designer William Stout, the movie is a sword and sorcery take on that old, familiar Yojimbo / A Fistful of Dollars set-up of an outsider who wanders into an area that’s home to two opposing groups and finds a way to manipulate the situation. In this case, the story is set on the desert planet of Ura and the stranger is a sword-wielding fellow named Kain (David Carradine, wearing a black glove on one hand because he broke that hand at the start of production), who used to be part of an order of holy warriors called the Homeraks. The opposing forces are groups led by warlords Zeg (Luke Askew) and Bal Caz (William Marin), who are fighting over the well in the village of Yamatar.

Kain is, of course, the warrior of the title. The sorceress is Naja (Maria Socas, who just passed away at the end of 2024), who spends the entire movie wearing skimpy clothing that keeps her breasts revealed at almost all times and has been taken captive by Zeg, who is trying to get her to forge a magical sword called the Sword of Ura, which will allow him to take control of the land. She’s not much of a sorceress, so you shouldn’t expect to see anything impressively magical from her. For the most part, she’s just a bare-breasted damsel in distress. But she did used to be a priestess of the Homeraks, so she has a connection to Kain that helps inspire him to mess things up for Zeg and Bal Caz.

As far as bad B-movies go, this is a great one, with the aforementioned gratuitous nudity, poorly shot and choreographed moments of action, and an otherworldly setting that allows for things like a warlord taking advice from a talking lizard puppet (played at one point by a little person wearing a lizard mask), cackling mutants, a tentacled monster, and a standout sequence involving a four-breasted belly dancer – which was, of course, the scene that really captured Joe Bob’s attention and imagination.

B-movie lovers who tuned in to watch The Movie Channel on the night of April 1, 1988 probably had a good time watching this one, just like I had a good time watching it at the start of March 2025.

THE FOG (1980) – Hosted by Joe Bob Briggs on MonsterVision

Eight years and three months after he hosted The Warrior and the Sorceress on The Movie Channel – on July 5, 1996, to be exact – Joe Bob Briggs hosted the John Carpenter movie The Fog on an episode of his TNT show MonsterVision. And while doing so, he revealed that he’s not really a fan of The Fog, which came as something of a surprise. Although he gives it 3 stars out of 4 (he says he’s being generous by doing so) and he references it as a “John Carpenter classic,” he spends most of the movie pointing out that it’s not possible to make fog itself very creepy. This fog is so evil, it glows and moves against the wind! Joe Bob is not impressed. He calls the movie one that “everybody knows about, but nobody really loves it,” which isn’t accurate, because there are plenty of horror fans who do love The Fog.

The story takes place in a town called Antonio Bay, which is set to celebrate its centennial on April 21st; a date that also happens to mark the 100th anniversary of the time when six high-ranking townspeople used a campfire on the beach to lure a ship to its doom on a dark, foggy night so they could loot the gold on board and use it to fund their new town. Everyone on board the ship died when it sank. 100 years later, another fog bank covers Antonio Bay, and from this fog emerges the raggedy corpses of those dead sailors, seeking revenge - they intend to claim six lives - and their gold. Not a whole lot happens in the movie, though. This one is a slow build, and at one point it was such an uneventful slow build that even Carpenter thought the movie sucked. That’s why he put together some reshoots that helped liven it up a bit.

As Joe Bob says, the movie does get better toward the end. During his hosting segments, he questions some character decisions, points out that nookie does not equal death for the characters played by Tom Atkins and Jamie Lee Curtis (who really has nothing to do in the movie), says that actress Adrienne Barbeau has enormous talents, complains that the fog obscures the zombies too much, describes The Fog as a movie where anything can happen and they don’t really bother to explain it, and asks, if priests don’t get married, how does the priest character have a grandfather who was also a priest? When the movie comes to an end, Joe Bob says, “The Fog is finally over.” As far as he’s concerned, it’s kind of shaky as a horror flick and not too satisfying of a movie. It’s definitely not one of my favorites, but I think I might enjoy it more than Joe Bob does.

The highlight of his hosting segments is the introduction, where he spends 4 minutes talking about things you see at a mini-golf course and mini-golf etiquette, crafting a story about getting banned from a mini-golf course after an incident involving his friend Mavis and girlfriend Wanda Bodine.