Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

 "I do like his cereal, though. I'll give him that,"

This film is delightfully metatextual throughout, as only an animated film can be. I stopped reading comics circa 1993, despite being a Marvel fanatic for the preceding decades: I have no idea who Miles Morales is. Yet I thoroughly enjoyed his starring role here as a fresher alternative to Peter Parker who shows that Spider-Man doesn't have to be white, but can absolutely fulfil the spirit of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, much as the latter of those two late geniuses had some very dodgy politics. 

We have an ingenious plot, with an interdimesional thingummy allowing for lots of alternative Spider-Men, inclusing a future Peter Parker to replace the blond, dead one of Miles Motrales' world. But we also have an anime girl with a robot; a noir Spider-Man straight from the '30s pulps played by Nicolas Cage; Spider-Gwen, a character I've heard of but have no idea whether this represents her; and.. Spider-Ham. Forbush Man, eat your heart out. We Marvel geeks have the mother of all Easter Eggs.

Ok, this isn't the greatest Marvel film. It's a bit of metatextual fun, despite the perfect balance between pathos and humour. It has a female Doc Ock. It has, deliberately and perfectly, a grossly oversized Green Goblin and Kingpin. It has a killer revelation involving the Prowler, played by the exemplary Mahershala Ali, whose performance in Luke Cage I have recently been marvelling at, no pun intended.

This is a bit of fun. But it's a very clever bit of fun, with much metatextual glory. I loved it.