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*Disclaimer! No spoilers until the end. I will warn you when they come*

Spider-Man: Homecoming is the story of Peter Parker, a name most moviegoers should be very familiar with by now. After teaming up with Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War, Peter has been maintaining a loose contact with him as he continues his super-heroics. After coming across the sinister Vulture, Spidey sets out on a mission to stop him. All the while, Peter is being hounded by Iron Man to take things slow before taking on supervillains. He also needs to maintain his academic career and social life in a balancing act that causes some serious issues for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

I’m sure most people gathered this much from his brief appearance in Civil War, but Tom Holland is hands down the best Spidey put to film. That isn’t to say Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield didn’t do fantastic jobs in their own right, but Holland just did that much better. He strikes the perfect balance between Peter Parker and Spider-Man and still manages to show off some impressive acting chops despite some goofy scenes. There’s one scene towards the end in particular where he shows off this ability, to the point that I even started to cringe at how much pain his character was in.

Going in, I thought the high school and coming-of-age elements would bother me and feel out of place, but they were the most unique part of this movie. Watching a superhero struggle to maintain two different lives/identities is definitely a played-out trope. That being said, the dynamic between all of the characters in Peter’s life as a student or as a superhero made them seem more realistic and very entertaining to watch.

Speaking of realism, the Vulture is one of the most relatable and human seeming villains in the MCU. Not only did Michael Keaton play him in a way that was truly understandable and desperate, he also managed to feel incredibly intimidating at the same time. He’s an incredibly memorable addition to the MCU’s roster of villains and is the best villain they’ve had in a very long time.

**Spoilers Ahead! Read at your discretion**

I’m also glad that they didn’t spend too much time on Peter’s origin in this film. There are a few nods to it, like mentions of the radioactive spider and to Aunt May being distraught over something (a reference to Uncle Ben). However, there is no “with great power, comes great responsibility” speech, at least not directly. The lessens that Iron Man tries to convey to Peter basically fall in line with this ideology, but he never outright says it. It comes across more as common sense than an overly-preachy and out-of-character lessen, which is entirely in line with Stark’s character.

That being said, the lack of an origin story is one of the weaker parts of this film. Yes, most of the audience knows the story already from the ridiculous amount of interpretations we’ve seen recently. That being said, this film ends up being entirely too reliant on the MCU in order to tell its story.

It is part of the MCU and that is a fact that should be celebrated, but there were several instances where the plot moved forward as a direct result of characters like Tony Stark, his assistant Happy, the Chitauri, Ultron, etc. Some of these cheeky references worked fine as just fan service, like with the Captain America tapes. However, the entire plot focuses on the bad guy selling weapons based off Chitauri tech and Ultron bits and then ends with a fight over Stark tech. If you didn’t watch the Avengers films, you’ll be somewhat lost, which ruins the immersion you’re supposed to feel when watching a movie like this. This isn’t a very inclusive way to start a new series of films, which Spider-Man: Homecoming is set to do. This is a small complaint, though, and the main plot is comprehendible enough for most people.

Regardless, Spider-Man: Homecoming was a solid movie and I highly recommend everyone go out and see it. MCU fans will love how it fits into the overarching storyline and casual moviegoers will be entertained regardless.

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I spend most of my days working towards my Writing and Rhetoric degree at the University of Central Florida, but I spend a lot of my down time keeping up to date on the best TV, movies, and video games the industry has to offer. Here I put all of that extended time to use discussing each of them in-depth.

Geek Culture

Last of Us HBO Showrunner Quietly Removes Name from Troubled Borderlands Flick

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When your writer—one of Hollywood’s hottest—tries to hide their involvement, it’s a bad sign. The Borderlands film’s original script was written by Craig Mazin (The Last of Us, Chernobyl), who recently asked the WGA to use the pseudonym “Joe Crombie” instead of his name.

We hope this means Mazin considers Joe Abercrombie, Lord Grimdark, the grittiness GOAT, but that theory is unproven. Since Mazin wrote the script in 2015 for Eli Roth to direct, a steady stream of writers has been brought in. Aaron Berg, Chris Bremner, Sam Levinson, Zak Olkewicz, Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor, and Oren Uziel have put around 70 fingers in the honey pot.

The name change likely avoids confusion. Mazin probably doesn’t want to be blamed for Jack Black/Claptrap madness, but he wants to keep his rights.

To clarify, the Borderlands film finished filming in 2021, but Roth was replaced by Tim Miller (Deadpool) in January.

When this surprising star-studded film (Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Cate Blanchet) limps out, what are your expectations? We think this was supposed to coincide with Borderlands 3’s 2019 release, but it’s overshot the mark.

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Geek Culture

Monday’s YouTube premiere of “Foundation” is free

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Apple is streaming the first episode of “Foundation” on YouTube and hosting a Q&A on Monday before the second season’s premiere.
“Foundation” will return for ten more episodes on Friday, July 14, on Apple TV+. Apple is streaming the first episode of the first season to promote it.

“The Emperor’s Peace” will air on YouTube on Monday at 11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern. After the episode, executive producer and showrunner David S. Goyer will answer questions live.

 

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Geek Culture

Netflix cracks down on password sharing worldwide

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After a delay, Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is reaching U.S. and international subscribers. After experiencing cancellations in regions where it had already implemented “paid sharing,” the streamer delayed the debut till the summer. U.S. Netflix consumers must either remove people from their account or pay $7.99/month for an additional membership for non-household members.

In weeks and months, many of worldwide markets will undergo similar transformations.

Current members can examine which devices are signed into their account and remove unwanted ones, as well as reset their password, to make this transfer smoother.

A “Transfer Profile” feature lets Netflix account sharers move their viewing history and watchlist to their own account.

Netflix informed investors that despite early cancellations, the password enforcement will benefit its long-term development and financial health.

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said the password enforcement in its first supported markets was similar to how subscribers reacted to pricing increases during its first-quarter earnings.

“We see an initial cancel reaction and then we build out of that, both in terms of membership and revenue as borrowers sign up for their own Netflix accounts and existing members purchase that extra member facility for folks that they want to share with,” Peters told investors on the April earnings call. “First of all, it was a strong validation to see consistent results in these new countries, because there are different market characteristics different from each other and also from the original Latin American rollout countries,” he said.

Netflix tested the feature in Latin America before adding Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain this year. It will reach more global markets today, including Brazil, Bolivia, Belize, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Philippines, Malaysia, Israel, Thailand, Taiwan, Switzerland, Sweden, and others.

The corporation may have postponed the crackdown in Q1 to avoid hurting net additions. Last quarter, the corporation added 1.75 million global customers, below Wall Street’s 3 million projection, to 232.5 million accounts.

It announced at results that U.S. members would receive the password-sharing adjustments “on or before” June 30. Netflix may have accelerated the timing.

Netflix revealed on its blog today that it will email U.S. account sharers.

“One household per Netflix account,” the firm advises. “Everyone living in that household can use Netflix wherever they are—at home, on the go, on holiday—and take advantage of new features like Transfer Profile and Manage Access and Devices,” the post adds.

The email, labeled “An update on sharing,” lists options and links to support documentation.

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Netflix explains in a press email that it is “now starting to roll out updates to sharing to countries around the world, including the U.S.”

Netflix has yet to see the effects of a password crackdown in the U.S., where it faces increased competition for users’ time and money.

Today, HBO Max becomes Max, a new service that combines HBO and Discovery+ content, doubling the amount of programming. Paramount+ will add Showtime next month on June 27. Disney plans to merge Disney+ and Hulu into one app. Subscribers get more content with some price increases. Netflix is charging more for the same.

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