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maltatoday SUNDAY 31 DECEMBER 2017 40 This Week THE OBVIOUS STUFF With both Marvel and DC con- tinuing their efforts – to varying degrees of success – of building lit- eral universes out of interconnected superhero franchises, it comes as no surprise that big guns like Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther top the list of eagerly-awaited block- busters for the coming year. Infin- ity War is an "important" entry in more ways than one, as it finally promises some degree of closure on the ever-mushrooming tales of the superhero team – who finally go head-to-head with the much- teased Thanos (Josh Brolin) whose destructive steak across the known universe promises... well, yet anoth- er desperate intervention by Cap- tain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and co. This will also be a 'bookending' chapter for Mar- vel in more ways than one, with some heroes set to depart to make way for the 'second wave' of Aveng- ers, which will include the likes of Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and even Spider-Man (Tom Holland) – with the latter character being given his own cinematic animated feature- length release with Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse, which will give the African American variant of Spider-Man, Miles Morales a chance to shine. Representation is, of course, at the forefront of Black Panther's first feature-length film, with the titu- lar character, played by Chadwick Boseman and having made his de- but in Avengers: Civil War, presid- ing over the hyper-advanced Afri- can nation of Wakanda as it faces dangerous insurrection. Directed by Fruitvale Station's Ryan Coogler and also featuring that based-on- real-events film's star Michael B. Jordan in the antagonist role, it is bound to do for racial representa- tion in superhero film what this year's Wonder Woman did for its female counterpart. And speaking of DC heroes, Aq- uaman will be the next out of their stable, with Jason Momoa reprising the titular role he first took on in this year's not-that-bad, but not-that- good-either Justice League, Amber Heard on his side as fellow Atlanean royal. Confusingly, it falls on oth- erwise fairly competent horror di- rector James Wan (The Conjuring, Insidious) to bring what looks like a cookie-cutter 'reluctant king' tale to life. The times continue to be chal- lenging for DC, since Aquaman will also be punching against Marvel's own take on the 'minor superheroes' flick as they unleash Ant-Man and the Wasp onto the world. Hardy franchises like Jurassic Park and Mission Impossible will also brighten our screens with fresh in- stallments in the coming year, with The Orphanage director JA Bayona taking on from Colin Trevnorrow (fired even from Star Wars: Episode IX after the misjudged flop that was The Book of Henry) for Juras- sic World: Fallen Kingdom to bring us a story of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard attempting to avert dinogeddon as a volcano threatens to destroy their home island. Little is known about M I: 6 Mission Im- possible beyond the fact that Chris- topher McQuarrie directs Tom Cruise yet again after their adven- ture with the first Jack Reacher film, and the fact that it will also co-star Superman himself Henry Cavill... who will be sporting a mustache... the same mustache that led to that horrendous, easy-to-parody CGI job in Justice League. Though hype-hampered by its own bit of controversy – with 'Le- go Movie' directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller being replaced by vet- eran helmer Ron Howard half-way through production – all eyes will undoubtedly be on Solo: A Star Wars Story, the second Star Wars 'Anthology' movie after Rogue One, this time focusing on the early days of everyone's favourite space rogue Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich). THE BORDERLINE STUFF While still broadly in the superhe- ro wheelhouse, The New Mutants and Venom look to be oblique takes on the multi-million, multi-movie "shared universe" tentpoles under whose shadow they will be operat- ing but, hopefully, also sprouting into interesting fungal growths of their own. In the former case, char- acters traditionally found in Mar- vel's X-Men comics universe will be forced to make their way out of a torture-happy mental institution. In short, it looks like a refreshingly claustrophobic take on the other- wise bombastic superhero genre, and a stripped-down horror movie might just be the ticket to get us all interested in the cinematic X-uni- verse again (which, by the way, will enjoy another chapter with X-Men: Dark Phoenix... but we doubt any- one's holding their breath for that one). Venom also has potential to heal former franchise wounds, as the black-space-goo-empowered Spider-Man villain will now get a second chance to shine after Sam Raimi's much-maligned take on the character in the equally maligned as a whole Spider-Man 3. Having him played by the decidedly not- maligned Tom Hardy should help a bunch, too. Also on the edges of blockbuster attention is Hellboy, a reboot of sorts coming off the largely beloved but not all that bankable Guillermo Del Toro takes on the "hellspawn raised by humans to do good" char- acter first conceived in the Dark Horse Comics series by Mike Mi- gnola. While the combination of Neil Marshall as director (The De- scent, a bunch of Game of Thrones episodes) and Stranger Things' own Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) taking on the titular role of the all-red and sheared-horned para- normal investigator augurs for an entertaining ride, chances are it won't have the same heartfelt charm of Del Toro's and Ron Pearlman's IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (3D) (12A) 10:25, 13:30, 16:05, 18:35, 21:10 Ferdinand (U) 10:15, 13:45, 16:05, 18:25 Murder on the Orient Express (12A) 20:50 The Man Who Invented Christmas (PG) 13:45, 18:25, 20:45 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (12A) 10:30, 14:00, 17:30, 20:40 The Star (U) 12:10, 14:10, 16:15 Daddy's Home 2 (12A) 10:00, 16:05, 18:20, 21:00 The Greatest Showman (PG) 10:25, 13:35, 15:55, 18:30, 20:55 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 A Bad Moms Christmas (15) 20:40 Better Watch Out (15) 14:15, 16:20, 18:25, 20:35 Daddy's Home 2 (12A) 14:10, 16:20, 18:30, 20:40 Ferdinand (U) 11:30, 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (12A) 11:00, 13:35, 16:10, 18:40, 21:15 Justice League (12A) 13:50, 18:40 Murder on the Orient Express (12A) 14:30, 18:00, 20:30 Paddington 2 (PG) 11:30, 14:00, 16:30, 18:45 Pitch Perfect 3 (12A) 11:00, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2D) (12A) 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, 20:00 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (3D) (12A) 14:25, 17:35, 20:35 The Golden Calf (PG) 14:15, 16:25, 20:55 The Greatest Showman (PG) 11:20, 14:10, 16:30, 18:45, 21:10 The Man Who Invented Christmas (PG) 16:20, 21:10 The Star (U) 11:35, 14:15, 16:25, 18:30 Wonder (PG) 18:30, 21:00 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Ferdinand (U) 11:00, 13:40, 16:20, 18:40, 20:55 The Greatest Showman (12A) 10:45, 13:35, 16:00, 18:25, 20:50 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (12A) 10:30, 14:00, 18:10, 21:15 Pitch Perfect 3 (12A) 10:55, 13:30, 16:05, 18:40, 21:15 The Star (U) 11:15, 14:00, 18:35 The Man Who Invented Christmas (PG) 16:15, 20:45 Paddington 2 (PG) 10:45, 13:35, 16:00 Daddy's Home 2 (12A) 18:40, 20:55 By Teodor Reljic The most anticipated films of 2018 TEODOR RELJIC dusts off the crystal ball (aka Google with a dash of IMDB) to suss out what the most hotly-anticipated cinematic outings of the coming year will be Bruce Willis in Death Wish Black Panther