Much like its hero, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" swings wildly from place to place, in a tone that's so uneven as to initially be a trifle disorienting. Stick with it, though, and this animated feature -- distinguished by its dazzling visual palette, which creates the feel of a comic book leaping onto the screen -- proves a great deal of fun, reinforcing that animation remains the ideal medium (if not the most profitable) for superhero adaptations.
After flirting with adding a "popular film" category, the Oscars might have an answer for bringing more sizzle to their show hiding in plain sight -- at least if Wednesday's Screen Actors Guild nominations are any guide -- by introducing a "best ensemble" statue.
"Mary Poppins Returns" could just as easily be titled "Mary Poppins Remade." That's not a bad thing, necessarily, but a movie that descends from the clouds with a huge gust of nostalgia behind it only sporadically conjures magic between the title character's arrival and departure. The result is thus perfectly passable, but well short of practically perfect.
The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress announced Wednesday its annual list of films to be inducted and they range from a beloved musical to a 29-second film from 1898 that may represent the earliest example of African-American intimacy on screen.
