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Spider Man: Homecoming, Mad Max: Fury Road, and More – The Weekend Chill

Spider-Man: Homecoming, Mad Max: Fury Road, and More – The Weekend Chill

By Akhil Arora | Updated: 7 July 2017 13:00 IST

Highlights

Spider-Man: Homecoming is out Friday worldwide
Mad Max: Fury Road was one of the best films of 2015
Interstellar is now on Netflix

Last Friday, 20th Century Fox set six new release dates for untitled Marvel films between 2019 and 2021. We don’t have any idea what these films will be, but they’ll mostly be a combination of X-Men, Deadpool, Fantastic Four, and Gambit. Those six are in addition to next year’s line-up: The New Mutants on April 13, Deadpool 2 on June 1, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix on November 2. In related news, Evan Peters’ Quicksilver will be back in Dark Phoenix.

Later that day on a livestream, Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland revealed that the long-awaited third season would begin on July 30, along with a new trailer. It’s technically not the premiere since Adult Swim played an anti-April Fool’s Day prank and screened the first episode without telling anyone, on April 1.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is releasing worldwide Friday, but producer Amy Pascal has already started talking about the film’s sequel, scheduled for July 5, 2019. In an interview with Fandom, she said it would “start a few minutes after Avengers 4 wraps as a story”, which means the film will most likely deal with the fallout of whatever happens to the characters around Spider-Man.

The start of the week brought word on the start of the production for the Fantastic Beasts sequel, which will be partly set in Paris. We already knew about Jude Law becoming Albus Dumbledore, but the announcement also confirms the return of the original’s quartet. New cast members include Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, William Nadylam, Ingvar Sigurdsson, and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson. Fantastic Beasts 2 arrives November 16, 2018.

Oscar winner Mahershala Ali is in talks to play the lead role in the third season of True Detective, according to a new report. The show had a stellar first season thanks to compelling writing and work of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, but it turned out to be a major disappointment in season two. Time will tell if HBO decides to bring it back.

Assassin’s Creed is getting an original anime story, Castlevania and Dredd producer Adi Shankar revealed in a Facebook post on Wednesday. There are no further details on the show yet, but the poor reception for the Michael Fassbender-starring feature film doesn’t seem to have perturbed Ubisoft in the slightest.

That’s all the entertainment news for this week. Welcome back to The Weekend Chill, your one-stop destination for what to watch, play, or listen to this weekend. Here are the best picks:

Movies:
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Post a brief appearance in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland reprises his role as Peter Parker/ Spider-Man in a standalone adventure that marks the second reboot for the web-slinger in five years. He’s much younger this time around – high school sophomore year – and he’s still coming to grips with his newfound identity and abilities.

After having an amazing time with the Avengers, Peter wants more than just going about his normal routine of attending classes, building 3,000-piece Lego Death Stars, and leave messages for Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) with his assistant Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Feeling ignored and left out, he tries to become a hero and bites off more than he can chew, in the form of Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton).

Directed by Jon Watts, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a stellar entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After the disappointment of Spiderman 3 and the failure of The Amazing Spider-Man duology, this reincarnation of Spidey understands what the hero is all about, and gives him a memorable outing.

How to access: Out in cinema halls
Time commitment: 2 hours and 13 minutes

Mad Max: Fury Road
Winner of six Academy Awards and considered as one of the best action films ever made, George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road is the fourth instalment in the franchise he began in the late 1970s. The film is set in a future post-apocalyptic desert wasteland where civilisation has collapsed due to a nuclear holocaust, making gas and water hard to come by.

After Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) escapes with the women chosen for breeding, Max (Tom Hardy) joins her forces to help them get away after making his own escape. What ensues is a lengthy crazy road battle across the desert, involving all sorts of modified vehicles, sand-storms, and a guitar that shoots out flames.

Blending Westerns with a story of feminist revolt and taking back control, Fury Road is a rare film that manages to be an exciting action flick while driving home its various themes. And it’s now easily available to stream, so you don’t have to fork on the Blu-ray.

