No-one thinks we have the balls to pull this off (Widows 2018)

219.

Widows

 

 

 7/10

 

 

Widows is a heist movie that I was actually looking forward too. The trailer gave the main plot away as a group of men meet their end, only to leave their partners in some sort of debt in the local crime lord. The cast is huge and highly recognisable, bringing together Liam Neeson, Viola Davis, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodrigez and Jon Bernthal to name but a few. The move looks a lot darker than the likes of Ocean's Eleven and other heist movies, with a lot for gun action and explosions. I'm just hoping this doesn't take the simple route and holds plenty of twists that I can enjoy.
The movie begins by introducing us quickly to all of the main characters and their relationships with each other. Davis and Neeson's characters are married and seem pretty damn happy about it too. The story quickly moves on to the four main men completing their heist, being chased by the cops and as they attempt to exit their safe house they are shot in their van, causing it to explode and kill them all. I am instantly wondering what the hell was in that truck or what bullets were they using! Veronica, played by Viola Davis is now alone. As we cross over to a little side storyline, we follow Farrell's character named Jack Mulligan, who is running for a political position as his dad once did. The stories begin to cross as Viola is laying her husband to rest and Jack is at the funeral.

 There is also another at the funeral A man named Jamal is claiming that Neeson's character Harry, stole two million dollars from him, which is the money he needs for his own political campaign. He shows he isn't messing as he grabs the pet dog by its neck and chucking about the threats. She has two weeks to get the money back and she better had. I want to see nothing happy to a dog for their mistakes!
The other women have now fallen on hard times with the losses of their husbands so a team is put together after Veronica finds one of Harrys' big heist plans. Each woman will bring their unique talents to this heist and even with plenty of nervousness and sometimes disagreements, they start to get their plan in motion. Everything is starting to overlap some more as this Jamal fella has found out about Harry's plan and heist book that Veronica has, so he's back to ask more questions. After she lies about selling the book, the story of the ladies progresses and another lady joins the gang after she gets caught up in seeing her hairdressing job's owner having to give over a wad of money to Jack Mulligan's men in order to keep the shop open. Things do actually fall apart a little though, which always happens in this kind of flick. One pays too much of the van and can't even drive, another has problems buying guns without documents but this is soon rectified.

Alice ends up getting some extra cash through escorting and one guy she sees is actually a real estate exec who notices the blueprints for the plans and knows instantly that they are to the Mulligan's home. Veronica also meets the final wife who hasn't joined the heist so far. She apologises for this and puts it down to the fact that she has a new-born and with this information, Veronica decides not to tell her the plan and get her involved in any way. Another hiccup though as Jamal's men have visited their driver and Harry's old driver and kill him, leaving the team searching for a new one and using that hairdresser. In order to find some help with Jamal, Veronica turns to Jack who isn't too helpful. He believes that it sounds like a Harry problem that now Veronica is left to deal with. This isn't Veronica's main reason for being around though and the other girls aren't too far away. They are inside and outside, scoping out the area ready for their heist to take place.
A couple of days later, Veronica and the dog head to visit Amanda, the wife with new-born. At first, she doesn't answer the door, putting it down to the baby but they all head inside and the dog starts to act a little weird. Running off and barking at a door, it wakes up the baby and Amanda heads off to shut it up. Veronica notices a flask in the kitchen, one that looks like her late husbands and as the dog is still going at that door, she heads to the handle, ready to open it, hoping that her thoughts are wrong. Instead, she picks up the dog and leaves. God damn you woman, we all know what was behind that door! She drives off in tears as Amanda opens the door and we see Harry sitting on the edge of the bed. We are then treated to a flashback of him setting up his men in the truck and firing a shot to make sure the police fire back. He then sets off the explosives, killing his team and escaping. I knew there was too much explosion there for just some bullets! He then heads to meet Jack Mulligan who had ordered Harry to steal the money from Jamal, who he s running against. The flashbacks carry on further, showing his strained marriage and the fact that his young son as killed by a police officer in a mistake killing.
Now it's time for the heist. The girls have found some dodgy pictures that the local security guy had lying about and using this to blackmail him, they manage to bypass security and even getting the code for Mulligan's safe. With devices that disguise their voices, masks put on, they work their way through the house and begin to make their way back out again. One door opens and out pops the Mulligan's father. He shoots Alice and Linda ends up shooting him and killing him. They leg it out to the van, only to find their drive held at gunpoint by one of Jamal's men. He's here for the money and steals the van but with the ladies giving chase and turning complete badass, they cause a crash, killing the guy and getting their loot back. Next, they need to finally drop Alice off at a hospital before she bleeds out.

