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Tom Holland - Spider-Man: A Brand New Day (2026)
Tom Holland in 'Spider-Man: A Brand New Day' (2026)
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
(In Theaters July 31)
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Tom Holland gets his fourth bite at the Spider-Man role. This time he’s a frustrated, lonely hero. Having lost his beloved Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), he’s also given up everyone he cared for in order to ensure that the world forgot Peter Parker’s existence—a necessary sacrifice in order to literally save the world. We join Parker several years after the forgetting, as he longingly watches one-time girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), along with Parker’s nerdy best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), both graduate from college and plan lives that don’t include Parker.
Although Frank Castle, aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) remains a villain, Castle is the only person with whom Parker can discuss these losses, so it’s good there’s a powerful on-screen chemistry between them. Spider-Man is being stalked by a dangerous telepathic fiend whose identity remains hidden, as Parker also fights the increasing influence of his spider DNA. The odds stacked against him, Parker struggles to gain a web-hold. Watch for Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and Sadie Sink who appears in a mysterious role. (Lisa Miller)
Threads
(Severin 4KD Ultra HD)
Playwright Barry Hines scripted this series, originally broadcast on BBC in 1984. “Threads” examined what might happen if nuclear war had erupted between the U.S. and U.S.S.R, dragging the world with them. The story is dramatized through everyday life in the gloomy industrial city of Sheffield and a young couple facing an unplanned pregnancy as well as an uncertain future.
In 1984 no one imagined that the U.S.S.R. would disintegrate within a few years, lending the production an air of late Cold War nostalgia. However, many of the geopolitical plot pivots sound eerily similar to today’s news. An American coup against Iran triggers a wider war with naval action in the Persian Gulf and—why not?—a U.S. blockade of Cuba. Tension escalates when the U.S. and Soviets exchange battlefield nuclear fire. Will missiles begin to fall on cities across the globe?
The plain folk in “Threads” pay little attention to the news until the threats become more tangible. They go about their routine, drinking in pubs, playing video games, working, working out family problems (or not). Suddenly an emergency is declared. Shops jack up prices and looting follows. “Threads” is composed of British kitchen sink realism (Hines worked with director Ken Loach) with a documentary dimension courtesy actual footage of military action. It’s an absorbing drama. (David Luhrssen)
