There is just over one month until the release of film adaptation of the popular PlayStation game series Uncharted, and Sony Pictures have released an exclusive clip from the film as a new trailer. Starring Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Sully.
Street-smart thief Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to recover a fortune lost by Ferdinand Magellan 500 years ago. What starts as a heist job for the duo becomes a globe-trotting, white-knuckle race to reach the prize before the ruthless Moncada (Antonio Banderas), who believes he and his family are the rightful heirs. If Nate and Sully can decipher the clues and solve one of the world’s oldest mysteries, they stand to find $5 billion in treasure and perhaps even Nate’s long-lost brother…but only if they can learn to work together.
In the race to find the world’s greatest treasure, you have to watch your step. Find out what happens next in #UnchartedMovie, exclusively in cinemas February 18.
This has probably been one of the hardest films I have chosen to review and it after seeing it on its release I needed to time to process the experience because it left me feeling in a way, I honestly had not expected nor imagined I would feel. I had many questions heading into this film and somewhere answered and some were not. The problem for me is that some of those answers left me asking one question after I had seen The Matrix: Resurrections.
That question sadly is “Why did I not just see Spider-Man: No Way Home for a second time instead?” and it is one I am still asking now two weeks after seeing The Matrix: Resurrections. I did not enjoy this film and going by social media that is a feeling shared by far more than those who did enjoy the film. When it was announced that the series was being brought back after the original trilogy was resolved which left many fans either satisfied or disappointed. Now 20 years since The Matrix Revolutions closed that trilogy, I was intrigued to see how this universe could be refreshed for a whole new generation because I always felt it could as a fan of the original films, the video games and the animation and books that followed the story of The Matrix.
So, for me the question was never “why we had a new Matrix film on the big screen” but more how it would come back and how the original story could move forward enough to make it work in 2021. Naturally it also had to answer how it has brought back two main characters who died at the end of the last film with both Neo and Trinity shown in the trailers alive and well but back in the Matrix once more. To be fair to the story, their return was not only explained and justified but it made a lot of sense but the cost of it sadly led to why this film just threw me completely out of any immersion and left me not just disappointed but a little angry too.
That anger came in the form of the self-awareness that either made you wink back at the obvious attempt of the writing to acknowledge the criticisms of the original films or if like me, cringe in your seat and eyeroll for a good portion of the film. Being “Meta” is not always a bad thing especially in a film series based on enslaving humanity by making them believe the digital world their minds are in is the real world but here it just went so far past the “on the nose” limit for me personally. I can accept that Neo, now back to being Thomas Anderson has been made to believe that he is a video game designer responsible for creating The Matrix trilogy of games whilst believing he is still recovering from a mental breakdown where he believed The Matrix was real….like I said, you do give them some rope on this one. But where I had to draw the line was the moment, they mentioned Warner Brothers who wanted to make money from having a new Matrix Trilogy of games and Anderson being forced to work on them because “they will make them without you” anyway.
I was immediately thrown out of the story and the all the nods to what folks complained about with the original films just stuck out far too much to be able to get back into the story which also highlighted all the elements of this new film that failed to work for me as well. Maybe it was a mistake to rewatch the original films before seeing Resurrections and remembering what I did love about them because I was made to feel stupid for doing so thanks to the film mocking “bullet time” on more than one occasion and the part of the film and story where this could all be allowed, as Anderson’s “Game developer team” discuss the original “games” with most of the winking to the audience taking place here, just carried on far too much.
There was also no wow factor to any of the fight scenes, and having watched this in IMAX 2D, none of it just blew me away as it had done previously and certainly not helped by the change in filming style of quick cuts instead of long set pieces for the action which though the fights are not boring, they just left me rather flat as did the musical score that just lacks what the original films in the series had. The story itself comes down to the love between Neo and Trinity more than anything else, though it has a twist to the end that you can see coming from the halfway point in the film, and for all the story does explain there are still elements clearly left hanging to justify another sequel.
Despite not really enjoying nearly three quarters of the film, it does have some redeeming elements such as the new cast which certainly refreshes the character line up. Neil Patrick Harris is just superb in his role as The Analyst, the therapist working with Thomas Anderson, and he has a great sinister edge to his performance that leaves waiting to see what this character’s next move will be. Jonathon Groff as a returning Smith with a new look which isn’t explains satisfactory was a return, I felt was not necessary, whilst Groff brings a new take on the character, the story featuring Smith once again just fell flat for the most part. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as “Morpheus” for me is the weakest element just as having a returning Smith, having a “Morpheus” back just for the sake of having a constant reminder of the original character but not being the original character, it just does not work for the story makes it perfectly obvious that Neo only needs Trinity so by the end of the film, new Morpheus is forgettable.
