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Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
Definitely worth seeing!
I was absolutely thrilled to discover that I didn't have to sit through another beginnings story, seeing how many times that's already been covered in the past. Considering that this movie takes place after what happened in Captain America: Civil War, I was surprised to see Peter Parker acting so new and somewhat inexperienced in the role of Spider-Man. I would have loved a little less talk and definitely some more action but, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and can't wait for the next!
  
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
Lighthearted and hilarious (1 more)
Good job on villians
Leave it to Marvel Studios and Sony to make the Vulture an actual cool and intimidating villian.
I'm really glad that the 'rehashing the origin story' was not done and, at least by now, people should already know how Spider-Man came to be. I was concerned the coming of age premise would be annoying, but they did a great job and had me immersed into the story quickly.

There were several laugh out loud moments for me, so expect a movie that you can have fun with.
  
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Lenard (726 KP) created a post

Aug 25, 2019  
Barring a massive surprise these are the top grossing films of the summer:
1. The Lion King (BV) $510.6M
2. Toy Story 4 (BV) $426.8M
3. Avengers: Endgame (BV) $384.3M (gross from summer box office only)
4. Spider-Man: Far From Home (Sony) $379.7M
5. Aladdin (BV) $353.9M
6. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (LG) $170.8M
7. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (Uni) $147.7M+
8. The Secret Life of Pets 2 (Uni) $157.4M
9. Pokemon Detective Pikachu (WB) $144.1M
10. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Sony) $123.2M
     
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David McK (3425 KP) rated Venom: The Last Dance (2024) in Movies

Nov 8, 2024 (Updated Nov 8, 2024)  
Venom: The Last Dance (2024)
Venom: The Last Dance (2024)
2024 |
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The final(?) part of the Tom Hardy led Venom movies, again relying a large part on the 'star power' of its leading man, who provides the voice of Venom whilst also portraying Eddie Brock.

Despite the stinger at the end of 'Let There Be Carnage', there's no tie in to the MCU, or even to Sony's Spider-verse.

I also felt that Andy Serkis was completely and utterly wasted as Knull, whilst Rhys Ifans provided the comic relief and Chiwetel Ejiofor wasn't sure what movie he was in!
  
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Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
When I heard the news last year that Spider-Man was going to be rebooted yet again, I was like “are you freaking serious”? After the successful Toby Maguire trilogy (though the less said about “Spider-Man 3” the better) and the mildly successful “Amazing Spider-Man” duo with Andrew Garfield only finishing in 2014, did we REALLY need another reboot? More dramatic spider biting? More Uncle Ben spouting then dying? The same old – same old, rewarmed in a pan with a bit of red wine added just to stop it feeling so dry and tasteless.
And I still feel the same way. I understand that its more to do with rights ownership between Sony, Marvel and Disney that this got made so quickly…. but in the words of Ian Malcolm “they didn’t stop to think if they should”.

But actually, although I still don’t really approve of it, they’ve done a pretty good job in rebooting in a different manner. I commented in my review for “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” that that first reboot was “much less earnest and quirkier than the original Tobey Maguire series, and reveling more in the fun to be had around a superhero’s schooldays.” This latest reboot moves even further along that scale, being very much more of a high-school comedy that a pure superhero flick.
Wearing the suit this time is a far more age-appropriate Tom Holland, winner of last year’s BAFTA Rising Star award. And very personable he is too. The suit in question has been jizzed up by Iron Man (Robert Downey Jnr) – perhaps I could have rephrased that better! Because here the Spider-Man story carries on from the brief cameo in “Captain America: Civil War” that crossed Spidey into the mainstream Marvel timeline.

Within the high-school setting, Peter Parker’s geeky, and almost too deliberately multi-racial, gang includes his pal Ned (Jacob Batalon), very funny with a “chair guy” sequence, the unattainable Liz (Laura Harrier) as the love-interest, Betty (the excellent Angourie Rice who made such a great impression in “The Nice Guys” but didn’t really move the meter for me here I’m afraid), Flash (Tony Revolori) and best of all for me the almost horizontally laconic Michelle (Zendaya, of Shoshone heritage) – uber-cool but harbouring a secret crush on Peter.

Chris Evans pops up for comic relief as Captain America doing motivational high-school videos. And older viewers might want to have fun watching out for Tyne Daly: Lacey in the old cop show “Cagney and Lacey”.
But stealing the show in the acting stakes is Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes (aka “The Vulture”) who could for all the world be auditioning for “Birdman 2”. The well-judged thing about this villain is that he is no hyper-galactic being with superpowers, or a typical “rule the world” Bond villain, but just an ordinary Joe in search of financial profit to keep his family in the manner to which they are accustomed. I really liked that. The script (an army of people, but led by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who also wrote the story) also nicely counterpoints the thin-line between the “good arms dealer” (Tony Stark) and the “bad arms dealer” (Toomes).

