Eid weekend watchlist: 11 movie picks to entertain you over the UAE holidays

Toofan (Amazon Prime Video): The winning combination of actor Farhan Akthar and director Rakeysh OmPrakash Mehra is back again with an exciting boxing drama ‘Toofan’. If the past is any indication, they are likely to knock us out clean with their collective skills. Akhtar plays Ali, a fading boxer from Mumbai’s underbelly. His game is rusty, but he is geared up for a comeback in the ring. What’s not to love about an underdog who fights against all odds to reclaim his championship title? ‘Toofan’ is hooked as a portrait of grit, guts, and sporting glory. We are in.

Out Of Death (UAE Cinemas): If you are in the mood to watch an action thriller about corrupt cops running a covert shady operation, then Bruce Willis and Jaime King’s new film is right up your street. The film opens on Shannon (King) witnessing a drug deal in the woods with law enforcement officers in the mix, and how her life unravels. She becomes the prime target of a few corrupt cops and the cat-and-mouse chase tale has a few interesting twists up its sleeve. It soon becomes the survival of the fittest and filthiest.

‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ (UAE cinemas): This ‘John Wick’ meets ‘Kill Bill’ action flick features Karen Gillan as Sam, a coldblooded assassin who works for a criminal organisation. When an eight-year-old girl is kidnapped, Sam recruits her mother (Lena Headey) and her lethal sidekicks to take down a crime syndicate. The all-star cast also features Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett and Paul Giamatti. The trailer promises lots of guns, stunts and thrills, but with beautiful cinematography. (Here’s an extra shout out to a rare women-led action movie.)

‘Malik’ (Amazon Prime Video): Two words. Fahadh Faasil. If there’s one Malayalam actor who can pull off this ambitious titular role of a young man who becomes a cult political figure for is miniority community then it’s Faasil who emotes with his eyes. His films are a masterclass in subtle acting and his films rarely disappoint. Plus, this Malayalam-language film is directed by Mahesh Narayanan who has a strong grip on his narrative and is a great story teller. To watch Faasil play a man progressing through several decades in his life is a reason enough to watch this film this Eid.

‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ (UAE cinemas): There’s nothing like a dose of family friendly nostalgia to brighten up your holidays. You probably watched the 1996 movie ‘Space Jam’ that featured basketball legend Michael Jordan starring alongside Bugs Bunny in a mashup that went down in history. Now, NBA superstar LeBron James returns for a sequel. In it, he and his young son Dom get trapped in digital space by a rogue AI. To get home safely, LeBron teams up with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang for a high-stakes basketball game. This one will be a hit with the whole family.

‘Animal Crackers’ (out in UAE cinemas on July 22): They’re known spooking people on the big screen with horror flick ‘A Quiet Place’, but actors John Krasinski and Emily Blunt show a different side as they lend their voices to the animation ‘Animal Crackers’. The movie, loosely based on the graphic novel by Sava, is about a family that have to use a magical box of Animal Crackers (the crunchy cookies we all love) to save a run-down circus from being taken over by their evil uncle Horatio P Huntington. The film also features the voices of Danny DeVito, Gilbert Gottfried, Ian McKellen, Sylvester Stallone and Raven-Symone.

‘Black Widow’ (UAE cinemas): The first Marvel Cinematic Universe film to hit cinemas in two years, ‘Black Widow’ follows Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) as she confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, the Avenger must deal with her history as a spy, and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Also starring Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz and David Harbour, ‘Black Widow’ is full of heart-pumping action and equal measures of an emotional arc that will take fans to a deeper understanding of the hero who sacrificed her life to save the world.

‘Snake Eyes’ (in UAE cinemas on July 22): An epic origin story for the famous G.I. Joe character Cobra, ‘Snake Eyes’ stars ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ heart-throb Henry Golding in the titular role as he learns the ways of the ninja from the Arashikage. The action-packed trailer teases plenty of combat, sword choreography and big groups of enemies looking to fight. The story also goes into some new G.I. Joe lore with the trailer stating that the G.I. Joes have been around for 600 years, leaving lots of room for worldbuilding. If you’re looking for high-stakes action, look no further than ‘Sanke Eyes’.

‘Escape Room: No Way Out’ (out in UAE cinemas): The sequel to 2019’s ‘Escape Room’ sees the return of filmmaker Adam Robitel, and stars Logan Miller, Taylor Russell, and Deborah Ann Woll. After escaping the harrowing and near-fatal “sole survivor” escape rooms orchestrated by the Minos Corporation, Zoey Davis and Ben Miller decide to confront the shadowy organisation after finding coordinates to their New York City-based headquarter — only to find themselves stuck in another escape room. Fans of the original film can look forward to a next-level sequel that heightens all the absurdity and horror of ‘Escape Room’.

Pawn (Korean, with English subtitles, out in cinemas): Movies that have a child star at its centre tow a dangerous line between endearing and annoying. ‘Pawn’, which focuses on a child who is kidnapped by two lovable loan sharks (played by Sung Dong-il and Kim Hee-won) who end up adopting her when her mother is deported, tugs at heartstrings thanks to an award-worthy performance by Park Soi. Park, who plays the nine-year-old pawn Seung-yi, is a breath of fresh air in a role that allows her to push the boundaries, be it when playing an innocent prank on her adoptive father or being thrown into the depths of darkness when sold into modern-day slavery. Director Kang Dae-kyu takes inspiration from films such as ‘Miracle in Cell No 7’ and his own ‘Harmony’, yet laces his drama with enough humour to avoid bogging it down with too much emotion.

Fear Street trilogy (Netflix): If you grew up on a diet of film such as ‘Halloween’, ‘Scream’, ‘Urban Legend’ and ‘Final Desitnation’, then the ‘Fear Street’ trilogy on Netflix would be a killer watch over the Eid weekend. Based on the teenage horror fiction series written by American author R.L. Stine, the three-chapter saga takes us through different time periods of a murderous spree plaguing Shadyside as we try to decipher what set the town’s bloody history into motion and find a way to stop it once and for all.