Paddington in Peru

With the success of the first two Paddington films, it’s inevitable that a third film, Paddington in Peru, would follow to make it a trilogy. While I was unfamiliar with Paddington when this film was announced, I quickly became a fan after watching the first two films in anticipation, and hoped that the third would maintain the same level of quality despite a change in director. After seeing it opening weekend, although it doesn’t quite reach the same heights as the previous films, it does nonetheless feel like a worthy successor to the original duology.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Following their collaboration with DreamWorks that ended with Flushed Away, Aardman began a new partnership with Sony that began with Arthur Christmas. Whereas their previous two films were done in CG, their next feature, and their final feature collab with an American studio, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (The Pirates!), would see them return to stop-motion in adapting the book of the same name by Gideon DeFoe, who also wrote the screenplay in a rare case of the author also writing the adaptation. Although I had seen an international cut of the movie before, I had at one point become curious about seeing the original British versions of some films that were edited for America, with The Pirates! being one of them, and so imported a UK Blu-ray of the film. While the movie as I saw it originally was already good, I can safely say that it’s even better seeing it as originally intended.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

For fourteen years, Resident Evil’s theatrical presence was dominated by the work of Paul W. S. Anderson, whose contributions had notoriously little relation to the source material. Following the release of the sixth film, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, work on a reboot of the film series began with the idea that the new film would be more accurate to the games. After a rocky start, the final product would see a wide theatrical release as Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City to mixed reception. Once I finally played the two games it was based on, Resident Evil (RE1) and Resident Evil 2 (RE2), I decided to give this film a try while the stories were fresh in my head just to form my own opinion. Unfortunately, Welcome to Raccoon City does a good job at showing that while video game adaptations have come a long way, they still haven’t cracked the code on this series.

Gran Turismo (Film)

While video game to film translations have historically been rocky over the years, especially in live-action, it can be said that more recent efforts such as Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog films have figured out how to make it work without sacrificing the spirit of the source material. With that in mind, as the Gran Turismo games have no real plot to speak of, the film adaptation makes up for this by taking a decidedly more unique approach, adapting a story surrounding the events of the games rather than the games themselves, in this case the story of how Jann Mardenborough went from being a Gran Turismo player to a professional racer. I will admit to not playing any of the actual games prior to this film, only being aware of them, however the approach it took made me curious enough to go see it, especially after looking more into what it was based on. While I didn’t really have any expectations going in, the movie turned out way better than I expected, to where I honestly consider it one of the best video game movies out there.

The Angry Birds Movie

While Rovio’s Angry Birds franchise may have dipped in popularity in recent years, it was a global phenomenon when the original game released back in 2009. For a few years after, you couldn’t escape its presence, especially once its popularity spawned a number of sequels, including crossovers with the Rio film duology and the Star Wars film series. Despite this popularity, the announcement of an animated film in 2012 came with some hesitation, as that would mean it could release years after the series had already peaked in relevance. This didn’t stop the film from finally releasing in 2016, however, to mixed response from critics while still making $352.3 million, nearly five times its $73 million budget. Though I was curious as to how it turned out, I wouldn’t watch the film until a recent flight, where I was forced to watch it on my phone (and the suboptimal conditions necessitated the use of subtitles). Considering The Angry Birds movie released years before Pokémon Detective Pikachu in 2019 and Sonic the Hedgehog in 2020, it’s certainly not one of the worst adaptations of a video game, but it’s definitely not flawless either.

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile

Though Bernard Waber may fly under many people’s radars as far as children’s book authors go, he is best known for the Lyle series, detailing the adventures of an anthropomorphic crocodile. I will admit I had not read the books when I was a kid, but I was still aware enough of them as I got older that a film adaptation of the first two books The House on East 88^th Street and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, taking the name from the second (Lyle), got me at least mildly curious about seeing it when it first came out. While I did not see it in a theater, I ultimately found an opportunity when it offered as an entertainment option on a flight, albeit in less-than-ideal conditions since I had to watch it through my phone, which also had some display issues with darker colors. Despite these circumstances, I ultimately enjoyed it overall, with the movie even getting me curious about reading the books.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Note: This review contains spoilers for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man duology, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

After Thanos’ defeat, we had largely lost interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This wasn’t due to any sudden dislike of the brand, but rather that it had turned into more of a lifestyle and the time commitment to keeping up felt unwieldy. Still, there were some movies and shows we had some interest in watching and the multiversal Spider-Man: No Way Home was one of them. During its initial 2021 theatrical run, we still didn’t feel safe going back to a theater due to its high demand, so we patiently waited until a 2022 Blu-ray release, miraculously dodging all spoilers in the process. Fortunately, the wait was well worth it and even though we initially only had interest in the reappearance of the Sam Raimi cast, we ended up liking everything else the film had to offer.