Veronica is the first to make it back to the ladies hideaway. There, Harry is sitting, ready to give an explanation for his actions and Veronica breaks down. He admits that he was looking after his new family of Amanda and the baby and as he turns to kill his widow, she shoots first, killing him and leaves the gun in his hand, along with leaving the money with him. The movie continues to close as Jack wins the election with a sympathy vote for his old man's death. The salon owner opens the shop to a big bag of money, Alice is starting her own business, whilst Linda buys back the shop that she lost with her husband no longer bring in the doe. Veronica is later seen at a restaurant with a random fella who she gives a load of money to, to build a new library and name it after her late son. Alice sees her from another table and the two embrace outside not long after.
I really enjoyed this heist movie because it went against the grain to an extent. Now it does have the normal falling out and stumbling that comes from the team but this time it was a little darker. There were actually bullets flying and hitting their targets, death and a deeper underlying story, whether that was from the main twist at the end of the movie or the corrupted political story. Each lady had their own ambitions for the money and an agreement to go their separate ways afterward, another scenario we never really see. This meant that each actress and even the actors involved managed to bring something different to the main screen. Between the nervous bumbling lady to the fierce leader, each base was covered. Viola Davis keeps upping the game right now but my main stand out in this movie was someone I haven't even mentioned was in the movie. Carrying on from the great display in Get Out, Daniel Kaluuya plays Jamal's brother and 'action man', getting killed off at the end but to see this guy in a villainous role made me feel like the guy has been doing it for years. Definitely my stand out star of this movie. If we look at a little of the bad, there did seem to be too many messages trying to be told. Racist cops, black power, corrupt politicians, abusive husbands and women power all filled into only a couple of hours confused the situation at times. The woman power aspect of this though didn't feel forced. It wasn't one of those franchises that have already been successful that got a spin-off and recasting such as with Ghostbusters or Oceans 11, which made this more enjoyable as it really wasn't over-compensating and trying to be something that it wasn't.

Maybe it's time to let the old ways die (A Star is Born 2018)

 

 

 

218.

A Star is Born

 

 

 

8/10

 

Straight from viewing and reviewing a big player in the Oscar season, we are onto another entry. A Star is Born has been made twice already, not that I have seen those movies, but this time Bradley Cooper is taking the reigns and directing himself and Lady Gaga as the main stars. I had no idea of the background to this movie, what the story was about or exactly what to expect when it came to how much music and singing was actually going to be present. I do like a Bradley Cooper movie and whether he's being serious, sticking it to a comedy role or even just being the voice actor, he always seems to deliver.
The movie follows a successful singer named Jack, played by Cooper who is struggling on a number of levels. He's still a lonely guy. Starting to be caught up by age, drinking all night alone and losing his hearing, he wants to put all of his to the back of his mind and it's not going well. Finding a small dive bar and discovering the local waitresses talent to sing, he instantly becomes obsessed with and refuses to leave her talent where it lies. Alley, played by Gaga, spends the night with Jack, talking in a carpark and even singing part of a song she had been writing. As the movie carries on, Jack invites her to one of his gigs and even brings her on to sing her song. This blows the crowd away and suddenly she is a massive hit and the two begin their relationship.

 

 

The only way I can explain how Ally's relationship carries on is by comparing it to Taylor Swift. Beginning with a unique style and quickly changing to what her manager wants, what they think will sell more and appeal to more. Skimpy clothes, terrible lyrics and constantly changing her looks. Jack doesn't like this, feeling that she doesn't need all of this change. We can see that he is struggling with alcohol again and even at an awards show, he embarrasses them both. Once he hits rehab, completes it and comes out clean, he has Ally standing by his side, even wanting to cancel her tour to be with him. This doesn't go down well with her manager, who shows up on Jack's doorstep and tells him that Ally would be better without him. This leads Jack back to drink, with the night ending as he hangs himself whilst Ally plays a gig. I haven't been so angry in a character as I had in a long time as I had been for Ally's manager. What an asshole! The movie draws to a close as Ally sings a song at Jack's funeral. A song that he wrote for her to sing. A touching ending to a really good movie.

