Review: Spider-Man: Far From Home (no spoilers)

After the heavy, epic Avengers: Endgame, we get the lighter Far From Home, and it's a welcome change in mood.

After a quick and clever explainer of life in the Marvel Universe after "Endgame," we learn Peter Parker just wants to go to Europe on his class trip and leave super-heroing behind. but Nick Fury, and some inter-dimensional monsters have other plans.

He gets help from Jake Gylanhaal's Mysterio, an inter dimensional super-hero whom they hint could fill Iron Man's rocket-laden boots.

As the class goes from European destination to destination, it brings to mind "If it's Tuesday, it Must be Belgium," and other silly-Americans-in-foreign-country movies. Only with superheroes.

Meanwhile, poor Peter has to battle monsters while working up the courage to tell classmate MJ what he feels about her.  There should be some kind of award for Tom Holland, his Peter Parker might be the closest depiction to the character in the comics; he's not a super-hero, he's a kid whose immense powers are tempered by a teenage mindset. The most important thing for him isn't fighting the monster, it's kissing the girl! And he carries this believably.

I was a little disappointed in the beginning at the absence of a bad guy. He's just going to beat up monsters? But a villain comes along soon enough and makes up for his earlier absence.

The film ends with mid-credit and post-credits sequences. The latter is kind of confusing, but the former is a must-watch which made the audience I saw the film with go crazy.

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Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming

I liked it, my 10-year-old liked it, what more do you need in a summer blockbuster?

This is a dialed-back Marvel film, Spider-Man isn't saving the world, just catching a bad guy. Most importantly, even though it's a reboot, we skip the whole origin story. The radioactive spider is mentioned, but that's it. And not a word about Uncle Ben.

Thank you for skipping all that; no one needs it anymore. The only thing missing that's important to the canon is J. Jonah Jameson. But I didn't miss him until my 10 year old pointed out his absence after the film.

Tom Holland (another Brit to play the role) plays it as an awkward teenager very anxious to get in the game, but is told to "keep to the ground" by (on-loan-from-Disney) Tony Stark. You don't believe he's 15, but still, he is good enough to make you forget the other Spider-Men.

This is another winner for Michael Keaton, who is less a genius super villain, and more a mob guy who's just doing business. He's not trying to  conquer the world, he's just running a black market for weapons. They're alien-enhanced weapons, but hey, business is business.

A third-act twist turned this good movie into a really good movie. There's a scene where you watch the gears turn in Keaton's head as he figures out Spider-Man's secret identity that's just as suspenseful as anything you'd see in a Hitchcock film.

There's just enough Avengers crossover to keep things interesting in the Marvel Universe, without it overshadowing the main star. (There's a funny running gag about Captain America doing all-purpose PSA's for Peter Parker's high school).

Marisa Tomei is the hottest Aunt Mae ever, but I'm not complaining.