Just the Ticket #64: Truly Amazing
Greetings, True Believers and Ticketholders! Following re-prints of the update from SW@ Ticket #12: Spider-Man's Future & the Usual Crap and Coming Distractions #2: Before The Avengers, I will get into something truly amazing. So let's get this party swinging...
SWAT Ticket Update, July 13, 2011: Since the box-office failure of an overstuffed Spider-Man 3, the franchise is scheduled to be revamped this year with Andrew Garfield (WHO???!!!!) as Pete/Spidey and a likewise unrecognizable cast. As promised following Spider-Man 2, the Lizard will be the main villain. Also, in an authentic turn of events, original flame Gwen Stacy is slated to be a character in the reborn Spider-Man. I am turned off by this new development and have my sights and hopes set on the success of the Avengers franchise. Good luck, Marvel! And now, back to our irregularly syndicated non-program:
FROM May 6, 2012 (Coming Distractions #2: Before The Avengers): The first review I saw at the 4pm showing of The Avengers at Ephrata's Lee Theater (they have great pizza, BTW) was for another upcoming superhero film this year: The Amazing Spider-Man.
With Sam Raimi's disappointing withdrawal and the subsequent cancellation of Spider-Man 4 in January 2010 came the idea for a reboot (ick!) of the franchise with ASM in 3D (double-ick!) starring Andrew Garfield (who?) as Peter/Spidey. But then I saw the preview last night and sort of changed my mind. Although Tobey Maguire looks to have been the better Spidey, Garfield is the better Peter Parker. ASM is portrayed in the trailer as having more drama and intrigue than the preceding trilogy, let alone many other superhero adaptations, which I am looking forward to. It is also more authentic to the comics than Maguire's Spider-Man, centering on Peter's relationship with Gwen Stacy (The Help's Emma Stone) and showing the development of his web-shooters.
The suit came off as kind of awkward and miscolored in some scenes (or was it maybe Garfield who was awkward and miscolored?), but the 3D actually looked worthwhile and the Lizard effects (his tail, at least) were well done. You grabbed my attention, Marvel. July 3rd, here I come!
A-
Well, I didn't make it to the July 3rd opening of The Amazing Spider-Man, since I had no job to provide me with money for a ticket at the time (a fact of reality that didn't seem to bother me whilst I was spending my birthday afternoon and evening at The Avengers two months previously). But I did catch the movie on its DVD/Blu-Ray release date this week, and I must say that once my inner comic book nerd overwhelmed my inner jaded movie critic (feel free to step inside the mind of Bruce Banner at this point and picture a battle of wills between the green and grey incarnations of the Hulk), my opinions as stated above started looking both more right and more wrong in all the right places.
I was right to be in awe of the Lizard effects. As he was in the 90's Spidey series, Lizard is massive, powerful, and nigh indestructible thanks to that whole re-growing limbs thing he does. The transformation from Lizard to Dr. Connors (Rhys Ifans--change your name to Reese Evans and get it over with) has scales sloughing off his body like a real lizard shedding its skin. The flesh tone around the eyes is kind of a turn-off, but it also gives the impression of a buried spark of humanity amid the snippings, scales, and reptile tails that adds to the menace of this not-so-mindless mad scientist-turned-monster.
I was also right about bringing in Gwen Stacy and making Peter more of an awkward, off-color teen than just an outright stereotypical nerd.Stone and Garfield bring a maturity and a frustrating likability to their on-screen chemistry that can only be described as realistic (the actors began denying that they were dating soon after the movie wrapped). Plus, using a British actor like Andrew Garfield finally brings us a Peter Parker who is a New York kid with a New York accent. Another pleasant surprise.
And finally, I was right about the increased drama and intrigue; the enhanced comic book-ness of The Amazing Spider-Man. True, the back story fails to do anything as mythologically epic as a one-hour weekly serial might be able to grab you with after two-and-a quarter episodes (ASM runs approximately two hours and fifteen minutes of a variety of well-packed, evenly addressed material, including a spoiler featuring Norman Osborn as he was first glimpsed in the comics), but that's all the more reason to continue the franchise as if it were a serialized medium (much as the Avengers is doing now). Whether fans or noobs, everyone needs a reason to go to the movies these days, and serialized cinema is the perfect draw mechanism to ensure the success of big-budget tentpole films like this.