 

 

The movie was a really good movie. It's not one that I can compare to its predecessors and if I'm brutally honest, I don't even want to see them. It follows a harrowing tale of a man struggling with his mental health and how one attitude, person and opinion can change this. Firstly, Jack helps Ally to achieve her dreams, whilst she turns his life around, finally giving him some happiness and a reason to sort his own life out. After rehab, he even apologises to his brother, who he struggled for a relationship with throughout the movie. This all changes on the manager's quick visit, showing just how vulnerable Jack truly was. The movie, ending in such a sad fashion with music really taking a backseat. Cooper, once again, doing a great job as a desperate man on his knees and recovering before once again falling for good. Even giving it a good go when it comes to the music. The main song, sung by both, was heard everywhere for a while and performed at the Oscars in a great performance. Gaga smashes her role too, from elation to desperation as her true love loses his battle with alcoholism and inner-demons. It really was a hard-hitting ending and far from the happy-endings that we have come to know. On that fact alone, it makes it a stand-out movie for the year.

 

 

It goes on forever, six bloody minutes! (Bohemian Rhapsody 2018)

217.

Bohemian Rhapsody

8.5/10

A movie that has been spoken about for months. A movie that has laid the way for criticism and excitement from many camps even before it hit the big screen. The critics were worried about which side of Freddie Mercury's life we were about to see, whether we would get all of the truth about this global superstar or whether it would be completely 'puffed up' for the audiences to enjoy that bit more. Rami Malek has been giving the audacious task of playing Mercury, which again, the audience beforehand were split straight down the middle on opinions. It's always up to the viewer to cast their own opinions on proceedings and that's the exact route I'll be taking. In the past, I've loved movies that have apparently not been good enough for some and they've given absolute shite, their top rankings. Let's see if this is a movie we can all sing along to.

The story follows a young Mercury, struggling with his family, religion and dreams until one day he comes across a band needing a new singer. Instantly offering his services and vocal skills, he blows away the audience with his swagger and style, scaring the other band members a little but showing some potential. As the movie flows, we see the ups and downs that came with the band and with Mercury's home life. Never truly getting the support from his parents, he still chasing the dream of making it big. This comes at a toll though, the band, although massively famous after a while, start to break apart a little. Through Mercury's drinking, failed relationships with females and drug abuse, we start to see the demise of a lead star. By now, he has come out as a gay man and worked so with it in secret but as the press start to pressure, you can physically see the toll that it's talking on the man. The movie began with a walk through the backstage of Live Aid and this is once again where we are working towards. Mercury has now gone single, hit rock bottom and has been used by everyone for his fame and fortune.

One last gig offering is Live Aid but they want the band. They want the famous group but this comes at a cost. The remaining band members have their clauses that Mercury needs to follow in order to get back in. Accepting, the movie finishes with how it started. Before this though, Freddie reveals to his band members that he hasn't long left. He reveals that he is dying and that this could well be his farewell appearance. The walk through the backstage area finishes with the Live Aid segment from Queen and this lasts for around 20 minutes. Apparently, it's the full set that was actually played and to be truthful, it was phenomenal. It gets feet tapping and people singing along. It was everything it was meant to be. A true celebration of this world famous band.

The movie has the right amount of drama, elation and songs to not only keep the audience entertained, but gripped to the storyline if they have indeed never read or seen the story of this band. The music scenes were either shown as a live show and tour or they could have been adding context to the story and simply played over the scenes of action. The movie itself brought emotions across the scale between the happiness of seeing the band prosper and then slowly break away. The anger of some actions and finally leading to sadness as Mercury admits to his life coming to an end. For those who thought Malek wasn't going to be a good choice, they were dead wrong. Each emotion that I just witnessed and spoke about briefly, were shown with ease from a gent that I haven't had the pleasure of seeing in action on screen before. Pretty deserving of the Oscar that he received, it was interesting to see a character go through so many changes to emphasise the years that the movie tried to span over. If you don't find your foot randomly tapping along with this movie, then you're made of stone! 

I figured out who he is (The Old Man and the Gun 2018)

 

 

 

216.

