Does whatever a struggling teenager can
Homecoming and Far From Home are dumb subtitles for Spider-man. They sound like movies made for the Hallmark Channel. “Revenge of the Sinister 6” or “Enter Electro”. Those are Spidey titles.
And, I have been ready for Spider-Man to become a MAN for a while now. All three film versions of Spidey have been about his teen years, but I’d like to see him as he was when I was growing up. He had a job (Photographer for “The Daily Bugle”), a work-wife (Betty Brant), and a boss that was always up his arse (J. Jonah Jameson).
“OK, boomer.”
Yeah, yeah, whatever. I know these complaints come from what I have become accustomed to as “normal”. Still, I needed to get that off of my chest.
Regardless, I have been enjoying the Tom Holland version of Spidey in the Avengers films and in Homecoming. Not as much as Sam Raimi’s first two Spider-Man films (I even feel that parts of Spider-Man 3 were OK), but much better than the Andrew Garfield ones. (I can’t watch a moody Peter Parker.)
Still, I needed a little break after the last Avengers movie wrapped up a generation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe this past summer. In fact, Far From Home was so Far Off My Radar I had no idea Mysterio was in it or that Jack Gyllenhaal was playing him until I slipped the cardboard sleeve off of the UHD Blu-ray.
So, I waited on seeing Far From Home until now. And it is… OK.
I was introduced to Mysterio as a kid through reruns of the 1960’s cartoon. He quickly became my favourite villain, not only for his look but because he was a former stunt-man and special effects guy. This gave him the brawn and the brains. Gyllenhaal’s version of Mysterio didn’t nearly capture the magic of that original character for me.
Part of my issue is how long it took them to reveal him as a bad guy. I don’t know it for a fact, but I believe that most would be able to recognize him as a villain from some previous piece of Spider-Man media they consumed at some point. Then the movie leans heavily onto the “that wasn’t real, that was a hologram/holoimage/illusion/etc” too many times. It wasn’t bad by any stretch, but it just fell a little flat for me.
The movie did work the best when it stepped away from the Spider-Man stuff and dove into Peter Parker. Watching him go on this class trip, try to impress Mary Jane, juggling to be Spidey and Pete at the same time, coming to terms with Happy courting his Aunt May. That was all fun. The comic relief supplied by J.B. Smoove and Martin Starr in these moments as the class chaperones didn’t hurt either.
Overall, #MarsApproved
I’m surprised at the approval. I liked it but there are plenty of issues that I had. Most of all giving the glasses away. Boneheaded.
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Yeah, I will admit to this being a weaker recommendation from me. This was probably the 2nd or 3rd one I wrote before honing in what I want this series to be. I put this posting off because I kept finding better movies to recommend. All of the Mysterio stuff was weak to me, glasses included. I do feel though that the Peter Parker parts when he was just being a teen made it worthwhile overall.
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Agreed. And the two teachers you mentioned along with Peter. Martin Starr is a real talent.
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We finally got around to start watching the final season of Silicon Valley last night. I will miss the show big time when we are done.
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I am not familiar!
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Whaaaa???? You’re missing Martin Starr at his best!
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Well I gotta check then.
I first noticed him in Knocked Up. Big beard. Then Freaks and Geeks. Skinny kid with peanut allergy. Totally different looks.
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His character on the show is my hero.
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I’m hurt. I thought I was your hero. Don’t make me pull up my secret emails.
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I have many heroes. You are my blog/music knowledge/better than wikipedia hero.
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I enjoyed this too, Spidey always was a light-hearted strip in the 60’s and 70’s and I think the two films do get that pretty well.
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Yeah, I would love to see the old cartoon version of Spidey get a movie.
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So you go from Ok to Mars Approved. I don’t understand this rating system you speak of? lol!
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It only appears convoluted because I don’t know what I’m doing.
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Keep on doing what your doing Sir!
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Sam Raimi’s Spiderman movies are definitely the best. Even the third one is fun! I revisit it more often than I ever will with the Andrew Garfield or Tom Holland versions.
That said, Holland’s great in his own right. Saw this on Netflix and will probably give it a shot.
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Yeah, I have the most affection for the Raimi films. The 3rd one has some cringy parts, but I enjoyed it overall. I’ve tried watching the Garfield ones but can’t make more than 5 minutes.
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Nice call on the chaperone comic relief – I enjoyed both the film and the review.
And JK Simmons!
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Yeah, I thought that was brilliant. I left it out for fear of spoiling it for anyone. And as far as I know, it is the only connection with the Raimi films.
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I haven’t seen this yet, but I really liked Homecoming. Probably right behind Raimi’s first two (2 is by far the best, but sorry, 3 is awful). Probably get into it when it appears on Netflix.
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I watched 3 about a decade after it came out, The bar was set so low for me that I didn’t mind most of it.
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I saw it in the cinema and was expecting great things given how good 2 was…
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Understood. It is relative to our expectations.
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