The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

I rarely go to movies. Used to all the time but the social graces, or severe lack of from people in theaters today make me decline offers of a dinner and a movie. But I was on vacation last week and spent one afternoon in a theater with this new Spiderman flick. Here's how it went:
Went to a matinee, figured I'd save a few bucks. $13.50 was the price, because it was "3D." Three showings, 3 theaters, all 3D, so no choice. MEDIUM soda and a box of butterfinger bites, $9.50. Showing to start at 3:15. The commercials started promptly at 3:15, and continued until 3:35, when we got a preview of the movie we were about to watch. Then we got another advertisement from the stars of the movie we were about to watch telling us we could preorder the DVD and Bluray of the movie we were about to watch. Then we got a preview for another X-men movie, no, wait, it's an advertisement for Taco Bell. Got a solemn message to put on our 3D glasses, so i ripped open the sealed plastic bag and put them on and noticed a great big fingerprint over my left eye. Took them off and cleaned them, wondered why they were in a bag if they weren't clean. Watched 2 more previews in 3D, one of Seth Rogen that made him look fatter than ever, wondered if Seth hates 3D. Okay, then the movie started, no wait, it was a message telling us to turn off our cell phones, which instantly made 20 people reach for their phone and check their messages. Now the movie starts. It holds my attention for at least 12 minutes, before I realize that Jaime Foxx just looks ridiculous and no one in their right mind is going to buy him as a nerd. I wonder how many movies will Emma Stone get to play the same exact character with the same exact mannerisms before her run is over (source citation: Meg Ryan). I persevere for the rest of the movie, openly mocking the lame CGI that just never looks real to my less than 20/20 vision 3D bespectacled eyes. Spoiler alert: I yawned 3-4 times while peter and gwen fall in love, break up, refall in love, break up. Hopeless romantic I am not, it appears but my viewpoint is supported by the row of 10 year old baseball players in front of me who begin to chatter things like "oh, no, not again" every time peter and gwen hug or kiss. They also discuss their baseball game the next day so they might not be qualified as critics in the common fashion. And the movie is over, some are openly weeping, whether it be over the death of a major character or tears of joy the torture is over- I cannot tell. But no one gets up as the credits roll, as if something big is about to happen. I stick around, figuring maybe the key grip has a funny name, like back in the day with those Airplane movies. But, no, they appear to be normal names, yet no one leaves. Then it happens, FINALLY, we get another preview of the movie previously previewed before the movie, X-men, and again, I begin to crave a beef burrito. Then it's over and the crowd begins to file out, the baseball players discussing amongst themselves whether it was good or not, and the clear consensus was that they didn't pay for it so it was good. The older couple walking out behind me said little, only uttering the phrase "stinker" as they hit the parking lot, not sure whether it was directed at the movie or me, because those butterfinger bites had given me a touch of the wind.

To sum up: cost too much, too many ads, lousy script, lousy special effects, 3d still sucks, they killed **** (you bastards), won't watch it again however can see it's usefulness at Guantanamo Bay at a resource for torture.

 

In superhero films, the hero is the character the audience sees as both protagonist and the person to identify with or to struggle to identify with. In the Transformers films, we're given humans to identify with, humans who watch the alien machines do battle.

It seems picky, but all comics are not superhero stories.

Did you think Amazing Spider-Man 2 would outperform the new Transformers?

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Yes. The early estimates have it that Transformers will be the biggest film of the year... which I hope doesn't happen, but the estimates are usually pretty close. I was just telling a friend of mine that the studios have this stuff down pat these days: they check all kinds of social media, they count the number of hits people watch trailers online, all that kind of stuff, and they can generally estimate pretty closely what the opening weekend will be.

We just saw yet another trailer for Transformers right before X-Men this afternoon, and I thought, "jesus, it's the same giant robot/car thing we've had in the last three movies! Do we need more of this mindless crap?" I have no problem with crappy comic book movies provided they're well-done and make sense, but I don't see Transformers 4 as being any of these things.

I would betcha I read comic books before you were born, and most likely owned more comic books in my life than you've ever read. It's been a long time for me, but I was very, very into comic books for about 20 years and know them very well. A friend of mine just quizzed me the other day, and I dumbfounded him by knowing how comic books started in the 1930s, and naming most of the origin issues for the major DC & Marvel characters. And this was a guy who currently owns about 20,000 comics.

As we say: "FIAWOL... fandom is a way of life." Once a fan, always a fan.

 

Gawd ... tough crowd ... I'm looking forward to the new Transformers ... should be amazing on the big screen ... it doesn't look as silly as the previous three films ... and no Shiaiaia La Douche. Reee-sult!

--Geoff

 

First issue from 1984. Same as the TV series. I rest my case.

