Captain America: Brave New World

Once upon a time, we went out to see all the MCU films in the cinema. These days, we've dropped to seeing only a few of them. Which is a shame - I would have liked to see this in the cinema at the time. But, between the need to arrange childcare, and the cost of cinema tickets, and the fact that the MCU just hasn't been the same since "Endgame" and, more than anything else, the fact that films go from the cinema to streaming in a few short months, we just can't justify going all that often.

And so, we came to watch "Captain America: Brave New World" on Disney+ this week.

And it's fine, a perfectly serviceable action film with a coherent plot, good performances, and (mostly) good special effects. (Although, like most modern action films, it does have some truly awful CGI as well. I'm not sure how, but they seem to have gone backwards in recent years.)

They've gone for something of a "Winter Soldier" vibe for this one, which is probably wise as that was probably the best of the MCU films prior to "Endgame". On the other hand, it does invite a comparison that "Brave New World" doesn't necessarily benefit from. Plus, as I've seen noted elsewhere, it kinda feels like it would be better as a Hulk film - so many of the characters and plot points tie back to the "Incredible Hulk" film that it does feel that it wants Banner, not Wilson, at the helm.

But one thing this is definitely not, however, is the bin fire that some parts of the internet have claimed. Unfortunately, there's a noisy minority that will decry any film that doesn't have a straight white man at the helm. And this one in particular, with the passing of the torch from Steve Rodgers to Sam Wilson, was always going to come under attack.

Needless to say, I have no time for such lazy critiques. As a practical matter, if nothing else, we can't have a situation where every story has to center around a straight white man - in addition to the monstrous unfairness that would represent, it would also be deadly boring.

(I do find it rather unfortunate that, too often, Hollywood has taken their efforts at increased representation to mean license to just cast a person of colour or a woman in the lead role, and then just make the same films they've been making for decades, showing nothing at all new. But that doesn't work - neither women nor people of colour are obscure and exotic beings whose mere presence makes for a new and exciting experience. Diversity and representation are good things, and indeed deserved and necessary things, but they're not sufficient by themselves. Basically, if the film wouldn't work with a bog-standard straight white male in the lead, it probably won't work if you simply switch out the lead.

But none of that applies to this film, where one of the key themes of the story is precisely that Sam Wilson is not Steve Rodgers. Not just because one is a person of colour, but in the differences in their characters, the differences in the approaches they bring to the situation, and even in the level of certainty they present in their chosen course of action. There was a part of me that was a little disappointed that Sam never used Steve's comment that "I could do this all day"... but it's actually a good thing that he didn't.)

Anyway...

I thought Anthony Mackie was really great in the lead role, giving a quiet, sensitive, and nuanced portrayal. I thought Harrison Ford did extremely well stepping into the role of Thunderbolt Ross, and I thought the whole thing fit together pretty neatly.

That said, it's not as good as "Winter Soldier". And, sadly, it adds another to the list of post-Endgame MCU films that are fine, but just not hitting the same heights. The whole thing is just starting to feel a bit tired at this point.

My recommendation for this one is pretty straightforward: if you have Disney+, it's worth investing the couple of hours in a watch. I wouldn't recommend subscribing to Disney+ just for this. But, then, I generally do recommend Disney+ - there's just so much good stuff on these.

An Horrific Experience

Since I was working from home today, and with it being a nice day, I decided to take Lion out for a walk. And, being of the canine persuasion, about halfway through the walk she decided to stop for a poop. Which is fine.

Of course, one of the less pleasant tasks associated with owning a dog these years is that you are required to pick up said poop in a bag and throw it away responsibly. Which is unpleasant but fair enough really.

Except that I then discovered that the bag containing the poop bags did not, in fact, contain any poop bags.

This led to some frantic and ill-advised improvisation, as I first attempted to lift the poop using some litter a kind person had left (which didn't work), and then using some study-looking leaves (which really didn't work).