The Old Man and the Gun

 

 

 

 

6/10

 

It had been a while since I had managed time away from work and seen an Odeon Screen Unseen. The clues weren't really up to much and I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. Sitting down and having a quick discussion with my mate about what it could be, we were still none the wiser and as the screen appeared with the title, I quickly got onto IMBD and had a look at the synopsis and its running time. The film stars Robert Redford, who I had heard of by name obviously but never on the big screen. Casey Affleck is one I do recognise and along with Danny Glover, the cast isn't too bad.
The story is a true one. Following a fella at the ripe age of 70, who hasn't long escaped prison, this gent is called Forrest Tucker. Now Forrest loves trouble and as we can see from this movie, he is never too old to get a heist on the go. Being an old man, no-one suspects him and bank after bank, he gets the job done. One day he meets a lady, played by Sissy Spacek, whose face I recognise from somewhere and even now I had to have a look at her. She played Carrie in the older version of the movie years ago. This woman is someone that Forrest and see himself with and even openly admits to her his profession. There's no chance she believes him.

After the news stories start rolling in and Affleck's character gets on the trail, it's still hard to believe that the eyewitnesses are claiming it to be such an older guy. The general public is even falling in love with this idea. That's when the lady starts thinking. She doesn't leave though, just pleads the case for him to give it up. As he is finally caught, along with an accomplice for one heist, played by Glover, he is finally thinking about ending it and settling down. Never too late I suppose.

 

 

 Once the car chase has ended, and a few months have past whilst living with his new love, we figure this could be the end to the movie. There is one last scene though. Forrest is seen sitting on a bench, outside yet another bank and puts on his usual hat and coat, carrying his briefcase and wearing a massive smile towards the camera, he enters and the movie ends there. He could never really stop his true calling.

 

 

This movie was a little more fun than I was going to give it credit for. I'm not too sure what the true story was and if this was followed in this movie but it was more of a lenient heist movie. No real violence and tilted more towards a romantic comedy at times than an actual crime film. It contained the main 'will he won't he' scene that a heist movie possesses and maybe even more than once. Will he get caught, especially a scene where the detective and the robber and dining at the same place. Will he give up the robbing now that he has found a woman. These questions come with their answers within the movie. The acting was pretty decent and there was a lot more humour than I would have expected but Redford put on a show, whether this was his flirtatious attitude down to his seriousness when on the job, he could switch it on and off on demand. 

Happy Halloween, Michael. (Halloween 2018)

215.

Halloween

 

 

 

7/10

 

It's the time of year that I love and that time is Halloween. This means we get some shite and some good but no matter what, they are horror movies and I'll go and see them. This time it's going to be from one of the most famous franchises. Michael Myers, not the guy who plays Shrek, but a serial killer is back on the big screen, 40 years after the original came out. We've has some remakes that we've been asked to forget about and even some sequels that again, we've been asked to pretend aren't around. Instead, we are bringing back Jamie-Lee Curtis as Laurie Stroud and even Will Patton as the cop, who I hear was in the earlier movies, which I have to be honest about, haven't seen.

The movie follows a simple concept, as many serial killer movies do. We have to investigators loving the story surrounding it all, trying to trace down Michael to ask some questions and moving onto Laurie to ask them the same. We catch our first few glimpses of Michael without his famous mask, which was a big talking point before the movie but ended up being a whole lot of nothing. The movie progresses as Laurie is seen by her daughter, son-in-law and the public as a bit of a crazy cow but the granddaughter actually has a degree of sympathy for her. Laurie kicks off after finding out that they are going to be movie Michael by bus, which of course, crashes and he escapes. As a car pulls over to help, he claims his first victims and heads to get some petrol and clothing.
 

