Monday, July 15, 2019

Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)

Predictably fun, this sequel takes the webslinger on a high school trip to the capitals of Europe and the travel photography alone is worth the price of admission. Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man has to juggle his teenage crush on a classmate with saving the world from destruction and the pacing is pretty good.

Returning from the last installment, Spider-Man: Homecoming, we have in the cast Tom Holland (last blogged for Avengers: Infinity War) as Peter, Jacob Batalon as his best friend Ned, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Jon Favreau (more recently in these pages for Solo: A Star Wars Story) as Happy, Tony Revolori as Flash, and Martin Starr (last blogged for I'll See You in My Dreams) as Mr. Harrington. Notable additions are Samuel L. Jackson (most recently in I Am Not Your Negro) as Nick Fury, Jake Gyllenhaal (last in Wildlife) as Quentin, Zendaya (blog debut in The Greatest Showman) as MJ, and J.B. Smoove (most recently in The Polka King) as Mr. Dell. He says, "Witches!"

Director Jon Watts' last project was Spider-Man: Homecoming and the co-writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers most recently penned Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Sadly, there's no Stan Lee cameo--he died November 12, 2018 at 95. In fact, it's the first Marvel-Avengers movie without Lee's face. But, as usual, there is a scene at the very end, so stick around.

Matthew J. Lloyd (last blogged for shooting The Seagull) is the cinematographer, and the magnificent aerial photography (some by drone) is credited to Jeremy Braben, who was aerial DP on almost 200 movies, dozens of which we have seen and appreciated.

Michael Giacchino's (last scored Bad Times at the El Royale) soundtrack can be streamed on youtubeApple Music, and more.

No one needs our recommendation to see this. If you're a fan of the franchise you have probably already seen it. But here are the Rotten Tomatoes numbers anyway: 90% from critics and 96% from audiences.

PS. This was our yearly pre-fireworks action movie for 2019. That said, we actually had bought advance tickets to the newest Men in Black, based on the fact that MiB had been released earlier and might not be around so long. But the sign outside the room had a different title (The Hustle--not really on our list). I went to the counter and discovered that, because no one else had bought tickets, that screening had been cancelled. This one was a good choice and still allowed us time to get downtown in time for the pyrotechnics.

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