I worked on the original show from Marvel & Sunbow occasionally from 1984-1987 and thought it was haaaaaaarible. I actually preferred Gobots (the Hanna-Barbera imitation robot show), which had better voices and music.

 

I have to say, I saw the trailer too, and while I have never seen one of the first three (except when switching between channels) I actually think I may pay to go see this one. I can't say why exactly. Maybe it's simple the fact that Shia isn't in it and Mark is.

John K.

 

I think I just got buried in one gigantic ad hominem argument, so I'll just state that I still stick my belief that not all comic books are superhero stories (Ghost World? Road to Perdition? Persepolis?), but if the weight of our claims boils down to who had been reading comics longer, then yup, you'll probably be right!

I had that Transformers comic you posted. I recall it being not much better than than the films. Ugh...

Have a great week!

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Love that Bill Sienkiewicz cover. If I remember correctly, that was the best thing about it.

Even though the cover says it's a four issue limited series, it ended up running almost a hundred issues.

 

I never said Transformers was a superhero movie; I said it was a comic book movie. I do know the difference.

I gotta admit, that is a plus.

 

Just watched AS2 (BD2D steelbook) Bore fest.
No empathy to any of the characters.
Why so many extras ( loads)?
CGI better than the first one.
Alicia Keys - It's On Again video steller.

 

Worst movie I saw this summer, easily.

 

Really wish Marvel Studios would get the rights to Spider-Man, so we could finally get a decent movie.

 

I loved the Raimi Spideys - I think they're better than any of the Marvel Studios offerings...

 

The first two were actually pretty good, yeah. I've still never finished watching the third Raimi film.

One thing about Marvel fully taking over the character though would be the ability to have him tie into the rest of the "Marvel cinematic universe."

 

It's undeniably the weakest, and I hate the rewriting of history it gives us related to Uncle Ben's death, but I still like it overall...

That'd be nice, though I think in the case of Spidey, the connection is less important than it is for the other characters. Spidey was always a loner and didn't interact with the others all that much - at least not based on my memories of comics through the mid-80s!

 

me too! I will buy the DVD...we enjoyed all of them.

 

DOH! And now the hacked Sony emails say they're about to drop Andrew Garfield from all future Spiderman movies and reboot the entire franchise...

http://hollywoodlife.com/2014/12/13/andrew-garfield-fired-spider-man-sony-hack-marvel/

Apparently, Sony Pictures' management was not happy about the performance of the recent film. There's also conversations happening that might allow Sony to loan the Spiderman character for an "appearance" in a future Avengers movie, provided that Disney/Marvel can come to terms with the studio.

 

The "Amazing SpiderMan" reboot was a bad idea from the start...they shoud have waited and let Sam Raimi do one or two more when he was ready, without the pressure Sony put on him after Spider Man 3.

Garfield is a very good actor (check "Never let me go") but I think he was a bit too old to portray a teenager, and miscast as Peter Parker/SpiderMan. Yeah, Maguire was about the same age when he did SpiderMan, but he worked!

The Spiderman movies directed by Webb have their moments but, imho, they lack the heart and the passion of the Raimi ones. I thought Garfield had a 3 movies deal, so I guess Sony will have to pay him anyway, or they'll reach an agreement and (maybe? I don't know how it works in these cases) offer him another role in a Sony movie in a future.
Whatever happens, the two SpiderMan films gave him a ton of money and Emma Stone. Not bad.

 

Why not just bring back Tobey?

 

Reboot again???!!! third time's a charm? ridiculous, reading some of these Sony E-mails it sounds like this company is run by the same cool kid idiots I dealt with in high school, that company is doomed to failure and so is the franchise if they attempt a third round, it won't work.

 

Surprisingly, I preferred Garfield over Maguire and was happy to see the return of the mechanical web shooters. The Garfield movies themselves were junk, especially the second one. Out of all of the Sony films, the only one I think really works is the second Raimi film with Dr. Octopus.

 

I came across this movie on TV yesterday. Free is the only way I would even watch it. And I could only watch about 30 min of this thing. I couldn't care less about any character in this film. Horribly cast. You have some good actors in parts there were not made for them. Any my gosh that guy they had playing Harry Osborn. He was horrible. No one had any chemistry is this picture. And when it came to the action I thought I was watching a video game.

For once I want the reboot. It can't get any worse than this.

 

I'm convinced he was hired simply because someone reviewing his head shot said, "Hey, this guy looks like the green goblin!"

 

Five Spider-Man movies in fifteen years is too much. Time to give the character a break.

Where is my ROM: Spaceknight movie?

 

I would say every 3 years would have been good. Rebooting it so soon was the problem.