Spider-Man: No Way Home

Year of Release: 2021

Director:  Jon Watts

Screenplay:  Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, based on Spider-Man created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Starring:  Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, Tony Revelori, Marisa Tomei, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire,

Running Time:  148 minutes

Genre:  Super-hero, action, science-fiction

Following the public unmasking of Peter Parker (Holland) as masked vigilante Spider-Man, his life, and the lives of Peter's girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Battalion) have been made a misery.  Unable to escape the unceasing attention and endless controversy, Peter approaches powerful mystic Doctor Strange (Cumberbatch) to cast a spell to make the world forget that he is Spider-Man.  However, Peter's interference with the spell causes it to go wrong, bringing in supervillains from other dimensions to  Peter's universe.  

This is a sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and is the 27th instalment in the ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).  This also brings in characters from other non-MCU Spider-Man films such as Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).  There is also an appearance from Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock from the Netflix Daredevil series (2015-2018).  This is one of the better MCU films, with humour and genuine emotion, towards the end there were several audible sobs at the screening I attended.  The action is spectacular, with a particularly impressive set-piece set in the surreal Mirror Dimension.  If you are not familiar with the MCU in general or the Spider-Man films in particular, this is not a very good place to start, and may be quite alienating for newcomers.  However, it is fun to see the old familiar faces, and they generally work well, even if there are too many adversaries for the film's good.  Crucially the film has some real emotion.  Peter Parker deals with some devastating losses, and there is some real weight in his scenes with MJ (of course Tom Holland and Zendaya are in a relationship in real life).  Peter is in many ways defined by his non-super powered support network, MJ, best friend Ned and his Aunt May (Tomei) who frequently act as his conscience and reminder that, in the immortal phrase, "with great power there must also be great responsibility." As always with MCU films there are additional scenes in the end credits.

Tom Holland in Spider-Man: No Way Home 

The Front Runner

Year of Release:  2018
Director:  Jason Reitman
Screenplay:  Matt Bai, Jason Reitman and Jay Carson, based on the book All the Truth is Out:  The Week Politics Went Tabloid by Matt Bai
Starring:  Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, J. K. Simmons, Alfred Molina
Running Time:  113 minutes
Genre:  Drama, politics

In 1988, US Senator Gary Hart (Jackman) is running as the Democratic candidate for the President of the United States.  Despite his initial success, Hart's presidential bid is scuppered due to scandal, when allegations surface of an extra-marital affair.

This is an interesting and well-acted enactment of a real-life political scandal.  However, you never really get a sense of who Gary Hart is, he dismisses any scandal or examination of his personal life as being irrelevant, which is really the theme of the film, whether or not someone's personal life should be made public.  Hart comes across as prickly, defensive and not particularly likeable, despite a great performance from Hugh Jackman and, in the age of Donald Trump, Hart's scandals seem almost quaint.  Interestingly the film never really states whether Hart had an affair or not.  The film does a good job of taking you inside a political campaign and political journalism, and manages to be always interesting and entertaining.  It does have some points to make about separating the public from the personal, despite being dated and never really exploring it's central character., 

Hugh Jackman is The Front Runner