Peter James Mann
The Movies are (mostly) Back!
The kids are going back to school and the leaves are changing. Summer has, officially, left the building. But that doesn’t mean the movies are taking a break! The lineup for this year looks great and there are so many great projects coming out, whether in theaters, streaming, or both! Here’s the films we’re most excited about!
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
The Disney Press Machine is in full swing for Shang-Chi, so the likelihood that you DON’T know this movie is out this weekend is super low. Watching the trailer and preview clips, I’ve seen references to Jackie Chan films, American Ninja, John Wick, Fantastical elements like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Peking Opera film elements…Can you tell I’m excited?
We’ll be following Shang-Chi as he tries to live a normal life and move on from his past, and his father. But when The Mandarin calls for his son, he has no choice but to answer.
I’ll be seeing this however I can this weekend. I don’t care if I have to watch it on my phone (although that is definitely the worst case scenario for me).
No Time to Die
The final film with Daniel Craig playing the world’s #1 spy, James Bond, will finally be in theaters this fall. There have been several obstacles the film has had to overcome to get to this point. A major injury to Daniel Craig, Danny Boyle leaving the project, and of course the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Taking place after Spectre, James Bond is called back into action to fight a new threat to the world.
But I still have high hopes for this one! We have Rami Malik playing a mysterious villain, very little plot details have come out, and we might get to see the handoff to our next 007. If any movie has a chance of sticking the landing after all of the production issues they’ve had, it’s No Time to Die.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
The only Spider-Man characters I liked growing up were Venom and Carnage. Both symptoms of the over censorship of previous decades in the comic book industry, Venom and Carnage were crazy to a kid like me. Stories like theirs, where the monster is really the central character, were so different and unique. It made me sympathize with them.
So I was a tiny bit disappointed by the last Venom film. While I loved Eddie Brock and the interaction between him and Venom, along with the little interactions we got with random people, the villain was really the weakest point for me.
But Carnage being the villain?! And it’s Woody Harrilson?! Natural Born Killers Woody Harrilson?! I think we got a winner here for October!
Eddie Brock is trying to do a piece of a famous serial killer. But when the prisoner bites and sucks some of Eddie’s blood, he gets a piece of the symbiote in him, creating a red monster named Carnage.
Dune
The novel by Frank Herbert is one of three books I actually sat up and read non stop until I was done. And while the David Lynch film adaptation has moments of Lynchian brilliance, it also falls flat in a lot of places. The use of internal whispering thoughts throughout the film is just distracting, even if it is all from the book.
But I am much more confident with David Vellinue behind the camera and script. The fact that they are splitting the movie into two parts makes me feel even better. I think most of the cast are spot on for their characters and that the visual grandiosity of the trailer matches the epicness of the book so well.
The plot of the film is said to follow closely to the novel, but where it decides to end and split is anyone’s guess.
I’ll be suiting up to traverse Dune this October.
The French Dispatch
Okay, this one is 100 percent for me. I’m a massive Wes Anderson Stan. He is one of those directors that has ascended into the realm of the Auteur, where he has his own style and voice and cadence in every one of his films. Each frame you see is undeniably Wes Anderson.
The movie is actually a collection of short films each centering around one of these reporters. It definitely looks like it will be one of his more obscure films, which makes me more excited to see it in a way.
Timothy Chalamet is also in this film, and it comes out the same day as Dune. While I don’t think that’s a coincidence, I also think it’s interesting that he is literally in the position to destroy his other project. 2021 will also be one of those bizarro years I guess…
Eternals
This ensemble cast is what interests me the most about this film. Most of the actors are out of left-field for me to be in any Marvel film, let alone with source material like the Eternals. Much like The Guardians of The Galaxy, the Eternals are going to be new for most people, me included.
The film goes over the origins of the Eternals, their purpose, their place in our history, and what they have to fight next. It is, in many ways, your standard origin movie.
However, I can’t wait to dive in and see how this fits into the larger Marvel universe. I do think it’s a bit of an issue that they are this powerful and don’t get involved, but we’ll see how the writers handle that outside of the line in the trailer this November.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
The movie that ends this Fall preview list is also the one who’s trailer that made me cry a couple of weeks ago. This is unexpectedly a love letter, and goodbye, to writer/director Jason Retiman’s father, Ivan. The latter is who also played Igor in the original two films.
The film takes place after the death of Igor as his family inherit his property and equipment. But, as it turns out, they’re exactly what the world needs to stop a ghostly apocalypse.
The acting and cast makes this feel like it belongs in the Stranger Things universe (unsurprising, especially with Finn Wolfhard here). I think that this will end up being an unexpected hit when it comes out this November.
Well, what do you think of our list? Do you agree or disagree? Any movies you’re excited about that you think we missed? Let us know below!
See you next time!
