A Bridge Too Far: Captain America: Brave New World (2025) Review

Director: Julius Onah

Notable Cast: Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Tim Blake Nelson, Carl Lumbly, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Xosha Roquemore, Johannes Haukur Johannesson

 

Although many fans seem to have been burned by the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) at this point, the series' transition in the wake of waning audience interest and a relatively public meltdown over its future makes the current slate perhaps more fascinating than the last half-decade. Attempting to soft reboot the MCU with a new Captain America film certainly seems like gold on paper, but the fourth film in this series within the grander franchise is far more fascinating in the larger context than “good” as a film.

 

Captain America: Brave New World is heavily focused on bridging the past and the future. Even the title, although perhaps hard to swallow when compared to the iconic book that shares it, seems to indicate a strange relationship between what has happened before and where it wants to be.  That’s not to say that every MCU film hasn’t been aggressively obsessed with callbacks and flashforwards, but the relationship here in Brave New World is one of the most unusual.

 

In the wake of Avengers: Endgame, the world changed. That applies to both the film itself and the fictionalized reality its characters inhabit. There was no more Captain America. Or Chris Evans. No more Iron Man. Or Robert Downey Jr. (…at the time of its release). Disney was struggling to find their voice and plot with new heroes, despite some genuine successes in films like Shang-Chi or misfires like The Eternals. The meteoric descent of Jonathon Majors left the new era without its Kang the Conqueror and a gap for a new major villain. And while the series was retooled, pulling away from a variety of increasingly ignored Disney+ shows, they needed a breather.

 

That’s where Captain America: Brave New World falls into place.

 

The Liminal Space of Sound: undertone (2026) Review

Director: Ian Tuason

Notable Cast: Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Keana Bastidas, Jeff Yung, Michele Duquet

 

As the genre of ‘liminal space horror’ starts to take the world by storm, not just as an independent horror movement artistically, but also powered most recently by the box office juggernaut of Backrooms, it's necessary to remember that the concept is not new to the horror genre overall. Empty spaces, lost items, and the hanging existential dread of the terrors to come are all tactics horror has used since the beginning. It’s just that so many modern filmmakers and storytellers are using it in a modern lens that is both fascinating and certainly relevant to the time, and they’re doing it with conviction. Example films like Skinamarink or the earlier films of Osgood Perkins (check out I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House) laid a lot of the groundwork for where we are in 2026, so it's not like this movement is even all that new, comparatively speaking. 

 

It’s this conviction and modern lens that make a film like Undertone so diabolically effective. Director Ian Tuason is playing in the same space as many other liminal horror films, but his intention is not only the physical space in the film, but also the auditory space that often creates a sense of dread and impending doom. As the saying goes, it's the things that are unspoken or unheard that are often the most powerful. Undertone intends to weaponize those and does an impeccable job at it while crafting a film that makes sound the most important aspect, in all its choices. 

 

All About Perspective: Mortal Kombat II (2026) Review

Director: Simon McQuoid

Notable Cast: Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph, Ludi Lin, Jessica McNamee, Lewis Tan, Josh Lawson, Martyn Ford, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Max Huang, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroyuki Sanada, Joe Taslim, CJ Bloomfield, Ana Thu Nguyen 

 

I think it's fair, for a film that essentially starts immediately where the last one left off, that I, also, start my review of Mortal Kombat II by quoting the last line of my review for Mortal Kombat (2021).

“With its open ending and intention for more films in its writing and development, let’s hope that the next installment doesn’t hesitate to just lean into the absurdity. I’d give my heart (and spine) to that.”

 

So, in the spirit of good sportsmanship, here is what (rips out heart) I owe (rips out spine) to you, Simon McQuoid, and his team of truly insane filmmakers that crafted this sequel. You absolutely knew what your homework was, did the due diligence, and made the best Mortal Kombat film yet. Mortal Kombat II manages to be more of EVERYTHING than its predecessor. More plot, more characters, more fights, more catchphrases, more - more - more, and most importantly - it's more FUN. It’s a film that leans further into the absurdity - and lore - of the decades-spanning video game franchise, and it’s all the better for it. For some, maybe it’s too much. For me, it’s the kind of insane blockbuster entertainment that I wanted - and then some. 

