Category Archives: Marvel
Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
We all know that Peter Parker never has much luck with the ladies, but on the big screen, his love is smoldering! Who would have guessed that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a romantic comedy? The second entry in Sony Pictures’ second Spider-Man series is all about the love shared between an arachnid boy and his high school sweetheart. Sure there are a couple of super-villains thrown in for good measure, but that’s just what you have to deal with when you’re dating the Amazing Spider-Man!
Movie Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
I don’t mind at all that Sony Pictures wants to make a mega-franchise out of their Amazing Spider-Verse. As far as I’m concerned, director Mark Webb and actor Andrew Garfield absolutely get Spider-Man. They get the humanity. They get the drama. They get the pure thrill of being Spider-Man. They seem awkwardly obsessed with Peter Parker’s dad, but that can be forgiven when the rest of their movies are so good!
I loved the first Amazing Spider-Man movie, and praised it for the nuanced, personable portrayal of Peter Parker. The same focus on Peter returns for the sequel, and once again I have to point out that the young Andrew Garfield is light years beyond Tobey Maguire in not just his skill as an actor, and his range, but just in how he embodies the character. Garfield easily carries the film, injecting Peter and Spidey with the right amount of humor and love for his family and fellow man. He’s joined by a returning Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, who just lights up the whole film whenever she’s on screen. The chemistry between the two actors is some of the best I have ever seen in film or television, and they really do make this movie into more of a love story than a superhero flick.
But it’s also, definitely, a superhero movie. And while those elements aren’t the strongest part of the film, they are still highly enjoyable. Like I said, Garfield is fantastic as Spider-Man, especially in costume. Not only is he legitimately funny, but he has such a great rapport with pretty much everyone he meets. The special effects are also top notch. The web-slinging is wildly fun and the fight scenes are pretty epic, but I would have to say that the movie’s trio of new villains – Electro, Green Goblin and Rhino – don’t live up to expectations. All three are solidly portrayed and fulfill their roles in the film, but they never amount to much themselves beyond giving Spidey something to do in costume.
But even if the villains are kind of clunky, and even if this film uses one of my most hated fiction tropes of all time, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 succeeds on the strengths of Spidey and his love story alone. Who would have thunk it?
Join me after the jump for the full review! I will try to keep SPOILERS to a minimum!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 5/3/14
What a week to be a Spider-Man fan! Not only is Amazing Spider-Man 2 in theaters right now, but Amazing Spider-Man #1 hit the stands this very week! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say someone planned it that way. That was pretty clever of them.
I’ll get my movie review posted on Sunday, and for now, lets take a trip to our local comic book shop. Amazing Spider-Man #1 wins Comic Book of the Week. It’s a fun issue, and it’s great to have the real Peter Parker back, but Marvel overloaded the thing with back-up material. That would have weighed the comic down too much for my liking, but one of the back-ups is an epilogue to Scarlet Spider, so that pleased me greatly. Other comics this week include a new Silver Surfer, my return to All-New X-Men and the long-awaited conclusion to J.H. Williams III’s Batwoman story. I also picked up The Flash Annual for the heck of it, but I was not pleased.
At least Spider-Man is still a ton of fun.
Panda-Mania: the best new character find of 2014!
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #26, Amazing Spider-Man #1, Batman Eternal #4, Batwoman Annual #1, Flash Annual #3 and Silver Surfer #2.
Internet Spider-Man Medley!
There’s a new Spider-Man movie coming out this weekend, and I plan on seeing it one of these days. So to get us all juiced up, how about a medley of mockery? I’m, of course, talking about Cinema Sins hitting us with Everything Wrong With the original Spider-Man trilogy!
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 3
Good times! I hope you all enjoy Amazing Spider-Man 2. I’ll have my review up on Sunday, I think. See you then!
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Actor Tim Blake Nelson is a Dirty, Rotten Traitor!
I mean that in the nicest way possible, with the utmost respect for this delightful actor. But what the heck, Tim Blake Nelson? Does loyalty mean nothing to you?
I am, of course, talking about the news that Tim Blake Nelson has been cast as the Mole Man in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot. Technically he’s been cast as scientist Harvey Elder, with the implication that he’ll become the Mole Man in one of the sequels, because that has worked out so well in the past.
This time it’ll work for sure!
But Tim Blake Nelson has been in this exact scenario before! Nelson was cast as scientist Samuel Sterns in The Incredible Hulk in 2008, with the implication that he’d transform into the villainous Leader in one of the sequels. Heck, they even started transforming Nelson in the climax of that film.
Remember this scene?
Like it was yesterday
Obviously the Incredible Hulk sequel never came to pass and Nelson never got to play the super-villain. Is that his motivation here? Was he sad that Marvel never came through for him, so like a jilted lover, he’s jumped ship to join FOX and their Fantastic Four reboot? Which one of these companies is the trail-blazing leader in superhero films, Tim Blake Nelson? How could you do this to us! I had such high hopes for you!
This actually puts me in a real dilly of a pickle. You see, in my List of Six of the things I wanted to see on the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Tim Blake Nelson returning as the Leader was my #1 choice! The show is the perfect place to pick up abandoned plotlines from the Hulk movie! They’ve already introduced Hulk adversary Glenn Talbot to the show. Why not have Nelson guest star on Agents as the Leader? He would be perfect as a Big Bad for a season! He’s a real, legitimate comic book villain, but he’s clearly not going to appear in any future Marvel movies! Plus how cool would it be for an abandoned movie storyline to be picked up by the show? That should be exactly why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. exists.
But here’s the thing, in my List of six of the things I wanted to see in the Fantastic Four reboot, Mole Man was my #2 entry! So the gods of pop culture gave me one of my wishes by stealing from another. It’s madness.
Storm Gets Her Own Solo Series!
I know at least one of my readers is going to love this news, having called it months ago! The X-Man Storm is going to get her own solo series in July! Written by Greg Pak and drawn by Victor Ibanez, Storm is going to be used on a global scale. She does control the world’s weather, after all.
Still rocking the mohawk
The series was announced today via USA Today. Pak says he’s going to take Storm around the world, while also dealing with problems at home at the Jean Grey School, considering Wolverine is going to be dead this fall.
Said Pak:
“We’re going to see Storm cutting loose with all the brass and fierceness that comes from having the power to control every aspect of the Earth’s weather and atmosphere,” Pak says. “And we’re going to delve deep into the experiences and perspective that lead her to make decisions no other X-Man would — to tear through walls that no one else may have even realized are there.”
“Storm fights for those who most need her, no matter what the cost,” he says. “There’s a ton of drama and story in exploring how she makes those decisions and what kind of trouble that will create for herself and everyone she loves.”
Apparently this is a passion project from Pak, who grew up reading and admiring Storm. That sounds fantastic.
I think she’s particularly proud of her shoulder blades
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