A Big Week For The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Wow, what a week it has been for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. A new costume and a new cast member who will be taking the form of Norman Osborn! As you guys know I'm a big Spider-Man fan blah blah blah... you've heard it all before. Got my hopes up a bit too much for the first film only to be let down, so this time round I have tried not to get too excited. However that is quite hard when the new suit looks like this!

Now compared to the first ASM this has changed quite drastically. And as the internet pointed out, it looks a lot like the suit from the Raimi films. I wouldn't mind this if it wasn't for the studios determination to make these films different from the original and so far not doing a great job at that. I however cannot stop looking at this! It look... well amazing. This is the suit I have been wanting from Spider-Man films since the start. Just look at those eyes, I like those the most. Hopefully our hero will leave his mask on long enough for us to get a good look at them in action this time. So most of all this looks like a good decision from ASM 2 so far. I do hope that the film gives a good explanation for this change in costume that looks more comic book style compared to the more realistic approach in the first film. I don't want them just to change him like this and give no reason why. 

We have also had the first set pics that show us Shailene Woodley as the new Mary Jane Watson next to the brilliant Andrew Garfield who looks like he has given Peter Parker some fashion sense, for better or worse. I for one am unsure about the obvious red and blue clothes situation. Yes we get it, he's Spider-Man.

Looks like we are going to get a more 'Ultimate Spider-Man' take on Mary Jane this time round, which I am happy with. Not many women look like MJ from the original comics, though apparently not everyone knows this as so far there has been a lot of negativity over Woodley being cast in the role. I for one look forward to her portrayal, she has hard work ahead after Emma Stone's incredible performance as Gwen Stacy. Looks like Spidey's love life is about to get a bit complicated. 

It has also just been confirmed that Chris Cooper is going to be playing Spider-Man's arch nemesis Norman Osborn. I doubt he will don the Green Goblin costume until the threequel, but I am pretty happy with this casting, however it may take some time to take him seriously after his turn as the villain in The Muppets. 

I'm just kidding, he is a solid actor and I am sure he will do a great job.

So that is yet another villain added to the cast that already sees Jamie Foxx as Electro and Paul Giamatti possibly as The Rhino. We also have Dane DeHann joining as Harry Osborn. Looks like Spidey is going to have his work cut out for him. I just hope that this is just a starting point for the Green Goblin and The Rhino as if not we could end up with another Spider-Man 3 on our hands and nobody wants that. Hopefully if the reports are true, director Marc Webb might be setting up a Spider-Man universe that could one day see The Sinister Six be brought to the big screen. Here is the official synopsis for the film:

“In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, for Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), life is busy,” begins the official blurb. “Between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen (Emma Stone), high school graduation can’t come quickly enough.

“Peter hasn’t forgotten about the promise he made to Gwen’s father to protect her by staying away - but that’s a promise he just can’t keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro (Jamie Foxx), emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past.”

I sure am hoping this film will be good and deserved of it's title. Though I'm guessing that could change any day now!

What do you guys think about all these updates on ASM 2? Are you looking forward to it?

Please comment below and thank you for reading!

Quick Reviews #2

So here is another round of quick reviews for you. This week we have a couple of Oscar contenders, a bromance and a Kevin Smith classic. Two of the films have Ben Affleck in them and two also have John Goodman. So please read and enjoy:

Flight

Oscar contender number 1 and the first of the films to star John Goodman (who is comedy gold in it). Flight's plot goes like this; 'An airline pilot saves a flight from crashing, but an investigation into the malfunctions reveals something troubling.' When I first saw the trailer for this film I expected a pretty fun 12A certificate film starring Denzel Washington as the hero who saves a plane full of people. Instead this is a 15 certificate film that deals with anti-hero who suffers with alcohol and drug addiction. This is not a warm an fluffy film, it's pretty hard hitting stuff at times. This is not the Denzel Washington we are used to, here I didn't know whether I wanted the guy to go to jail or not. For the most part I ended up liking the performance but disliking the character. My praise for this film goes to the first and last 30 minutes. The start of the film is thrilling and terrifying, director Robert Zemeckis creates yet another incredible plane crash that had me scared to the bone. After the start it slows and turns into what can only be described a boring old 'oscar bait' it has it's moments and pays off in the end but I was disinterested throughout the middle of the film. I realised that the rest of the film was not going to be as thrilling as the start but I didn't realise just how slow it was going to be. There is no doubt that this is a strong film and a good return to live action for Zemeckis but I just wish I had a been a little bit more involved and had a character I could invest in and want good things to happen to him/her. A great load of performances but it probably won't win a lot at the Oscars. This film varied between a rating of 3 and 4 for me so therefore I am going to give it a 3.5/5. 