 Coming across the investigators from earlier, he makes easy work of them, collecting some teeth and adding to his death tally. Laurie has a sixth sense about this and instantly tries to protect her own family. She's been living away from years, in a cottage in the sticks. Surrounded by fences and some target practice, she's been waiting for this day.
Now apart from the usual rivalry between the killer and his target, we need some side story and this comes in the form of the granddaughter. Not only was she the only person to believe Laurie from the start, but we follow her closely. With Michael, he's found his way to a petrol station and low and behold, it's the same one as the investigator's from earlier. He makes easy work of them before finding his old mask in their trunk. The granddaughter is at a school dance as Michael finds his way into town, going door to door he picks off people with ease, adding to his tally. They two come to their first meeting in a garden than the Granddaughter cuts through with her friend. He makes light work of the friend and sets his sights on her, realising her resemblance to a young Laurie. Now, this is the part that always winds me up. The girl can run as fast as she can but the serial killer with a slow walk always catches up. The girl is picked up by the cop, who is giving the shrink a ride and when they come across Michael, the cop plows him down. The shrink isn't best pleased about this, showing his fascination with Michael and when they inspect the body, the cop gets stabbed in the neck by the shrink, who drags Michael into the car to sit next to the girl. Crazy bastard.
Laurie is off making sure the rest of her family are safe. She grabbed her daughter and son-in-law and taken them to her house in the woods. The Shrink is on the way too, just before Michael wakes, kills him and goes after the girl, but she escapes and legs it into the woods. Now Michael has a new plan.

He heads to the house in the cop car and plants it outside so that the only gent after he's massacred the cops, comes to have a look. He's easily dealt with and the only people left to stop Michael are the three generations of ladies. The two eldest are hiding the basement and the youngest is in the woods somewhere. Laurie has a plan though, she has been waiting for this for years and has laid trap after trap around her house. Even the granddaughter makes is back in time so that they are all in the basement, tempting Michael to come down until he is shot, locked down there and caged like the animal he is. All of a sudden the faces on the two eldest change to stubborn bitches and they know they have won. The room fills with gas, as does the rest of the house and with one match, Michael is lit on fire, standing, unbothered, as he burns to death without a sound. The females walk away from the house, just as it explodes and the movie draws to a close.

I'm going to look at this movie as a standalone to an extent, mainly because I haven't seen the others but because it was also told quite cleverly. Although we have a story 40 years on, there are enough references from the earlier movies to fill in the gaps for the first time viewers to this tale and I find that very well done. This isn't the type of horror that would have too many jump-scares, maybe a leap out the closest and such but it holds it's esteem by being such a creepy thriller, not one that the cops will end the case but a vigilante. This movie shows that there could be a monster in anyone, without actually showing a true monster. Instead, we get an iconic mask that is a symbol of this franchise. The music score does will to add to this suspense at the right moments, more meaningfully as Michael regains his mask. Putting in a little bit about the bad points, as one has already been spoken about and that's the love of the slow walking killer who never gets outrun somehow. This alongside some continuity errors. The door to the basement was hidden under a countertop in the kitchen, one that as the movie carried on, got slower and slower at closing, obviously giving some more suspense but Jesus wept, you could clearly see this was slowing down on purpose. The main feature of this movie that I enjoyed, was the most unexpected parts. This would stem by how quick the investigator's deaths came about, how the shrink turned on the good and how the women banded together in such a fashion towards the end. This was definitely a movie that could once again do the franchise justice, whilst forgetting the terrible ones that apparently came in the middle.

 

A thousand year army needs a thousand year soldiers (Overlord 2018)

214.

Overlord

 

 

 

 

 

7/10

 

 

A horror that gave me a little bit of excitement once I read that it was coming out. One of the first games that I remember being into was Return to Castle Wolfenstein and this movie looked like an absolute twin to that game. Now there is no promise of it being just as good, following the storyline or even being a good horror, all I cared about was that it looked like it could be. Always a sucker for horror, I couldn't wait until the time went to watch the movie.

 

The story followed a group of American soldiers, heading behind the enemy line to take down a radio tower. Knowing there's a chance they wouldn't make it out is the least of their problems. In the old French town that they need to make it into, lies a secret that they wish they never came across. It turns out that the Nazi's are running experiments on the local. These involve draining the poor buggers because there is something in the land that they live and pouring this blood into the Nazi soldiers, creating some sort of super zombie Nazi army.

 Good one Hitler you crazy bastard. Once our main villain takes a bullet to the face, he ends up taking a needle of the good stuff and sorting himself out. This guy is the only one that I do recognise, playing Theon Greyjoy's uncle in A Game of Thrones. This is now the part of the game I loved. Just like this movie, it started as a normal war storyline, taking a dark turn with all sorts of disgusting soldiers heading to kill the good guys. Obviously, we know the outcome. Our guys save the day by bringing down the labs, radio tower and whatever else was in the tunnels below. If you went into this movie thinking that is was going to be a war movie, you'd have been dead wrong.

