Destin Daniel Cretton's Spider-Man: Brand New Day picks up years after the spell that made everyone forget Peter Parker, and Tom Holland spends most of it alone — until he meets someone even more powerful than him who's just discovering what she can do. That flip, from mentee to mentor, is one of the smarter ideas buried in an otherwise overstuffed movie.

Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle might be the best version of the Punisher we've gotten — gruffer and more R-coded than the PG-13 wrapped around him, playing sibling to Peter rather than mentor. Sadie Sink's Jean Grey escalates across the runtime in a way that's genuinely well done, even if it's not canon to this era of the comics. And Mark Ruffalo gets to show us Savage Hulk for the first time in this MCU, bigger and less in control than Smart Hulk ever was.

Amy was with Robbie for this one — her take: three and a half stars, a good continuation of the story. Robbie landed in the same place: three and a half stars with a heart. A really good popcorn movie that's probably going to make more money than anything else this year, even if it doesn't quite clear the bar for great.

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