Eric McClanahan

As humans, we fear what we don’t understand. This has always been our modus operandi. One thing that we clearly don’t understand and are terrified of is the ocean. Just look at early maps where the land is rendered vibrantly while the large swaths of water in between are depicted as wastelands of death with the words “Here There Be Monsters” scrawled within. That’s the general conceit of Netflix’s The Last House, a survival horror wherein the ocean reclaims the land.

Tom Holland’s seventh swing in the spandex is the charm: Spider-Man: Brand New Day has hit theaters and it is near perfect. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the mastermind behind Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Disney+’s Wonder Man, this film highlights Peter Parker’s most emotional story to date, out-performing every MCU appearance before it and pushing the character to his sharpest refinement yet.