Spider-Man:Across The Spider-Verse (2023)

First and foremost, this feature-length Spider-Man cartoon, which follows on from 2018's "Into The Spider-Verse", is art - captivating, enthralling mixed-media art that you can't take your eyes off - and then, on top of that, it is a thrilling sci-fi adventure, touching family drama, rousing coming-of-age story, love story and a superhero blockbuster against which all other superhero movies pale.

★★★★★

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Spider-man: No Way Home (2021)

I wasn't always rivetted, as evidenced by the fact I was able to make to-do lists in my head as the dizzying cgi-action sequences went on and on, but there's no denying the cleverness of this Spider-man movie (the sixth Marvel film to feature Tom Holland as the webslinger but the first to characterise him as a mature agent of salvation, not a juvenile wannabe meter-out of violent justice), one that makes all the previous iterations of Spider-man, the ones with Andrew Garfield or Toby Maguire or even, say, Shinji Tôdô an extension of this movie, neatly rendering moot any and all past inconsistencies in plot or character or circumstance that may have niggled at viewers of umpteen versions, making everything connected and sensible and, get ready for it, ripe for multiple concurrent Spider-man releases.

★★★★☆

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Spider-Man: Far From Home

In the Avenger hiatus after Endgame, the world needs a hero refresh as much as the Marvel franchise needs its ageing fanbase refreshed, so it stands to reason Far From Home delivers up a Spiderman doing a better but still far from perfect job meeting global demand for his superhero powers while the story, this time featuring a tech-enhanced villain whose tricks recall those of Batman's The Scarecrow, takes on the tone of a Spy Kids sequel.

★★★☆☆

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Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

It starts a little confusingly for anyone like me who doesn't know exactly where, chronologically, it fits in the Marvel canon - opening scenes reference Iron Man and alien debris in a ravaged city - and it is very long and drags in the middle section, but Homecoming is a mostly fun and often funny Spiderman reboot that sets up Tom Holland's Spiderman as the newest, youngest Avenger with superhero ambition that exceeds his experience and abilities.

★★★☆☆

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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

The first Andrew Garfield-helmed Spiderman movie was perky and fun but this second outing wallows from start to finish - it feels like the plot was an afterthought written around the computer-generated action sequences. 

★☆☆☆☆

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Spider-Man (2002)

Unusual casting choices (Tobey McGuire in the title role and Kirsten Dunst as his love interest) pay off in this hugely successful blockbuster treatment of the Marvel superhero comicbook character, one made before the incredible superhero glut of more recent times.

★★★★☆

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The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

The credits of the three Spiderman movies starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst had barely rolled when this unnecessary but thoroughly enjoyable reboot appeared with the perkier casting of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and a shinier, less thoughtful take on the awkward high schooler's first outing as a superhero.

★★★☆☆

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