Deadpool & Wolverine plus a Spider-man trilogy - what’s coming to Cambridge Arts Picturehouse in July and August 2024

Our film critic, Mark Walsh, explores what’s coming to the big screen in this feature, sponsored by the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse.

Deadpool & Wolverine

Whither the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Sixteen years ago, Iron Man first burst onto our screens, and Marvel began gradually weaving an epic tapestry of its superheroes that culminated in a two-part Avengers film and broke all sorts of box office records.

The problem for Marvel is that comic books don’t actually culminate - they keep going, and the studio’s attempts to continue to expand their mythology on screen have become clunky and confusing, with the reception for some of their recent cinema releases less than enthusiastic.

Add to this that, at the time of Iron Man’s release, Marvel didn’t even have the rights to some of their key characters, including the X-Men, so how do you tempt audiences back to a world that becomes increasingly difficult to explain to a summer blockbuster audience craving big screen pleasures, while weaving these disparate strands together?

You bring in Deadpool, that’s what. Ryan Reynolds first portrayed the minor X-Men character in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, but the depiction of the character, whose powers include healing and breaking the fourth wall, satisfied no-one, least of all Reynolds.

He was instrumental in bringing the comic book version of the character to the screen, swearing, violence and meta in-jokes fully intact, and his two big screen outings in the red suit have been hugely successful.

Now, Marvel is bringing him back and bringing him into their Cinematic Universe, and they’re bringing an alternate universe version of the most famous X-Man of all, Wolverine, along for the ride.

That’s what the best of these characters, and in turn their films, do: they find a way to survive. Marvel is putting all of its eggs in this one R-rated basket with no other MCU films due until next year.

They’re relying on the Time Variance Authority, as seen in Marvel’s Loki TV series (and led here by Matthew MacFayden), to recruit Deadpool to save the universe: cue Reynolds actually being able to joke about being the Marvel Jesus and reference his off-screen relationship and charisma with Hugh Jackman, tempted back for one more outing as the adamantium-clawed antihero and the chance to finally wear his character’s yellow comic-book outfit.

Fans will relish the gentle digs at Marvel’s successes and failures, a succession of cheeky cameos and a host of references to the 33 previous MCU films and more; for everyone else, it’s a chance to sit back and enjoy the ride of what should be one of the most uproariously entertaining films of the summer.

Deadpool & Wolverine opens on Thursday, 25 July.

Spider-Mania

You can make a strong argument that we wouldn’t have this proliferation of comic book heroes on screen now without the most famous of them becoming so successful when their chance came, from Christopher Reeves’ Superman to Christian Bale’s Batman. Picturehouse audiences will get the chance in August to experience once again the defining movie portrayal of that other great superhero, your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Sam Raimi may have seemed an unlikely choice to helm these films at the time, the director being best known for the cult horror trilogy The Evil Dead. But he absolutely nailed the essence of both the character and the comic-book elements that would work on the big screen, with impeccable casting to back it up.

Tobey Maguire captured both the glee and the internal conflict of Peter Parker as he learned what comes with great power, while Kirsten Dunst brought chemistry and empathy as Mary Jane. Add in Willem Dafoe as the masked baddie and James Franco as his son and Peter’s best friend, and Raimi pulled off one of the best cinema superhero films ever made. You can see it on the Arts screen from 2 August for one week only.

That’s because the sequel swings in hard on its heels the following week, a film I would still put in my top five superhero films of all time. That’s partly down to Alfred Molina’s captivating appearance as top-tier Spidey villain Doctor Octopus, realised superbly with animatronics and puppetry as well as computer enhancement, but also to Sam Raimi, fully unleashing the directorial talents he honed on those Evil Dead movies.

Finally, from 16 July you can reappraise the third film in that original trilogy, which features some of Raimi’s more offbeat humour and a surplus of villains with The Sandman and Venom making appearances. While not quite the equal of its predecessors, as a whole these represent a standard for event cinema to which any latter-day imitators should still aspire.

Scope: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

The season of films showcasing the best of widescreen cinema continues with another defining example of its potential, the third and final film in the Dollars trilogy featuring Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name. A mixed reception on its original release has been followed by a reappraisal that marks this spaghetti Western out as one of the greatest examples of the genre of all time.

The spaghetti refers not to the location, as the film was shot predominantly in Spain, but to the wealth of talent behind the camera. As well as director Sergio Leone, operating at the peak of his powers, it’s director of photography Tonino Delli Colli’s expansive shot composition that demands to be seen in widescreen and the editing of Nino Baragli and Eugenio Alabiso that build the tension, especially in the climatic Mexican stand-off.

The other significant Italian contributing to the film is possibly the greatest film composer of all time, Ennio Morricone, who worked on the themes with Leone before production started (including the by turns haunting and majestic The Ecstasy Of Gold) to integrate them into the film.

It would be the last time that Leone and Eastwood worked together, but he, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach in the title roles make their own telling contributions to a genre-defining film that will easily make converts for anyone coming to this for the first time.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly is screening on Saturday, 20 July.

Blue Monday: Body Double

A member of the New Hollywood generation of filmmakers, Brian De Palma’s visual imprint is as great, if not greater, than any of his contemporaries.

Body Double nestles neatly in the middle of his career, after the films which made his name such as Carrie, Blow Out and Scarface but before those which confirmed his reputation, from The Untouchables to Mission: Impossible.

While De Palma referenced a plethora of earlier directors, from Jean-Luc Godard to Michaelangelo Antonioni, his work most often bears the imprint of Alfred Hitchcock and that’s especially true here, with his screenplay (co-written with Robert J Avrech) drawing on Vertigo and Rear Window in particular.

The director’s trademarks, including long tracking shots, a knowing love of cinematic techniques and voyeuristic tendencies, are all on display here, as a young actor becomes obsessed with a beautiful neighbour before events spiral out of control unexpectedly. The film picked up a Golden Globe for Melanie Griffith and represents a fascinating mid-point in the career of one of Hollywood’s most underrated directors.

Body Double is screening on Monday, 19 August.