Movie Review - SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME...

So as of today, I've watched Spider-Man: No Way Home three times at the multiplex! How can I not...considering the fact that this film, along with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, are clearly the best Marvel movies of 2021. And ever!

No Way Home is an action-packed, very-nostalgic and extremely-emotional climax to Tom Holland's first Spidey trilogy (yes, there will be a second trio of movies with Holland returning as the Webslinger).

It was a blast to see Alfred Molina return as Doc Ock, Jamie Foxx as Electro, Thomas Haden Church as Sandman, Rhys Ifans as the Lizard, and of course, Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin.

But even more of a blast was seeing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield causing the audience at each screening I attended to cheer loudly when the two Webslingers appeared on screen for the first time! And that moment in the film's climax where they and Holland's Spider-Man swing together on the Statue of Liberty as they prepare to battle Electro, Sandman and the Lizard? Wow!

There are so many other things that I want to praise about No Way Home, but they would turn this into a very long review.

Benedict Cumberbatch once again exuded coolness and wittiness as Dr. Strange, J.K. Simmons was just as awesome as J. Jonah Jameson in this film as he was in Sam Raimi's Spidey trilogy, Marisa Tomei's Aunt May was at the center of No Way Home's most gut-wrenching moment (in a good way) and composer Michael Giacchino did an excellent job combining his rousing score with motifs from Danny Elfman's music for the Raimi films, and a James Horner theme from Marc Webb's first Amazing Spider-Man movie.

And not to be left out of this gushing review are the three main stars themselves: Holland as Peter Parker and his high-flying alter ego, Zendaya as Michelle Jones "MJ" Watson and Jacob Batalon as Parker's best friend Ned Leeds (who does turn villainous in the comic books; he became the apprentice to Dr. Strange's arch-nemesis Baron Mordo...played by Chiwetel Ejiofor in Dr. Strange and its upcoming sequel, Multiverse of Madness).

If ever there was a movie that would follow in Black Panther's footsteps and become the next comic book flick to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, No Way Home is it!

We'll see if Disney and Marvel Studios successfully get Tom Holland to follow in the footsteps of the late, great Chadwick Boseman in regards to Academy Award acclaim. Happy Holidays!

THE BROKEN TABLE Has Been Selected by Two More Film Festivals!

And the accolades just keep on coming! I am thrilled to announce that The Broken Table is now an Official Selection by the Red Moon Film Festival and the Cult Movies International Film Festival.

The Red Moon festival was the first event to notify me about my film's selection earlier today (even though the online screening won't take place till December 29 and 30), while the great news about the Cult Movies festival arrived in my inbox a few hours later. This online event will occur on December 24.

There are so many other festivals that I still need to hear from, but I'm stoked that The Broken Table currently has four selections under its belt!

For more info about the Red Moon and Cult Movies festivals, click on the links below. Happy Monday!

FilmFreeway.com/RedMoonFilmFestival
FilmFreeway.com/CultMoviesInternationalFilmFestival

On This Day in 2001: The Nazgûl Make Their Debut on the Big Screen...

It was 20 years ago today that The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring hit theaters nationwide.

One of my high school friends who I saw the film with didn't know that this was the first installment in Peter Jackson's acclaimed trilogy, and neither did I! Sorry, J. R. R. Tolkien... I never read the books.

Anyways, I don't think y'all should be surprised that the most memorable characters in The Fellowship of the Ring (plus The Two Towers and The Return of the King) to me were the Ringwraiths, a.k.a. the Nazgûl. I dig mysterious villains who are completely dressed in black cloaks—which is why I'm such a huge Star Wars fan.

And FYI, Sith Lords are cooler. Carry on!

THE BROKEN TABLE Has Been Selected by Film Festival #2!

Just thought I'd share the amazing news that The Broken Table is an Official Selection at the World Indie Film Awards (WIFA)!

This announcement comes less than 10 days after my project was selected—and awarded as Best Seven Minute Film—at the EdiPlay International Film Festival.

For more information about WIFA, which will host its online event on December 20, click on the link below!

FilmFreeway.com/WorldIndieFilmAwards

A Beautiful Award for THE BROKEN TABLE!

Thank you to the EdiPlay International Film Festival for this amazing certificate...one of many that I received via e-mail from the festival earlier today!

All of the amazing folks who worked hard to bring The Broken Table to life are honored by this awesome award!

THE BROKEN TABLE Is Festival-Bound!

Happy Thursday, everyone! Just thought I'd announce that my short film The Broken Table has been selected for inclusion by the EdiPlay International Film Festival! This wonderful, Paris-based event will be held from December 15 to 19...with the chosen films available to screen online.

For more information about this festival, visit EdiPlay's website here. If you watch The Broken Table (plus the other amazing cinematic projects that will be shown) during this event, I hope you enjoy it!

T-Minus ONE WEEK Till One of My Favorite Anime Flicks of All Time Hits the Big Screen Here in the U.S.!

