1 month ago
23
In what's a total 180 from last week's column on "Anora," I'm going to talk about some family friendly fare. "Paddington in Peru" is the third Paddington movie in the series that started in 2014.
Ben Whishaw is absolute perfection as he returns to voice Paddington in ‘Paddington in Peru.’ PHOTO FROM COLUMBIA PICTURES
These Paddington movies have been well received critically and have been box office successes. To be honest, maybe I've been too much of a goth to go out and seek cute, lovable things. To get caught up, I watched the first movie. I'm sure people loved the light heartedness and the comedy and the absolute perfection of Ben Whishaw as Paddington. I personally felt de-stressed after watching it.
"Paddington 2" gave us Hugh Grant, "Paddington in Peru" gives us delightful performances by Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas. "Paddington in Peru" sees the beloved bear and the Brown family investigating the mysterious disappearance of Aunt Lucy from the Home of Retired Bears.
It takes them around Peru in search of all things mythical, and discovering expected and unexpected treasures.
"Paddington" feels just like a children's book come to life. I suppose even adults watching without kids can enjoy this too, if they're willing to surrender to some cuteness and comfort. A new Spider-Man animated series, "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man," is also out on Disney+, two to three 30 minute episodes are rolled out every Wednesday to complete a season of 10.
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It's a new re-telling of the Peter Parker story (don't worry, we're not going through the pain of losing Uncle Ben again), with the voices of Colman Domingo as Norman Osborn, Hugh Dancy as Doctor Octopus and Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock.
We're presented here with a new spider bite back story (which happens to involve an Avenger). I'm particularly interested in the character of Nico Minoru — the goth grunge girl who is Peter's closest friend and classmate at Midtown High School.
We also get to meet Pearl Pangan, who happens to be Peter Parker's former babysitter, and now crush (she's a few batches ahead of him). If you're from this part of the world, and a geek, then we know she's the one and only Filipina superhero, Wave. "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" should be good for kids and tweens, and people who really just don't tire of this superhero. Finally, I got to watch an awards season pick, "A Real Pain." Kieran Culkin is nominated for an Academy Award for his role here as Benji.
"A Real Pain" is a small, intimate movie that's big on telling a very human story about pain, loneliness, friendship and family history. It goes from comedic, to poignant to insightful and back again.
Jesse Eisenberg wrote the screenplay, directed the film and acted opposite Culkin.
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"Paddington in Peru" (cinemas nationwide), "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" (Disney+) and "A Real Pain" (Ayala Cinemas) were all released January 29.
