Film

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

NFL TICKET EVERY SUNDAY 10 TVS - WITH SOUND ON! TO-GO ORDERS AVAILABLE 231-252-4157

Sun-Tues Noon-10pm Fri/Sat Noon-11pm

Thurs 4pm-10pm (kitchen open noon-9pm) closed Wednesdays

DRINK SPECIALS (3-6 Monday-Friday): $2 well drinks, $2 domestic drafts, $2.50 domestic bottles, $5 Hornitos margarita SUNDAY - $6 Ketel One Bloody Mary & $4 Mimosas

DAILY FOOD SPECIALS (3-6pm):

Monday - $1 chips and salsa • Tuesday - $1 enchiladas Thursday - $5 fried veggies (cauliflower or mushrooms) Friday - $5 hot pretzels w/ beer cheese

221 E State St. - downtown TC

Mon March 16- $5 martinis, $5 domestic beer pitcher, $10 craft beer pitcher. HAPPY HOUR DRINK SPECIALS

Tues - 4-8pm: The Pocket 9pm-1am: Kung Fu RodeoTues-Thurs 2pm-2am • Fri-Sun noon-2am FROM OPEN-6PM Hours Monday 2pm-9pm

Wed - Get it in the can night - $1 domestic, $3 craft- w/DJ JR Monday Jan 3rd - Jukebox Thurs -$2 off all drinks and $2 Labatt drafts w/DJ Ricky T Fri March 20 - Buckets of Beer starting at $8 (2-8pm) Tues Jan 4th- Open Mic Comedy from 8-9:30 then 10pm-2am Electric Open Mic Wed Jan 5th - DJ Franck $2 domestic drafts & $3 craft drafts from 9pm-close.

Happy Hour: The Chris Michels Band Then: The Isaac Ryder Band Thurs Jan 6th - Comedy Show at 8pm Sat March 21 - The Isaac Ryder Band (No Covers)Fri & Sat Jan 7th & 8th no cover! Sunday March 22 KARAOKE (10pm-2am) SKIN & MARSHALL DANCE PARTY Sun Jan 9th- Karaoke

941-1930 downtown TC check us out at unionstreetstationtc.net

If you’re not closely paying attention, it can be difficult to keep up with where we are in any given Spider-Man movie cycle. The latest movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home, marks the conclusion of the Jon Watts-directed Spider-Man movies, with this franchise within a franchise’s biggest distinguishing features being Tom Holland as Peter Parker (duh), its place within the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe (and the corresponding parent company crossover), as well as its commitment to a tone akin to a John Hughes high school movie.

And whether this turns out to be Holland’s swan song in the suit or not, it is an absolutely perfect capper — an incredibly satisfying send-off that combines charming humor with serious heft. It’s also a film that also makes you appreciate everything that came before it (like the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire films and Andrew Garfield’s short foray) in new and unexpected ways.

Throughout its history, Spider-Man has had its various ups and downs, but there is a reason the character has remained so beloved. It’s that Peter Parker is perhaps our most relatable superhero, a dorky teenager without a lot of money working his way through some pretty immense loss. And it is this endearing quality that this trilogy, and this film in particular, so beautifully taps into.

Picking up immediately after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, villain Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), in a final act of vengeance, revealed the identity of SpiderMan to the world. And this big revelation is spun by a conspiracy-driven web show that makes Peter Parker the most hated man in the country, painting him as both a menace and murderer. This is obviously not the best thing to happen to Peter in his senior year, and the controversy makes him so radioactive that not only does MIT reject him but also his sarcastic girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya, fantastic as always), and nerdy BFF, Ned (Jacob Batalon), for their mere association.

Now, what’s a kid to do when faced with such crushing disappointment and guilt other than go visit his friendly neighbor wizard, Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, having one heck of an interesting year), and convince him to use his powers to make everyone but his loved ones forget he’s Spider-Man. But, of course, the spell goes wrong and has unexpected consequences — namely, creating multidimensional chaos and causing SpiderMan franchises to collide. Summoned to Spider-Man’s new reality are villains from franchise past, including Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Electro (Jamie Foxx), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), and one of the all-time greatest villains of any comic book movie, Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin. But when given the chance, Peter doesn’t condemn these men to their previous fates; he wants to fix them and save them.

If this sounds a little bit like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, it kind of is, but it also kind of isn’t. If it sounds like the epitome of postmodernism, it 1,000 percent is. This is meta meta meta, and the film has a lot of fun winking at the audience until it culminates in a nifty little twist that will leave you with a big silly grin.

Yet between all the winks, there are also some scenes that will leave you an emotional wreck. The iconic line “With great power comes great responsibility” hits with a poignancy like never before. Tom Holland is just as great of a SpiderMan as there can be, and he brings some true gravitas in an arc that takes him from Spider-Boy to Spider-Man.

Sure, a lot of this film might be seen as simple fan service, and to be clear, a lot of it is, but if it makes viewers this gleefully happy, is that such a bad thing? Even the haters will have to admit No Way Home at least mixes up the superhero formula a bit.

I do understand the urge to criticize. The media theory side of me can’t help but want to denounce the film as some kind of synergistic harbinger, signaling that we are essentially now doomed to repeat the same stories over and over again, stories that offer no real meaning other than self-referential nostalgia.

But gosh darn it, I just can’t. Exactly a week before seeing this, I sat in the very same IMAX theater at approximately the same time, with only four other people, seeing West Side Story on its highly promoted opening weekend. For Spider-Man: No Way Home, however, the screening was packed to the brim (the theater’s biggest house sold out!), and I got to enjoy the movie with an audience that was laughing, clapping, cheering, and gasping along.

Now, there will be many a think piece about what this all means, but for me, it simply comes down to this: Whomever or whatever Spider-Man saved in the film cannot compare to the fact that he just might have saved the movie theater.

Flexible, feel-good work at $20/hour.

• Flexible hours and positions • Make a difference working behind the scenes or directly with patients • On-the-job training provided (no degree needed)