the Spider-Man Homecoming review

There's a new Spider-Man film out and for the first time the screen version of that character shares a universe with Iron Man and the Avengers etc You already know that and you know you're going to see it... Which makes this review completely pointless. But hey, I like to tap a keyboard when I'm excited.

Yes I've got that tingly post-film buzz and my cheekbones still hurt from grinning. This is a really fun film. It's also a sweet film, in a way that sets it apart form the other Marvel efforts. I like it when my superhero's are nice and I don't care what the rest of you DC fans say. The original Spider-Man 2 is still one of the best damn superhero films because it's all about his love for MJ. Well that and stopping a speeding train, a good film needs variety. 

Back to the new one..  This film is about a teenager with super-powers and a big heart. High school friends and crushes were enough to occupy most of us but here's a kid who just got home from fighting with the Avengers and wants to continue doing so. Peter is the ultimate fan-boy, geeky and in awe, but more than that he's the kid that wants to join the adults, to impress and to be treated like a man.  He also wants to do the right thing, to genuinely help everyone he can. And that means he turns down his friends, skips school stuff and can only stare longingly at the girl with no time to woo.

Tom Holland is superb here and conveys it all brilliantly. He goes from excitable puppy in the company of Stark, to nervous and shy kid at the party, he's the sweet and caring nephew of his Aunt May and he's the wise-cracking web-head we all know and love who will ruin the day of any wrong doer. He is my favourite Peter parker/Spider-Man. Not saying it's my favourite Spidey film, and I like what both Garfield and Maguire did, but this guy feels like the comic character on screen rather a version of him. He is a living Peter Parker.

It helps that he's actually young. For once we get a comic film picking teenage actors to play teenagers and predictably they're the best folk for the job. Peters best friend Ned provides some lovely comic relief and a more believable friendship than the Harry Osborn one of old. Other legacy characters get new takes and I'm not going to spoil them but they're new, they're different and I'm excited to see were they go.

I've loads to still talk about but I can't blog all day... Michael Keaton is brilliant as the Vulture, a bad guy who's not trying to take over the world but instead just raking in money by illegal means. His story is tied in smartly with the Marvel universe and it all leads some tense scenes pre- final fight.

You know Tony Starks in the film and he's as good as always. You know there's web slinging and wise cracks and all of the Spider-Man traits you'd expect. I really love the character. I love how a geeky kid puts on a suit and becomes this confident, quipping hero. I adore watching him move on screen, web slinging about in acrobatic fashion. There's no power more fun to watch than web slinging. No character as endearing or amusing as Peter Parker.  This film is fun. And tense, and sweet and action-packed. It's Spider-Man dammit. This review was pointless, let me know when you've seen it. We'll share a grin together.

Nostalgia Tripping

The Crash Bandicoot re-masters have just took this weeks number 1 spot in the game charts. They also managed to have the biggest single format launch of the year so far, beating the blooming brilliant Horizon. And if facts don't sway you then how about some anecdotal evidence? I know people in real life that bought it. Yeah not just twitter people, actual people...

The biggest shock and the one that'll get this blog to its point.. Crash Bandicoot is over 20 years old. My wife and two other ladies I know bought this package because they loved the game when they were younger. It was nostalgia for them. A chance to relive their youth without using 20 layers of make-up (I'm joking, don't kill me) Another lady I know told me that the PS1 was her first console. What in the actual fudgery... If ever a comment made me feel old.

PlayStation is now at a point were it can create nostalgia. It's something Nintendo have done for years and something I never really considered other game companies would do. Reminding people of their productive weekends in front video games and cashing in on those precious memories. Crash Bandicoot, it alarms me to say, was probably the first game for many people. Not Mario, or Duck Hunt but Crash Bandicoot. Or Wipeout.

Hell even I have some nostalgia for Wipeout. The futuristic visuals and the dance soundtrack combined to make the example that videogames were suddenly cool. So cool. And I played it every Saturday night at my local church youth club. All the coolness. Wipeout got re-mastered as well, and just a month a go it topped the charts. People want those old games again and only now have publishers caught on that we're willing to buy them. What will be interesting to watch though is what happens next. Do people really want a brand new Crash Bandicoot game? Or was it enough to get the old games with nicer visuals? I'd say the latter but I've been wrong plenty of times before.

Of course the real nostalgia kings are still Nintendo. If you need proof of that then you've oblivious to tech news in the last 12 months. Pokémon Go was last summers phenomenon, reuniting 30 year olds with another childhood favourite. The NES Mini was released in November, or so say the rumours because nobody could seem to find stock of them. Its successor the SNES mini has only just been announced and it's already sold out. Amazon have enforced a one per customer policy and there isn't an online retailer in the UK still taking orders. Nintendo can't make enough of them. And just to confirm, this is a tiny replica of a 25 year old console that plays 25 year old games. Its easy money for Nintendo.

So why is nostalgia doing so well? Are you thinking I'll come up with an answer? Did any of this blog suggest I'd have an intelligent thought in my head? Some other people like to say that it's all about the state of the world, that Brexit and Trump has made the nostalgia drug a bit more potent. Maybe we all want a bit more escapism. Others would say that the business men have just been clever, looked at a bunch of 30 years spending their life savings on avocados and thought 'we'll re-sell them their childhood.'


Could be loads of things. Could even be that the stuff we liked as kids is still really good, and unlike films or TV it's not easy to get old games. So they can resell them to us. Forever. But hey lets not fret about pocket money and we'll just be kids again, carefree and square-eyed from staring at pixels too long.