As to the parts I was wrong about....
The cast is far from unrecognizable. I still can't think of a single thing I've seen Andrew Garfield in prior to this, but who (aside from the Amish mentioned last issue) doesn't know who Martin Sheen (Uncle Ben) is? Or Sally Field (Aunt May)? Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) from The Help? How about Rescue Me's former leading man, Denis Leary (Capt. John Stacy)? Not everyone is given equal screen time (Field's Aunt May just sits at home and cries in a scene or two), but everyone does a great job with what they're given.
The reboot direction that so disgusted me this May took serious liberties with the origin story as I feared, but it turned out to be a rather endearing homage to the comics in the end. Financial difficulties (Peter's original motivation to don the Spider-suit) are sidelined for a more personal, emotional focus on Peter's quest for revenge against the man who killed his uncle. Relegated to the purposes of a mere remake cameo, the wrestling arena where he would have faced Crusher Hogan in canonical Spidey lore comes off as a subtly touching, dramatic tribute not even attempted by the average re-imagineer to this date. The serendipitously named director, Marc Webb, sees to it with an indie filmmaker's eye for powerful understatement, a museum curator's preservationist drive, and a Spidey-geek's attention to detail.
Ultimately, I must also admit my erroneous prejudice against action movie 3D as it applies to The Amazing Spider-Man. Sure, there are the usual objects in slow motion flight towards the camera: broken glass, Oscorp Tower's lightning rod, the occasional wayward web line, Spider-Man himself. But where the usual suspects were just mildly impressive, the nature of ASM invited some new tricks that made me wish I had a 3D television; among them, a few first-person web-swinging sequences worth experiencing in the manner for which they were intended.
So much left unanswered, yet so much more to look forward to. The Amazing Spider-Man is a big-screen comic book, and I can't wait to "read" ASM #2.
A
Now for a Critical Quickie: The Raven--John Cusack, Supernatural's Kevin R. McNally. This fictionalized account of the last days of poet Edgar Allen Poe plays like an extended episode of a CBS procedural drama with sufficiently grisly Poe-inspired murders, but falls to pieces in the third act thanks to monotonous run-and-gun plot mechanics and an uninteresting, shallow bend of a twist. Poe-ly executed cinema which I shall watch nevermore.
C-
Back to the glory days next issue as I continue my trek through the dregs of horror movie society, where no one but the Predators can hear you scream.
SWAT Ticket Update, July 13, 2011: Since the box-office failure of an overstuffed Spider-Man 3, the franchise is scheduled to be revamped this year with Andrew Garfield (WHO???!!!!) as Pete/Spidey and a likewise unrecognizable cast. As promised following Spider-Man 2, the Lizard will be the main villain. Also, in an authentic turn of events, original flame Gwen Stacy is slated to be a character in the reborn Spider-Man. I am turned off by this new development and have my sights and hopes set on the success of the Avengers franchise. Good luck, Marvel! And now, back to our irregularly syndicated non-program:
FROM May 6, 2012 (Coming Distractions #2: Before The Avengers): The first review I saw at the 4pm showing of The Avengers at Ephrata's Lee Theater (they have great pizza, BTW) was for another upcoming superhero film this year: The Amazing Spider-Man.
With Sam Raimi's disappointing withdrawal and the subsequent cancellation of Spider-Man 4 in January 2010 came the idea for a reboot (ick!) of the franchise with ASM in 3D (double-ick!) starring Andrew Garfield (who?) as Peter/Spidey. But then I saw the preview last night and sort of changed my mind. Although Tobey Maguire looks to have been the better Spidey, Garfield is the better Peter Parker. ASM is portrayed in the trailer as having more drama and intrigue than the preceding trilogy, let alone many other superhero adaptations, which I am looking forward to. It is also more authentic to the comics than Maguire's Spider-Man, centering on Peter's relationship with Gwen Stacy (The Help's Emma Stone) and showing the development of his web-shooters.
