Cinephillia 003 | Spider-Man: Homecoming

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Mostly just throwing out things I subjectively liked only, since I don't have time to get into too many technicals. *NO SPOILERS* *NO TRAILER THIS TIME...GO IN BLIND*

So yea; here we go:

In my OPINION...THE BEST Spider-Man film, so far. In fact, the ones that came before don't even exist to me anymore and feel dated by comparison. Tom Holland is the definitive Peter Parker in my mind now.

Every time I tell myself, “I'm tired of superheroes.” (And ultimately I am. I don't even read superhero comics anymore) Disney / MARVEL surprises me and manages to convince me of how much potential still exists. This felt fresh to me aaaand I hope they can keep it up post-Infinity War.

“In my opinion, the best Spider-Man film so far. Tom Holland is the definitive Peter Parker in my mind now.”

Not perfect but still a tight, small scale, self-contained slightly above street level story, unconcerned with setting up future MCU installments, and not involving any sings of a world ending sky-beam of death.

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An origin story sans the traditional trappings of an origin story, complete with a new expanded version of the "Great power" mantra, in the form of "If you're nothing without the suit then you shouldn't have it."

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I loved both costumes and the story driven function each served. The practical solution for justifying moving eye lenses, ala the comics, was a nice design touch.

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The Harry Potter meets Ferris Bueller / 80's teen comedy approach — taking Peter back to high school (9th grade?...10th grade?) — feels like an angle that should have been a no-brainer from the jump. (I acknowledge that Sam Rami's films came about in a different time.) It almost makes me wish I was a 12 year old again so that I could enjoy this from that perspective.

(No seriously...pitching this new version of S-P as roughly, Harry Potter, with superheroes — this film ostensibly being, "Year One," — is a really cool idea to me, just from a brand / franchise building standpoint.)

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Displaying the ethnically mixed environment of a melting pot like New York and casting people who actually are, and or look/act like kids!

In Kevin Smith's review of Homecoming, he noted the audacity of the line, “He's just a kid,” in reference to a then 75 year old Toby Maguire, from Spider-Man 2, and how this film makes that train scene a tad ridiculous in retrospect.

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Funny in surprising ways. The film did one thing with SP, during his day to day goings on, involving a carjacking that was hilarious-as-balls and something I never expected to see in a superhero film.

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Zendaya's character was also hilarious and I really love the role she's playing. She reminded me of Daria somewhat. I wish the film was more straightforward about who she's CLEARLY meant to be, but whatevs. She also has a nice joke (not joking?) about slaves that was mad unexpected for a Disney/MARVEL film.

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The easter eggs and world-building (aka setting up future villains and character arcs) stuff was subtle and non-distracting.

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The movie did a really good job of getting me to feel just how somewhat irresponsible, often mundane, tedious and dangerous being a superhero is for a character who is essentially a child, in a way that I've personally never seen before, outside of something more akin to Kick-Ass. BUT also raises a lot of questions for me about the kind of person Tony Stark is to pull a kid into that world.

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The emphasis on the fact that despite what Peter can do, he is still just a kid who's clumsy, naive, annoyingly hyperactive, an over reaching chronic screw up and gets genuinely scared (a trait showcased in several very effective 3rd act scenes in particular) really spoke to me.

Wherever Peter became distraught, saddened, frightened, etc I found myself feeling those things too.

*side note: One of those 3rd act scenes I'm talking about is the best Vulture / Spider-Man scene in the film and it doesn't involve costumes or fisticuffs of any kind!*

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For the first time in...idk...ever, in the MCU? Adrian Toomes aka The Vulture was smart, relatable and genuinely frightening villain (if I were someone's Peter's age, at least), whose motivations and actions I completely understood and kind of empathized with in a weird, Corrupt capitalistic / prohibition breeds Mob mentality / I have friends who were shit on by the system all their life and turned to selling drugs to feed their families, kind of way. The guy was basically Walter White

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Needless to say, I will be buying this movie on blu-ray and watching it with the director's commentary ON.

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Cinephilia 001 | Captain America: Civil War

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illustration by Ryan Meinerding

Captain America: Civil War was pretty damn good. Not the revelation that Winter Soldier was, but it’s up there with the best of MARVEL's ever expanding roster of films.

No spoilers (promise)

First and foremost...Black Panther. Made. Me. MOIST. I went into this with muted expectations about him and how well he'd translate on screen — would they try way too hard to make him feel genuinely important and powerful and well, African...and turn him into a Tyler Perry-esque abomination? But as soon as I saw T'Challa, as soon as I saw one of his Dora Milaje (bodyguards) (statuesque, proudly bald and intimidating women at that...screw Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, honestly...Amazonian, my ass), as soon as I saw a wealth of dark skinned men and women that weren't represented in a stereotypical, overstated, or overbearingly regal or insecure way, I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear and giggle like a Japanese school girl. He was my favorite thing about this movie and I can't wait to see his solo film. I feel like his presence could create a shift in Hollywood, opening the door for more dark skinned leading roles in WELL CRAFTED science fiction and fantasy films, especially for dark skinned women. If you have black geeky comic book, fantasy or sci-fi loving children...take them to see this, please!

