From House of Gucci to The Matrix and Diana Spencer: The summer movies you need to see
Hollywood is hot this summer with an incredible roll call of films being released. Leigh Paatsch rates and slates them all. SEE THE FULL LIST
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With an exceptionally strong line-up of movies landing in Australian cinemas soon, this summer will deliver the best chance movie fans have had in several years to indulge their love of the big screen.
These are the movies that will be worth a look in the hazy, lazy weeks ahead.
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch
Now Showing in General Release
Foreground: Both Peter Parker and his alter ego Spider-Man are sharing an identity crisis. When Peter seeks help from Doctor Strange, the situation becomes even more dangerous.
Background: This is the third outing of the Tom Holland-starring era, and many fans are already ranking it as the finest movie to ever carry the Spider-Man name. Primed to be the highest-grossing movie of the holiday season.
Close-Up: Marvel Films went to great lengths to complete the production under a tight veil of secrecy, as there is a chain of unforeseen twists that will truly melt the mind and change the perspective of all serious Spider-fans.
WEST SIDE STORY
Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler
Opens in general release from December 26
Foreground: A reinterpretation of the blockbuster 1961 musical exploring the combustive rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.
Background: It started out as a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet set to an immortal songbook by the great Stephen Sondheim, and that is exactly how this spectacular new version remains. True lovers of the movie musical genre will be in heaven from start to finish.
Close-Up: There may not be any names of note in the cast, but the name stencilled on the director’s chair should more than compensate. Remarkably, Steven Spielberg had never taken a shot at a musical before. Nevertheless, it should come as no surprise his target is hit with ease.
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE
Paul Rudd, McKenna Grace
Out January 1
Foreground: A single mum and her two kids discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters, and the secret legacy a family elder left behind.
Background: This is the reboot that real fans of the ‘Busters truly deserve. Especially after witnessing the horror of that ill-conceived attempt starring Melissa McCarthy a few years back.
Close Up: All you need to know is that foundation Ghostbuster players such as Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Sigourney Weaver have all fronted up for active duty here (and not just in cheesy, one-scene cameo mode).
DEATH ON THE NILE
Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot
General release from early February
Foreground: Belgian super-sleuth Hercule Poirot’s vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple’s idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short.
Background: Kenneth Branagh will be dominating the late-summer box-office, as this long-awaited new Agatha Christie adaptation in which he stars and directs will be going head to head with his acclaimed, Oscar-buzzing project Belfast.
Close Up: Filming was completed back in late 2019, with Morocco playing the all-important role of Egypt. Rumours that key cast member Armie Hammer (the subject of extensive sexual abuse and cannibalism allegations) was going to be erased from the movie have been dismissed by Branagh.
HOUSE OF GUCCI
Lady Gaga, Adam Driver
General release from January 1st
Foreground: The true story of the scandalous killing that tore apart the family empire behind the iconic Italian fashion brand Gucci.
Background: In her first big role since her astounding A Star is Born breakthrough, Gaga plays the notorious Patrizia Reggiani, who famously hired a hit man to terminate her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci.
Close Up: Director Ridley Scott has been tinkering with this project for almost twenty years. It was almost made with the fascinating combo of Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio back in 2006.
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand
General release from December 26
Foreground: A Scottish lord becomes convinced by a trio of witches that he will become the next King of Scotland, and his ambitious wife supports him in his plans of seizing power.
Background: There has been umpteen screen versions of what is arguably the greatest Shakespeare play of them all. Filmed in a stark black-and-white, this one strips every aspect of the work down to its bare essentials.
Close Up: If you miss this prestige production in cinemas, you won’t have to wait too long to catch it from the comfort of your lounge chair. The movie premieres on Apple TV+ from mid-January.
DEEP WATER
Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas
General release Jan-Feb TBC
Foreground: A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers.
Background: Adapted from a very juicy, jolty novel penned by the late Patricia Highsmith, this self-styled “erotic psychological thriller” is guaranteed to be a massive hit along the lines of Affleck’s trashy triumph with Gone Girl.
Close Up: Highsmith books have a rich cinematic history, stretching from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 classic Strangers on a Train to Cate Blanchett’s latter-day tour de force Carol.
THE BLACK PHONE
Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Davies
General release from early February
Foreground: After being abducted by a child killer and locked in a soundproof basement, a 13-year-old boy starts receiving calls on a disconnected phone from the killer’s previous victims.
Background: You could be tempted to write this off as just another horror movie. However, the casting of Hawke as the psycho villain is key. The veteran actor is in the best form of his career, and doesn’t just show up for anything.
Close Up: Reaction to early screenings at September’s Fantastic Fest point to a lucrative box-office run that could land this chiller in the same big league as the It movies.
SING 2
Voices of Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton
General release from December 26
Foreground: Buster Moon and his friends must persuade reclusive rock star Clay Calloway to join them for the opening of a new show.
Background: The original Sing did big business back in 2016 as a jam-packed jukebox musical that just happened to be an all-ages cartoon as well. Though the winning formula hasn’t been tampered with, five years between outings does allow some fresh ideas into
the mix.
Close Up: If you want to go into singalong training ahead of the movie, the Sing 2 soundtrack (including cuts by Elton John, Billie Eilish, U2 and the very accomplish Johansson and Egerton) is now live on most audio streaming platforms.
