Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) review

Immediate follow-up to 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home has the Webbed Wonder (Tom Holland) declared Public Enemy #1 after he's accused of "murdering" Mysterio (he also gets rejected by MIT) so he asks Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to "cast a spell" to make the world forget the name "Peter Parker" ... which instead brings into the current timeline all of the superhero's previous enemies (Alfred Molina as Doc Ock, Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin, Jamie Foxx as Electro, etc.).  While it is cute and wholesome in general - and nice to see Zendaya have a role that's the exact opposite of her character on Euphoria - these Marvel movies have a tendency of using a lot of cheap tricks to keep the plot moving ... and when they ask the audience to have an "emotional connection" to a character passing (this time it's Marisa Tomei's time to go), it doesn't work because they're so inherently divorced from reality.  The memes are strong too - to appeal to Gen Z, who threw down gobs of money to watch this in the theatre - and of course there's J.K. Simmons out there doing his best Alex Jones impersonation.