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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
2018 | Action, Animation, Sci-Fi
This is a "must see" movie, probably best Spider-man movie since Sam Raimi's first one (0 more)
Hard to adjust to animation in beginning, some minor characters felt unnecessary and underutilized, (0 more)
Amazingly Spectacular Again - 9/10
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a computer animated superhero film based off of the Spider-Man comics and movie franchise focusing on the Miles Morales/Spider-Man. Produced by Colombia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, it's set in a shared multiverse, which has alternate universes, called, the "Spider-Verse". The movie was directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman from a screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman and story by Phil Lord. Starring Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfield, and Mahershala Ali.


Miles Morales, (Shameik Moore) is a normal regular teenager from Brooklyn, whose parents, police officer Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree Henry) and nurse Rio Morales (Luna Lauren Velez); have enrolled him in a new school. He visits his estranged Uncle Aaron Davis (Mahershala Ali) to vent and deal with pressures of living up to his parents expectations and making friends at a new school. His Uncle Aaron takes him to blow off steam to an abandoned subway station where he can paint graffiti and Miles is unknowingly bitten by "the Spider-Man" spider. After discovering his new powers, he returns to the subway searching for the spider and uncovers a secret lab where Spider-Man is in battle with the Green Goblin and the Prowler. Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. the Kingpin, is using the lab to test a particle accelerator which Spider-Man says could destroy the city. During the battle Spider-Man finds Miles hiding and entrusts him with a USB drive, when things don't go as planned. And that's just the beginning.


This movie is a must see. If you haven't seen this movie you are definitely missing out. My only complaints would be some of the Spider-Man felt unnecessary; also the style of movie was very dynamic and hard to adjust to, particularly the opening/intro. Once you get past that it's totally fine. The writers created a clear and captivating plot that truly encompasses the struggle of the "Spider-Man" character; such as dealing with normal problems like school, girls, parents, and hero problems like adjusting to powers, bad guys, and saving the city. This movie was rated PG so was made for kids but has a message and themes where it can be enjoyed by all ages and doesn't feel like a kid movie. This movie has quite a few entertaining characters including some of the alternate version spider men like, Spider-Woman/Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfield), Peter Porker/Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), and Peter Parker/Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage). Although light hearted and funny, this movie definitely touched on more serious issues like loss, death, betrayal, responsibility and finding one's self. Probably the best Spider-Man movie, undoubtedly the best since Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man. I give it a 9/10.
  
Dope (2015)
Dope (2015)
2015 | Comedy, Drama
8
6.8 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Dope

A drug taken illegally for recreational purposes, especially marijuana or heroin.
A stupid person
A slang term meaning very good or awesome.
 

That is exactly what this movie is about. All three of those definitions apply equally to this brilliant film. It tells you right up front with definitions very similar to these right on the screen. Though, the application of each definition may surprise you.

Dope centers around Malcom (Shameik Moore) who, along with his friends Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons), found himself in a difficult situation after attending the birthday party for a local drug dealer. You see the trio are your typical geeks, into computers, math, science, games, have their own band (not as glamorous as you would think)… oh, and obsessed with the nineties hip-hop culture. But they live in a not so friendly neighborhood in Inglewood known as “The Bottoms”. Forced to take an alternate route home from school one afternoon, he unwittingly gets invited to a birthday party for Dom (Rakim Mayers, aka A$ap Rocky), but he is really going because of a girl, Nakia (Zoe Kravitz). While at the party, things start to go south, and Dom hides all of the “Molly” he was in the middle of selling in Malcom’s bag, unbeknownst to him. Once he finds it, Dom tells him to deliver it to a man named AJ, and that’s where all the hijinks begin.

I really don’t want to give away any more than this. The trailer only really tells half the story, and I believe that it will have more impact if you discover it yourself. Needless to say, though, it was really a fantastic movie. With Pharrell in charge of music, and Forest Whitaker and Sean Combs on board as well, the film does a great job at keeping things very original. There were many times where I could not hear the next few lines of dialogue, I was laughing so hard. And the soundtrack was incredible.

If I had to give you a frame of reference, though, think of it like this: Friday meets The Girl Next Door, with a little bit of Superbad mixed in. But the film delivers in so many great ways, and was very excellently cast. Moore did a great job of portraying that awkward geek who just got caught up in some very interesting situations. I should know, because I was there once, too. But the film has a powerful message. Showing off his love of nineties hip-hop, the film begins with Malcolm trying to get his Harvard admittance essay past his guidance counselor, but the essay is about the research to find that good day that Ice Cube talks about in his song. He was asked to write something more personal, and boy did he deliver after everything he went through following that birthday party.

I can’t truthfully say that you absolutely need to see this on the big screen. There’s nothing to really promote seeing it in theaters over at home. But, if you are looking for a good date night movie, this might be the one to see this weekend. While there were a few slow parts, the movie did keep up a good pace and was lighthearted enough to be enjoyable by all. Definitely worth checking out, but when is up to you. Know that I would definitely recommend it though, and will absolutely be picking it up for my home collection when it releases in stores.
  
