Showing posts with label comic book movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comic book movies. Show all posts
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Review: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (IMAX 3D)
“What makes life so precious is that it comes to an end.” Marc Webb returns to the directing chair in this sequel to 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Starring Andrew Garfield as the spandex wearing Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn and Jamie Foxx as the sparkling Electro. Now I am a fan of The Amazing Spider-Man, I thought the film was good, not great, but it had a lot of potential with the sequel. Today, I am very pleased to say that director Marc Webb has returned to fantastic form with this second instalment returning to his glory days of (500) Days Of Summer. This review may contain spoilers, but I will write a complete paragraph at the bottom of the page, discussing spoilers so I will give warning on when the paragraph starts.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is simply dazzling. The 2-hour and 25 minute runtime is simply forgotten as you sit and watch this remarkable film. This is mostly because of the amazing performances throughout the entire film. Garfield returns as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and gives a really fantastic performance. Garfield is given a script that may not be the best, but he does a really good job at making some of the average scenes truly great. Stone also returns as Gwen Stacy. Gwen has a much bugger role in this film, and she does an amazing job. Stacy’s graduation speech was one of the best parts of the film. Oscar winner Jamie Foxx features in the film as Max Dillon/Electro. While his character arc is definitely the weakest part of the film, the comparisons to Batman Foreveris definitely not deserved. Like Garfield, Foxx does a great job at making average scenes/lines of dialogue great. One poor line that Foxx manages to make great is “I’m gonna destroy the light, so you can live in the darkness.” Dane DeHaan. Wow. Just let me begin by saying, throughout the entire film I was swinging on Harry Osborn’s side. DeHaan was simply fantastic, not only did he manage to completely knock James Franco’s Harry Osborn out of memory, but he also manages to become the best Green Goblin to ever appear on the big screen. To simply put it, the performances in this film make it a must watch alone.
The story for this film is what you expect from the trailers: Max Dillon is a loser, he becomes Electro, he hates Spider-Man, and he teams with Goblin to fight Spider-Man. But that’s not all. In this film we finally get the big mystery surrounding Peter’s parents from the first Amazing film. One of the major complaints that people had surrounding the ending to the previous film was that Peter ended up with Gwen despite promising her father he wouldn’t. However, within the opening 25 minutes director Marc Webb delivers a very (500) Days Of Summer type scene in which Gwen breaks up with Peter after saying she “Can’t do this forever.” I have heard complaints saying Peter Parker is immature in this film, but I simply cannot agree with this statement. I would say Peter is very conflicted, which is the exact same as the comic books. Peter is a kid. He does stupid things, but that’s where Spider-Man comes into the picture. The difference between Peter and Spider-Man is that Peter is conflicted and can’t make responsible or right decisions, while Spider-Man always makes the right decisions.
As I saw the film in IMAX 3D, I guess I should comment on the film’s 3D. To simply put it, it was breathtaking. The whole film looked like a comic book thrown onto the big screen. The bright colours, loud noises, I loved it all. One sequence that makes the film a must see in IMAX 3D is the first confrontation between Electro and Spider-Man in Times Square. Spider-Man’s swinging was also fantastic to watch. All and all, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a fantastic film. If you know the Spider-Man character, then you’ll have a soft spot for this film. Even if you ‘hate it’ there’ll always be a small part of you that really does love this film. From the performances to the stunning visual effects, Marc Webb delivers a film that will go down as one of the best superhero movies ever made.
***Spoilers Below***
Now for the spoilers, I’m giving you one more chance to turn back, Americans, you have one more chance, that’s all I’m giving you. I’ll do it, I’ll post the end all in caps, I’m gonna do it. I’m giving you just one more chance. Okay, I’m assuming you’re all gone. Good. Marc Webb does a terrific job at using foreshadowing to allude to the ending of the film. For instance, the opening shot of the film are the gears inside Richard Parker’s watch, while the location of Gwen’s death is at a clock tower, which, ironically, also has gears. On the topic of Gwen’s death, I thought it was done really well. That shot of her motionless body as it hit the ground sent a shiver down my spine and watching Peter’s reaction was truly tear jerking. I also loved the way the film explained how Spider-Man had been gone for 5 months following Gwen’s death, bringing a sense of realism to the Spider-Man character.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Brand New Trailer For THE LEGO MOVIE Hits! [HD]
2014
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Batman
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comic book movies
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Robocop
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The Avengers
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The Lego Movie
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Trailers
Friday, October 25, 2013
EDITORIAL: 5 Comic Book Story Lines That Deserve Some Movie Lovin'
2014
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2015
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2016
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2017
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Batman
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comic book movies
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Comics
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Daredevil
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DC
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Editorial
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Marvel
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Spider-Man
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Superior
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The Avengers
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X-Men
Comic book movies have become a tradition in Hollywood. I mean, when was the last time we had a summer movie season where no superhero showed up on the big screen. Superheroes and Hollywood are right now in the honeymoon stage; sure things may collapse and go down hill, but from the looks of things. That’s a long way away. So, with every comic book movie, you need a story, an idea, a basis, if you will. Today, I present to you five comic book arcs or storylines that I feel deserve some movie love. Shall we begin?#5. Astonishing X-Men by The God of the nerds, Joss Whedon & John Cassaday
I get what you’re all thinking, ‘but dude this was done in X-Men 3.’ Wrong sir. That was a pathetic attempt to capture the essence of Whedon’s brilliant X-Men storyline. You can’t do this storyline without Scott Summers and Emma Frost; they’re kinda essential to the story. Part of the reason why this story was acclaimed is because of its use of Cyclops and Wolverine. Pitting the two in an Iron Man/Captain America relationship… and not the Tumblr type. The storyline in Astonishing X-Men is simple at its core, its about a cure being made for the mutant race, and while I get that’s been done (thanks X-Men: The Last Stand) I think it could be done so much better if they, you know, had the main character from the comic actually leading the team. Like Spider-Man: Blue, I don’t want to see this on the big screen right now, because Cyclops is kinda dead, but when Fox eventually realise they need to reboot The X-Men and give Hugh Jackman a break, then, we can have a look at this. And plus! Maybe X-Men: The Last Stand will be out of our guts by then, doubtful, but one can only hope.