Monster House

In 2004, Robert Zemeckis’ ImageWorks began experimenting in motion capture animation with The Polar Express, which, despite uncanny valley criticisms, managed to do well enough for another film, Monster House, to be animated with the same technology in 2006. Though I had seen Monster House as a kid when it came out and liked it, I hadn’t really seen it since then, deciding to revisit it again nearly two decades later to see how well it holds up. Though the visuals are a little dated, it manages to hold up surprisingly well as a decent, timeless horror film.

The Emoji Movie

From its official announcement, The Emoji Movie became the target of ridicule on the internet. This sentiment intensified throughout the marketing campaign until its 2017 release, when viewers and critics ripped it to shreds. Despite having a morbid curiosity about the film, we didn’t watch it at the time because we refused to pay money to see it. This changed when it finally aired for free on FX, but we still didn’t watch it until we found the right opportunity a few months later. Actually watching it did nothing to sway us from the general consensus of the film, as we felt absolutely nothing while watching it.

Stubs - Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Starring Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Tyne Daly, Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr. Directed by Jon Watts. Screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers. Based on Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Produced by Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal Runtime: 133 minutes. USA Color Superhero, Action

Sony has had an interesting history with the Spider-Man franchise. There were the three films directed by Sam Raimi, starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco. After breaking with Raimi over creative differences, the studio tried to relaunch the franchise as The Amazing Spider-Man directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. While successful at the box office, these efforts paled by comparison with the original series.

Following the North Korean hacking of SPE's emails and the executive reshuffle that followed, Sony allowed Spider-Man to appear in an Avengers' film, Captain America: Civil War (2016), with a new actor, Tom Holland, playing the web-slinger. Now, Holland gets to star in his own reboot, Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Tom Holland as Spider-Man.

As compared with The Amazing Spider-Man series, this new film is a success. Holland is at 21, a good choice to play the teenage Peter Parker, and runs rings around Garfield's depiction. However, this version seems less like a Spider-Man series and more like Iron-Man 3.5. Like his depiction in the Amazing Spider-Man films, Spider-Man is less organic than the first go around. The web not only doesn't come out of Parker, but originates from devices that were apparently designed by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). Even the Spider-Man suit is an elastic version of Stark's Iron Man outfit. A reboot without an origin story, Homecoming does hint that Parker was bitten by a spider, but it seems that much of his powers originate from the suit and not from the spider bite.

Iron Man is never far away in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The connection to Iron Man is underlined by the nearly constant presence of "Happy" Hogan (Jon Favreau), Stark's bodyguard/chauffeur, as well as the repeated appearances of Stark/Iron Man. Part of the backstory involves the move of Avenger headquarters from New York to some location upstate and the cleanup in the aftermath of the epic battle at the end of Marvel's The Avengers (2012), placing this film well within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The villain, Adrian Toomes/Vulture (Michael Keaton) is taken from the pages of the long-running comic book series, but his origin story has been updated to fit into the MCU. Keaton, who started out as a comedian, has proven himself to be a very good dramatic actor. He came to fame playing the caped crusader in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) and has most recently been seen in such films as Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) and The Founder (2016). As good as he was a hero, he is equally good as a nemesis, which the film sets up for a possible return. While I have no idea what Sony/Marvel have in mind for the next Spider-Man film, we're told Spider-Man will return, they could do a lot worse than bringing Adrian Toomes back.

Michael Keaton plays Adrian Toomes/Vulture.

Now that we're up to three different versions of the story and three different actors, so far, playing the lead character, one starts to do a James Bond-like comparison. While Holland is good, Maguire gets the nod as the best so far to have worn the suit. Garfield, unfortunately, will end up with a comparison to George Lazenby, an actor who tops no one's list as the best 007.

This is definitely a different way to view Spider-Man. He is more Spider-Boy than Man, though he seems to be growing into the role. Homecoming is definitely aimed as much to a millennial audience as it is to the longtime fans of the comic book. This time around Parker's world is explicitly diverse. There is no Mary Jane or Harry in this version, rather there is a Michelle "MJ" Jones (Zendaya), a

non-love interest, and Ned (Jacob Batalon), who plays his best friend. These two will no doubt be back, as will his modernized Aunt May Parker (Marisa Tomei). His love interest, Liz (Laura Harrier), is a senior while he is a sophomore, but there never seems to be any real chemistry between them as Parker's secret life keeps trumping his love life.

Like any superhero film, there are the requisite big battles and action scenes and Homecoming has at least three that would qualify. The special effects are very good and the film looks very good in 3D/Imax if you're in the mood to pay more to see more.

One of the problems with the MCU is that you don't feel like you can miss any of the films without falling behind. I've used the analogy of school to describe how this makes me feel as a movie-goer. I feel like I'm required to see some of these films. However, Spider-Man: Homecoming was not that kind of film. I would have seen this one even if it wasn't so entrenched in the MCU.

That said, while I can definitely recommend this film, beware that it doesn't supplant Spider-Man 2 (2004) as the best in the series and I would go so far as to place it third behind Spider-Man (2002). Good, but not quite great, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a good summertime movie and should be seen if you want a good time at the theater.