The highlight is most definitely Jessica Henwick, who many may recognize from Colleen Wing from Netflix’s Iron Fist show in the role of Bugs, and her action scenes and introduction to the universe is absolutely the best part of Resurrections and gives me hope that the, should there be one, next Matrix film and story may work far better than this mess of exposition and recreating an origin story for two characters in Neo and Trinity that already served their purpose. This is a story that spends too much time passing commentary on the reception of the first films as well as trying to be so meta and self-aware of how bringing the film series back after so long will have fans reacting to it.
Overall there is enough that should this be the start of a new trilogy of Matrix films that the issues with this reintroduction could be fixed and a focus on new characters to drive the story could produce something good for fans but Resurrections has too many failings to justify a recommendation to go to the cinema and pay ticket prices to see it rather than watching it on home on your streaming service of choice, US had the chance to see this on HBO Max for example. I came away not enjoying it as much as I hoped to, perhaps summed up by what felt like a middle finger salute to the post credit scene of MARVEL MCU films as well with a right at the end of the credits scene that was simply lifted from an unfunny scene earlier in the film with a very unfunny joke that neither teased what could be next or helped send those who waited and hoped for something more home happy.
So, the answer to my question of “Why did I not just see Spider-Man: No Way Home for a second time instead?” is simply….I wish I had.
Spider-Man: No Way Home has to be the most anticipated MCU film release since Avengers: End Game, though it has only been two years since Spider-Man: Far From Home, so much has happened to build the next phase of the MCU now having introduced the Multiverse thanks to the excellent Disney Plus shows, that the MCU Spider-Man finds himself dealing with the repercussions to the ending of Far From Home and now straight into this new era for the MCU. So there is quite a lot riding on this film and thankfully, it nails every single thing it has to accomplish including being the best Spider-Man film….ever!
*This will be a NON-SPOILER REVIEW, only references will be to trailers already released and my overall reaction and thoughts to the film*
This is going to be a rather difficult review to write just because so much of the story is in spoiler country with its many surprises and turns in the 2hrs 24-minute run time of ‘No Way Home’. Make no mistakes, this is a film you will want to see as soon as you are able too because once the spoilers do make it out there, it will lessen the experience of seeing it, one of the big reasons I will not be going into any for this review as there are surprises you might be expecting, some already hinted at and some you might not see coming but they should all be enjoyed as intended, by watching the film.
With that all said, ‘No Way Home’ is a tapestry of a variety of objectives which it manages to complete close to perfectly. This is a large scale MCU film which could fail if any of the components needed to make it all work suffer a misstep, happily the pacing and delivery of everything this story needs to accomplish works so well. The trailers all indicate a massive ensemble and coming together of characters across the Sony big screen Spider-Verse with multiple ‘Classic’ villains all being shown bridging the other two Sony Pictures Spider-Man films and the reveal of Doctor Octopus, originally played by the brilliant Alfred Milano confronting the Tom Holland Spider-Man gave me goosebumps.
We do need to start at the beginning which ironically actually begins with the ending of ‘Far From Home’, with Mysterio’s video revealing to the world that Peter Parker is Spider-Man and No Way Home literally begins in the moments of that reveal as Peter swoops up MJ who is being hounded by a crowd with questions about her relationship with Spider-Man. The opening really is the fallout from the reveal and how Peter is trying to handle this world now knowing who he is, judging him for the events of ‘Far From Home’ as Spider-Man and the impact being Spider-Man has on the life of Peter Parker and his friends and family. As seen in the trailers, this forces Peter to go to Dr Strange to ask for his magical help to undo the damage done by Mysterio’s revenge.
The Spell Doctor Strange offers to help Peter undo the mess he has found himself in, one that would make the entire world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, does not go well mainly due to Peter constantly asking strange to adjust it which causes Strange to instead contain the spell before it can do harm to the world except, it still manages to pull into the world however, the villains known to fans from the other Spider-Man films. This moment, whilst shown in the trailers, is still immediate and in my cinema screening received an audible reaction from the audience, something that would indeed happen multiple times during the film, which is again, why I am choosing not to spoil those very moments in this review.