#4. Spider-Man: Blue by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
Spider-Man: Blue is a sign that comic books aren’t dead yet. This comic book is my favourite Spider-Man story of all time, and why is that? Well I love it because it’s not really a superhero story. It’s, at its core, it’s a story about love. Spider-Man is one of those characters where, the love story is essential to the character and most of the time, we buy it. Except in Spider-Man 3, f**k you Mary Jane. So what is the story of Spider-Man: Blue? Well basically it’s the story of how Peter Parker met Gwen Stacy and how they fell in love. I stand by my theory, that if David Fincher were hired by Sony, he would have used Spider-Man: Blue as a huge inspiration to his film citing the idea that Peter Parker meeting Gwen Stacy is key to Spidey’s character. Spider-Man faces many challenges and has to overcome a lot in this storyline, and it’s a thrill from the first panel. Would I want this to be in The Amazing Spider-Man sequels? No. But the next time they reboot Spider-Man, Sony, give Spider-Man: Blue a read.
#3. Superior by Mark Millar & Lenil Yu
Okay, I understand this one isn’t really a storyline, but it is a brilliant book. Mark Millar’s Superior is an attempt to capture the brilliant feel of the Christopher Reeve Superman films, and bring those feels to the modern daytime. Superior is about a boy called Simon Pooni, who suffers from a disease in which he can’t walk, while it’s a sad story; it’s definitely a story I would love to see on the big screen. When a monkey from space gives Simon the opportunity to become his idol Superior for one week, Simon takes it. Along the way Simon brings hope to the people of Earth in a way only a real hero could. So, how could this book be transitioned onto the big screen you ask? Animated. The book is grand and is basically a huge spectacle, no studio (unless you’re Warner Bros.) is going to splash out $225 million for a film like this, and it’s film suicide. But you give this property to the likes of Disney or Dreamworks and I can assure you, you’d get a feature film so beautiful, you might shed a tear.
#2. Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
Daredevil is one of my favourite characters in the Marvel Universe. He is vastly underrated. Born Again was a comic book I had to read for school earlier this year, my English teacher has a thing for comic books, so he gave us Born Again, and my God… This book is incredible. Daredevil Born Again captures everything I’d want to see in a Daredevil film, it’s dramatic, it’s sometimes humorous, it’s action packed, and guess what? It has Captain America! Word of advice, cut out the Captain America stuff and it’s golden. Born Again tells the story of Daredevil’s former girlfriend, Karen Page turning to a life of drugs after a failed film career (she becomes a porn star), in a trade for some blow, she sells Daredevil’s true identity to the Kingpin and as you can guess, bad shit happens. Or in the words of Michael from 10 Things I Hate About You "The shit... hath hitteth... the fan... eith." Born Again is seriously underrated and if you haven't read itou, "The shit… hath hitteth… the fan…eth." Born Again is seriously underrated and if you haven’t read it, I suggest you do. It has amazing twists and turns and if you don’t like Daredevil before you read it, I can sure as hell guarantee you’ll love him after you shut that back page.
#1. Batman: Under The Red Hood by Judd Winick & Doug Mahnke
Lucky number 1 is the Goddamn Batman. Batman: Under The Red Hood is my favourite comic book storyline ever; it’s just so amazing and so cunning and scary that I seriously think Warner Bros. Is contemplating making this the main storyline for the future Batman franchise starring Ben Affleck. Under The Red Hood has it all revenge, betrayal, death, humour awesomeness and yes it has The Joker. So what’s the story of Under The Red Hood? Basically it is set 8 years after The Joker brutally kills the second Robin, Jason Todd. A new criminal has come to Gotham, his name? The Red Hood. Now if you understand Shakespeare you can pretty much guess who the Red Hood is, but for the sake of this article, I’m not going to spoil it for you. I think this storyline is incredibly emotional and would give the audience something they never would expect from a Batman film, Batman to fail.
So, how’d you guess feel about these 5 story lines? Do you think Marvel or DC are taking any of these into consideration or do you think I’m a foolish nerd with a MacBook running out of battery. Comment below and let me know, and as always you can share this article with your friends and family and get the word around! Thanks for reading and I’m out for now.
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