Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a computer-animated superhero film, based on the Marvel Comics character Miles Morales, aka Spider-Man. Morales becomes one of many Spider-Men as they team up to save New York City from Kingpin. The film is produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. Into the Spider-Verse is the first animated feature film in the Spider-Man franchise, and is set in a shared multiverse called the “Spider-Verse”, which has alternate universes. The film was directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman from a screenplay by Phil Lord and Rothman. I had never heard of the Spider-Verse but for good reason, this is the first of the Spider-Verse series. Judging by the weekend box office of 2/3, $175,424,664 and over $347M worldwide, we will see more. Actually, I liked this film and am having trouble distinguishing between other animated features as to which is the best one.
Miles Morales / Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) is a teenager who admires Spider-Man. He struggles living up to the expectations of his parents, especially his father, police officer Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree Henry), who sees Spider-Man as a menace. After school, Miles secretly visits his uncle Aaron Davis / Prowler (Mahershala Ali) , who brings Miles to an abandoned subway station where he can paint graffiti. While there, Miles is unknowingly bitten by a radioactive spider and begins to develop spider-like abilities. After an embarrassing encounter with a classmate, Miles realizes the changes he is undergoing as a result of the bite. Searching for the spider, Miles returns to the station and unintentionally runs into a particle accelerator built by Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin (Liev Schreiber), who wishes to access parallel universes to find alternative versions of his wife and son who died in a car crash.
**** SPOILERS ****
Spider-Man / Peter Parker (Chris Pine) of Miles Morales’ universe, whose death inspires Miles to become Spider-Man, is trying to disable the accelerator while fighting off Fisk’s enforcers, Green Goblin / Norman Osborn (Jorma Taccone) and Prowler. Spider-Man also discovers that Miles has abilities similar to his. He vows to teach him how to control his powers, but is gravely wounded by an explosion during the battle that kills Green Goblin. Spider-Man gives Miles a USB drive to disable the accelerator and warns that the machine could destroy the city if turned on again. Miles then watches Fisk kill Spider-Man in horror before fleeing from Prowler.
While attempting to master his new abilities, Miles inadvertently damages the USB drive. At Spider-Man’s grave, Miles meets Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man (Jake Johnson), a depressed and worn-down version of Spider-Man from another dimension. Peter has been brought into Miles’s dimension by the accelerator and needs to return home, so he reluctantly agrees to train Miles in exchange for help stealing data to create a new drive. While breaking into Kingpin’s research facility, they are confronted by Fisk’s chief scientist Olivia “Liv” Octavius / Doctor Octopus (Kathryn Hahn), who reveals that Peter will deteriorate the longer he stays in their dimension and eventually die.
Being a young person has it’s props. An adult might get totally lost in this rather hectic story or not! While I think the plot is excellent, I think you’d better pay attention or else. I like the message this version of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sends and I think the cast is outstanding. There is much more to this story — a must see in order to understand the intensions of the writer. This animated film is more organized than some of the others I’ve seen this year (2018). Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is not for everyone, as this is strictly a children’s flick. Check It Out, it’s worth it!
[Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is Oscar nominated for Best Animated Feature Film]
Almost Christmas is funny but sad. You might be cheered up on one hand but if you’ve ever lost a loved one, especially during the holidays, memories will come flooding back. After loosing his wife, Walter Meyers (Danny Glover) still living in the house where he and his wife raised their children, decides to have the traditional Christmas dinner with all the family, as usual. However, Walter knows if his daughters Rachel (Gabrielle Union) and Cheryl (Kimberly Elise) and sons Christian (Romany Malco) and Evan (Jessie Usher) can spend five days together under the same roof, it will truly be a Christmas miracle. As the family begins to gather, Walter realizes this reunion, without his wife, is easier said than done. The first family member to arrive is Aunt May, (Mo’Nique) who is a no nonsense tell-it-like-it-is kind of gal with lots of spunk. Cheryl, a doctor and the eldest daughter, arrives for the holidays with her husband Lonnie (J. B. Smoove), a former basketball player who was famous when he played overseas in Croatia. Rachel struggles to financially support herself and her daughter due to her recent divorce and is studying to become a lawyer. Walter’s eldest son, Christian, struggles with balancing his campaign to become a congressman and his desire to spend time with his family. Christian even invites his campaign manager, Brooks (John Michael Higgins) along, to get more work done. Evan is a successful football player recovering from a shoulder injury, however when his coach tells him his arm is completely healed, Evan struggles to give up his pain medication.
I wasn’t thrilled when they started making my beloved Spiderman movies with someone other than Toby MaGuire. Not being into the comic book scene, I was very surprised and confused when they remade Spiderman instead of continuing where the last Spiderman movie left off. This surprise sort of clouded my judgement towards the new Spider-man series making me very unhappy with the new film. I’ve since had time to adjust and see the errs of my ways. Little did I know Spiderman is a trilogy. I went into the Spider-Man 2 movie with great expectations. I knew a lot of fans were not too excited about the movie after seeing it but I forged on with my new attitude anyway. Oddly, I don’t agree with the fans who didn’t think much of Spider-Man 2. I think it was fantastic. It was more true to the comic book story (which I read up on) and it had lots of action and endless special effects. Hollywood threw everything at Peter Parker, including the kitchen sink. I like the added original comic book character of Gwen Stacy played by Emma Stone and I love Sally Field as Aunt May. I even like Andrew Garfield as the new Spider-Man. TAMN2 had all the usual bells and whistles; villains like Harry Osborn/The Green Goblin played by Dane Dehaan, who wants Spiderman dead, the unresolved death of Peter Parker’s parents, Oscorp powers that be cover-ups and always a new and different super-villain struggling for power. In this case, Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Eletro was quite convincing as an invisible person who finally gets noticed, albeit in a bad way. I couldn’t see anything not to like, as this movie wasn’t any different than other Spider-Man movies. Lots of destruction, action, romance and special effects. There’s so much going on in this movie, you won’t have time to be bored or uninterested. Some say Peter Parker’s relationship with Gwen Stacy is corny and cheesy but I disagree. I guess it’s a personal call — you’ll have to decide for yourself. TASM2 is worth seeing on the big screen and runs 2 hours and 22 minutes. I found the movie very entertaining.
CAROL's WORLDS 