(Spoiler Free!) Maybe you’re like me and think the latest iteration of Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is a little too young, naïve, and nice?  I mean, he is the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, but this kid is just a bit to cordial and a bit too trusting.  You can argue that’s a big theme in this latest installment from the MCU.  The plot you know right?  Peter and his classmates embark on a class trip to Europe which is interrupted by elemental forces who are being fought by a Thor-like superhero named Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal).  In the midst of this, is a blossoming pubescent relationship between Peter and MJ (Zendaya), and a relentless Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) who is hellbent on breaking Peter’s ‘love’ plans in favor of recruiting him to help Mysterio.  Seems like all the makings of a super-hero thriller right?  But wait, there’s more.  Remember ‘Avengers Infinity War/Endgame?’  How our penchant heroes saved the world and brought half the worlds population back to life?  SFFH continues that storyline with a really cool arc (no spoilers). 

Without spoiling it, you will enjoy this engaging installment of the franchise.  It’s a fitting follow up for ‘Endgame’ and a great growing point for all the primary characters including Happy (Jon Favreau), Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), and even his roommate Ned (Jacob Batalon).  Director Jon Watts (Cop Car) does a fantastic job with a big budget and a bevy of stars to handle.  This film could have easily left the mark by purely focusing on Spider-Man/Mysterio, but instead it does an artful job of making you care about young Peter, his teenage angst (waitaminit, is he still a teenager?), and even the budding romance of his oddly young and ‘incredibly hot after all these years’ Aunt May.  Let’s not forget the world locales as well.   Watts and his production designer did an amazing job showcasing world landmark locations in way that made them feel almost Disneyland like – I wanted to be at every site they filmed at.

This chapter is not the penultimate of the MCU, but it’s a solid addition to it.  You’ll be engaged the entire ride and leave the theater wishing you had a set of Tony Stark’s ‘big brother’ spectacles!  There is, to me, one gaping hole plot but I’ll wait until WED of next week to discuss it in this post (no spoilers!).  B+ Spider-Man Far From Home is rated PG-13 with a running time of 2h 13m.  Oh yeah, SPOILER ALERT!! There are two post credit scenes you’ll want to stick around for and both are not only relevant but great additions to the storyline.

Fan of M. Night Shyamalan? Well we’ve got DVD/BluRay copies of his latest thriller, ‘Glass.’ The film features Shyamalan’s eccentric trio of super and anti-heroes, while offering a closer look at the world of the men within; Elijah Price, also known as Mr. Glass (Samuel J. Jackson), David Dunn (Bruce Willis), and Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) all work together to weave a tale of escalating encounters as they escape from an asylum and embark on a thrilling battle of good versus evil! Want to score a copy of the disc for yourself? Check the contest details below the banner and #staygeeky

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TwiView: The LEGO Movie 2, The Second Part – This is what the follow up LEGO movies behind the original SHOULD have been! A return to the cross-storyline that involves not just the LEGO characters but also the humans that are controlling them.  This time out, Bricksburg is threatened by an alien force which in the real world is a powerful ‘Mom’ whose trying to get her children to learn how to play together.  You’ll get bonuses in this one in the form of some great new characters and voices including the sultry, slick and evil? Tiffany Haddish as Queen Watevra (get it?).  Chris Pratt pulls double duty as Awesome Emmitt and the all-new Rex Dangervest.  What sets this iteration apart from the abysmal LEGO Ninjago movie and LEGO Batman movie is its return to family cohesiveness at its core.  Remember that wonder from the original film as real-life little Jaden builds a LEGO world in his Dad’s basement and it plays out in the LEGO world? Well, you get a nice heaping helping of that again and you’ll be delighted by the characters you meet along the way.  A-

Having never served in the military, family, friends, and war films are the closest I will ever get to understanding what it is like to live thousands of miles away in war torn areas. How accurate is American Sniper at depicting military life? I will leave that to the men and women who are serving today. What I can say is that I don’t believe there will be another film in 2015 that impacted me the way that American Sniper did.

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Admittedly, I had no desire to see Divergent. I am not a fan of teen worldwide bestsellers turned motion picture event of the year types of films anymore. That part of me died when I saw Twilight: New Moon. However, I was excited to see the Hunger Games, and generally that movie was very pleasing…not quite what I imagined but not bad either. Unlike The Hunger Games, I have never read any of the Divergent series. I only know what I have read in book reviews and film hype for this series, and ultimately the film delivered. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the film.

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