A new coming of age movie is heading to Paramount Plus later this month featuring some familiar genre favorites. Christopher Mintz-Plasse has come a long way from earning a police ride from a fake ID as McLovin in Superbad and starring as the angry young villain of the Kick-Ass movie series. Or has he? In Honor Society, he’s now a high school teacher although his style makes him seem like a grown-up incarnation of his Superbad teen. But the lead of the story is Aussie actress Angourie Rice, co-star of the MCU’s Spider-Man movies and The Nice Guys, breaking the fourth wall and taking charge in a very Clueless/Emma fashion as a senior trying to manipulate everyone around her to get an easy path into Harvard next term, despite already being one of the smartest students in her high school. Part of her plan is taking out (in both uses of the term) a fellow smart student played by Stranger Things’Gaten Matarazzo.
If you like coming of age flicks like Orange County, which also focused on a teen trying to get into college, this may be something you’ll want to check out. Here’s the first trailer for Honor Society:
In the new Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Tom Holland′s Peter Parker is trying to recover from the death of mentor Tony Stark in the final scenes of Avengers: Endgame. He’s trying to take a break from literally saving the planet by going on a summer trip with his classmates to Paris. And he’s trying to let Zendaya′s MJ know that he cares about her. So it’s too bad Samuel L. Jackson′s Nick Fury is trying to get his help as the only Avenger available to take out a new inter-dimensional threat–a threat from world-destroying giants called The Elementals. Spider-Man: Far From Home, which opened in theaters nationwide this weekend, is Holland’s fifth outing as Peter Parker, after Captain America: Civil War,Spider-Man: Homecoming,Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, and Spidey fans will be happy. Holland continues to give the best performances of any actor to don a Spidey suit (he wears a few new great versions in this film thanks to designer Anna B. Sheppard). He’s also as established in the MCU as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine–Holland is Spider-Man.
But the supporting characters and actors are equally superb. At the top, Zendaya has carved out her own fantastic MJ/Mary Jane for the MCU, much more integral to who Spidey is than the character from the past two trilogies. Holland continues to convey that teen uncertainty and lack of confidence, while slipping in the word “awesome” every few minutes to acknowledge he’s seeing all the cool things going on around him that the audience sees. New to the MCU, Jake Gyllenhaal creates another memorable character after excellent work in films like Donnie Darko and Source Code with the new power-wielding Mysterio. Gyllenhall brings equal gravitas and charm to Michael Keaton’s Vulture as seen in the last Spider-Man solo outing. And Angourie Rice really has a stand-out performance compared to when we last saw her, playing high schooler Betty, a new close friend to Ned (Jacob Batalon)–together they make a fun duo and solid coming of age movie sidebar to the film.
How does this compare to Spider-Man: Homecoming? It’s hard to believe that incredible reboot film was in theaters only two years ago. Screenwriter Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have inked both Spider-Man films plus the script for Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Homecoming still nudges out the others as the tightest story of the group. But Spider-Man: Far From Home is a great follow-up, easily combining with the 2017 film to create the best two side-by-side solo films in the entire decade-plus run of the MCU. No two back-to-back Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Guardians, Ant-Man or Avengers movies surpass what director Jon Watts has done with these two films. Spider-Man has always been Marvel Comics’ #1 superhero, so it’s about time the movies at last reflect that popularity.
Amazing? Definitely. Spectacular? Absolutely. Tom Holland, who stole the show in the key battle of last year’s Captain America: Civil War, has provided the definitive, and yes, the ultimate Spider-man performance in this weekend’s latest Marvel masterwork, Spider-man: Homecoming. And Holland is equally good, if not better, without the suit as angst-ridden, overburdened teenager and Spider-man alter ego, Peter Parker. Kids of all ages who ever envisioned the ultimate battle between Spider-man and Batman get their satisfaction here, too: Michael Keaton, in one of his best performances in decades, creates out of an obscure character one of the best supervillain performances to hit the big screen, complete with high-tech bat wings and the classic Keaton we all love to watch.
Moviegoers have seen good efforts from Marvel creating the comic book empire’s flagship, web-slinging superhero before, with Tobey Maguire in three Spider-man solo films and Andrew Garfield in two follow-up Amazing Spider-man films, but this latest story supplies what was missing from the other five: an authentic, likeable, smart, voice-breaking do-gooder and a classic coming of age story with heart. But it doesn’t skimp on the action, and thanks to some well-filmed 3D and magical IMAX cinematography, one key scene that takes place high atop the Washington Monument made this viewer practically step backward out of his seat into the back row. Just breathtaking filmmaking.
If you keep a list of superhero movie requirements in the back of your mind, you’ll find that Spider-man: Homecoming fulfills or surpasses them all. A story with a solid character arc for its lead and antagonist. A big relief for filmgoers who go to every new superhero movie: writer/director Jon Watts and five other writers (a fact that alone would normally spell certain doom for a film, but not here) knew enough to steer clear of another superhero origin story and instead delved right in. They flesh out Parker’s relationship with his like-minded, knowledge bowl peers at school and provide more than one jawdropper along the way. In Keaton’s villain they provide an exceptional, compelling villain, something lacking in the past several years of superhero movies. Holland sports an update to the Spidey supersuit, and Louise Frogley’s latest costume design is superb, complete with believable, readily available tech supplied in-story by mentor Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark aka Iron Man in his latest perfect adaptation of the role from the comics. And Michael Giacchino’s powerful and emotional score is among his best, complete with plenty of clever and unexpected themes that amplify the story at the right time. If you think Peter Parker is a throwaway character, prepare for some emotional work by Holland, especially at his character’s lowest point in the story.