 

Everything Seems to Work Out: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Director: Taika Waititi

Notable Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum, Idris Elba, Karl Urban, Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch

 

Even within the now-rather-infamous Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the Thor series represents a fascinating part of it. While Iron Man set the tone for the series, the initial run of films was meant to represent various genres within the franchise. Sure, there was a common thread of spectacle, humor, and just enough heart; the Thor series felt so much more serious than the rest. For Thor’s first two films, the Shakespearean tones that blended with the fantasy elements of gods and monsters were initially met with mixed results from audiences and critics. While Thor represented a key cornerstone of the MCU, the character’s adventures were the weakest part of the initial ‘Avengers Initiative.’ 

 

However, during the ‘second phase,’ the MCU found a way to get the more cosmic aspects of the Marvel world to resonate with audiences: by making them funnier, brighter, and more entertaining. It worked for James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, so it could work for Thor, right?

 

Do A Person's Feelings Die with Them: Shikoku (1999) Review

Director: Shunichi Nagasaki

Notable Cast: Yui Natsukawa, Chiaki Kuriyama, Michitaka Tsutsui, Toshie Negishi, Ren Osugi

 

While the J-Horror boom of the late 90s and early 00s provided enough creep factor and impressive tonal scares to influence an entire generation, one of its better aspects was the films that used the emotional echoes of sadness and melancholy. Shunichi Nagasaki’s 1999 film, Shikoku, might be one of those intriguingly overlooked gems. Encased in a somber tone, this folk-horror ghost story effectively crafts a dreamlike haziness in its visuals and narrative, less a scare factory and more akin to a grim-toned fairy tale. While its narrative punch feels like it pulls back to avoid moving too far into melodramatic flair, which doesn’t necessarily always work in its favor, Shikoku is a film that deserves a gander for its subtle theming and impressive visuals for those looking for perhaps a less aggressive J-Horror tale. 

 

When Hinako, played by Yui Natsukawa, returns to her childhood home in Shikoku, she learns that her close friend from childhood, Sayori, has passed away in high school. As old memories resurface and a rekindled friendship with another childhood friend, Fumiya, begins to grow into something more, Sayori’s ghost starts appearing to her old friend. However, as Hinako starts to look into matters, she finds that Sayori’s mother, a medium, might be trying to resurrect her lost daughter. 

 

Behold, The Beholder: The Eye (2002) Review

Director: Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang Phat

Notable Cast: Angelica Lee Sin-Jie, Lawrence Chou Chun-Wai, Candy Lo Hau-Yam, Edmund Chen, Yut Lai So, Chadatirud Lertaveesin, Yin Ping Ko

 

In college, I became obsessed a bit with Asian ghost films. Sure, it was the 00s, and everyone and their mom had jumped on the J-Horror boom a little, but I started digging much further and trying to get my hands on everything that I could. One of those was The Pang Brothers’ massively underrated The Eye (2002). Although it would be remade and memory-holed by most of the cinematic world in 2008, this Hong Kong horror film had managed to capture quite a bit of attention in the social circles I was navigating. That’s on top of the fact that the Pang Brothers were quickly becoming a new name in Hollywood at the time, even if those 15 minutes of fame would quickly fade thanks to a system that handicapped so much of their more interesting approaches with limited budgets or incredibly terrible scripts. 

 

Nonetheless, The Eye was a film that I had latched onto, and my memories of watching it on a possible bootleg I purchased at the FYE where I was working were very positive. Now it's damn near 20 years later, and Arrow Video has decidedly graced us with a new 4K release in the US, and I was eager to finally get a chance to revisit a film that definitely struck a chord with a much younger me. 

 

The Eye might secretly be one of the best ghost films in the post-2000s cinematic era. There’s something uniquely intimate and soft about the film. It works in subtle ways, less concerned with scares and traditional ghost horror and more focused on the growth of its lead character, Mun, as she comes to terms with her abilities and what they mean both to her and thematically.