Spider-Man: Spider-Verses (Rodney Rothman et al., 2018/2023)

[domino harvey]

Trailer for Lord and Miller's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse... uh, I certainly wasn't expecting this to look good

[Big Ben]

Trailer for Lord and Miller's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse... uh, I certainly wasn't expecting this to look good

This has pretty much been the reception I've seen from Film Twitter which bitches about everything. It looks really really good!

[knives]

Looks cute.

[bearcuborg]

Into the Spider-verse is the most spectacular animated feature I’ve ever seen


Says Leonard Maltin. I guess I have to go see this now...

[dda1996a]

It's not "amazing" but it's the most fun I've had in a superhero film in the past five years at least, it's the best animated film of 2018 and it's a pretty great film as is. And you get Spider-Ham and a Nic Cage Spider-Noir

[bearcuborg]

It's not "amazing" but it's the most fun I've had in a superhero film in the past five years at least, it's the best animated film of 2018 and it's a pretty great film as is. And you get Spider-Ham and a Nic Cage Spider-Noir

I found this pretty enjoyable, even with expectations set pretty high based on the ever trustful Leonard Maltin.

It’s a visual juggernaut, no doubt about it...with no other comic book adaptation having such a feel for the source material. I would implore anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, to do so in 3D.

I even dug the hip-hop soundtrack. Yet, I was a little annoyed with the pacing as the finale didn’t deliver any kinda oompf already seen earlier in the film...but that’s a minor qualm. The Stan Lee stuff was very touching too.

[The Pachyderminator]

I recently caught up with Into the Spider-Verse and it's shockingly good. Man, if we could get three superhero movies a year that solid on the visual and dramatic levels, Hollywood would be well on its way to recovery.

[tenia]

I recently caught up with Into the Spider-Verse and it's shockingly good. Man, if we could get three superhero movies a year that solid on the visual and dramatic levels, Hollywood would be well on its way to recovery.

Pretty much my view too. It's quite some steps above most of the recent superheroes movies and in a way, I'm glad to see that's the best nominated movie who got an Academy Award, and not the awful Black Panther or the superboring Infinity War.

[domino harvey]

This was mostly incoherent as an action film, and not nearly as clever or funny as it thinks it is. But as a filmed LSD trip, it was magnificent. At some point I just went with it and it was okay in the fashion that a well-made screensaver is okay (and that tree-slinging action sequence with Gwen Stacy looked like it was lifted right from one of those default Windows XP wall papers). Pacing this frenetic and endless and yet this overstuffed is exhausting, and not in a fun way, and the desire to never slow down, never dare bore a restless audience member or challenge them at any time, was depressing. We should expect more from films like this, especially ones ambitious enough to attempt something this complex and with a lot of talent working to make it manifest on-screen. The film's technical merits are nice, and the soundtrack well-curated, and it's a pleasure to be reminded that in our trying times of orange and teal, animated films like this and Frozen remember that colors exist... but surely there's some way to do all of this that has some semblance of spatial coherence and actual, non-contrived narrative stakes? As is, this was all right, I guess, which already makes it the best Marvel film I've ever seen. I'd probably watch a sequel to see if they manage to build on any of this, but given the rapturous response to every aspect of this film's existence, I suspect we'll just get more of the same flashy noise.

[Persona]

Not a great movie but good fun and almost certainly the best comic-book thing I've seen since The Dark Knight (or Logan).

[bearcuborg]

At a certain point I too decided to just go along with a super hero carton about alternate dimensions, probably when I saw it was Spider-Man movie made by Lord and Miller...

I’m far from a Marvel/DC cinematic universe fan, as I’ve only seen a few, and don’t care enough to see more-but this movie seemed to accomplish what it set out to, or could do.

[Reverend Drewcifer]

We should expect more from films like this...

Why, tho?

[domino harvey]

Why should we expect films produced by clearly talented artists to do more than generate attractive noise? If you think that’s not a fair or just expectation, then add that to my list upthread of depressing elements brought about by this movie

[bearcuborg]

What exactly are you looking for a superhero cartoon to say about life?

[mfunk9786]

Just popping in to say that the quiet stuff with Miles and his dad was touching enough that it's what I remember most about this film. I don't mean this to be taking sides one way or another. OK, bye!

[knives]

What exactly are you looking for a superhero cartoon to say about life?

"I think this hamburger should have real meat in it."
"Why do you think a hamburger should taste like filet mignon?"

[domino harvey]

Jesus, is this really the way this discussion is going to go now, with me being mocked for wanting a film that justifies and matches the talent and energy that went into it?

[bearcuborg]

Just popping in to say that the quiet stuff with Miles and his dad was touching enough that it's what I remember most about this film. OK, bye!

Very touching, and for people of color who don’t normally see themselves cast in heroic lead roles, one might under estimate the ambitions of this creative team.

Next, on a very special Criterion Forum, we should expect nuanced life lessons from the team that brought us Grudge Match, Monsters vs Aliens, and Puss in Boots...

[mfunk9786]

Jesus, is this really the way this discussion is going to go now, with me being mocked for wanting a film that justifies and matches the talent and energy that went into it?

Not sure that your declaration that this film is devoid of narrative stakes or unworthy of the talent put in it is shared by everyone here, so if someone disagrees with the crux of your review then they're probably going to chafe against the finer points of it too.

It was often too much for me from a sensory standpoint, but I'm not its target audience - and I'd rather my kid enjoy this emotionally warm and visually interesting picture than some movie about a surfing bear who loves to fart or whatever CGI films are doing well these days.

That said, my favorite of the Marvel films I've seen is Venom, so what do I know

[Reverend Drewcifer]

Not mocked, as such. It's more than just attractive or flashy noise. The talent and energy is there on the screen. Its aesthetic brought me to the theater in spite of my low expectations for masked adventurer stories, and its explosion of the character into multiple personas allowed me to appreciate this kind of thing for the first time in a very long while. I wasn't betting my shirt on getting more, but I got more. Your expectations are your own, and your investment sounds like it received frustrating returns. Them's the breaks. You want a Natty Boh?

[knives]

My statement wasn't intended to mock Dom, if that isn't clear. I haven't seen the film yet, but given it's reputation and the talent behind the film I expect a film that uses animation is a truly creative way with the core story being emotionally touching in the way Mfunk is indicating. Because of that if I encountered the film Dom describes I would be majorly disappointed and to hold the film to that basic level of quality is something that should be assumed and not questioned.

[denti alligator]

This was a great comic-book movie. And a pretty great narrative animation flick. I thought some of the super-villain stuff was a bit ridiculous, but whatever, it's part of the genre. The story was otherwise far more creative than the crap being peddled in the other Marvel movies. Story aside, the animation alone makes this worth seeing. It's utterly stunning. And in 3D it's even more amazing.

[therewillbeblus]

I saw this last weekend and felt lukewarm about it as well, which was disappointing because I figured this would finally be the marvel movie to do it for me. The moments of Miles and his dad and uncle were good, as were the use of music and the middle ‘mission impossible’ setpiece was great, but I’m ashamed to say that I lost interest and spaced out during the final action sequence. I’m sure this was fun in 3D and in a theatre, and it was absolutely original and made me laugh in a few scenes (especially the references to old movies, in particular the spider-man 3 dance scene), but perhaps expectations were too high going in and this ultimately fell short for me of the level of praise sang upon release.