Must-watch movies and TV shows you can binge on in July

July will be here in just another week and it is a promising month for movie buffs as there are a couple of films that are lined up for release. We at Onmanorama have compiled some of the most anticipated films and TV shows that you can watch on various platforms.

 

‘THE GRAY MAN’

Netflix has never been shy to splurge on its productions. With the ‘Gray Man’, Netflix has outdone itself with a massive budget above $200 million.

This extravagant action thriller will be helmed by the Russo Brothers, who are no strangers to big-budget productions, having directed ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’, both of which had over $300 million budgets.

'The Gray Man’ will become the most expensive movie to grace the streaming platform on release, just edging out ‘Red Notice’, which held the title previously. The movie will be based on the novel series of the same name by Mark Greaney.

The star-studded cast of the movie is led by Ryan Gosling, who will play the titular Gray Man – a CIA mercenary known as Sierra Six- who goes rogue after finding out deep dark secrets within his agency.

The movie will be Gosling’s first major role after his role as Neil Armstrong in 2018’s critically acclaimed movie ‘First Man’.’

He is joined by Chris Evans, who will play the psychopathic antagonist, Lloyd Hansen, who is sent to hunt down Gosling’s Sierra Six after his disappearance.

The trailer promises a gripping action thriller with exciting chase scenes and impressive fight choreography.

The Russos have also expressed interest in starting a ‘Gray Man’ franchise if the movie does well.

The already stacked cast will also have prolific actors Ana de Armas, Rege-Jean Page, Jessica Henwick and Dhanush, in supporting roles.

The ‘Gray Man’ is set to release in India on Netflix on July 22.

 

‘THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER’

In the long list of movies which make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the second Thor film, ‘The Dark World’, has often been slammed as the worst. The movie had a lot of production and time limit issues, which did not probably allow the usual burst of creativity from its crew.

Enter Taika Waititi. The director took over the reins of ‘Thor’ and took a hard turn, recharting it as a vibrant and inventive comedy-drama from its stiff Shakespearean contours.

This resulted in 2017’s ‘Thor Ragnarok’, which provided a breath of fresh air to the franchise with its bold humour and breathtaking visuals. Thor Ragnarok became one of the top-rated movies of the MCU and propelled Taika Waititi and ‘Thor’ to a new level of popularity.

Now, nearly five years later, Waititi and Hemsworth have reunited to offer probably the latter’s final outing as ‘Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder’. Based on Jason Aaron’s award-winning run on the Mighty Thor comics, ‘Love and Thunder’ will introduce a new hero in the form of Thor’s ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman, who will take on the mantle of the Mighty Thor as she does in the comics.

A slew of familiar faces like Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, Waititi’s Korg and Jaimie Alexander’s Sif return along with some new faces in the form of Russell Crowe as Zeus and Christian Bale as the main antagonist of the movie – Gorr the God Butcher.

Test screenings have already proven that the creepy celestial serial killer Gorr will be a villain for the ages as he has reportedly ‘tested’ the highest among all MCU villains.

The glimpses of Bale’s new character in the trailer are enough to make anyone watch the movie as he reels out a terrifying villain powerful enough to butcher the gods of different pantheons.

With neither Hemsworth nor Waititi confirmed to return for a ‘Thor 5’, this could be their last outing in the MCU and hence they would be looking to go out with a bang.

‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ is set to release on July 8 in theatres.

 

'NOPE'

Before the release of ‘Get Out’ in 2017, Jordan Peele was known to everyone only as one half of the hit sketch comedy show Key and Peele.

Five years and multiple accolades, including an Oscar, later, Peele is now seen as one of the best new filmmakers.

With the critical and commercial success of his directorial debut ‘Get Out’, which he also wrote, Peele announced himself onto the horror scene in style, winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

His sophomore effort ‘Us’ was met with a similar response and now, with his next feature-length movie ‘Nope’, Peele will aim to tread even higher.

What makes Peele’s horror movies stand out is that although they are labelled in that genre, the elements of horror take a second seat to some of the social issues which the director hopes to highlight.

Nope will be the third movie by the director who has stated that he hopes to release four social thrillers, all tackling issues in different fashions. The movie will reunite Peele with his ‘Get Out’ lead Daniel Kaluuya and will also bring about new collaborators – Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun.

The movie will follow two siblings (played by Kaluuya and Palmer), attempting to capture evidence of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) following their father's death after being hit by random object falling from the sky.

Although the plot seems quite simple, as with any Peele film, that is probably not the case.

‘Nope’ will release only in theatres on July 22.

 

'JUJUTSU KAISEN 0'

Almost half a year after ‘Jujutsu Kaisen 0’ was released to international audiences the movie is finally coming to Indian theatres. The movie's release was confirmed by PVR on June 17.

Anime had never been huge in India prior to the pandemic, but the lockdown led to many binge-watching anime. Its demand in the country is now huge.

Jujutsu Kaisen, is a relatively newer show which was released in October 2020 and is based on the best-selling manga series by mangaka Gege Akutami. The show is set in a world where negative energies like hate, greed and so on materialize in the form of curses.

The only people who can take care of these curses are special individuals, called Jujutsu sorcerers, who possess cursed energy.

The movie, ‘Jujutsu Kaisen 0’ or JJK 0, will be set before the events of the television show and will focus on an older generation of sorcerers, particularly on a rookie first-year sorcerer named Yuta Okkutsu as he explores a new world and how he fits into it.

JJK 0 will join a select anime movies which have had theatrical releases in India. It is the sixth film and joins Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, Sword Art Online and three installations of My Hero Academia.

The movie will release in India on June 30.

 

'STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 VOLUME 2'

When ‘Stranger Things’ released in 2016, nobody could have predicted how much of a global phenomenon it was going to be.

The show was a success in every possible way, due to a host of factors which made it unique and special. The amazing storytelling and beautiful visuals are key factors which synced with the perfect soundtrack, properly fleshed-out characters, thought-out character development and a vibrant dose of 80s nostalgia. Stranger Things' refusal to also stick to the horror genre alone also makes the story a coming-of-age drama and thriller with secret government plots all set in the little town of Hawkins, Indiana. `

The premise is something straight out of a Stephen King novel and follows a group of kids in Hawkins as well as some adults who start noticing unusual occurrences. Three seasons later, the story includes teenagers with superpowers, mythical creatures, secret government experimentation facilities, a Russian secret plot set against the Cold War and even has time to make every single 80s pop culture reference there is.

Volume 1 of Season 4 broke all Netflix’s viewing records and became the most viewed English Netflix show of all time. The show garnered more than 781.0 million hours of viewing within its first three weeks, according to Netflix.

Volume 2 of the season will only have two episodes, but each will be feature-length. The penultimate episode is set to be an hour and ten minutes long while the final episode of the season will be clocking in two hours and ten minutes.

After the cliffhanger ending of the last volume, fans of will be waiting with bated breath for the final volume to drop on Netflix on July 1.