Our annual “All the Movies You’ll Want to See…” series has been one of the most viewed of all of our entries at borg.com each year. So this year we again scoured Hollywood and its publicity machine for as many genre films coming out in 2017 that have been disclosed. The result is a whopping 58 movies, many you’ll probably want to see in the theater or catch on video (and some you may want to skip). We bet you’ll find a bunch below you’ve never heard of. Bookmark this now for your 2017 calendar!
Most coming out in the second half of 2017 don’t even have posters released yet. We’ve included descriptions and key cast so you can start planning accordingly.
What do we think will be the biggest hits of the year? How about Star Wars: Episode VIII or Wonder Woman? Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of 1,000 Planets? Ghost in the Shell? Or Beauty and the Beast?
You’ve heard endlessly about Logan and Justice League, but 2017 will also see numerous other sequels, like Alien: Covenant, Blade Runner 2049,Thor:Ragnarok, and sequels for Underworld, Resident Evil, Planet of the Apes, Pirates of the Caribbean, XXX, John Wick, King Kong, The Fast and the Furious, Cars, The Kingsman, Transformers, Despicable Me. And The Six Billion Dollar Man is finally on its way. Look for plenty of Dwayne Johnson, Tom Cruise, Vin Diesel, Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, Zoe Saldana, Hugh Jackman, John Goodman, Michael Peña, Ryan Reynolds, Sofia Boutella, and Elle Fanning in theaters this year.
So wait no further, here are your genre films for 2017:
Someday we’ll all look back at all these Marvel superhero movies and identify a few standouts. Will they include the original Iron Man? Captain America: Winter Soldier? Ant-Man? Guardians of the Galaxy? As for the big team-up films, they will be difficult to differentiate. Superhero punches superhero. Big things blow up, but bigger this time and the next time and the next. This year’s big team-up entry didn’t have the “Avengers” title but it was every bit the same: Captain America: Civil War. It could have just as easily been called Iron Man: Civil War. Or The Avengers III: Civil War. But Captain America: Civil War got the blockbuster team-up right with one big stretch of awesome.
It all began with the entrance of the new Spider-man, played by Tom Holland–the unprecedented third actor to play a big-screen Marvel character. Once Spider-man met Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark, the movie took off and didn’t let up until Black Widow allowed Team Captain America to escape. For young Spidey to hold his own with Captain America, Ant-Man, Giant Man, Scarlet Witch, and the Falcon, credit goes to Holland for a pretty good feat.
Earlier this week Marvel Studios released a teaser trailer and tonight the studio added the full trailer for Spider-man: Homecoming, an incredibly refreshing-looking superhero flick clearly built with the off-the-wall flavor of humor found in Marvel’s Ant-Man and Deadpool. New odd, lanky, voice-changing, and nerdy Tom Holland (Wolf Hall) has that spark and jolt of energy we didn’t quite see with prior Spider-men Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield.
This new trailer alone runs circles around anything in the prior Spider-man movies. Be among the first to check out Holland in this first international trailer for Spider-man: Homecoming:
In theaters now, if you look quickly and listen closely, you can see my profile and hear my voice in the fantastic new movie from Shane Black, The Nice Guys. I recommend seeing The Nice Guys, not only for me, but because it is a dry, fun, and interesting movie that has a number of laughs. But, as usual, the movie is the background to my musings and in this case, my personal experience.
On my birthday in 2015, I got a text and a phone call on my way to meeting with friends. Since I was in the car, I didn’t pick up, my preference, and waited until I was walking along the sidewalk to my destination, expecting to see calls and texts with well-wishes. As I looked, I got another call, from my call-in booking service. I answered and immediately gave my acknowledgement that I was available to work the next day. It was only after this that I was able to look at the text and see that it was my first union gig, as a photo double.
To understand this all-new stage as a background actor, I must explain my normal experiences. As a friend once relayed to me from a recent L.A. Times article, background actors are known as props that eat. Generally there are at least 20 of us descending upon a production to provide atmosphere and a realistic look of city streets, courtrooms, bars, malls or wherever the protagonists need to be. We sit, we walk, we mime talking, we run for cover, we sit in a Ferris wheel, we play at eating food and generally try to be as real as possible with several cameras capturing the moment. In between the scenes, we descend like locusts on craft services, lunch catering and our holding area, eating, talking, reading, writing, playing music or whatever we do to make the eight, ten, 12 or longer hours to pass by while assistant directors and production assistants try to corral us and keep us to a mild whisper so as not disturb filming. I love the job as the time in between gives me moments with graphic novels or whatever I’m reading at the time, but it can be stifling to many others with low tolerances to being told exactly what to do, wanting to talk, preferring not to listen and expecting the spotlight. If you’re happy just fading into the background and realizing that your issues are the smallest in the world of a production with many moving parts, days pass wonderfully well.
My days on The Nice Guys were so much different. My first day of my first union gig, I was nervous. When I met the production assistant checking me in and he said something along the line of these words, “Great, glad you’re here! This day is all about you,” my nerves shot up a notch as it became apparent that I was the only background actor there. Instead of being sent off to hang with the other extras, I got to eat at the same time and table with the crew. I felt guilty of impostor syndrome as I sat among the people there on a daily basis with specific jobs to make the production move forward. After finishing my food, I got a full haircut from the people in the hair department along with some grey added to my dark brown hair to match the original actor. A special suit of specific clothes awaited me at wardrobe. Once ready for the camera, I arrived on set, ready to exit the production van, one of the PAs opened up an umbrella for me and held it over me until, feeling very sheepish, I took it from him and walked toward set.
