Sunday, February 19, 2012

Amazing Spider-Rant

Just wanna say this is for discussion purposes only, this blog works as an observation as well as a little bit of thoughts on "The Amazing Spider-Man". So, a few weeks back we were treated to the second trailer of the Amazing Spider-Man from "500 Days of Summer" director Marc Webb. For those who haven't seen it, watch it below.

Personally, I think it looks entertaining. I would even go as far to say that this 3 minute trailer makes me more giddy than the entire Raimi series combined, and Spider-Man 2 is one of my favorite comic book films ever. Now, I know I'm jumping the gun and it's only a trailer, but am I the only one who feels that is "Spider-Man Begins"? I mean, I know the Nolan-ised way of making comic book films has become a popular thing, but I feel as though this is a bit much.

While I feel the lizard is a great villain to be explored, it feels to much like this the Rah's Al Ghul of this movie. Someone who starts off as a friend, see's potential in our hero, then of course his true motives are revealed. Not to mention this series already has it's Commissioner Gordan in Dennis Leary's George Stacy. It has also been confirmed that a lot of this film has to do with Norman Osborn and his company. I can already see George and Spider-Man gaining respect for each other towards the end culminating in an ending scene that will set up the inevitable Green Goblin story.

Which brings me to my biggest problem I see coming with this movie. The sequel will try to be Spider-Man's Dark Knight. With a little wink and no established at the end of the last movie, we can focus on Spider-Man's Joker, The Green Goblin. We'll see a lot of character moments from osborn, Spider-Man's darkest times, culminating in the Rachel Dawes moment.



Yeah. That moment. I'm not sayin this will happen, but do we need a gritty Spider-Man?

Friday, February 3, 2012

Chronicle Review (aka) Oh how I love to eat my words!



Dark Knight Rises, Amazing Spider-Man, and The Avengers, it looks like you have a tough Third act to follow. Once in a while, a film comes out of no where that is not only a crowd pleasing film, but genuinely thought provoking. Chronicle is this film. Andrew is a maliciously tortured high school senior who decides to record his life with a newly bought VHS camera. One night while at a party, his cousin Matt and new friend Steve take Andrew to a hole they found in the woods to record their discovery. Upon touching the "I don't really know what it is" rock, the trio soon find out they now have Telekinetic Powers. When I first saw the trailer back in November, I was extremely skeptical. The characters looked one dimensional and the powers looked cheap, and the use of POV camera was very odd and distracting to me especially when they showed footage of the kids flying. Also, after Paranormal Activity I was very sick of POV shots. I can gladly say this film was an amazing surprise and to me, the first great film of 2012.


  The film directed by newcomer Josh Trank and written by Max Landis, son of one of my favorite directors John Landis is truly stunning, with only a 15 million dollar budget, half the budget of one of my favorite films "District 9". The characters are rich in depth. Andrew is abused by an alcoholic father, school bullies, and not even his cousin Matt really seems to like him. Also, his Mom has cancer. This kid hit the trifecta. Matt is a nice guy, but tries to hard to distance himself from Andrew who desperately needs mental help. Steve is a really nice guy and what happens to him in the second act is truly saddening and yet natural to get the film to it's jaw dropping last act. The use of POV camera's is amazing considering that unlike Paranormal Activity's stilted camera use, this film uses every camera around the characters to get multiple shots of whats going on, a gimmick used best at the insane Seattle final fight.

  Warner Brothers, whatever Akira remake you have going on, STOP. Chronicle did it best, and probably shot down whatever "cool" ideas you had. Seriously do yourself a favor and see it! Ah, that felt good. What's Next week's big release?


 BRING. IT. ON!