And then I wiped my fingers as best I could, and took Lion home, washed, and then returned to the scene of the crime with some poop bags. It's fair to say that that was not the highlight of my day... though it's been the sort of a day when it's not far off.

Another Repair Bill

My car has been in and out of repairs over the last several weeks. This time is was the parking sensors - I had one replaced two weeks ago and another today. Expensive, but not as horrible as I was quoted elsewhere. I'm just hoping that they stay fixed, at least until after the MOT. (Apparently, the sensors themselves aren't cause for an MOT fail. However, the fact that they cause a light to show up on the dashboard is cause for a failure. Which is... unfortunate.)

Anyway, in preparation for this post I looked back to previous posts about cars, and found one talking about some metrics from near the end of the previous car. So, I'll update those: at the time of writing this I have now been driving for almost 32 years, and have owned cars for 27 of those years. In that time, I've owned five cars, at a total cost of approximately £32,000. That works out as an average of one car per 5.4 years, an average of £6,400 per car, and an average of £1,185 per year. That's all pretty good going, although it of course omits the cost of fuel and maintenance.

I'm now coming up to having completed four years with this car, and somewhere in the region of 50,000 miles. I'm hopeful of getting another two years, and another 20,000 miles from it - but that's subject to the various things that have been fixed staying fixed.

For the immediate term, though, it's been an expensive time!

Experimental Cookery 2025: Upside Down Pizza Bake

This was another one from the Tesco magazine. It's pretty straightforward - add an ingredient and bake, then add an ingredient and bake some more, and so on. The end result was very nice, but too much for the two of us (Funsize and Surprise! opted out), but the leftovers made for a nice enough lunch.

Again, we'll have this one again, probably sooner than the Pepper Steak stir-fry - it can be added to the list of "easy traybake dinners" that are good to reach for when in a lazy mood.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Pepper Steak Stir-Fry

This one comes from the Tesco magazine, and is included for completeness only - it's basically as the name implies, a stir-fry made up of steak and peppers. It's quick and simple to assemble, and was nice enough. It was certainly nice to have a stir-fry that wasn't chicken again.

Other than that there's nothing much to say. We'll have it again, but it's not exactly something we're going to rush to have.

Gala Day Season is Upon Us

This weekend marks the start of the gala day season for this year. This time out we have fewer events than usual - we seem to be heading back into a period where there are fewer gala days again, as happens every few years. We have, however, been lucky that the two we had to cancel last year don't seem to have hurt us, as we have been booked to do both again this year.

Of course, we have just enjoyed a spell of relatively good weather that seems to be coming to a close just as we get into the spell of walking long distances outdoors, but I suppose that's half the fun, isn't it?

My Life in Spreadsheets

I've spent the last little while becoming increasingly obsessed with spreadsheets, and using them to track everything. Which is something of a mixed blessing. On the plus side, it gives me a load of data, most of which is nicely reassuring. On the other hand, it has left me somewhat concerned - for the last six months or so we have consistently spent more than has been coming in, with the obvious effect on our savings. (Of course, that's what savings are for, so even that's not a huge issue.)

The biggest problem right now is the cars, which have been horribly expensive of late. My current car has just always been unlucky, with one thing after another and the latest pair of problems being things that just don't want to stay fixed. Meanwhile, LCs car had a recent issue that does, at least, seem to now be resolved.

Ultimately, if it wasn't for those expenses, we'd have been doing pretty well. As it is, the hope is that this next batch of repairs will be the last for a while and then we can get a couple of 'good' years out of them. But if not, we may need to bite the bullet on one or more replacements rather sooner than might be hoped.

(The other thing that has been quite noticeable is that while headline inflation is down, this year has seen a nasty spike in the Tesco shopping bill, and also a significant hike in both the gas/electric bill and council tax. It's almost like the supposed end of the cost of living crisis (which hasn't actually ended of course) was taken as license to pile on some more misery.)