 There was such a creepy and dark aspect brought about halfway through the movie that really turned this story on its head. I can imagine the unsuspecting audience would have had the same look on their faces as the soldiers, once they seen their first zombie on screen. This sort of cross over has only really been done on movies that have gone straight to DVD.

The look of this movie was exactly as I expected. There was the war aspect to begin, looking like something fresh of the beginning of a Call of Duty game and then as the team made their way below, the story turned downwards towards hell too. With pitch-black corridors, old ruins, plenty and I mean plenty of gore, this was a clever twist to a zombie movie which usually depicts some slow walking gormless bastards. There was plenty of action, killing and explosions to brighten up our screens at the right time, keeping this as an action-packed horror. It was always going to be an interesting idea when J.J Abrams is involved. He never likes normal.

This movie will go well below the radar and maybe not be successful in any real way but for me, the nostalgia that came from this movie became a massive talking point amongst my friends. It would be very interesting to see which mission this gang of soldiers were sent onto next after seeing the horrors that they had scene.

Eyes, lungs, pancreas. So many snacks, so little time. (Venom 2018)

213.

Venom 

 

 

 

 

 

8/10

 

I remember where I was when they announced Tom Hardy would be playing Eddie Brock, the lead character in the Venom movie. I was on holiday in Florida, coming face to face with a rather large Tiger when I got the text. I also remember some of the backlash. I'm not one to judge the casting before I've seen the movie anymore after I was completely against Affleck as the Bat and I ended up pleasantly surprised. With this being a Sony Marvel movie, it brought a lot of negative media, with many of the 'fanboys' not wanting to give this the time of day with it not being MCU official. These people are too high and mighty for their own good.

We are seeing Eddie Brock in the best moments of his life, good job, good relationship and not long after, it all comes crashing down. This is because he snoops in on his missis's work and uses it for his own media story, taking the game to our main villain for the movie. Riz Ahmed plays Carlton Drake, who is in charge of a company experimenting with the Alien entities found in space. With the rest of the movie carrying on as Eddie is bonded with Venom, we see him getting used to this new invasion and trying to control everything going on.

 He quickly uses this symbiote to be the parasitic antihero that we have come to know. We still have the love interest angle as he comes clean to his ex-girlfriend Anne, played by Michelle Williams, who even mixes with Venom for a few minutes to save Eddie. The one surprise I get from this movie would definitely be the humour. There seems to be some sort of love-hate bond at first between Eddie and Brock but this soon turns into a brotherly love and the back and fore with banter is very, very refreshing. As the movie heads on, Riz Ahmed's fella bonds with his own symbiote called Riot and this leads to a massive fight scene at the end in which we see Venom save Eddie before having to sacrifice himself for the better good to save the world and stop other alien slime balls heading to take over. But has he truly gone? The last scene gives us a conversation that answers this with a no. Venom is still inside and here come's Stan Lee's cameo too. Cheek bit of after credits too. Now I knew Woody Harrelson was in this movie and rumoured to be Carnage. They left it until the last few minutes to reveal this but maybe this was because they were so sure that the fact there would be a sequel. I couldn't really deny this because it's a great way to set up the next. What a villain that would be and cast very well.

 

This was a much darker comic book moved focused around a Marvel creation. With all of the bad press that was focused on this movie before it even came out to the public, I'm so glad that I can go against the grain and really like it. It was humorous, dark and didn't cut out the gruesome scenes, showing just how violent this character can be. Hardy, once again, played his role really well. He pretty much stole the show with having to act as two characters at times and having a conversation with no-one but his thoughts. From firstly being a happy fella to looking like he is about to die, to finally accepting his new buddy and acting upon each moment to the best of his abilities. Riz Ahmed is another impressive actor at the moment. From the story of him begging to be in Rogue One, to moving into a villainous role with ease. If we had to talk about the graphics and the look of Venom, which again came under scrutiny before the movie even hit the big screen, then I wouldn't really have much in the form of criticism for it all. Yes Venom did look a little strange but what did we really have to compare too? 20 minutes of scenes in Spider-man 3 or just the drawings from the actual comics. This movie had a blank canvas and I'm really impressed with it's look, especially the final fight scene. I'm looking forward to what's on the horizon with this franchise and if it will incorporate Spider-man in any way in the future.