Now there is a lot of fan service in ‘No Way Home’ as you would expect, and so many of the twists and turns in the story do rely on the fan service of the audience knowing the other Spider-Man films to know who these villains are and why they are important. It would be very much fair to say this is story where you should not focus on the ‘Who and the What’ but the ‘How and the Why’. Knowing who is in this film is not as important as learning how they are here and why, and in doing so you do start to see how the bigger picture of setting up more of the MCU progress into the Multiverse, brilliantly explored and started in the Disney Plus shows Wandavision and Loki in terms of Doctor Strange who admits that the Multiverse is still a relatively unknown factor, to him at least. Doctor Strange being the vehicle to explain how the events in ‘No Way Home’ happen is more about introducing the Multiverse to him as he himself moves to his own next big screen story in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’. We learn more about him as well and it is easy to forget that he himself was snapped out of existence during Infinity War and how his world was impacted by that, something that goes to explain why we saw so much of Wong in ‘Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’.
The one thing that is not lost in the scale of this massive story, however, is Peter’s journey and this is by far the most Peter Parker story yet in the MCU. In ‘Home Coming’ we saw a Peter Parker in the early months of having his powers, having been thrown into the Civil War battle of the Avengers and now trying to live up to what he feels is expected from him as a hero and Avenger all under the watchful eye of Tony Stark. In ‘Far from Home’ we see a Peter Parker now having to deal with the loss of Tony Stark and the legacy laid before him but still sent out on a mission by ‘Nick Fury’ which leads to more growth in him as a character before Mysterio drops the big bombshell. To this point, we have seen a Peter Parker trying to find his place in the world as himself and as Spider-Man and very much a Spider-Man almost defined by the people around him, especially other heroes with Peter constantly looking for guidance and acceptance.
But this story, is Peter Parker following his heart, his view of what a hero means even when it comes into conflict with someone as powerful and known as Doctor Strange. We finally get to see this Peter Parker truly soul searching at pivotal moments of the story in amongst all the usual comedy moments and light hearted scenes and we do get to see Peter as he is going to be from this point on, this trilogy of big screen stories really have been a true hero’s journey for him and I am so pleased that this very much remains the core of this film, never overshadowed by ensemble of iconic villains and is just about a kid trying to do the right thing for the people he cares about most. MJ has grown so much from the grumpy teenage love interest to someone Peter fully relies on for his emotional center whilst Ned, though still the comic relief at times, is the friend he can always turn too. This group has grown so much from ‘Home Coming’ and this film is truly the payoff for them all. Both Zendaya and Jacob Batalon have grown just as much as actors as their characters have, which along with Tom Holland, showing a maturity in their performances across the MCU Spider-Man films.
Coming out of the cinema and my mind was just racing and I had a massive smile on my face which I could not say was the same reaction with the first two MCU Spider-Man films. There is so much in this that I fully recommend seeing it as soon as you can. The action sequences are just incredible, which is why I fully intend to see this on IMAX after Christmas, the effects are amazing and the MCU update to the villains all make sense and work without changing too much about them that their original fans will notice and dislike. Seeing the Villains get a second chance on the big screen was satisfying, not just because of how their actors deliver more great performances with Jaime Foxx as Electro able to add more of himself to the role and William Defoe just stealing the screen as captivating as Green Goblin as ever. I am still in awe of just how much is in this film, how much is pays tribute to the character of Spider-Man across the different films but also in getting the MCU further into the new phase and not dropping the ball on any of it.
This has been a hard review to write and for a very good reason, this is a fantastic Spider-Man film and story, it is a brilliant MCU film, and it is a standout MARVEL film as well. There really are no negatives to talk about. I want everyone to have the same experience I had of watching this and enjoyed each surprise as it came on screen and to spoil that for anyone would be cruel. I will say this, if you are reading this and you have been on the fence about seeing this film either because you think you know or sadly have had some of the surprises spoiled for you, I implore you to still go see this film because it is just a great cinema experience that will be one of the more memorable MCU event films yet. Seeing how they pull this off and how it all comes together really does complete a journey for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, a character that many thought would never be in the MCU due to Sony owning the license to the character and even more following the scare that the deal was over.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is one of those films, like Winter Soldier, Infinity War and End Game that fans will study for years to come, it delivers on the expectations and manage to allay any concerns I had about it as I headed into the screening. It certainly is a must watch for MCU fans but also for fans of all Spider-Man films on the big screen, a fantastic watch to end 2021 on and the setup for the MCU Adventures to come, especially for its Spider-Man is very bright indeed!
