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Spider-Man
(2002, 116 minutes, PG-13)

As a role model, Spider-Man actually spins an empowering web. Why? Because Peter Parker, alias Spider-Man played to perfection by Tobey Maguire, lives by the Golden Rule and the second greatest commandment.

It’s not that Peter gets up every day and consciously focuses on the Golden Rule––“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you” – or the second greatest commandment as identified by Jesus––“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”––but it is his way of living. He unselfishly, unconditionally gives of himself to help others in need simply “because it’s right.”

It’s right because from a spiritual perspective––in giving understanding, tenderness, love, and compassion––we remember our unity with each other and with God (or whatever name one prefers for the infinite spirit of life).

Peter is an especially good role model for teenagers because he is a 17-year-old who is graduating from high school and trying to find his place in the world. Despite his own confusions, doubts, and hurts, Peter is inherently responsible, resilient, and altruistic.

The theme of the film is presented as advice to Peter from his loving uncle: “With great power comes great responsibility” (a line included by writer David Koepp straight from the Marvel Comics character’s original writer, Stan Lee).

The young Spider-Man learns life is an interconnecting web in which every action or reaction has a consequence, and he wants to do his part to connect the parts of the web in a positive way and to rescue others from their own entrapments in the web.

Peter is to be admired for his outlook and for his acceptance of responsibility to help make the world a better place. The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) tempts Peter/Spider-Man to unite with him for more power and control. However, Peter isn’t interested in personal glory, riches, or power.

“We are who we choose to be,” the Green Goblin tells Peter. In his choices Peter repeatedly shows that he desires to live and act with compassion and integrity to serve his neighbors, again “because it’s right.” It is such a philosophy of living that makes Spider-Man a true super hero.

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
(2002, 140 minutes, PG-13)

The galaxy may be far, far away, but the spiritual principles are close, here and now. Throughout the Star Wars series, creator George Lucas has been fashioning a powerful tale about universal energy or divine power, called the Force, and its use. Individuals, we have learned especially from Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, through thoughts of anger, fear, and depression can use their share of the Force to take themselves over to the “dark side.”

The newest episode in the saga does little to expand our knowledge of the Force, but it reinforces the importance of the power of thought to influence our experiences. Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) cautions the young Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), “Be mindful of your thoughts” and Yoda advises “clean your minds.”

Fittingly, since Attack of the Clones chronicles the growing love between Anakin and Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), there is a brief lesson about love and the Force. Anakin says that attachment is forbidden to a Jedi knight, one trained in the use of the Force, but not compassion, which is essential for unconditional love.

Life or Something Like It
(2002, 95 minutes, PG-13)

When is life not truly life, but “something like it,” a kind of substitute for real life? Worded another way: When are we really living, as opposed to just existing?

Life or Something Like is a pleasant enough romantic comedy, written by John Scott Shepherd and Dana Stevens, but it is outstanding as an enlightening examination of the meaning of life and as a primer on how to live to the max.

In the film, a talented but vain and career-possessed Seattle TV reporter, Lanie (Angelina Jolie) interviews a street prophet (Tony Shalhoub), who tells her that she will die in a week. Prophet Jack’s pronouncement, as such time limits on life do, sets Lanie to thinking, apparently for the first time, about the meaning and value of life.

Lanie’s self-examination is aided by a TV camerman Pete (Edward Burns), a former lover who is free with his observations about Lanie’s character. In effect, he holds up a mirror in which Lanie can see herself during this time when she has been frightened into reflection. Pete tells Lanie that she is self-absorbed and self-indulgent and that her life has been “a meaningless quest for the approval of others.”

He not only helps Lanie see herself better, but he also gives her the self-empowering advice she needs to make changes.

“You’re in charge, Lanie,” Pete says. “You make your own life.” Pete says that perhaps Prophet Jack is merely reading the energy pattern that currently exists. Maybe, Pete says, “if you change the path you are currently on, the outcome’s going to be different.”

Lanie wants to know what Pete would do in her circumstances.

“I’d try and live every moment,” he says, and see the people he cares about and say the things to them that he would like to say. Lanie begins evaluating her life, her character, and her relationships.

She asks her fiance, a hotshot baseball player, “What is it that connects us? What is it about our beliefs, our dreams, our values?” Such questions make him uncomfortable and give him a headache, and he thinks something is wrong with Lanie.

Her newfound freedom is seen not only in self-evaluation but also in reaching out to others, in appreciating Pete’s goodness. Lanie comes to realize a part of her has indeed died – “the part of me that didn’t know how to live.”

Like many who are given a specific time to live, Lanie turns inward and finds strength, peace and faith, and comes to understand the things that really matter in life, including love, family, friends, and service to others.

The film is filled with what some might call cliches focusing on the value of finding the meaning of life and living fully in the now. However, such cliches serve an important function of reminding us to connect to the Truth of who we are; to not squander life in meaningless, empty pursuits; and to give and receive love and life from the heart.