Just thought I'd point out that I'm officially watching Macross Plus—one of my favorite Japanese-animated movies ever made—at AMC theater a week from today! Macross Plus is one of many spin-offs of the Macross series that formed the core of the Robotech cartoon that aired on U.S. television back in the 1980s.

I originally watched Macross Plus in 1995 (when I was a sophomore in high school)...first as a 4-part American-dub miniseries that premiered in 1994 (even though I didn't see the fourth and final episode, whose dialogue wasn't voiced by U.S. actors yet, till late 1999), and then the feature film—which will be shown on the big screen next week courtesy of Fathom Events.

I can't wait to relive the awesome aerial battle between the YF-19 (piloted by Isamu Dyson, who was voiced by none other than Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston in the miniseries) and YF-21 (flown by Guld Goa Bowman) on planet Eden and above Earth's Macross City—as well as awesome beats by the computer-generated diva Sharon Apple; one of these beats being the song Information High...featured in the video below.

I can go on and on about my geekiness over Macross Plus, especially about how it inspired me to draw storyboards in 10th grade depicting what I envisioned the yet-to-be-released Episode 4 would be like (and subsequently fueling my desire to study filmmaking in college), but I'll end it here.

It would be awesome to have a live-action version of Macross Plus, but we've yet to see a live-action version of Robotech itself (which was supposed to have been produced by Spider-Man's Tobey Maguire over a decade ago) make it to cinemas! Oh well.

Movie Review - GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE...

Earlier today, I went to the local AMC theater to watch Ghostbusters: Afterlife...the fourth Ghostbusters flick to hit the big screen (if you count the 2016 reboot directed by Paul Feig) and third installment to continue the exploits of Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) and company.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife started off a bit slow, but began to really pick up steam once Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) entered the picture, and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) stumbled upon the hidden office where her late grandfather Egon Spengler (portrayed by Harold Ramis...who's given the Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia CGI treatment from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) continued his work as a Ghostbuster.

Afterlife finishes what the original 1984 Ghostbusters movie started—with Gozer (this time played by both Olivia Wilde and Emma Portner) and his/her Gatekeeper and Keymaster making a comeback. Whereas Gozer was forced back into his/her dimension before it was sealed off by the Ghostbusters in the 1984 film, his/her fate is more definitive in Afterlife. I obviously won't divulge how Phoebe and her gang defeat the Sumerian demigod.

Professional film critics attacked Afterlife for its excessive fan service...but I dug the appearance of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Men, the return of Gozer, and of course, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) making their grand entrance in the movie's climax.

Of course, let's not forget that Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) and Dana Barrett Venkman (Sigourney Weaver) make a fun return in the second Ghostbusters sequel as well! But sadly, Louis Tully (played by Rick Moranis) is nowhere to be found.

Also missing from Afterlife is the lovable and ravenous spirit Slimer, who was aptly replaced by Muncher—a ghost (voiced by Josh Gad) that chews on metal before rapidly spitting fragments of it out like an ectoplasmic AR-15. No, this colorful desciption isn't in the movie itself.

Also missing from the new film is a cool hit song like On Our Own by Bobby Brown, which was featured in 1989's Ghostbusters II.

The second of two end credits scene in Afterlife seems to suggest that we'll be seeing a sequel to the Jason Reitman-directed supernatural comedy. I'm all for it!

It was cool to watch the return of Peter, Ray, Winston, Janine and Dana on the big screen, but I want to see how Grooberson, Phoebe, her brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), their mother Callie (Carrie Coon), Lucky (Celeste O'Connor) and Podcast (Logan Kim) expand their mark on the Ghostbusters mythology! That is all.

The Final SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Trailer Is Here!

Welcome back, Green Goblin and Doc Ock! The two villains made famous by Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina in Sam Raimi's 2002 and '04 Spider-Man films, respectively, will return to the big screen in next month's Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Joining these evildoers will be Sandman (from 2007's Spider-Man 3), the Lizard (from 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man) and Electro (once again portrayed by Jamie Foxx from 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2).

Also returning in Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios' third co-produced Spidey flick will be none other than Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprising their own versions of Peter Parker...though their highly-anticipated appearances have understandably been excluded from the new preview (or were they?).

I can't wait till No Way Home gets unleashed nationwide in theaters on December 17! Hopefully, this Marvel Studios flick will be as enjoyable as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings—and not close to being dull like Eternals.

I was so underwhelmed by Eternals that I didn't even care to post its own "quick review" like I did with Dune and The Last Duel. Carry on.

---

Image of the Day: Gettin' Ready for GUNDAM on Netflix...

A few hours ago, Legendary Entertainment tweeted this cool concept artwork (courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic's art department) from the Gundam live-action movie that is currently under development for Netflix.

Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who directed 2017's Kong: Skull Island, will be helming the upcoming film. Brian K. Vaughan, who wrote episodes for the hit TV show Lost, will be penning the script.

No release date has been set for the Gundam movie, but I'll be sure to subscribe to Netflix (again) for when the giant mechas are unleashed on the popular streaming service! That is all.