From visionary filmmaker Lana Wachowski comes “The Matrix Resurrections,” the long-awaited fourth film in the groundbreaking franchise that redefined a genre. The new film reunites original stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in the iconic roles they made famous, Neo and Trinity.
The trailer is full of nostalgia moments for fans of the original Trilogy with some interesting teases to explain who Neo is back in the MATRIX alongside Trinity who do not seem to recognise each other yet feel a strong connection. We also appear to see a much younger Morpheous still character along side the now iconic Red and Blue pill decision and brand new Agents leaving many unanswered questions about what has happened since MATRIX Revolutions!
Lana Wachowski directed from a screenplay by Wachowski & David Mitchell & Aleksander Hemon, based on characters created by The Wachowskis. The film was produced by Grant Hill, James McTeigue and Lana Wachowski. The executive producers were Garrett Grant, Terry Needham, Michael Salven, Jesse Ehrman and Bruce Berman.
The film also stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (the “Aquaman” franchise) Jessica Henwick (TV’s “Iron Fist,” “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”), Jonathan Groff (“Hamilton,” TV’s “Mindhunter”), Neil Patrick Harris (“Gone Girl”), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (TV’s “Quantico,”), Christina Ricci (TV’s “Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story,” “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles”), Telma Hopkins (TV’s “Dead to Me,”), Eréndira Ibarra (series “Sense8,” “Ingobernable”), Toby Onwumere (TV’s “Empire”), Max Riemelt (series “Sense8”), Brian J. Smith (series “Sense8,” “Treadstone”), and Jada Pinkett Smith (“Angel Has Fallen,” TV’s “Gotham”).
The Matrix Resurrections only in cinemas December 22, 2021. #TheMatrixMovie
Following quite a huge spoilery leak of “a” trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home over the weekend, MARVEL and Sony Pictures have finally released the official Teaser trailer for the film, although this is not what was leaked but it does give us a better idea of what sets up the events in the film:
My thoughts….
At some point, I really do hope that Sony Pictures takes more care over the Spider-Man property in terms of the MCU as each of the films has had big spoilery moments surrounding them from Tom Holland leaking stuff as per a marketing plan or dropping a trailer for Spider-Man far from home during the time between Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. Now before this trailer we have had reveals of costumes and characters thanks to toy lines and Pop Funko reveals so before this teaser trailer we already knew the story will further the Multiverse setting for Phase 4 of the MCU and there will be a lot of threads brought together in No Way Home in order to set up the next Dr Strange film “Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” as well as explaining how Wong will be seen fighting The Abomination in Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” which releases in the UK in just two weeks as well as other Multiverse aspects set up with Disney Plus shows Wandavision and Loki.
The trailer does indicate that the story will pick up directly after the ending to Far from Home which saw Mysterio revealing to the world that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, an event that seemingly impacts all of Peter’s life and those around him, making him seek out Dr Strange in order to cast a spell to make everyone forget the reveal and undoing what Mysterio did. Now it is obviously that this teaser trailer has events happening in a different order than we will see in the film itself such as Peter going to Strange and then a possible battle which sees Strange chasing Peter as Spider-Man through the Mirror Verse, something we saw a lot of in the first Dr Strange Film.
Now, so much has been made about the fact that this story will also feature other Spider-Men from other Sony Spidey film franchises such as Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield, although Garfield has denied and gone out of his way to try and claim that he was never approached and yet….villains from their films are teased in this trailer as we see a Pumpkin Bomb from William Defoe’s Green Goblin as well as Alfred Milina’s Doctor Octopus, both from the Toby Maguire series. We also know that Jamie Foxx is returning as Electro, a villain from the last ill fated Andrew Garfield “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” film. Now we do not see the other Spider-Man characters from those universes but this is only a Teaser Trailer, despite all the leaks, this reveal is no doubt being saved for the full trailer.
I am looking forward to No Way Home as it will set up the Multiverse for Phase 4 for the first time on the big screen, building on the work done by the Disney Plus shows as it is unlikely to have Shang Chi be used to do this. There is obvious influences from the comic book world of Spider-Man as well and I would suggest reading “One More Day” and “One Moment in time” of comic books if you are interested in seeing some of those influences before the film comes out in December in time for Christmas as No Way Home is currently set for a December 17th release in Cinemas.
For more information make sure to follow the official Twitter account for all things Spider-Man here!
