Tiny Reviews: "Spider-Man: Brand New Day", "The End of Oak Street", "Supergirl" and "Blue Heron"

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY

Director Destin Daniel Cretton has always handled his stories with sensibility from smaller films like Short Term 12 and Just Mercy to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - and Spider-Man: Brand New Day is no exception as there's a sense of bringing back some humanity and next-room quality to Peter Parker again. Tom Holland is back to the title role and brings his usual sympathy to Peter, but this time he is a loser, an every-day guy trying to do the right thing in an almost perfect blend between Sam Raimi's vision and the more MCU-driven approach. This spidey has the likeability of the boy next door and it's captivating to watch Tom Holland playing him, but the show belongs to Sadie Sink who delivers a strong and heartfelt turn and ends-up owning the movie. Great visual effects! Solid.

R: 7/10

THE END OF OAK STREET

Every year I get a good surprise at the theatre when going to the movies during Summer blockbuster season. Last year it was F1, this year it was The End of Oak Street. Sold as a movie about dinosaurs, The End of Oak Street is actually about everything else except dinos... they only have a supporting part in the whole narrative. It's thrilling, it's well-acted and it's moving actually (and Anne Hathaway delivers it big as an action star during the second half of the movie)! It's a movie that's more about what's really important when everything that's superfluous just vanishes and you set your brain (and your heart) right. It's about fixing things instead of accepting they're wrong and leave them that way. In a crusade for survival, The End of Oak Street really had me at the edge of my seat many times and I might even have shed a tear or two. A huge surprise! Note: great visual effects!

R: 8/10

SUPERGIRL

I was not a big fan of 2025's Superman (which I considered to be way overrated by both critics and audiences) and I think Supergirl suffers from the same syndrome: a charismatic and commanding lead lost in a silly script and atrocious visual effects. Yes, Milly Alcock delivers it all with her cool girl charisma and she could be the movie's saving grace, but I believe she understood there's nothing worth saving in this picture. Predictable, silly and not memorable. Thank God it is destined to be devoured by a cinematic black hole and fall into oblivion.

R: 2/10

BLUE HERON

So, I understood what writer/director Sophy Romvari wanted to here as Blue Heron plays as a memory and blurs the line between fiction and reality in a quasi-documentary approach that goes for naturalism better than theatricality, but despite my rational self understand this, I had some issues about connecting to it emotionally. I believe my biggest issue was the lack of a central performance that defines the movie and that builds a bridge for the audience to enter the movie (like Aftersun, for example). I felt like Romvari has stillleft a barrier between memory and the audience which didn't let me touch the movie's heart. The cast delivers a solid ensemble performance and there are scenes of true everyday beauty and while the central subject is actually quite dark and sensitive... but I just wasn't able to fully connect. Maybe it's a movie that demands an even more focused rewatch.

R: 6/10