The script also very wisely leaps several months into where the reboot could have started. None of the tedious spider biting. No Uncle Ben – just a sly reference to “what Aunt May’s been through”. Now this might confuse anyone not familiar with the Spider-Man story, but the percentage of people in the Western world in that segment must be less than 2%.
There are however also significant character changes that may annoy Spider-Man devotees. Aunt May herself is no longer the frail old lady of previous depictions, but a hot and attractive middle-aged woman (AILF?) played by Marisa Tomei (who does indeed look ‘Mila Kunis‘).
Many of the action scenes are well done, with a scene at the Washington Monument being particularly exciting. It all gets rather overblown though with a later scene aboard the Avenger’s plane. And this scene sums up my problem with many of these films: the superhero characters are pretty well indestructible. You know they are. So the scenes of peril, that might thrill in an Indiana Jones, an M.I. or a Bond film, lack any sort of tension. Even when the protagonist does have a superhero on the ropes, they don’t carry on kicking the proverbial c**p out of them until they are “dead”…. they lay off so the superhero can recover and kick their ass in a few minutes time!


The director is Jon Watts in only his third directorial outing (with only the much praised “Cop Car” to pretty up his CV). With such a lot on his shoulders he does a good job.
At 133 minutes its a tad over-long (I watched this in a double bill with “War for the Planet of the Apes” so my eyes afterwards were 16:9!). But it’s a fun summer flick that both amuses and entertains. If you have the choice between this and Planet of the Apes though for your Saturday night at the movies, I would personally choose the latter.
By the way, in terms of “monkeys” – yep, it’s a Marvel film, of course there are monkeys! One early on in the credits and another one at the end… which is actually very funny indeed.
  
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Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) in Movies

Jun 10, 2019 (Updated Jun 10, 2019)  
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
The Marvel touch
The first thing I’m going to tell you about Spider-Man: Homecoming is that it has been gloriously undersold in its uninspiring trailers and promotional posters. In fact, most of the marketing materials shown made it look like this would be Iron Man 4 ft. Peter Parker. Thankfully that’s not the case.

The second thing I’ll tell you is that Tom Holland’s turn as Peter Parker is very good indeed. But is he better than Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield? Well, for that you’ll have to read on.

Still buzzing from his experiences with the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War, young Peter Parker (Tom Holland) returns home to live with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). Under the watchful eye of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), Peter starts to embrace Spider-Man. He also tries to return to his normal life — distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just a bargain basement superhero. However, when danger emerges in the shape of the Vulture (Michael Keaton), Peter must soon put his powers to the test.

Jon Watts directs not only the best Spider-Man film to date, but probably the best film to come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Guardians of the Galaxy. That is by no means and easy thing to achieve, but by golly he’s done it.

The best Marvel films don’t shout about their superhero roots. By that I mean Captain America: the Winter Soldier was first and foremost a heist movie and Guardians of the Galaxy was an epic space opera. Here, Watts and his two writers turn Spider-Man: Homecoming into a cheesy, fun high-school romance and it succeeds at that beautifully.

But is it a good superhero flick? In a word, yes. The action is shot exceptionally well with very little nonsensical shaky cam, the pacing is spot on; in fact it may be one of the best films I have ever seen for pacing and the characters are all utterly believable.

Tom Holland is, without a doubt the best iteration of Peter Parker ever put to the big screen. He is the school geek that the character always should have been. Gone are Tobey Maguire’s ridiculous facial expressions and Andrew Garfield’s unrealistic ‘high school nerd’ persona.

Elsewhere, Michael Keaton avoids the Marvel villain trap and becomes the universe’s best antagonist since Loki. It would be easy for Vulture to come across ridiculous rather than menacing and Keaton gets the latter absolutely spot on. In particular, a pivotal turning point in the film’s third act is exquisitely written and truly intimidating.

It’s not all good news unfortunately. Like a broken record, I have to mention the obligatory CGI-heavy finale. Thankfully though, the story is nicely twisted to give the scenes emotional gravitas. I’m also not sold on Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, but this may come with time. And if I’m really nit-picking, there’s a little too much obvious product placement for Audi.

