Predictably fun, this sequel takes the webslinger on a high school trip to the capitals of Europe and the travel photography alone is worth the price of admission. Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man has to juggle his teenage crush on a classmate with saving the world from destruction and the pacing is pretty good.
Returning from the last installment, Spider-Man: Homecoming, we have in the cast Tom Holland (last blogged for Avengers: Infinity War) as Peter, Jacob Batalon as his best friend Ned, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Jon Favreau (more recently in these pages for Solo: A Star Wars Story) as Happy, Tony Revolori as Flash, and Martin Starr (last blogged for I'll See You in My Dreams) as Mr. Harrington. Notable additions are Samuel L. Jackson (most recently in I Am Not Your Negro) as Nick Fury, Jake Gyllenhaal (last in Wildlife) as Quentin, Zendaya (blog debut in The Greatest Showman) as MJ, and J.B. Smoove (most recently in The Polka King) as Mr. Dell. He says, "Witches!"
Director Jon Watts' last project was Spider-Man: Homecoming and the co-writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers most recently penned Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Sadly, there's no Stan Lee cameo--he died November 12, 2018 at 95. In fact, it's the first Marvel-Avengers movie without Lee's face. But, as usual, there is a scene at the very end, so stick around.
Matthew J. Lloyd (last blogged for shooting The Seagull) is the cinematographer, and the magnificent aerial photography (some by drone) is credited to Jeremy Braben, who was aerial DP on almost 200 movies, dozens of which we have seen and appreciated.
Michael Giacchino's (last scored Bad Times at the El Royale) soundtrack can be streamed on youtube, Apple Music, and more.
No one needs our recommendation to see this. If you're a fan of the franchise you have probably already seen it. But here are the Rotten Tomatoes numbers anyway: 90% from critics and 96% from audiences.
PS. This was our yearly pre-fireworks action movie for 2019. That said, we actually had bought advance tickets to the newest Men in Black, based on the fact that MiB had been released earlier and might not be around so long. But the sign outside the room had a different title (The Hustle--not really on our list). I went to the counter and discovered that, because no one else had bought tickets, that screening had been cancelled. This one was a good choice and still allowed us time to get downtown in time for the pyrotechnics.
Monday, July 15, 2019
Yesterday (2019)
Jack and I loved this romantic comedy, set in an alternate reality where the Beatles are erased from almost everyone's memory, where one struggling musician passes off the Lennon/McCartney masterpieces as his own compositions.
Himesh Patel (in his feature debut after 566 episodes of EastEnders, which I've never seen, and a handful of other TV and shorts) is wonderful as the befuddled and earnest musician Jack. One reviewer commented that the filmmakers did not have to cast a "brown" person (Patel is British-born of East Indian descent) but simply hired the best man for the job. Lily James (last blogged for Darkest Hour) is lovely as his lifelong platonic friend who yearns for more, and Kate McKinnon (most recently in these pages for The Spy Who Dumped Me) reliably hilarious as the cutthroat agent propelling Jack to fame. Musician Ed Sheeran plays a version of himself, in a role originally intended for Coldplay's Chris Martin. There's a Coldplay gag in the trailer and in the movie, which they left in even after Martin dropped out.
Director Danny Boyle (last blogged for T2 Trainspotting) and screenwriter Richard Curtis (most recently in these pages for About Time) work from a story by Curtis and Jack Barth (feature debut).
The production reportedly paid $10 million to option twenty Beatles songs and used seventeen of them, almost exclusively played by Patel in the movie. The soundtrack is available for streaming on Spotify and Apple Music, among other platforms. There are some very short "interludes" by Daniel Pemberton (composed for Ocean's Eight), which you're unlikely to remember.
I don't know what the Rotten Tomatoes critics were expecting, since their average is a scant 63%. We're much more in line with its audiences at 89.
Himesh Patel (in his feature debut after 566 episodes of EastEnders, which I've never seen, and a handful of other TV and shorts) is wonderful as the befuddled and earnest musician Jack. One reviewer commented that the filmmakers did not have to cast a "brown" person (Patel is British-born of East Indian descent) but simply hired the best man for the job. Lily James (last blogged for Darkest Hour) is lovely as his lifelong platonic friend who yearns for more, and Kate McKinnon (most recently in these pages for The Spy Who Dumped Me) reliably hilarious as the cutthroat agent propelling Jack to fame. Musician Ed Sheeran plays a version of himself, in a role originally intended for Coldplay's Chris Martin. There's a Coldplay gag in the trailer and in the movie, which they left in even after Martin dropped out.
Director Danny Boyle (last blogged for T2 Trainspotting) and screenwriter Richard Curtis (most recently in these pages for About Time) work from a story by Curtis and Jack Barth (feature debut).
The production reportedly paid $10 million to option twenty Beatles songs and used seventeen of them, almost exclusively played by Patel in the movie. The soundtrack is available for streaming on Spotify and Apple Music, among other platforms. There are some very short "interludes" by Daniel Pemberton (composed for Ocean's Eight), which you're unlikely to remember.
I don't know what the Rotten Tomatoes critics were expecting, since their average is a scant 63%. We're much more in line with its audiences at 89.
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