SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

PG, 117 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. “Spider-Man” is the superhero franchise that may suffer the most from reboot fatigue. In the past 16 years, there have been six Spider-Man movies starring three different actors as Peter Parker, with another on the way. Could we really stand yet another Spider-Man movie? Animated feature “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is here to prove new life can be injected into the franchise by reminding us all where Spider-Man comes from: the comic books. Right away, “Spider-Verse,” directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman, with a screenplay by Phil Lord, reveals itself to be a completely different animal, unlike any other superhero or animated film that has come before. The animation style is like watching a comic book come to life. “Spider-Verse” also firmly exists in a post-”Deadpool” environment, where it seems the only fresh way into a century-old superhero is to skewer the tropes, make fun of the merchandising and acknowledge the cultural significance of it all in a cheeky and self-reflective manner. This universe is a multi-verse — a “spider-verse” if you will — and the story clashes together all the different Spider-people that have proliferated throughout the comic books. Our hero is Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), an Afro-Latinx kid from Brooklyn whose father is a cop. Peter Parker (Chris Pine) exists in his world, and there’s a Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) from an alternate universe who crashes in when the evil mobster Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) fires up a portal to another dimension to bring back his family. Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), Spider-Ham, aka Peter Porker (John Mulaney), and the anime-inspired Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) all crash the party too, helping Miles get in touch with his new abilities and inner hero. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

THE UPSIDE

PG-13, 125 minutes. Niantic, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. Kevin Hart’s transition from brattily charming comic persona to serious dramatic cinematic presence isn’t going quite as planned. His extracurricular controversies notwithstanding, the comedian’s first turn in a more serious role in “The Upside” — a remake of the award-winning French hit “The Intouchables,” across from Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman — should have been a slam dunk. And yet, “The Upside” is missing some crucial elements, and it’s a struggle to find the bright side to this rather hackneyed film. What’s missing is Hart’s manic energy, which he can’t quite translate into an effective or poignant toned-down performance. Part of what makes his comedic performances work is his characters’ cheerful arrogance is constantly rebutted by those around him within a heightened reality, offering a silly push and pull. With this muted performance in a naturalistic world as the down-on-his-luck Dell, that arrogance just makes him seem like a jerk. On the hunt for signatures to prove to his parole officer he’s looking for a job, Dell stumbles into a job interview in

VICE

1/2 R, 110 minutes. Niantic, Mystic Luxury Cinemas, Stonington, Westbrook. The idea of making a film based on the life of former Vice President Dick Cheney resonates with all the excitement of a documentary on the history of paint drying. But director/writer Adam McKay’s “Vice” ignores the potentially boring elements to examine the rise of Cheney (Christian Bale) from a political second banana to a man so in love with power he convinces George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell) to give him more authority than any VP has known. McKay manages to make the story of Cheney — who served four Republican presidents — a slightly interesting look at the complicated world of politics, the obsessive need for power and the Shakespearian relationship between Cheney and his wife, Lynne (Amy Adams). McKay’s direction has Bale — who gained 40 pounds for the role — playing Cheney like he had stepped out of a production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” The young Cheney seems destined to a life of obscurity and DUIs until he’s reined in by his new wife. He goes from being the life of the party to a major force in the Republican Party. Cheney will do anything to move to a place that gives him more power. The film’s full of solid performances, including Rockwell’s portrayal of George W. Bush, which makes the president look entirely incompetent while still the most likable person in the production. Steve Carell turns in an equally solid performance as Donald Rumsfeld, the man who went from supporting Cheney to being cast aside when no longer needed. Adams is equally strong as Mrs. Cheney, a woman who’s the perfect match for her power-hungry husband. The weakest moment comes when McKay gets a little too cute with his filmmaking and opts for the Cheneys to carry off a conversation as if they were in a Shakespearean production. Bale turns in one of his best performances in bringing Cheney to life. The problem is the most interesting part of Dick Cheney is his Machiavellian way of dealing with politics. That makes for an interesting story, but on the surface, Cheney has the emotional range of a fire hydrant. —