New Set Photos from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”
In Theaters and 3D May 2, 2014
The Social Network
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Rooney Mara, Brenda Song, Max Minghella, Rashinda Jones
Directed by David Fincher
Based on True Events and the Novel by Ben Mezrich
Run Time: 121 min
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Release Date: October 1, 2010
My Score: 8.5 out of 10
Synopsis:
Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg) and Eduardo Saverin (Garfield) are best friends at Harvard who come with the idea for Facebook, but their life altering project puts their friendship to the test when they include Napster creator Sean Parker (Timberlake) and being sued by the Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Hammer).
Review:
This was a movie that covered such a critical moment in what we can define as modern culture, but explored the entire unknown story that most people had no idea about. Facebook exposed you may call it, but David Fincher’s film is very well made and features fine performances from its entire cast, making it a truly enjoyable film.
First off, the performances are great. Jessie Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield are perfect as our two leads, the co-creators of Facebook. Each brings some enjoyable aspect to the film, but keep extremely serious through out the entire film as this is anything but a fun and light film. But standout performance to Rooney Mara in the first scene of the movie dumping Mark Zuckerberg!! Absolutely hysterical, and her performance is just great and had her scene be one of the most talked about scenes of the movie! The other main star, Justin Timberlake, was fine. I’m no a big fan of him or his music, and his acting was just fine. He fits the role, but there is not much more to him. And pretty much, he just makes you hate his character, but I guess that this is what Fincher wants you to feel towards his character, so thumbs up for making it that easy to hate him.
The plot to the movie, pretty much the creation of Facebook and the relationships between the co-creators. Very interesting, but the movie does move slow so if is something you are not interested in, you will get bored very easily. But the movie has some hilarious moments (animal cruelty anyone, haha!! Watch and find out!) But its Fincher’s film making style that allows the movie to shine, especially following the story through the the investigation for the big court case, works very well as you know where the story ends up at, but intrigued to see how such good friends got to this point.
Final Thoughts:
The Social Network is a great drama providing an interesting watch for anyone interested in the Facebook story, and is just an example of great film making!
The Amazing Spider-Man
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Dennis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Fields, Irrfan Khan
Directed by Marc Webb
Based on the Marvel Comics
Run Time: 136 min
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Superhero, Action, Science Fiction
Release Date: July 3, 2012
My Score: 9.5 out of 10
Synopsis:
Peter Parker (Garfield) is the brainy outcast at school who lives with his Aunt May (Fields) and Uncle Ben (Sheen) as his parents left when he was very young and were never heard from again. But upon discovering an old briefcase of his father’s that was meant to be kept safe, Peter finds his way to Oscorp where he meets his father’s old partner Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), but is caught by Gwen Stacy (Stone) a fellow classmate for lying about who he is. Peter is then bitten by a genetically engineered spider that gives him super powers and turns him into the hero known as Spider-Man while he struggles to do the right thing and the mystery of his parents.
Review:
I was very worried going into this movie as it had only been years since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, but boy was I wrong!! This film blew the original trilogy out of the water in my opinion!!
First off, the casting of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy respectively was the best move the film makers could have made. They had instant chemistry every scene they were on screen together, and the two of them are just phenomenal actors that it was impossible for them not to give disappointing performances! Andrew Garfield fit Peter perfectly, the more quiet loner child at school but had the one liners through out the movie and dove so deep into the conflicted life Peter is living, gave the performance that made the movie. And Emma Stone, well let’s face it. I love her in all her movies, so playing Spidey’s girl Gwen Stacy who also happens to be super smart, allowed her some great comedic scenes in the movie and to get in on the action which she did perfectly. But she also had a lot more dramatically intense scenes, I promise no spoilers, but she was great!! So excited that it is being made into a trilogy with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, going to be a long wait to May 2014 for the sequel, but well worth it based on this film!!!
Moving onto the plot, with minor spoilers, I promise!! The movie kept true to Spider-Man’s origins, he gets bitten by a genetically engineered spider that gives him his power, but there is a spin on that which allows for a different type of Spier-Man to emerge and for a new plot point when secrets are learnt later on in the film. The secrets begin to develop the movie in what may seem like a slow way, but they are clearly setting up a plot for the trilogy and it is a very interesting plot line to follow as it was not touched at all in the original Spider-Man trilogy. The other main plot point that is the same as the original film is Uncle Ben’s death (sorry, but if you know anything about Spider-Man you knew it was coming!) It is the change in Peter’s life that forces him to become Spider-Man, but it’s not the same situation as the original trilogy which was nice as you didn’t have to see the exact same scene all over again. Otherwise, this film went left where as the original series went right, so don’t worry of having any thoughts of “I’ve seen this before” because you haven’t! And yes, some names are mentioned from the original film series that makes you go, I think I know where this is going in a really good way, so be very excited if you pick up on it!!
The villain for the film was the Lizard. I good choice I think as it follows the theme that the villains in the Spider-Man comics are not truly evil, but do to science that goes wrong they are no longer themselves and begin to cause havoc on the city. The Lizard fit this, and Curt Connor’s character nicely worked into the over arching plot of the trilogy, and as his character is still alive at the end of the film, you can expect to see more of him in the next film for sure. His character definitely knows something, as revealed in the post credit scene, but what it is and how much we will have to wait to find out. But none the less, the Lizard transfers to the screen greatly and adds lots of excitement to the film with his diabolical plan to take over the city, and lots of jumps when you don’t expect him coming! Feels almost like Christoper Nolan’s choice of villain for Batman Begins which was a lesser known villain (Scarecrow.) Does this mean the big baddy is coming for the sequel? Only time will tell….
And finally, the action sequences. Though there were not many, the final action sequence was amazing!! Swinging through New York and battling the Lizard, Spidey sure knows how to entertain his audiences to the max!! And the 3D in this sequence was absolutely breath taking, definitely worth the extra money as it changes the entire experience. The rest of the action sequences, though being considerably smaller, were still entertaining (especially the one with Stan Lee’s cameo!) provide lots of entertainment through out the movie while not taking away from the heart and soul of the movie provided by Garfield and Stone.
Final Thoughts:
Easily the best Spider-Man movie yet and one of the best films of the year so far, The Amazing Spider-Man delivers exactly what it needs to get the fans pouring back to the theaters to see Spidy on the big screen and much anticipation days after it’s release for the sequel that is two years away!!!
