Ten years after her cousin and childhood BFF Diego (Wahlberg) travels to the city with his family, Dora (Moner) is sent to join him by her mother (Longoria) and father (Pena) when they set out to realise their long search for Parapatta, an Incan city filled with gold.
Directed by Jon Favreau Starring Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Billy Eichner, John Kani, John Oliver, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and James Earl Jones
The Original
Touted at the time as Disney’s first original feature film, The Lion King was the fifth film in the Disney Renaissance, and the most successful offering of that period by a substantial margin, as well as playing a substantial role in the spread of major animation studios such as Dreamworks Animation. The film is a coming of age adventure, folowing young lion Simba (Matthew Broderick) as he grows up in exile and returns to face his wicked uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons) and avenge the murder of his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones). It caught a storm of controversy over similarities to Kimba the White Lion, the English language dub of a Japanese anime film called Jungle Emperor Leo, but remains one of the iconic products of the House of Mouse.
The Remake
In 2019, The Lion King became the latest movie from the Disney back-catalogue to receive a ‘live-action’ remake, directed by the man who did the same to The Jungle Book. I use sarcastic quotes because, unlike the 2016 The Jungle Book, there is no human presence, and in fact what we have is almost – or perhaps actually – entirely computer animation.
Simba (JD McCrary) is the son of Mufasa (Jones) and Sarabi (Woodard), the King of the Pridelands and the leader of the lionesses who hunt for and defend the pride. While Mufasa and his adviser the hornbill Zazu (Oliver) try to guide Simba towards a positive model of altruistic monarchy, his brooding uncle Scar (Ejiofor) plots to seize power.
Directed by Chris Renauld Starring Patton Oswalt, Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Tiffany Haddish, Lake Bell, Nick Kroll, Dana Carvey, Ellie Kemper, Chris Renaud, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan and Harrison Ford
Max (Oswalt) and Duke (Stonestreet) find their lives changed forever when their owner Katie (Kemper) marries and has a baby, Liam. Duke takes the changes in his stride, but Max becomes consumed by the fear of Liam getting hurt, so the family take a ride to visit relatives on a farm. Max leaves his beloved toy, Busy Bee, with Gidget (Slate), who manages to lose it in a cat lady’s apartment. Meanwhile, Daisy (Haddish) comes to Snowball (Hart) for help rescuing a white tiger from brutal circus owner Sergei (Kroll) and his pack of wolves.
Directed by Simon Kinberg Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Jessica Chastain, Kodio Smit-McPhee and Evan Peters
Since preventing the whole ‘destruction of human civilisation‘ thing, the X-Men have blazed a trail for mutant acceptance. Now Charles Xavier (McAvoy) has a direct line to the White House, and the X-Men – Cyclops (Sheridan), Nightcrawler (Smit-McPhee), Storm (Shipp), Jean ‘Codenames are for losers’ Gray (Turner) and Quicksilver (Peters), led by Beast (Hoult) and Mystique (Lawrence) – are national heroes. This status leads to them being called in to rescue a shuttle crew from an unknown cosmic force, which ends up absorbed into Jean.
Directed by Guy Ritchie Starring Mena Massoud, Will Smith, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad and Billy Magnussen
Come on. Do you guys really need a synopsis of this plot? It’s Aladdin! Ignoring the fact that it’s one of the classics of the Disney Renaissance (now remade in live action as part of their current binge on their back catalogue) it’s also a staple of British pantomime since about…well…forever. You know the story.
Directed by Chad Stahelski Starring Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston and Ian McShane
Following the events of John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick a) is locked out of the sanctuary of the Continental hotels, b) hunted by every assassin in the world and c) a pair of words that have been used to the point that they have no meaning anymore. With time running out, he goes to the Director (Huston), a Belarusan Romani matriarch, to arrange passage to find Sofia (Berry) in Casablanca, so that she can take him to her boss (Jerome Flynn) and arrange a meeting with the Elder, ‘the man who sits above the table’ (Saïd Taghmaoui), to plead for his life.
Directed by Chris Butler Starring Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana, Zach Galifianakis, Stephen Fry, Timothy Olyphant, Matt Lucas, Emma Thompson and Amrita Acharia
Adventurer Sir Lionel Frost (Jackman) is determined to prove the existence of a cryptid, in order to secure membership of an exclusive explorer’s club headed by massive imperialist dickbag Lord Piggot-Dunceby (Fry) and his lickspittle Collick (Lucas). To this end, he answers a request to travel to America in search of the Sasquatch, only to discover that it is the creature himself (Galifianakis) who sent the letter, hoping that Sir Lionel can take him to his cousins in the Himalayas, as all of his kin have died out in the face of human expansion.
Directed by David F. Sandberg Starring Asher Angel, Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Granger, Djimon Hounsou, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Faithe Herman, Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans
In 1974, a young boy is brought to the Rock of Eternity by a wizard (Hounsou) and offered the chance to become a champion of justice, but is then rejected when he is tempted by the power of the Seven Deadly Sins, demonic ‘enemies of humanity’.
Some years later, a young boy named Billy Batson loses his mother at a fair and enters the foster care system.
Directed by James Wan Starring Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman and Temuera Morrison
A chance meeting between lighthouse keeper Thomas Curry (Morrison) and the fugitive Queen Atlanna (Kidman) leads to romance and the birth of a son, Arthur. Atlanna is tracked down and chooses to return to Atlantis and an arranged marriage, leaving Arthur to grow up into Jason Momoa, trained by Atlanna’s ally Vulko (Dafoe) and inspired by his interactions with the Justice League to become the maritime superhero the Aquaman (because DC superheroes all have definite articles these days.)
Directed by Julius Avery Starring Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, John Magaro, Gianny Taufer, Pilou Asbæk and Iain De Caestecker
On D-Day, a US Paratrooper squad is shot down en route to destroy a key radio tower. Surviving the drop and Nazi forces on the ground, Privates Boyce (Adepo), Tibbet (Magaro) and Chase (De Caestecker) regroup under the driven veteran Corporal Ford (Russell) and attempt to complete the mission, with the aid of local scavenger Chloe (Ollivier).
The Bad Movie Marathon 