Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-in is on a roll. After closing its popular east side location in February, Austin's only drive-in theater opened a bigger South Austin space in March — and it just got better, with the addition of a bar and pop-up outpost.
The Blue Starlite Cinema Saloon is now open at the South Austin flagship location, 12419 Lowden Ln., where Manchaca Road ends. The "open-air social hall" serves local beer and Texas wines and opens an hour-and-a-half before show time to moviegoers. Beginning in August, it will be open to the public (no movie ticket needed to get in and imbibe).
In addition to its usual programming, Blue Starlite will host a free film screening on select nights with the purchase of a Cinema Saloon drink voucher. Blue Starlite is also offering a Cinema Saloon membership, which grants members a free drink voucher for any regular screening.
The drive-in has also launched a pop-up location in West Austin at Graceland Oaks Event Center, 8907 Circle Dr. Thanks to its proximity to Graceland Grocery and its Stubb's Bar-B-Que outpost, guests can enjoy beverages and barbecue along with a flick. On the docket now are Purple Rain and Labyrinth on June 2 and The Goonies on June 16. The team will add more screenings throughout the year.
The flagship South Austin space is equipped with more concession offerings, nicer bathrooms, and picnic seating. Additionally, Blue Starlite has upgraded the set-up, with a larger screen, more speakers, and the capability to show 35 mm films.
Perhaps the coolest new facet is overnight accommodations. There is a rentable RV, as well as an outdoor patio for private parties. Coming soon: a food truck park.
Anthony Mackie in Captain America: Brave New World.
If it feels like it’s been a long time since the last Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, that’s because it has. Deadpool & Wolverine technically counts, but it was really its own thing that was mostly disconnected from the larger story the MCU is trying to tell. And two out of the three MCU movies in 2023 were underwhelming, so Marvel remains far from the highs of its Avengers days.
They’re trying to get things going again with Captain America: Brave New World, the first glimpse of Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) — formerly known as the Falcon — as the new Captain America. The film thrusts the audience right into the action, with Wilson on a mission to retrieve a MacGuffin stolen package for the U.S. government at the behest of President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). The two men continue to have a symbiotic relationship for the majority of the movie, with each needing the other and hating the fact that they do.
The main story of the film improbably (unwisely?) brings together two of the MCU’s least well-received films, 2008’s The Incredible Hulk and 2021’s The Eternals. Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), apparently holding a longtime grudge since the events of The Incredible Hulk, plays a big part, as does the Celestial Island, which was last seen at the end of The Eternals and not mentioned in any property since that time.
Directed by Julius Onah and written by Onah and four other screenwriters, the best that can be said for this return of the MCU is that Mackie makes for a compelling presence. The combining of the Captain America elements with his Falcon persona makes for some pretty good action, with the character showing off some unique moves. On the downside, though, he’s mostly facing off against anonymous henchmen, so most of his fight scenes feel repetitive and uninspired.
The story itself is a mishmash of characters that only hardcore Marvel/MCU fans will know, with barely any attempt at reintroducing them to a broad audience. Sidekick Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) and wronged super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) return from the Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, providing some levity and gravity, respectively. Having Sterns back in the mix is never explained properly, nor is how he is able to wield influence over a large number of people.
If there’s to be any lasting memory from this film, it’s the introduction of the (fictional) indestructible material adamantium into the MCU. Previously known from the X-Men universe as what was used to strengthen Wolverine’s skeleton and give him his claws, adamantium is now a prized discovery found in the Celestial Island that, like any valuable material, causes normally level-headed people to get into fights over it.
Mackie brings enough charm to his acting that he can ably act as the lead, something he hadn’t previously been asked to do in the MCU. Ford is fine; his years of experience make him a natural for playing another president, although the transformation his character undergoes is goofier than it needed to be. Nelson has to act from behind some truly hideous makeup and he feels one-note most of the time.
For the MCU to make it back to their previous standing atop the blockbuster landscape, they’re going to have to deliver much more interesting characters and stories than are present in Captain America: Brave New World. It might be time to consider stand-alone stories instead of ones that rely on information that many moviegoers have long since forgotten.
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Captain America: Brave New World opens in theaters on February 14.