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Film Review Tinashe Kusema
WELL, we are down to the final three weeks of the year and the next couple of days could shape and change the face of the movie business forever.
This is by no stretch of the imagination an exaggeration.
A lot of hype and promise has been placed on “Spiderman: No Way Home” and the fourth instalment in the “Matrix” movie franchise.
Add to that, the hugely anticipated sequel to 2016 smash hit “Sing”, the prequel to the Kingsman movies and December promises to be a month to remember. However, before we get to the nitty-gritties of what is in store, here is a quick little piece of trivia.
More than 200 new festive feature films and TV movies naming the holiday are listed on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) for release this year — a figure that has doubled since 2016 and quadrupled since 2011.
What this means is rather than engage in the timeless debate on whether the first two “Die Hard” movies qualify as Christmas movies, there are plenty of actual festive movies for you to indulge and binge on.
Back to business.
Arguably one of the most anticipated movies of the year, “Spiderman: No Way Home” will open festivities this week with local movie fans in for a treat.
The movie is slated for release on December 17 in the United States of America, but local movie fans will be able to watch it a day earlier.
Joina City Ster Kinekor complex manager Vicknos Charimba said: “We have Spiderman coming up next week (this week), pre-release is on December 16 and that is one of the major blockbusters coming out this month.”
“This movie alone should take us through the festive season, as everybody has been waiting for it. We have three cinemas in Zimbabwe (Sam Levy, Joina City and Bulawayo) and all the bases will be screening the movie as of December 16.
“There will be a première of the movie at Sam Levy, after which the movie will be screened every day until sometime in January,” he added.
“Spiderman: No way Home” director Jon Watts has been doing rounds trying to promote and build buzz for the movie calling it “Spiderman; Endgame”.
“We’re definitely trying to be ambitious,” Watts has been quoted saying.
“How ambitious? It’s ‘Spider-Man: Endgame’,” he said.
Much of the hype surrounding the movie revolves around the “multiverse” concept it is expected to usher. With Marvel and Sony now in good books, for the time being, at least, some of the characters from the old Spiderman movies will make their Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) debut.Already, Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius, Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Thomas Harden Church’s Sandman and Jamie Foxx’s Electro have been confirmed and appeared in the trailer.
How?
According to the plot details revealed by the trailer, with Peter Parker’s identity now public, the young web-slinger goes to seek help from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).
The two conjure up a spell aimed at erasing Parker’s identity from the world.
It goes wrong, opens up a portal during which many villains from different universes cross over.
The two team up and have to capture these bad people, so they can send them back and restore balance to the world.
There is also the never-ending hope, for lack of a better word, that the other two incarnations of the Spiderman character, Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield, will make an appearance either through a last-minute team-up or post-credit scene.
Spiderman is the only movie on the menu.
For the kids, “Sing 2” will be released on December 22 while the adults have “The Matrix Resurrections” and “The King’s Man” to look forward to on the same day.
Those into horror flicks, “A Nightmare on Elm Street” will be released on December 31.
Online Reporter