Welcome to the BRAG’s weekly rundown of what’s hot in the coming seven days of cinematic releases. My mind is kinda on next week, as my favourite director is making his triumphant return to the big screen… but enough about that, this week has plenty of action, too!
In fact, Marvel fanboys/fangirls/fanothers have a lot of reason to celebrate, as this week sees them reunited with their own favourite hero; for the less comic-inclined, there’s juicy new horror, compelling foreign thrillers and a documentary for just about everyone.
Enjoy!
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Spider-Man: Homecoming
RT: 93%
With any other film, the subtitle Homecoming would implicitly place this tale in a US high-schooler’s senior year; and while that may be the case, every Marvel fan knows there’s a less-than-subtle double meaning intended. This is Spider-Man’s glorious feature-length welcome to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after his surprise appearance in last year’s Captain America: Civil War. And, thank fuck, we don’t have to watch Uncle Ben die again!
The young Peter Parker (Tom Holland) desperately wants to join the Avengers, but Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is vehemently opposed. When a new threat emerges in the form of Vulture (Michael Keaton), a villain aiming to use alien weaponry against the Avengers, Spidey has to find a balance between playing hero and maintaining his school life.
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Holland has already been touted as the best Spider-Man yet, but the really glorious thing here is the stroke of genius that is casting Michael Keaton as a literal Birdman. Once again, Marvel’s sense of humour saves them from wandering the same dour, self-destructive path down which DC took Superdude and the Bats. Spider-Man may not officially be “back”-back, but he’s back. And a little control wrested out of Sony’s hands is not such a bad thing.
tl;dr “See? There you go, you motherfucker. Gravity doesn’t even apply to you.”
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Chicken People
While this could be the premise for the horror movie of the century, it is instead aiming to be documentary of the year. Imagine Best In Show, but for chickens. No shit. These people are competing to breed, train and display the perfect chicken. And the Yanks are not alone in this regard…
While most see chickens as a source of food, these folks seem them as the source of all beauty. Everything is factored in, from wingspan to feather softness to posture. These are the finest chickens to have ever walked this earth, and those with the passion to raise them are nearly as oddball as the judges, photographers and punters assembling to witness their splendour.
In all honesty, Nicole Lucas Haime‘s flick looks immensely charming, and if it’s done with the right tone – treating its subjects as real human beings without using their oddness for cheap laughs – it could well stand among the best of its field. It will certainly prove a more feelgood entry than this year’s other contenders.
tl;dr Pecking Order looks even better, but either way…
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It Comes At Night
RT: 87%
Something very, very bad has happened to the world; enough to make Paul (Joel Edgerton) isolate himself and his family to a ramshackle abode in the forest. But safety may have a cost – another family desperately seeking shelter stumbles on the cabin, and Paul is forced to decide what he will and won’t sacrifice to safeguard those he loves.
It sounds about as common as post-apocalyptic horror goes, but the acclaim it’s picked up puts It Comes At Night in the same strata as the similarly titled It Follows. This dread-soaked chiller from the Edgerton brothers’ Animal Kingdom is a big step away from director Trey Edward Shult‘s previous feature Krisha, a dramedy about family and absence – just as It Follows was a leap into genre for its director, David Robert Mitchell.
And like so much of the best horror, it’s reliant as much on what you don’t see as what you do. The terrors your mind collates as your eyes search through the darkness are part and parcel to the experience. Basically, this is not your feelgood-hit-of-the-summer; it’s more like your classic doomsday prepper’s ‘told-you-so’ tale.
tl;dr tfw you gotta protect yo kids
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Mom
Mom is intentionally being released on July 7, 2017 to coincide with an auspicious anniversary for its lead actress, Indian superstar Sridevi. It marks the 50-year anniversary of her first day on a film set, and Mom is her 300th film.
Let that sink in. This woman, since the age of four, has appeared in, on average, six films every year since 1967. From 1980-1982, she was starring in more than ten films a year. Kinda makes the word ‘prolific’ a tad redundant, right?
Mom sees Sridevi playing Devki, a role not dissimilar to Joel Edgerton’s above – what will she do to keep the love of her daughter Arya (Pakistani actress Sajal Ali) when a rift opens between them? If the trailer is to be believed, “anything” could mean something truly disturbing.
tl;dr 300 films. In 50 years.
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Our Time Will Come
And now, let’s journey back to a time before Sridevi had even made one movie. Back to a time when… ah fuck, when the Japanese were invading Hong Kong and, ah jeez, I didn’t think this would be so intense.
Our Time Will Come is celebrated Hong Kong director Ann Hui‘s testament to everyday people rising under extraordinary circumstances, as well as an insight into life in a city under siege. Update the setting (and the weaponry), and it could well be Aleppo.
This is not a ‘glorious war movie’ in the vein of Gibson-esque propaganda, but a slow-burning story about schoolteacher Fang Gu (Zhou Xun) and her transformation into a resistance fighter. Given Hui’s experience, style and perspective, it sounds absolutely fascinating.
tl;dr It’s gonna take all of this schoolteacher’s courage to fight off all these lizards.
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And now for THE VERDICT – maybe you only get to see one of these flicks on the big screen, and you don’t wanna waste that night out. So, drum roll please…
This is a very cool, very diverse range of releases… and I hate to go for the marquee blockbuster… especially against a horror movie… but I kinda feel like Tom Holland has earned my respect. Welcome home, Spidey – this week’s pick is Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Until next week!