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
2023 | Action, Adventure, Animation
9
8.9 (9 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Life as a teenager is never easy and when you are gifted with the superhuman abilities of a spider and lead a double life as a student and crime fighter; life gets even harder.

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is finding it even harder to hide his secret from his family who has grown concerned that his erratic behavior is more than the usual teenage angst.

In another earth, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) deals with her Police officer father desperately hunting down her alter-ego believing that she is a killer which drives a wedge between them as Gwen desperately tries to find her way forward.

In “Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse audiences learn that what one perceives as reality is often just the corner of a much larger picture and when Miles confronts what he dismisses as a “Villain of the Week” in a quirky enemy known as The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), starts a campaign against Spider-Man, he soon finds that the threat is much larger than he expected and secretly follows a visiting Gwen into an another Earth where his actions soon draw the attention of a larger temporal Spider squad.

Motivated by his feelings for Gwen and a desire to do good, Miles looks to undo the damage that the Spot is causing across various Earths and learns that each one has its own version of Spider-man or Woman to protect it.

At this point the film goes into overdrive as Miles learns more about his past and how he became Spider-Man but also learns more about the cost that his powers enact on his life and those around him. There are plenty of special moments and guest appearances that follow from the more obscure to the mainstream and the range of emotions from the audience at the press screening as they reacted to the film showed they were deeply engaged and loving it.

The film does take a darker turn and does end in a cliffhanger which sets up the next film very well but also may be a bit darker than younger viewers might want. That being said; I enjoyed this film far more than I did the prior film. I found the animation style a bit off-putting as the jerky way the characters moved was a bit much over the length of a feature film. This time around there is a mix of animation styles throughout and at times in the same frame which may be a bit hard for some as the film does come at the viewer with waves of flashing lights, sounds, and animations that very cleverly mimic reading a comic complete with small boxes to define various characters from time to time.

The film runs nearly two and a half hours and did seem to go on a bit long at times but thanks to the great voice-acting and strong cast as well as engaging storyline I found myself eagerly looking forward to the next film.

I first saw a rough cut of a scene at Cinemacon in 2022 and it was amazing seeing the final scene near the opening of the film as it was a rare instance of a film surpassing expectations and delivers the storyline and action with a good dose of solid characters that fans will love.

4.5 stars out of 5
  
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
2023 | Action, Adventure, Animation
9
8.9 (9 Ratings)
Movie Rating
A Feast for the Eyes and the Heart
In 2018, Producer/Writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (THE LEGO MOVIE) presented the animated film SPIDER-MAN INTO THE SPIDERVERSE to unsuspecting audiences and this film burst onto the scene - and into our senses - with a visual cornucopia of comic-book styles that ushered in a new way to present a comic-book movie. In this film, multiple Spider-Mans from different “SpiderVerses” came to the home universe of the lead Spiderman (in this Universe, Spiderman is NOT Peter Parker, but rather Miles Morales), and they kept the comic book styles of their own universes while in the home universe of Miles.

Get it? If not, hang onto your hats, for these two just took it to a whole new level.

In SPIDER-MAN ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, our hero, Miles Morales (voiced again by Shameik Moore) leaves his home universe and travels TO multiple other Spider-verses with multiple other animated styles - as well as meeting a plethora of other Spider-folk.

The result of this is a visual feast that should be seen on the big screen. The artistry at work here is “next level” as the differing styles blend seamlessly with each other without becoming head-ache inducing. It is a master class of “Going for it” but wisely knowing how to “not go too far” and the filmmakers of this animated gem thread that the needle expertly.

But…that isn’t the best part of this film.

There is an underlying storyline that sets Miles off on his adventure and this part of the film is built upon relationships, love, duty and devotion. This film delves deeper into Miles’ relationship with his parents (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry, off of his Oscar Nominated role in CAUSEWAY and Luna Lauren Velez best known as Lt. LaGuerta on DEXTER) and this gives the film some heart.

But…that isn’t the best part of the film.

The best part of this film is Miles’ relationship with another Spider-person, Spider Gwen (Stacy) - voiced by Hailee Steinfeld (THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN), this film wisely (there’s that word again) decide to have 1/2 of this film shown from her perspective and the depth of performance of love, loss and longing from Steinfeld is surprisingly deep and moving for an animated film and it is THIS relationship that really cements this film as something special.

Oh…and did I fail to mention the wonderful voice work by Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya and Oscar Isaac (amongst many, many others)? They all brought their “A” game to what is a tremendous movie going experience.

One does not need to see the first SPIDERVERSE film to enjoy this one - but it does help and one very much will need to see this film to enjoy the NEXT one (the 3rd film of the trilogy, SPIDER-MAN BEYOND THE SPIDERVERSE is set to be released next year), so if one is going to invest in these films, one should probably go “all-in”.

The filmmakers certainly did that - and the audience is the winner for their efforts.

Letter Grade: A

9 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)