"Spider-Man, July 30 -- For the better part of four years, Marvel Studios has been trying to solve the wrong problem. The Infinity Saga closed, the multiverse opened, and what followed was a run of projects threading narrative complexity that audiences eventually stopped following as closely. On Wednesday evening, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios began finding out whether a different approach can bring them back.

Brand New Day," which opened in Amazon Prime early-access screenings Wednesday before a wide theatrical release Friday, arrived with something the MCU has been conspicuously short on lately: near-unanimous critical endorsement. Destin Daniel Cretton's film debuted at 90 percent Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes from 135 reviews...