A+Z Movie Review Podcast · Alex Long and Zach Cavanagh

Episode 36 - Captain America: Brave New World

·1 hr·4 clips

Alex and Zach open the show sounding a little nasally, still getting over a seasonal stuffed-up nose thing. They move quickly into Captain America: Brave New World and keep the mood easy, using the movie as the basis for a fast conversation about where it sits in the MCU right now. They're back in the MCU. The film is framed around Sam Wilson fully taking on the Captain America mantle, with the hosts circling back to the Falcon and the Winter Soldier journey and the shield handoff from Steve Rogers at the end of Endgame. The timing of the movie matters to them. They talk through the reception around it, the content of it, and how strange it feels to get a Captain America chapter that has to do franchise housekeeping while still trying to carry a bigger cultural moment. Gen Z gets a joke. So does Skibbity, because the conversation is comfortable enough to poke at the weirdness of the movie's world without acting like the whole thing is solemn. Harrison Ford becomes the next big topic. Alex and Zach work through why Ford fits General Ross, especially once the character is allowed to get angry, and they keep coming back to how much they like him when he is fully irritated. They also talk about his usual reluctance with franchise gobbledygook. That reluctance makes the MCU language around vibranium and adamantium land with a little extra friction, which the hosts find funny rather than fatal. The Red Hulk angle gives Ford room to go bigger. It also lets the episode linger on the fun of watching him sell the more emotional parts of Ross without losing the grumpy edge that makes the performance work. William Hurt comes up as part of that transition. The hosts treat Ford as a strong successor and say he does a very good job in the role, both as the presidential presence and as the man trying to reconnect with Betty. The conversation stays conversational instead of polished. One thought leads to the next, jokes interrupt the analysis, and the hosts are willing to change direction mid-sentence if the discussion takes them there. They close by looking ahead to more MCU coverage and their Oscar coverage. It feels like a working pair of hosts getting ready for a busy stretch rather than delivering a canned verdict.

As heard by us

A quick MCU check-in that makes its strongest case for Harrison Ford.

A Plus Z Movie Review Podcast offers a steady look at Captain America: Brave New World, treating Sam Wilson's full turn as Captain America as both franchise machinery and a meaningful character step.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want a conversational MCU check-in on Captain America: Brave New World, with Harrison Ford bringing the heat?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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