Amazing spider-man 2

the spider-cave , mecha rhino , and a lot things going boom.

Toaster's Ramblings... Amazing Spider-man edition

So Jonny Prophet and I have uncovered a problem. Jonny was remarking how Marvel Comics only had two movies this year… Ghost Rider 2 and The Avengers. I had to remind him that The Amazing Spider-man, the new reboot to the franchise, is also coming out. He had completely forgotten… and that isn’t a good sign.

I also tend to forget about The Amazing Spider-man. When discussing the movies we are most looking forward to this summer, lots of names come up like The Avengers (which was freakin’ awesome!), Prometheus, Pixar’s Brave, Ted and of course The Dark Knight Rises. Occasionally we remember the sequels to GI Joe and The Expendables (which is less looking forward to and more having nothing better to do). But for some reason we keep forgetting about the Spider-man reboot.

What’s the problem here? We are both geeks, we love comics, comic book movies and Spider-man. The only thing I can come up with is that we just aren’t excited about this rebooted Spider-man franchise.  But why? We both think Andrew Garfield is a fantastic actor, we like Emma Stone (especially portraying Gwen Stacy) and Denis Leary is like icing on the cake. So what’s the problem?

For starters, I think that we still haven’t gotten the taste of Spider-man 3 out of our mouths. It wasn’t terrible, but it was a far cry from the first two films. Jonny and I have discussed various ideas as to how we would have improved the movie. Ultimately, though, the previous Spider-man franchise still had some potential. You had the introduction of Gwen Stacy, unused Spider-man villains like Electro and Mysterio and the possible return of Venom (though I distinctly remember seeing his skeleton get fried by the pumpkin bomb when I saw it in the theater. Apparently that was changed for the DVD release.) I personally don’t think the movie was bad enough to kill the franchise. Compared to previous franchise killers Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Batman & Robin and X-Men 3; Spider-man 3 really wasn’t that bad. It was just a mess of too many stories in one movie. Oh, and Peter Parker strutting. (For note, when I am feeling evil I too have been known to mess up my hair and let it fall wildly onto my forehead.)

Another reason I am not really excited for the movie is it feels like more of the same. We really have to do his origin again? Really? Everyone knows it. Oh, but now it involves Peter Parker’s parents. Sorry, I still don’t care. Part of the reason Spider-man 2 was so great was that we could focus on other stories. For this reboot, we have to trudge through the spider bite yet again. Plus, now we have to sit and wait for each major villain like Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Venom to be reinvented for the big screen yet again. This was fine for the newer Batman franchise as Christopher Nolan has a great vision to recreate these classic characters for his films. I really don’t have the same faith in this reboot. Maybe the rebooted villains will be improved. Maybe the Green Goblin won’t look like a Power Ranger villain. Maybe Venom won’t have Eric Foreman as a host. But it would still be cool to see some new ground covered with bad guys like Hobgoblin, Kraven, Hydro-man and possibly Carnage.

And what is with this new “emo” Peter Parker? He was a nerd who got bullied. Fine, many including myself can relate. But now Parker is some misunderstood tortured soul? The greatness of Peter Parker was that he changed his perspective to rise up and become the man he needed to be. Can you say the same for a depressed, whiney, self-involved emo kid? I honestly hope so. I swear to God if the reboot Peter Parker starts cutting himself I am throwing things at the screen. 

Another issue I have is the choice of villain… the Lizard. Can a Doctor Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde archetype who turns into a man-sized reptile really carry a film? Now I have heard this version of the Lizard will maintain Dr. Conners’ genius intelligence. This creates a whole new problem. It’s not the Lizard, then. The Lizard was a sympathetic villain, a cautionary tale, where you could feel bad for Dr. Conners and his desperation to be whole again by regrowing his arm. The Lizard was a mindless beast that had to be stopped, but Parker couldn’t bring himself to harm his mentor. By the sounds of it, the reboot Lizard is just a power hungry bad guy. The previous franchise had great villains that I was excited to see on screen. I am not excited to see the Lizard… at all.

I’m also going to make another point that is contributing to my indifference toward the Amazing Spider-man. The whole reason for this reboot is that Columbia doesn’t want to lose the license to make Spider-man films. If they didn’t make a new film within a certain window the film rights would revert back to Marvel and by extension Disney. Why does this bug me? Because of The Avengers.

We just got The Avengers, an awesome culmination of several films each establishing characters that allowed them to be merged into one super super-hero movie. But not everyone in the Marvel universe can join this mega franchise. The X-men and Fantastic Four are made by 20^th Century Fox. Ghost Rider is also produced by Columbia. These are major characters with important supporting cast like Silver Surfer that may never be available to team up with Cap, Thor and Iron Man. It would have been so cool to have Spider-man join the team, since he is an Avenger in the comics. But no, we have to wait for contracts to expire and by then the Avengers franchise may be long gone. It’s kind of depressing to me. This is where DC Comics has a huge advantage over Marvel. If they can ever get there shit together and make movies on par with Marvel (that don’t involve Christian Bale), Warner Brothers has the entire catalogue of DC characters at their disposal. You want Justice League? You can have it. Teen Titans? Sure! Doom Patrol? Why the hell not. However, Marvel can’t do that as easily since their properties have been divided like the Seven Kingdoms after King Robert’s death. (There’s a little Game of Thrones reference for you. You’re welcome.)

