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Many of the films that were supposed to be released over the last year were delayed due to COVID-19 filming shutdowns. That was disappointing news for movie aficionados in 2020 but movie fans were able to enjoy lockdown entertainment playing Grande Vegas online casino USA games.
Now film buffs can combine their gaming adventures with the 2020 and 2021 releases which are opening in movie houses around the country to give enthusiasts a double dose of movie excitement.
Some of the best of the 2021 crop include:
Top Gun: Maverick
Thirty-five years after the 80s classic Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick comes to the screen as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) returns to train a new squad of graduates and confront his past. The movie mixes nostalgia and new adventures as the characters continue their stories.
Mitchell is still one of the army’s most courageous test pilots. Now he is charged with preparing the new bath of Top Gun recruit for a specialized mission that will take them – and the viewers – on a high-intensity thrill ride. Mitchell himself pushes the envelope as he readies his recruits and dodges an advancement in rank that would take him out of the cockpit and put him in an office.
The original release date for Top Gun: Maverick was December 2020 but that date was pushed off to July 2nd 2021. Additional filming difficulties resulted in the new date – November 2021. Fans are excited!
The Dig
Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan star in this 1939 film which was based on true events. Mulligan hires an archaeologist, Basil Brown (Fiennes) to excavate burial mounds on her estate. Brown suspects that the mounds are Anglo-Saxon as opposed to the more common Viking era but his lack of education prompts better-known archaeologists to try to take over the dig. Mulligan asserts her rights to choose Brown to continue to play an important part in the dig and he eventually unearths a Merovingian Tremissis, a small gold coin of Late Antiquity, proving that the site is connected to the Anglo-Saxon period. Further excavations uncover a ship along with a priceless treasure trove of grave goods.
As World War II begins Mulligan donates the treasure of Sutton Hoo to the British Museum. During the war the finds are secured in the London Underground and eventually displayed at the Museum.
Dune
Perhaps the most awaited film of the year is the remake of Dune, a beloved science-fiction epic that follows the story of the young and gifted Paul Atreides who leads the battle to control the desert planet Arrakis. The movie is based on the 1965 story written by Frank Herbert and originally published as two separate serials in Analog magazine.
The story has captured the imagination of sci-fi fans for decades. It tells the mythic and emotionally charged story of the journey of the brilliant and gifted Atreides who is destined for a greatness that he doesn’t understand. Atreides sets out on a journey to a dangerous planet to battle malevolent forces that threaten his family and his people. The two sides struggle for control over a commodity that will unlock humanity’s greatest potent. To survive, the combatants must conquer their fear, a struggle that may push Atreides over the edge.
House of Gucci
House of Gucci, scheduled for release in November 2021, tells the true story of Maurizio Gucci, a well-known designer who was assassinated in Milan in 1995.
Gucci was born into the well-known designer family. He married Patrizia Reggiani, the “Liz Taylor of luxury labels” in 1973 After his father died he took over the shares and started a legal fight to take over his uncle’s shares. Gucci was, by no one’s assessment, a “nice guy” but after running the Gucci company into the ground he was forced to sell out. He left his wife for Paola Franchi, an interior designer and went to live with her.
In 1995 Gucci was shot 4 times and killed. Reggiani was a suspect from the beginning and a year later she was arrested, tried and convicted of planning the murder and hiring a hitman to carry it out — based on the testimony of a former friend, Pina Auriemma.
The House of Gucci recounts the couple’s story which stars Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci and Lady Gaga as Patrizia.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
MCU is staying mum about Spider-Man: No Way Home, the third Spider-Man film in the Spider-Man franchise. Expectations are, however, that there will be familiar faces from previous Spider-Man movies – the returns of Jamie Foxx (Electro in the Amazing Spider-Man 2) and Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus in Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man 2) have already been confirmed. Other roles include Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Zendaya as MJ, Parker’s girlfriend and J.B. Smoove as Julius Dell, Parker’s teacher. The studio just released its first teaser trailer and the movie, which is scheduled to be released in the United States on December 17, 2021, already has fans excited.
Featured Image Credit: Screenshot from ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home” Trailer