How to access: Netflix
Time commitment: 2 hours

Star Trek Beyond
When JJ Abrams rebooted Star Trek's cinematic franchise in 2009, it was well received by most. The follow-up - 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness - didn't do as well with the critics, as its needless inclusion of one of the series' greatest villains, Khan Noonein Singh, pissed off many. With Star Trek Beyond, the directorship passes onto Justin Lin, who is most famous for his work on four out of the seven Fast and Furious films.

Beyond adds a couple of newcomers - Idris Elba and Sofia Boutella - to its existing cast of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, and John Cho. The film sees them crash-land on an alien planet that lures them to it. After they lose their ship, the team is split up and must figure out a way to get out alive.

Star Trek Beyond is everything the original TV series was in combination with the CGI expertise of today. Plus, it pays a lovely tribute to both Leonard Nimoy (who first played Spock, and passed away in 2015), and Yelchin, who played Chekhov in the reboot series and died in a freak accident last year.

How to access: Amazon Prime Video
Time commitment: 2 hours

Deepwater Horizon
If the name didn’t click, Deepwater Horizon is based on the 2010 infamous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that caused the death of 11 crewmen on the rig, lasting impact on the marine and wildlife habitats in the surrounding areas, and released oily material which was found on beaches even in 2013. The rig’s operator, BP, was held responsible for the damages, and has paid over $60 million in settlements.

The film takes a much narrower look at the environmental tragedy, focusing on the people involved on the rig and how their lives changed because of the events. With an ensemble cast of Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien and Kate Hudson, and directed by Peter Berg (Lone Survivor), Deepwater Horizon looks at the actions of the men on board and how they saved lives.

How to access: Amazon Prime Video
Time commitment: 1 hour and 39 minutes

Sully
A straightforward biopic that didn’t fall into the trend of glorifying its subject, Sully didn’t get enough attention when it released. Director Clint Eastwood tells the story of the ''Miracle on the Hudson'', when US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger – played by Tom Hanks – had to ditch his aircraft onto the Hudson River after a flock of geese took out both engines of the plane.

The film focuses more on what followed after, as an investigation into his actions and life threatened to destroy his reputation even as the media and the public were heralding him for his courage and skill. It’s based on Sullenberger’s autobiography, Highest Duty.

Tom Stern shot the film mostly with digital IMAX cameras, and the film also stars Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Anna Gunn, Autumn Reeser, Holt McCallany, Mike O'Malley, Jamey Sheridan, and Jerry Ferrara in supporting roles. The film was well-received by most critics, but courted flak for its portrayal of the US aviation safety board.

How to access: Amazon Prime Video
Time commitment: 1 hour and 36 minutes

Interstellar
After finishing The Dark Knight trilogy (along with Inception) that made him a household name, Christopher Nolan made this space epic set in a dystopian future, about a former NASA pilot (Matthew McConaughey) who leaves his family to find a new world for humanity. Nolan wanted to explore the father-daughter relationship through an interstellar journey, being inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Mirror among others.

Nolan co-wrote the film with his brother Jonathan (Westworld), co-produced with his wife Emma Thomas, and involved composer Hans Zimmer and physicist Kip Thorne from an early stage. The film had an ensemble cast that includes Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Matt Damon, Michael Caine, John Lithgow, Casey Affleck, and David Oyelowo in addition to McConaughey.

Interstellar was praised for its sci-fi themes and its dedication to scientific accuracy, along with the performances of the cast, visual effects, and Zimmer’s score. It was criticised for losing the human drama amidst the science, and being overly sentimental in other moments.

How to access: Netflix
Time commitment: 2 hours and 49 minutes

Other mentions:
It’s been a light week for new releases, but if you’re looking for even more streaming options, you should check out our Netflix guide for July. As always, the streaming service added a ton of new content at the start of the month, and there’s something in there for everyone.

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Further reading: Netflix, Interstellar, Star Trek Beyond, Mad Max Fury Road, Fantastic Beasts, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, MCU, Rick and Morty, Marvel, Fox, The Weekend Chill, Spider Man, Spider Man Homecoming, X Men