So, I’ve managed to get through a full review with only a small paragraph of negative points, that doesn’t happen very often. Something else that doesn’t happen very often is for me to award a film a full five stars. On this occasion however, the Marvel touch has well and truly created a corker.


https://moviemetropolis.net/2017/07/06/spider-man-homecoming-review/
  
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
2014 | Action, Sci-Fi
Life for Peter Parker, (Andrew Garfield), has become interesting to say the least. He is juggling the delicate and complex balance of being Spider-man as well as a high school senior and boyfriend to Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone).

His enthusiasm for his wall crawling alter ego is evident from the start as he still is as fast with a quip as he is with his webs and fists when taking down the bad guys of New York.

 

A chance encounter with an ultra nerdy yet brilliant Oscorp employee named Max (Jaime Foxx), puts a series of events into motion that will put the city and Spider-man on a collision with a severe danger.

When a freak accident transforms Max into a being capable of becoming and discharging pure electricity, the passive aggressive Max has an outlet for his pent up anger and hero worship and sets to make all those who ignored him pay.

At the same time, internal politics have left Oscorp in the hands of young Harry who learns he has limited time to solidify his position and legacy.

 

All of this would be enough for anyone to deal with but Peter is conflicted by his love for Gwen and his promise to her late father to stay away from her for her own safety.

Peter also has to content with his Aunt May (Sally Field) and unlocking the mystery of his parents who left him with his Aunt and Uncle years earlier never to return.

If this sounds a bit heady for a comic book based movie then you will not be surprised with the first ¾ of the film. It does contain some great 3D moments of Spider-man slinging his way around the city and some good moments of action but mostly the audience gets character introductions and plot expositions.

 

When it does get to the action, it does so in a very sleek and stylish way but one that is so obviously CGI created that it plays more like a video game.

For me the liberties taking with the characters and the history of the series were a bit much at first as what they came up with for Electro is not even close to the way he is portrayed in the comics.

Thankfully the final act of the film delivers and sets up future films in grand style even though the trailers tease content that is barely in the film and would have made for a great addition to the film.

Garfield and Stone have great chemistry with one another, and Foxx does his best despite in my opinion being very miscast for the role.

 

Director Marc Webb is clearly a fan of the source material and I am eager to see what he comes up with for future installments.

As it stands, “The Amazing Spider-man 2”, is an enjoyable summer film but not as good as the film that preceded it and could have been so much more.

http://sknr.net/2014/05/02/amazing-spider-man-2/
  
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
2021 | Action, Adventure
Life for Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is complicated thanks to his dual life as Spider-Man and the challenges of being in High School. Unfortunately for him; his best intentions are about to make things much worse in "Spider-Man: No Way Home".

Taking place where "Spider-Man: Far From Home" ended; Peter must deal with his secret identity being leaked by Tabloid Journalist J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons); and the throngs of people, helicopters, and protestors who follow his every move and camp outside his home.

As if this was not bad enough; being accused of being a murderer has drawn the attention of the authorities which further complicates his life as does returning to a school where everyone knows his identity.

Desperate to get away from the constant scrutiny and observation; Peter seeks out Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and asks him to cast a spell that would make the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

Strange agrees but mid-spell Peter requests that there are some exemptions from the spell which include his Girlfriend MJ (Zendaya); his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei); and his friend Ned (Jacob Batalon).

Strange agrees but in doing so; complications arise which allows entrants from other dimensions to enter their realm. Soon Peter is accosted by villains whom he does not know but seem to know him; that is until he is unmasked and they have no idea who this Peter Parker is before them.

As more villains arrive; Peter learns of their fates in their natural dimension and is determined to save them and give them a second chance which puts him at odds with Doctor Strange who says they must go back to whatever fate they had.

What follows is a descent into humor and darkness as Peter despite his best intentions sees the situation go from bad to worse and he must fight to stay true to himself and save the day.

The film is a difficult one to review in the fact that there are so many surprise guests, twists, and turns that it is challenging to not reveal anything but suffice it to say that fans should absolutely enjoy it.

The film takes its time getting to the action as it has a very slow and deliberate climb and Director Jon Watts is confident enough in the characters and premise that he allows ample time for the characters and setting to build and be established before he gets to the action.

While there is considerable fan service in the film; it never once seems like it is pandering and it all fits very well within the story and the MCU and opens up numerous possibilities for the future.

There is a mid-credit scene and a post-credit scene which is basically a trailer and both are very engaging in terms of the possibilities as Marvel has again shown that their plan of interwoven stories and characters continues to deliver and that Spider-Man still remains as popular and engaging as ever.