End of Watch

This film was the biggest surprise to me. End of Watch’s plot goes like this; 'this film follows the daily grind of two young police officers in LA who are partners and friends, and what happens when they meet criminal forces greater than themselves.’. I was first surprised at the camera work, the trailer led me to believe that this going to be yet another hand held found footage films but in fact only parts of the movie are like that. However a lot of the camera work it is still hand held and the shots last no longer than 3 second before cutting to another angle throughout most of the film. This technique might not be to everyone’s taste but it did add that extra tension and made for a very fast paced film, where you are on edge throughout the film, feeling a lot like the characters do. The story to this film is good but it would be nothing without the chemistry between Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena's Characters. Their friendship/bromance makes this film! I have never seen chemistry like it, their connections seems so real and it really makes you fall in love with the two of them. It is definitely the best bromance I have seen and there have been some good ones in the recent years. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this film, no matter how exaggerated some of the situations may be or how many ‘f’ words a stereotypical Mexican can say in one sentence, there is something about this film that draws you in and engages you to the very end and even after that you are left craving more. It’s thrilling, exciting, scary, emotional, powerful and full of kick ass action, I am rating this film a 4/5.

Mallrats

The first film in this post starring Ben Affleck. These last couple months I have been going crazy and watching loads of Kevin Smith films. Why have I not seen these before? The guy basically writes characters who are nerdy teenagers and chucks them into hilarious scenarios. Not everyone may want to hear about what would happen if Superman got Lois Lane pregnant but this is just the kind of rubbish I will talk about with my friends! Anyway Mallrats’s plot goes like this; 'Both dumped by their girlfriends, two friends take refuge in the local mall'. This film isn't going to blow your mind, it's just going to make you laugh and have a good time. The characters are lovable idiots and you enjoy watching them. Like in mist of Kevin Smith's films, Jay and Silent Bob are up to no good yet again, causing mischief and attemting to use 'the force' and other hilarious stuff, I will never grow bored of the two of them. It is unfortunate that we get no dance scenes from them however. The film is just stupid, but a good stupid. A familiar face turns up also (not that he was familiar at the time) and I'm not just talking about Stan Lee, you can also see Michael Rooker at his worse. Yeah the guy who plays Merle in The Walking Dead and my oh my have the years done his acting talent well! All in all this film is not amazing and not many people will remember it but people like myself will love it and that is enough to call it a 'cult' film. I love Kevin Smith but to me this isn't his best film, therefore I am giving Mallrats a rating of 3/5.

Argo

The second Oscar contender and the second film starring Ben Affleck and John Goodman. This film has a lot of hype and I can see why. It’s not your typical ‘Oscar bait’ but it sure is damn good. Argo’s plot goes like this; ‘A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.’ This film is tense, really tense. And that is just how a thriller should be. It’s hard and scary to believe that the events that take place in this film really happened. Ben Affleck and his team’s attention to detail to make this film historically accurate is astonishing, not one piece of set or prop looked out of place. It's not until the end credits do you realise how similar all the actors look to the real people they were portraying, a true achievement in attention to detail in the make-up department. The story is the strong point though, I love a bit of espionage and spy work! And the story is then held by an amazing cast of actors including my favourite at the moment, Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, who is making his transition from TV to film, he stands his ground among a crowd of very talented actors. This film just is pure great and another great film from Affleck, a director/actor who is now at the top of his game and shrugging off previous projects such as Daredevil. I am hoping Argo will sweep the board at the Oscars soon as it deserves it! Finally a film I can get behind that has a good chance of winning. Personally I would prefer Django Unchained to win best film but we can all guess that it is unlikely. Either way Argo is brilliant and I am giving it a rating of 4/5.

Thank you for reading! Do you agree with my reviews? Please comment below.