Spider-Man: No Way Home

I was supposed to see Spider-Man: No Way Home last Thursday (I even stayed up until midnight to get a ticket as soon as they went on sale) but I postponed it several days to be in a better headspace for it and, unbelievably, I managed to avoid seeing any spoilers.  I took my nephew to see it yesterday and I am so glad that I didn't know anything going in because I loved it!  It was one of the best movie viewing experiences that I have had in a very long time with scenes that made me cheer out loud and scenes that made me cry!  Immediately after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) shows a doctored video accusing Peter Parker (Tom Holland) of murdering Mysterio and exposing his identity as Spider-Man on his sensationalist news website.  This makes Peter's life increasingly difficult and, by extension, it also adversely affects his friends M.J. (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon).  He turns to Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for a spell to make the world forget that he is Spider-Man but, when he realizes that those closest to him will also forget, he interferes with the spell.  When Peter encounters Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) wreaking havoc on a highway, Strange realizes that the spell has had the unintended consequence of summoning everyone who knows Peter Parker's identity from other parts of the multiverse.  Peter, with the help of M.J. and Ned, is tasked with capturing all of the displaced villains while Strange works on another spell to send them home.  However, Peter begins to have second thoughts about dooming them to their fates.  This installment expands upon the character development that began in Far From Home and shows Peter wrestling with both the responsibility and the consequences of being Spider-Man.  As much as I enjoyed Peter's awkward teenage antics in the first two films, I loved the grittier tone and higher stakes of this installment and Holland gives a brilliant performance.  I also enjoyed the character arcs of the various villains as well as the performances of the actors in these roles.  The final battle is both exciting, with lots of hand-to-hand combat, and surprisingly poignant.  As a fan of the Spider-Man franchise in all of its past iterations I absolutely loved the nostalgia of this movie (see the aforementioned reference to my tears) but my nephew loved it, too!  I cannot recommend this movie enough!