Movies Not to Miss: July 2016
Writer: Casey Lee

Which of these are you going to watch?
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If we thought that June was the height of the summer months this year, we couldn't be more wrong with the coming of July.
From scintillating spectacles, hard-boiled thrillers, to R-rated comedies and a couple of disturbing horrors on the side, this year's July shows that you don't need superheroes to have a fun time in the cinema.
So here are our recommendations of movies not to miss this July!
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Three years after returning from sea, Alice is pulled back to the land of Underland to find that all is not well. With the Mad Hatter acting a bit more unusual, Alice is in a race against time to bring back him back to his normal self, while meeting with familiar faces and feared enemies.
Director James Bobin will be taking over from Tim Burton, to take us back into the world that he envisioned in 2010, but the returning cast of Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, and Helena Bonham Carter will put us in good hands. "Alice Through the Looking Glass" will also be introducing Sacha Baron Cohen as the ticking TIme, with voice appearances from Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall and the final film appearance of the late Alan Rickman.
General Release Date: 6 July
Sultan
"Sultan" revolves around Sultan Ali Khan, a world winning champion who has victories from the Commonwealth Games to the Olympics, but has his own demons to wrestle with. This fall-from-grace-to-underdog sports drama, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, has almost everything that you could ask for to be a "Rocky" imitator (it was even reported that Sylvester Stallone was set to appear in it). But you just can't beat a Bollywood take of it with Salman Khan in the lead, and Anushka Sharma playing as his partner in the ring and in life. There are so few ways you could improve the Rocky montage with a musical number.
General Release Date: 6 July
Cold War 2
Hitting commercial and critical success, directing duo Longman Leung and Sunny Luk were quickly set to work on a sequel in 2013, and the highly charged police procedural is ready to come to our screens this July. Aaron Kwok, Tony Leung, Charlie Young, Eddie Peng, Aarif Rahman and Maa Yili are set to return as the special police task force, going up against Chow Yun Fat as the new antagonist. Although few expected to see Andy Lau in the former installment, we can probably expect a few cameo surprises this time around.
General Release Date: 8 July
Ghostbusters
A pair of paranormal scientists are locked from the academic world after their theories of the paranormal are discredited. When a ghostly invasion, led by a powerful demon, is impending in the city of New York, the scientists form up with a nuclear engineer, a subway worker and a hot receptionist to bust some ghosts.
After decades of never getting a third movie made for the series, it was decided to have the series rebooted with a new all-female cast. Though that decision hasn't been taken well by many of its male fans, but you can't do worse with director Paul Feig at the helm, working with his "Bridesmaids" team, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig. Also expect cameos from the surviving members of the original "Ghostbusters", and girls will have Chris Hemsworth to gawk at, as he picks up phone calls and takes down messages.
General Release Date: 14 July
The Purge: Election Year
Set two years after the events of "The Purge: Anarchy", presidential candidate Charlene Roan and her head of security, Sergeant Leo Barnes, are betrayed by the government and let out on the streets on what could be the last Purge, if Roan survives the night.
Initially planned to be a prequel on the origin of The Purge, this became the first sequel with reprising lead characters with Frank Grillo's ex-soldier, Leo Barnes, having to survive another Purge. James DeMonaco returns to write and direct his third film of the series, upping the scales of the stakes that could change the direction of the future in the franchise.
General Release Date: 14 July
The BFG
Adapted from the well-loved novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, Sophie is taken to Giant Country after staying up at night when she shouldn't. Befriending the big friendly giant, they work together to stop Fleshlumpeater, the evil giants who feast on human flesh. Long been in development since the 90s, it was Spielberg's Dreamworks that finally picked up the rights to the book and put it on film. Casting his Oscar-winning supporting actor Mark Rylance as the lead, the cast also includes Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader and Jemaine Clement as the flesh-eating giant. "The BFG" is set to be a family friendly Spielberg movie like any other, including the masterful touches of Janusz Kaminski, John Williams and Michael Kahn in the cinematography, music and editing departments.
General Release Date: 21 July
Star Trek Beyond
Mid-way through their mission, the USS Enterprise is attacked by a powerful enemy and is forced to abandon ship, stranding them on an unknown planet and struggling to survive.
Having to find a replacement director since he was attached to direct "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", J.J. Abrams would not be helming this ship on its third adventure in the reboot universe. The director's chair eventually went to Justin Lin, who was picked over the likes of Rupert Wyatt, Morten Tyldum and Edgar Wright after screenwriter Roberto Orci vacated it.
This will be Lin's sci-fi debut, but already we can see that he hasn't completely abandoned his "Fast & Furious" roots. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the rest of the Enterprise crew are back for what could possibly be their last time together, and this would unfortunately be the last time we will see Anton Yelchin as Ensign Pavel Chekov.
General Release Date: 21 July
Skiptrace
When a Hong Kong detective Bennie Chan's niece gets entangled with a crime syndicate, Bennie's physical prowess is no match to rescue her. He would need the help of a fast talker and he gets American gambler Connor Watts to find Bennie's niece, which would take them from the Mongolian mountains to the Gobi Desert.
After 2015's "Dragon Blade", Jackie Chan is off to another international collaboration. Directed by Renny Harlin, this time he is roping in Johnny Knoxville as his foreign sidekick. This would hopefully be a return of Chan's comedy action antics, and the movie can't get any bigger with Fan Bingbing as the kidnapped niece.
General Release Date: 22 July
Jason Bourne
Thought for dead after ending the CIA's Threadstone programme, Jason Bourne mysteriously reappears again during a time when the world is thrown into a new chaos.
Initially hesitant to the idea of continuing from the first trilogy, the reception of "The Bourne Legacy", starring Jeremy Renner, may have changed the minds of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass. Bringing back most of the original cast and crew, except for screenwriter Tony Gilroy (who directed "Bourne Legacy"), the cast is made even better with Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel and Tommy Lee Jones as the new CIA director who will hunt down Bourne. Though not titled directly after any of Robert Ludlum's novels, it could follow after "The Bourne Betrayal".
General Release Date: 28 July
League of Gods
Chinese mega-budget epics are no longer confined to the Chinese New Year space with this Hong Kong-China collaboration. Adapted from the epic novel by Xu Zhonglin, this ultimate battle of good and evil between gods and mortals is already graced with its God-like cast, starting with Jet Li, Tony Leung, Louis Khoo, Huang Xiaoming, Angelababy, Fan Bingbing, and Wen Zhang as the vixen seductress after having replaced Cecilia Cheung for the role.
General Release Date: 29 July
Cinema Online, 30 June 2016