Movie Releases for the Holiday Season

A Preview

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

Marvel is ready to take the quantum leap into the next phase of its cinematic universe. Post Endgame, and with a bevy of television series now crowding its Disney+ catalogue, Marvel is taking its franchise multiversal. A botched spell from Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) rends the fabric of space-time, unleashing the full potential of Marvel’s intellectual property. Any character from any time is liable to descend on this iteration’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and his girlfriend Mary Jane (Zendaya). The premise to Spider-Man: No Way Home guarantees a glut of spectacle and fanservice and a gushing revenue stream for Disney. In theaters 12/16.

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS

The original Matrix movie, from 1999, holds up as one of the most exhilarating and original science-fiction action films ever made. Unfortunately, its sequels burrowed so deeply into layers of simulacra that, by the end, audiences were more befuddled than delighted. This franchise reboot seems to be a return to form. Lana Wachowski is back in the director’s chair, and Thomas Anderson, a.k.a. Neo (Keanu Reeves), is once again unwittingly captive to the hyperreal simulation known as the Matrix. With help from a gang of leather-clad cyber vigilantes, he must learn the truth and free humanity of their computer-code shackles. The Matrix Resurrections is the rare blockbuster in which explosions don’t come at the expense of beauty. The colors burst with brilliance. The fight scenes have the elegance of pyrotechnic ballet. Savor this visual feast at the largest screen you can find. In theaters and streaming on HBO Max 12/22.

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