KING RICHARD
Will Smith, Demi Singleton
General release from mid-January
Foreground: A look at how tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams became who they are after the unconventional early coaching of their father Richard.
Background: The moment this project was announced, the big Hollywood studios waged an intense bidding war to secure the rights. The biggest beneficiary was Will Smith, who pocketed more than $40 million for producing and starring.
Close Up: Tennis fans hoping for an extensive blow-by-blow of the sisters’ many Grand Slam victories should be made aware the movie focuses exclusively on the formative, pre-fame days of Venus and Serena.
FALLING FOR FIGARO
Danielle Macdonald, Joanna Lumley
General release from late January
Foreground: A brilliant young fund manager leaves her unfulfilling job and long-term boyfriend to chase her lifelong dream of becoming an opera singer in the Scottish Highlands.
Background: The release of this upbeat feel-good affair is timed to meet the needs of the hearts-and-flowers crowd, who love a rollicking rom-com whenever Valentine’s Day is near.
Close Up: After several impressive Hollywood credits (Patti Cake$, Bird Box and French Exit) it remains baffling that Sydney-born Danielle Macdonald is not recognised as a true star in her own country. This might be the movie to rectify the oversight.
BELFAST
Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan
General release from early February
Foreground: The life of a working class Northern Irish Protestant family, as seen through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy named Buddy during the height of The Troubles in Belfast in 1969.
Background: A long-planned passion project for its writer and director, the prolific and multi-talented Kenneth Branagh. Filmed at the height of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK and Northern Ireland, which is an achievement in itself.
Close Up: After a rapturous reception on the global festival circuit – including a telling People’s Choice win in Toronto – Belfast has been the clear bookies’ favourite to win the next Best Picture Oscar.
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Cate Blanchett, Bradley Cooper
General release from mid-January
Foreground: An ambitious carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is.
Background: Whenever
writer-director Guillermo
del Toro (The Shape of Water) moves near a
camera, the awards circuit gets ready to nominate
him and all associated with him. Expects Oscars’ buzz
for the unusual pairing of Cooper and Blanchett,
plus the ever-consistent
Toni Collette in a supporting role.
Close Up: Based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, and swiftly adapted for the screen in the following year with Tyrone Power in the lead.
SPENCER
Kristen Stewart, Jack Farthing
General release from late January
Foreground: During the 1991 Christmas holidays with the Royal Family at their Sandringham estate, HRH Princess Diana decides to leave her marriage to Prince Charles.
Background: Once widely maligned for her snoozy stylings out front of the Twilight movies, Kristen Stewart is a revelation the deceptively difficult role of Di. The Best Actress Oscar is hers to lose.
Close Up: This production is in good hands, as acclaimed filmmaker Pablo Larrain also handled Natalie Portman superb biopic of Jackie Kennedy.
LICORICE PIZZA
Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman
General release from December 26
Foreground: The story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine as they jointly forge a new career and find first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.
Background: A cast of complete unknowns and a low-key promise has not stopped this delightfully laid-back coming-of-age film from becoming the best-reviewed American film of 2021. Veteran filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood) writes and directs.
Close Up: The movie marks the screen debut of its young leading man Cooper Hoffman, who just happens to be the teenage son of one of Anderson’s most notable collaborators, the late, great actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.
SCREAM
Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox
General release from mid-January
Foreground: Twenty-five years after the original series of murders in Woodsboro, a new killer emerges, and Sidney Prescott must return to uncover the truth.
Background: This is the fifth instalment in the Scream series, which stretches all the way back to 1996. It is also the first not to be directed by the franchise’s famous mastermind Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015.
Close Up: Horror nostalgists will want to be all over this one, as many players from earlier Scream outings (including David Arquette as Dewey) have substantial roles.
SHANE
Shane Warne
Selected cinemas from early January
Foreground: A riveting documentary retracing of the momentous steps taken by Shane Warne as he transformed himself from an unfit Aussie rules reject into one of the greatest cricketers the world has ever seen.
Background: While Warnie’s cricketing prowess is the principal focus of the doco, it won’t be overlooking the champ’s impressive strike rate when it comes to surviving off-field scandals.
Close Up: There’s whisper going around that there is a feature biopic of Warne in the works. Casting could be tricky, as the colourful leggie is definitely one of a kind.
RED ROCKET
Simon Rex, Suzanna Son
General release from early January
Foreground: Mikey Saber is a washed-up porn star who returns to his small Texas hometown, not that anyone really wants him back.
Background: This rough’n’ready American indie comedy features a virtuoso performance from its unheralded leading man Simon Rex, who will definitely graduate to bigger things after this dazzling display.
Close Up: Once known under his L.A. rapper alias of Dirt Nasty, the charismatic Rex was offered $100,000 by British tabloids to spill the beans on a non-existent relationship with his platonic acquaintance Meghan Markle.
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS
Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss
General release from December 26
Foreground: Twenty years later, Neo is living a seemingly ordinary life as in San Francisco … until a chance encounter with a long-lost friend reopens his mind to the world of The Matrix.
Background: Series creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski always said The Matrix saga was supposed to be a trilogy. Obviously, an eight-figure cheque and a big cut of the box-office changed all that.
Close Up: The only thing more late-1990s than The Matrix phenomenon is the Y2K bug. Therefore signing a reluctant Reeves to reprise the role of Neo is a major coup, as the John Wick star is an even bigger star now that he was back then.
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