Top 5 Blockbuster Films in July 2020: Zombies, Immortals, and Beyond – Update

For the first time this year, we are doing a new movie list that consists solely of streaming releases, instead of the usual cinematic list. The last time cinemas were still open was in March, and even then, we didn’t get to see most of the movies that were supposed to be released that month – A Quiet Place Part II being one of them. Now we are in the month of July, which was supposed to be the month of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and even that’s not happening. The world is still battling the coronavirus and it’s looking like cinemas are going to stay shut way past September.

In the meantime, streaming services are doing their best to keep us entertained, while the world awaits the reopening of cinemas everywhere. Keep in mind that not all the movies on this list are going to be good; I’m sure you’ve been treated to some truly bad movies on various streaming platforms. But hey, at least it’s some kind of entertainment – beggars can’t be choosers.

 

1. Zombie For Sale | July 1, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfGpUEy2Zho

I recently got a chance to watch Zombie For Sale (review is still forthcoming), and let me just say, this Korean film manages to somehow offer something new to the zombie cinematic space. It’s like the inverse Train to Busan, the film diving into comedy and levity as opposed to death and tragedy. When the father in the Park family gets beaten by a zombie and miraculously gets younger, the family, who are struggling to make ends meet, decide to profit from this situation.

There is also a zombie-human love story, much like Warm Bodies, and no offense to Jonathan Levine (who directed Warm Bodies), but this film just handles the romance with an emotional deftness that I enjoyed. The fact that this is a debut film of director Lee Min-jae is a mindblowing revelation, cementing him as a filmmaker to keep tabs on in years to come. The film will be on the Arrow Video Channel, which is available on Apple TV in the UK and America, as well as on Amazon in the UK.

 

2. Greyhound | July 10, 2020

Leave it to Tom Hanks to establish a pattern between his new film Greyhound and the coronavirus. In a virtual interview, Hanks said: “No one has anything other than a best educated guess of when the world is going to be through with this, when Covid-19 is going to have run its course, and been either tamed or conquered or banished from our lives or from the world.”

Hanks continues by saying that all we can do is try our best and weather through this storm, much like the people on board Greyhound. Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson were one of the first few celebrities to speak out about having contracted the virus, and that’s when we knew this virus meant business; if it could take down America’s sweetheart Tom Hanks then nobody was safe.

Greyhound, which will be released on Apple TV+, is an adaptation of C. S. Forester’s 1955 book The Good Shepherd, which Hanks came across seven or eight years ago. In addition to starring in the film, Hanks is also the writer of Greyhound, and said what first attracted him about the story is the book cover – proving that we should always judge a book by its cover.

Hanks plays Ernie Krause, a first-time Navy captain in charge of leading a convoy of 37 ships carrying supplies and soldiers across a stretch of the Atlantic Ocean occupied by Nazi U-boats during the early 1940s. The film is inspired by the real-life Battle of the Atlantic.

 

3. The Old Guard | July 10, 2020

Listen, I’ll watch anything with Charlize Theron in it, because her presence just elevates even the most mundane of films. That being said, besides Mad Max: Fury Road, Theron’s action flicks always leave much to be desired. Aeon Flux was a non-entity, and Hancock suffers from a poor second act. The Old Guard has the potential to be a good film though, considering Theron’s attachment and the fact that it’s directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, who gave us the wonderful film Love and Basketball.

Theron plays an immortal being leading a group of soldiers who have been protecting the mortal world for centuries. When the team takes on an emergency mission, their abilities are exposed, and now, everyone wants a slice of immortal pie. Guess we will have to wait till the film’s release on Netflix.

 

4. Palm Springs | July 10, 2020

Why are all these movies being released on July 10? I don’t have the answer to that question, but I do know that when Palm Springs releases on Hulu, I am so going to watch it the moment it releases, unless I have TGIF plans. Who am I kidding, I pretty much have no life now. Palm Springs was the talk of the town at Sundance this year, with rumours abound that it was bought for US$22 million. The film currently has a full score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, so we can see why Neon and Hulu spent all that money on it.

Palm Springs stars Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, with the pair finding themselves stuck in a time loop, forced to relive a particular day in Palm Springs over and over again. Critics have high praise for Palm Springs, commenting that it offers something novel and fresh to the Groundhog Day premise. So does it seem like a film you would watch over and over again? Only one way to find out.

 

5. The Kissing Booth 2 | July 24, 2020

When I was saying some of the movies on this list might not be good, I was referring specifically to this film. The first film was an abomination, which included scenes like a teenage girl wearing a skirt so short you could see her underwear. The film is based on a book that was originally on Wattpad before it got published, which basically explains why the plot revolves around a kissing booth. But you see, it was popular enough that Netflix decided to have a sequel, so yeah, it satisfies the ‘biggest’ aspect this list must have, and it’s a new film, so…yay.

Interestingly, it seems like Netflix has forgotten all about it, since the only promo material we have so far is the video announcing the sequel. Where’s the trailer Netflix? The people in the YouTube video comments want to know.

The Kissing Booth 2 picks up from where it left off in the previous film, where Noah starts his college life at Harvard (how did this guy even make it to Harvard I will never know) and Elle starts her senior year in High School. It’s long distance for our two lovebirds – will they make it work, or will they crash and burn? Fingers crossed it’s the latter.