Jonny Prophet and I will inevitably see The Amazing Spider-man. Otherwise we would lose our comic geek ‘street cred.’ Maybe it will be a pleasant surprise like last year’s X-men: First Class. Or maybe we will keep asking each other “How long until The Dark Knight Rises?” much to the chagrin of the movie goers seated around us. At least we can be assured one thing… Andrew Garfield’s performance is bound to be better than Tobey Maguire’s glassy-eyed, spaced-out, mumbling Peter Parker. 

And hopefully he keeps the mask on when he’s in costume. I swear Maguire might have had that mask on for a whole five minutes in Spider-man 3! People have cameras in their cell phones these days, Pete! One of them might take a picture of a guy crawling on a building or swinging from skyscraper to skyscraper!

The Under-Rated

This is the first installment of an ongoing series. Once a month I am going to spotlight of a movie, television show or album that I feel is great or brilliant but for whatever reason has been overlooked or forgotten.  Don’t worry, I will try to give as few of spoilers as possible since my intention with all this is to give the underrated work attention and convince you, the reader, to watch (or listen to) it for yourselves. This review will focus on a truly underrated science fiction drama that came out last year entitled Never Let Me Go.

The film takes place in a world where advances in medical science have allowed the human life expectancy to exceed 100 years. The secret to this miracle of science is the use of harvesting organs from clones. Now the sci-fi savvy among you will probably be asking “Say, Toaster, wasn’t that the central plot from the Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson movie The Island?" Yes, it was. However, Never Let Me Go isn’t about clones fighting the system for survival. It’s about what it means to live.

Never Let Me Go is adapted from a novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day). It is directed by Mark Romanek, who previously directed the thriller One Hour Photo as well as a slew of acclaimed music videos including Nine Inch Nail’s “Closer” and Johnny Cash’s “Hurt.”  The film stars Carey Mulligan (An Education), Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Keira Knightley (The Pirates of the Caribbean), who are three of the best young actors out there. 

The story centers around three friends attending a boarding school called Hailsham in England. Kathy, Tommy and Ruth grow up together and attend classes at the odd institution that focuses more on creativity than academics while making an emphasis on “keeping yourselves healthy inside.” Eventually the children find out their fate; that they have been cloned from the bottom dwellers of society and that in their twenties they will undergo a series of operations to donate their organs until it inevitably kills them.

What I find fascinating about the movie is that the children don’t rebel. They accept their fates and choose to make the most of their lives. As time passes, Kathy falls in love with Tommy, but Ruth swoops in and begins a long relationship with him. So throughout the film you watch Kathy spend what little time she has in life watching the boy she loves in the arms of another.

One of the details I love about the movie is when these clones interact with regular humans. The humans look at them and treat them with a measure of guilt, not unlike how farmers look at cattle that one day they will slaughter and eat. In one amazing scene earlier in the film, the children are excited because a man is coming by to deliver their “prizes” for good behavior. If the children were good they received tokens that can be traded in for the prize of their choice. Several children cheerfully greet the delivery man, asking him if he does, in fact, have their gifts. The man, in a nervous and almost guilt-ridden way, confirms that he does. As the children cheer the delivery man quickly goes about his business so he can leave as soon as possible; not wanting to face the cruel reality of what consequences everyone else’s health brings. The prizes, it turns out, are society’s garbage, the kind of crap that Goodwill can’t even sell. Of course, in the sheltered world of these cloned children, it is an amazing treat.

The film continues to follow the lives of Kathy, Tommy and Ruth into their young adult years. Tommy and Ruth’s relationship takes its toll on Kathy. She signs up to become a carer and subsequently leaves rather than continue to watch Tommy with someone else.  At some point in his/her late 20’s, a clone will receive notification that they are to make a donation for some sort of needed transplant be it a kidney, liver, lung, or even an eyeball. After this donation, they are sewn up and allowed to keep living until the next donation surgery. Usually a clone survives the first donation, often the second, but the third has a high mortality rate and nobody survives the fourth operation. Once the clone dies, it is considered “completion.” As a carer, Kathy watches over fellow clones and helps them during the many operations until completion. In return for these services, a carer is given a temporary reprieve from making organ donations. In the final act of the film, Kathy seeks out Tommy and Ruth ten years later, once they both have already begun donating their organs. 

Be warned, this is not a happy movie (and if I described it as such I have failed as a writer). Never Let Me Go is both sad and extremely haunting. Over a year after sitting in that theater, I am still left thinking about the characters, themes and ideas presented within, which to me is the sign of a cinematic triumph. It’s just sad to me how little attention this film received in the United States. Both brilliantly acted and amazingly poignant, I implore all of you to watch Never Let Me Go.