Make no bones about it, between BvS and Civil War we were sold the same film twice, but the latter is far superior in execution than the former. However Marvel has the benefit of several years worth of development and DC clearly is just trying to play catch up in the worst way possible. Take notes Zach Snyder; THIS is how you handle an ensemble cast of comic book giants (hint hint). The film is funny when it can be and serious when it needs to be. Cap and Tony's motivations and stances were CLEARLY defined, you understood exactly why they clashed, you cared about them, and the resolution to their conflict had real weight and consequences.

Because of it's massive cast and character thread high wire juggling act, some will be quick to call this Avengers 2.5. But make no mistake, this is a Captain America's story. He is the protagonist and the main character — Cap experiences the most change and his actions have a substantial and dynamic effect on those around him.

You understand both sides of the conflict and neither was definitively right or wrong. You have a hard time figuring out who you root for. The text was mature without feeling the need to try and be unnecessarily intellectual. Both sides had their reasons, both walked away altered and flawed and it was lovely. Ultimately I was on Cap's side, but I truly felt bad for both him and Tony.

There’s a good mix of humor and drama. That battle royal style airport set piece was amazing. A villain you could sympathize with in some small way. Spider-Man stole the show in the few minutes he was on screen. The fight choreography was complex and hefty. Bucky's arm...idk...I just think his metal arm is cool and I want one. The plot resolution between Cap and Tony. Captain America's films continue to be a driving force for substantial status quo change in the MCU.

“Not the revelation that Winter Soldier was, but it’s up there with the best of MARVEL’s ever expanding roster of films.”

The pacing was a little off in the first third or so. But even here, I'm hard pressed to find ways to avoid it. The Russo Bros. had to check off a laundry list of elements mandated by the suits at Disney, so I think, like Whedon before them, they did the best they could with what they had. And maybe the next round they will get even better at it...or not...who knows.

At this point, MARVEL is a well oiled machine running at peak efficiency. The films follow a strict formula that somehow remains fun and enjoyable to me despite my waning interest with superheroes in general, and doesn't come off as completely trite, but they ride the line a lot of the time.

There's a lot going on here, and again, a symptom of the ever expanding MCU. Some of the scene transitions and the way some characters are introduced/enter and exit the film feel disjointed. This particularly affected Black Panther and Spider-Man, the latter of which had no real reason to be in this film, despite being really cool to watch. The Black Panther's driving motivation came off a tad cheesy and flat in my opinion. These two were clearly put in here because the MCU sequel set up machine demands it, so I mean, hey...those pesky corporate mandates...what can you do? Am I right Russo Bros?

The airport scene was awesome, as I said. But it felt like filler because, no one was was really trying to hurt anyone...except Black Panther...he was definitely trying to kill Bucky. The real drama, the real thrust of the story, is the between Black Panther and Buck and Tony and Cap -- that's when the meat of the tension arises, sadly, I felt it was too little too late by the time it climaxes.

Speaking of Black Panther, while I enjoyed him, I hope that he doesn't end up becoming this romanticized uber regal mary sue, who is serious all the time and can do no wrong. I'm completely done with our culture's habit of worshiping monarchy as if it's lifestyle one should strive for, It would be great if we gave ACTUAL intellectual and vocational pursuits some time to shine and let the, "I'm rich bitch," philosophy on life, rest a little bit. But anyway, when fans fall in love with a character, particularly one that looks like them (in this case one that looks like me), those fans sometimes tend to project their own insecurities onto that character, balancing all of their hopes and dreams on the shoulders of that character. And if those impossible standards of righteous godhood, demanded of these characters, are not met, accusations of sabotage will begin to fly (despite half of these "fans" not knowing a damn thing about Black Panther before this movie was announced in the first place). That push for intellectual, psychological and physical perfection from people can and will suck the humanity out of a character with as much potential to become internationally iconic as Black Panther. I hope BP doesn't end up a victim of this. Keep him human; keep him interesting...please.

The villain, while sympathetic and fitting, I was unclear as to how he was able to execute a large chunk of his plan.

Well ultimately well shot and choreographed, the first couple of action set pieces could have been just a tiny bit clearer and edited smoother in some spots. Wider shots with less quick cuts so that I could absorb what was going on in those moments a littler better, would have made them golden.

The position some characters took on the overarching conflict seemed forced and didn't make complete sense for their circumstances.

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