Marisa tomei

  • Review: ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ spins a web of action-packed fun (Includes first-hand account)

    Since Marvel came back into the fold, Spider-Man has flourished. No longer an emo man-child, he exudes youth and teenage sarcasm in a manner inherit to the character. In other words, Peter Parker really looks and feels like the boy next door now. Moreover, bringing him back into the greater MCU allowed for more interesting storylines as he built a paternal bond with the ever-aloof Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). If you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame, then you really should before watching this picture because it opens with a major spoiler (which also can’t/won’t be avoided for the remainder of this review — fair warning). Having announced this movie would close out Marvel Studios‘ phase three rather than Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home took the baton and slung away.

  • Review: ‘The First Purge’ gets at the heart of the horror (Includes first-hand account)

    According to this franchise, in the near future the United States will condone one night of complete lawlessness. For 12 hours, every American citizen has the right to do whatever they want, including rape, murder and steal. But how could such a heinous event be permitted, let alone supported, by not only the people but their government? We’ve seen a family held hostage in their home, people wandering the streets in masks brutally killing anyone they encounter, disgruntled employees taking revenge on their bosses… and armed military units using the event as cover for the genocide of hundreds of lower income citizens. The First Purge is the story of how it all began.

  • Review: ‘Spider-Man — Homecoming’ finally gets it right (Includes first-hand account)

    In an age of remakes and reboots, it’s becoming frequently common to see one character played by multiple actors in the span of a couple decades. This is especially true in the superhero universe where the stories are seemingly infinite, but the performers’ commitment comparatively brief. Even a multi-picture deal typically runs down in 10 years or less, leading studios to start anew after each cycle. The latest franchise to be rebooted with a fresh face is one of Marvel‘s youngest heroes in tights: Spider-Man. In the first standalone film of the reboot, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter Parker is still learning to flex his superhuman muscles.

  • Review: ‘Love the Coopers’ is smothered in sugary melodrama (Includes first-hand account)

    The end of the year seems to elicit films about dysfunctional families trying to spend the holidays together, and collections of loosely related stories of people trying to find love and happiness in the chaos; the proliferation of these narratives is likely inspired to some extent by the popularity of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Love Actually respectively. However most pictures fail to recreate the success of either. Love the Coopers has decided to try to capture the essence of both styles.