I'm not really going anywhere with this, of course. And it's important to note that we're in a much better position than many others. It's just a reflection of how things are at the moment.

#14: "Mary: or, the Birth of Frankenstein", by Anne Eekhout (the new frontrunner for book of the year)

Doctor Who 2025

I’m not sure if it was the BBC, or Disney, or RTD, but someone has really messed up the numbering of the series of “Doctor Who” – there are now three bearing the name “season one”. I can’t say I’m a fan of that approach. And so, this post is titled by the year.

The truth is, had I written this post on Friday, after watching “Wish World” but before “The Reality War”, it would have been very different in tone. I hadn’t really enjoyed most of this series, which just about aspired to the level of “okay”, but I found “Wish World” to be a big load of incoherent nonsense.

In particular, the handling of The Rani had been poor – immediately following her first appearance, the biggest rumour was that Mrs Flood was the Rani, so that big reveal just didn’t work. Then Anita Dobson, having put in all the work, was promptly sidelined in favour of Archie Panjabi (who, it must be said, did a great job in the role), and with another instance of the bigeneration nonsense.

But also, at least as far as “Wish World”, it was never actually explained who The Rani was, or why we should care. And where at least I, as a long-term viewer of the show, understood that, new viewers would have had no way of knowing. Plus, while the classic Rani was not just The Master rehashed, this new one was indistinguishable.

So by the end of “Wish World” I was all set to call for RTD’s departure, to drop the show, and to walk away. It was not good.

However, “The Reality War” really surprised me – RTD has a pattern of having a really strong setup to his finales and then having them collapse in a heap, but this time he somehow managed to turn it on its head.

First up, there was the fixing of the problems: this time, The Rani actually had time to explain not only her plan and also the why of it. And, as twisted as it was, it at least made sense – and was not something The Master would have done. So that’s good.

Then there was the resolution of the various strands. Of course, the Doctor defeating Omega was a hugely underwhelming ass-pull, but that was pretty much inevitable. That’s just what RTD does. But having The Rani defeated by her own hubris, and having Conrad undone in the manner that was achieved was very poetic. So that was fine.

But then there was positively an age of wrapping up the plotlines, and in particular the disappearance of Poppy.

I can’t say I was a huge fan of this bit, as it seemed to drag. And, once again, it was all about the slog of getting towards the regeneration that was suddenly inevitable (although why that was wasn’t at all clear to me). But fair enough.

The highlight of this one was actually Thirteen showing up unexpectedly. As I’ve noted before, she’s my least favourite incarnation of the Doctor, so I was surprised at how happy I was to see her again. The only thing that is a shame is that RTD handled that scene so well that I rather wish he’d been running the show for those years. I suspect they’d have gone rather better. A missed opportunity.

And then there’s the whole thing about moving the timeline by “one degree”. Which of course now gives license to change anything they want, depending on how far back they want to claim the original change went. (It clearly covered the whole of this series, but given that Ruby met Poppy in the abysmal “Space Babies”, that suggests it goes back further.) Hopefully, it at least goes back far enough for them to now ditch the ever-so-tedious mavity “joke”.

And then, finally, the regeneration and the appearance of the next Doctor. Maybe. Or maybe not – fir the first time, we were introduced to a new actor but not “as the Doctor”. So maybe she’s someone else. Or something. I’m not sure I care.

At this point, the future of the show is up in the air. Presumably it has a future guaranteed, in at least some form – had the show ended a few seconds before that could be doubted, but that ending demands at least something of a continuation. But there’s a big part of me that hopes what’s next is a passing of the torch to a new team – RTD1 had two Doctors (Nine and Ten), Moffat had two (Eleven and Twelve, with an interlude with War), and now RTD has had two (Fourteen and Fifteen). So an interlude and then handing over may be no bad thing.

Or not. Maybe there’s a grand plan that we just haven’t been told about.