Spider-Man: Homecoming

This scrappy Spider-Man origin story finds the web-slinger joining other characters in Marvel's cinematic universe, cavorting with the Avengers' Iron Man and Captain America, while also evoking memories of the adolescent angst in John Hughes's Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Frantic 15-year-old high-school sophomore Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is frustrated because even though billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has given Peter an awesome high-tech suit, he's told not to use his superpowers except on a local level, reporting to Stark's flunkie, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Although he's supposed to keep mum about his alter-ego, in chemistry class Peter thoughtlessly tinkers with his web-fluid formula, blowing his cover to his quintessentially geeky best bud Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and, eventually, to bewildered Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). While Peter's grades suffer at the Midtown School of Science and Technology, his hormones rage over a flirtatious senior (Laura Harrier) who is the daughter of Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), a villainous salvage contractor turned contraband alien arms merchant (flying with huge metallic wings, Adrian is known in the comics as Vulture). Riffing on the iconic comic-book character created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Spider-Man: Homecoming is unfortunately a somewhat fragmented collaboration between a team of six screenwriters and Jon Watts, whose direction is uneven. Still, this popular blockbuster should be considered a strong optional purchase. (S. Granger)