billy

My man DDL got an Oscar nom for playing an autistic man. I think this is definitely one of those films that sits in the camp of "it really isn't for me, but I respect the artistry"

Honestly the strangest part of this whole experience was trying to figure out where Hugh Laurie was

A very "return to form" sorta Spider-Man story. This was giving a lot of *Spider-Man 2* vibes in the best way, while also being able to coexist in the MCU without it feeling like that was a tie that it was struggling to hold with. It remains connected but equally works just as well as an individual film. Which, frankly, is what the MCU has been missing for like a decade at this point. I very much loved the action in this, felt like it was stripped right from the PlayStation games. Lots of cool factor throughout. I kind of wish that I had not seen a trailer or any press for this as Sony kind of likes to lay everything out for you in a way that I think ruins a lot of good moments. Either way, there are some surprises and a big open ended question left in the post-credits "scene" (which I say with the most loose use of the word ever). Seriously, it is not worth waiting for that. So not only is this a return for the character of Peter Parker, it's also a "return to form" for the story template of the MCU. Let's just hope they don't squander that at all...not that I am confident of that at all really...

I reviewed this film years ago saying "more thoughts coming soon" - I then didn't watch if again for 5 years. Not because it's secretly bad by any means, but just because I never really had any deeper thoughts. This film really does a great job at recontextualising Spider-Man to a more "status-quo" position by honouring all which came before in the best way possible. Spider-Man stories work best when Peter tries to do right by everyone else and suffers in the process. He doesn't need any "mentor" figure to learn this, but the addition of Garfield and Maguire really just amplify the message while honouring their legacies as the character. This really did just solidify my love for the camp-insanity that is the Tobey Maguire trilogy too. Seeing Willem DaFoe and Alfred Molina just hamming it up to 11. 👌