Spider-Man (2002)

A wide-eyed comic-book movie that revels in its pulp origins, Spider-Man sticks to the basics that made the character one of the most popular superheroes of all time.

Compared with such heroes as Superman and Batman, Spider-Man is a far more down-to-earth fellow with mundane problems.

An orphan living with an elderly aunt and uncle, Peter Parker is sympathetic and admirable: smart, quiet, studious, respectful to adults but with a spirited streak that will serve him well. (Small touches establish that the Parkers are Catholic: Peter's aunt prays the Our Father for a departed loved one while gazing at his photograph, and a holy-water stoup can be glimpsed near the front door.) What ultimately defines Peter's character, though, is a fleeting lapse in judgment with irrevocable consequences, along with a moral lesson, learned the hard way, about power and responsibility.

Despite its strong appeal to children, Spider-Man features intense cartoon violence (and one steamy kiss) that are inappropriate for young viewers. For older viewers, though, Spider-Man offers a super-hero roller-coaster ride not quite like anything we've ever seen before.

Content advisory: Stylized violence; fleeting crude language and sensuality. Mature fare.

Gandhi (1982)

Overshadowing even Ben Kingsley's astonishing, transcendent performance in his first major screen role is an even more formidable presence: that of Mohandas K. Gandhi himself. Richard Attenborough's ambitious, Oscar-winning biographical epic is solid rather than inspired moviemaking, but the greatness of its subject and the revolutionary force of his principles are so palpably realized that Gandhi achieves real transcendence.

Gandhi argues, with devastating logic that has only become more inescapable over time, that terrorism not only further justifies oppressive measures but even if successful liberates a country only to terrorize it in turn.

Gandhi lived by the credo that moral authority, not superior force, invariably prevails in the court of public opinion. Literally turn the other cheek and, if your attacker himself isn't overcome with shame, eventually the conscience of others will become your ally. All that's required is the humility to be a true victim for one's cause. It seems naÏve — but it conquered the British Empire. An inspiring portrait of a remarkably Christlike spirit in a non-Christian.

Content advisory: Depictions of deadly violence including large-scale massacre.

City Lights (1931)

City Lights is the quintessential Chaplin film — not the laugh-out-loud funniest (that would be The Gold Rush) nor the most heart-felt (credit Modern Times, the Vatican film list's Chaplin pick) but the most perfectly crafted and the most representative of all the different tones Chaplin is remembered for: farce, pathos, irreverence, sentiment, slapstick, melodrama.

The Little Tramp is a perennial outsider, but in City Lights he forms a pair of relationships with two individuals — a blind flower girl and a much-inebriated, suicidal millionaire — whose respective incapacities allow them to accept the unacceptable Tramp.

The delicately subdued final scene is overwhelming; first-time viewers hold their breath in anticipation, wondering whether it will end in blissful reunion or cruel irony.

Content advisory: Recurring drunkenness and numerous thwarted suicide attempts; slapstick violence. Even so, fine for kids.