The suit came off as kind of awkward and miscolored in some scenes (or was it maybe Garfield who was awkward and miscolored?), but the 3D actually looked worthwhile and the Lizard effects (his tail, at least) were well done. You grabbed my attention, Marvel. July 3rd, here I come!
A-
I was right to be in awe of the Lizard effects. As he was in the 90's Spidey series, Lizard is massive, powerful, and nigh indestructible thanks to that whole re-growing limbs thing he does. The transformation from Lizard to Dr. Connors (Rhys Ifans--change your name to Reese Evans and get it over with) has scales sloughing off his body like a real lizard shedding its skin. The flesh tone around the eyes is kind of a turn-off, but it also gives the impression of a buried spark of humanity amid the snippings, scales, and reptile tails that adds to the menace of this not-so-mindless mad scientist-turned-monster.
I was also right about bringing in Gwen Stacy and making Peter more of an awkward, off-color teen than just an outright stereotypical nerd.Stone and Garfield bring a maturity and a frustrating likability to their on-screen chemistry that can only be described as realistic (the actors began denying that they were dating soon after the movie wrapped). Plus, using a British actor like Andrew Garfield finally brings us a Peter Parker who is a New York kid with a New York accent. Another pleasant surprise.
And finally, I was right about the increased drama and intrigue; the enhanced comic book-ness of The Amazing Spider-Man. True, the back story fails to do anything as mythologically epic as a one-hour weekly serial might be able to grab you with after two-and-a quarter episodes (ASM runs approximately two hours and fifteen minutes of a variety of well-packed, evenly addressed material, including a spoiler featuring Norman Osborn as he was first glimpsed in the comics), but that's all the more reason to continue the franchise as if it were a serialized medium (much as the Avengers is doing now). Whether fans or noobs, everyone needs a reason to go to the movies these days, and serialized cinema is the perfect draw mechanism to ensure the success of big-budget tentpole films like this.
As to the parts I was wrong about....
The cast is far from unrecognizable. I still can't think of a single thing I've seen Andrew Garfield in prior to this, but who (aside from the Amish mentioned last issue) doesn't know who Martin Sheen (Uncle Ben) is? Or Sally Field (Aunt May)? Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) from The Help? How about Rescue Me's former leading man, Denis Leary (Capt. John Stacy)? Not everyone is given equal screen time (Field's Aunt May just sits at home and cries in a scene or two), but everyone does a great job with what they're given.
The reboot direction that so disgusted me this May took serious liberties with the origin story as I feared, but it turned out to be a rather endearing homage to the comics in the end. Financial difficulties (Peter's original motivation to don the Spider-suit) are sidelined for a more personal, emotional focus on Peter's quest for revenge against the man who killed his uncle. Relegated to the purposes of a mere remake cameo, the wrestling arena where he would have faced Crusher Hogan in canonical Spidey lore comes off as a subtly touching, dramatic tribute not even attempted by the average re-imagineer to this date. The serendipitously named director, Marc Webb, sees to it with an indie filmmaker's eye for powerful understatement, a museum curator's preservationist drive, and a Spidey-geek's attention to detail.
Ultimately, I must also admit my erroneous prejudice against action movie 3D as it applies to The Amazing Spider-Man. Sure, there are the usual objects in slow motion flight towards the camera: broken glass, Oscorp Tower's lightning rod, the occasional wayward web line, Spider-Man himself. But where the usual suspects were just mildly impressive, the nature of ASM invited some new tricks that made me wish I had a 3D television; among them, a few first-person web-swinging sequences worth experiencing in the manner for which they were intended.
So much left unanswered, yet so much more to look forward to. The Amazing Spider-Man is a big-screen comic book, and I can't wait to "read" ASM #2.
A
C-
Back to the glory days next issue as I continue my trek through the dregs of horror movie society, where no one but the Predators can hear you scream.
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