Watch the brand new trailer for Marvel Studios’ “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and experience it only in theatres September 3rd 2021!
Featuring Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), a young Super Hero whose journey of self-discovery unfolds in this never-before-seen origin story. Destin Daniel Cretton, the film’s director and one of the writers, is excited to bring Shang-Chi’s story to the big screen. “Shang-Chi’s main problem in his life is rooted in not knowing who he really is,” says Cretton. “He has to learn how to own every part of himself. If he doesn’t allow himself to look at all of it—the good, the bad, the light and the dark—and to own it all, he won’t be able to reach his full potential.”
Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings follows Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization. The film also stars Tony Leung as Wenwu, Awkwafina as Shang-Chi’s friend Katy and Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, as well as Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, and Ronny Chieng.
Shang-Chi’s journey is told with stunning visuals, the MCU’s signature spectacle, and displays of mind-blowing action, along with the talents of a diverse, stellar cast and a relatable story. The film is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and produced by Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz, with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and Charles Newirth serving as executive producers. David Callaham & Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham wrote the screenplay for the film.
The now fully meme’d truth that Tom Holland is incapable of keeping any of the MCU secrets, has been used to great effect once again to finally reveal the name for the third Sony Pictures/ MARVEL Studios Spider-Man film:
Last night on social media, the cast using their own accounts started teasing “fake titles” for the fim, something referenced in the above video which you can see by looking at the whiteboard of titles which has the true “No Way Home” title.
Due to some confusion between the three Spider-Man stars and their uncoordinated attempt at a title reveal, we now have an actual answer to, “what’s the new Spider-Man movie called?” And it’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Not “Spider-Man: Phone Home,” not “Spider-Man: Home-Wrecker,” and certainly not “Spider-Man: Home Slice” — even though they all sound very fun, they are all very incorrect. In the video, you can see where this kerfuffle all started between Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon, leading to a talk with returning Spider-Man director Jon Watts. Holland, befuddled as to why, once again, he doesn’t have the correct info, asks why people keep feeding him misinformation!
What is more is that we also have a release date for Spider-Man: No Way Home Arrives , which will be in theaters on December 17, 2021….which is rather optimistic considering current Pandemic concerns still across the globe so will have to keep an eye on how Sony Pictures will stick to this release date for cinemas.
With real world event COVID still having an impact everywhere, the constant delays to movie releases especially to Black Widow has very much been a subject of many conversation including a possible release via Disney Plus similar to how Mulan live action film had been released recently. But tonight MARVEL and Disney released the following news update to explain how Black Widow and other titles that were planned to be the first phase of post Avenger’s Infinity Stone Saga was due to kick off.
The Walt Disney Company has announced an updated release schedule, which includes titles from Marvel Studios’ live-action film slate for Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios’ Black Widow, Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Marvel Studios’ Eternals have all received new theatrical openings for the United States.
Black Widow will now land in theaters on May 7, 2021. In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings arrives in theaters on July 9, 2021. Simu Liu stars in the titular role as Shang-Chi, alongside Awkwafina and Tony Leung in a film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.
Eternals opens in theaters on November 5, 2021. Eternals features an exciting new team of Super Heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the Eternals are ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years. Following the events of Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame, an unexpected tragedy forces them out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s most ancient enemy, The Deviants.
Want to stay on top of everything in the Marvel Universe? Follow Marvel on social media—Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram—and keep watching Marvel.com for more news!
In sad news that broke overnight, shocking and breaking the hearts of all his fans, Chadwick Boseman, perhaps best known for his role of Black Panther to MARVEL Cinematic Universe fans, passed away at the age of 43 from Colon Cancer, something he had been secretly battling for the last 4 years. His family made the announcement via his Twitter:
Boseman came to prominence playing real-life figures – baseball great Jackie Robinson in 2013’s 42, and soul singer James Brown in 2014’s Get on Up.However, it will be as the titular Black Panther in the blockbuster 2018 film he will be best remembered.
Boseman stars as the ruler of Wakanda, a fictional African nation with the most advanced technology on earth. Boseman said last year that the film had changed what it means to be “young, gifted and black”.
This news is shocking, to know that from Captain America: Civil War to Avengers Endgame he must been under treatment, just that strength of character to carry on performing in that iconic role of Black Panther as well as his other body of work just makes this even more heartbreaking.
Thoughts and love to his family and friends, as well as fans of his work no doubt in shock over his passing.
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