REVIEW: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Director: Marc Webb

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone

Website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0948470/

Finally, we have a Spider-Man film that really captures what the character and story are really about. This is a reboot of the Spider-Man franchise that I think was the best possible move they could have done, seeing as the Raimi films…well, they weren’t exactly anything to write home about. This one, directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, is the truest to the comics I’ve seen yet and a spectacular friggin’ movie to boot, maybe the best summer blockbuster we’ve seen this summer yet. Does that get your ears perked up? Let’s dig into why.

First, the acting is just great in this. Andrew Garfield was an odd choice to play Peter Parker, as he looked very little like what we always associate the character with being. But he does a really good job at playing both Peter as the sometimes-troubled and awkward high school student with a brilliant mind and Spider-Man as a witty, wisecracking vigilante. He’s not as outwardly geeky and soft-spoken as some past incarnations have been, but he feels more like a three dimensional, real kid, and that’s why I think this is the best Peter Parker we’ve seen on any screen yet.

The scenes where he’s discovering his powers are really cool and show the wonder of it combined with the awkwardness and absurdity that Peter no doubt feels – there are numerous bits where his newfound strength completely destroys everyday tasks like opening doors and brushing teeth. Hell, when Peter is going home on the subway right after, he wrecks an entire car and gets into a huge fight scene all by accident by hitting people when he does not mean to. There’s one scene where he’s just sitting on his bed, wide-eyed and half-crazy after seeing what he can do now, that just encapsulates everything that a normal kid would feel after having these things happen to him. It’s silent, wordless moments like this that are spotted throughout the film and really show me what a talent this kid is, and how well the director managed to use him.

The humanity of the character really comes out through Garfield’s emotive and spot-on performance. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, who despite playing the usual Emma Stone kind of performance – you know, the whole sassy and independent girl thing she does in every movie – this time the writing is strong and actually supports her very well. So she does a good job.

Another great performance is veteran actor Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben, who just does a really great job at playing a parental figure for such a troubled kid – you get the tender side and a more strict side, as well as just a great sense of personality and wit about him. At the end of the day, you really, really like Uncle Ben in this movie. I liked all of these characters a lot. Even if you knew nothing about Spider-Man, you could like and really care about these characters as much as you have with any movie – that is the sign of great acting and great writing.

The setting and lighting are wonderful, with beautifully lit shots of New York and some very pulpy old school-style comic book-esque locations – witness the glowering green lights and the cavernous depths of the sewers where The Lizard makes his infernal concoctions, and in contrast, the Parker house, warm and full of all the things you’d expect from an aunt making delicious things in the kitchen to movie posters and camera equipment in Peter’s bedroom. So aesthetically the movie gets it right – small stuff, but it counts. The settings all reminded me of comic books in their layouts and how they were set up.

The real meat of the movie comes from the bigger moments, though, like any time when Spider-Man is doing his thing around the city. This movie rocks some great, funny dialogue for him and some cool scenes where he apprehends all these small time crooks with his webs and super-speed and strength – they are scenes you will find in anything Spider-Man related, but they’re a lot of fun here and stand up to the past 50 years of his history with ease. One of the better moments comes when he saves a kid from a burning vehicle – I won’t spoil much else, but the grace and power with which this scene is handled are just epic, and the scene is really, really cool. The finale is a fast-paced, boiling thriller of a set-up that just rules. A great, blood-pumping finale for a great film.

The film remains entertaining whether it’s about Spidey kicking the crap out of a crook, about Peter Parker interacting with Aunt May or Gwen Stacey and her family or about Peter’s quest to find Curt Connors and solve the mystery of what happened to his dad. That’s really the mark of a first-rate script and director. The Amazing Spider-Man is one of those great cinematic moments where everything just came together like magic for a real winner of a movie.

Review: The Social Network (2010) TH

How a massive site was born

This revolves around the inception of current social networking giant Facebook.com, along with a bitter feud between those who were closely related to its creation. In the ancient days people settled their differences in a battle of strength, nowadays it requires shrewd brain power and a laptop to one up your opponent. Swords are replaced by keyboards, brave words are replaced by written law. The modern age, which includes phenomenons such as social networking on the internet on a computer powered by electricity, made the world a little smaller but also more interconnected and complex than it has ever seen in its history.

One of the most iconic rises to the top from competition was "Pumping Iron." It focused on bodybuilding but audiences learned the general rule of thumb for anyone getting ahead is you're going to either purposely or inadvertently step on others. That goes for someone taking ideas, to another giving out help. Mother Teresa had enemies, as does a CEO. Someone out there is going to have their feelings hurt or rights violated when someone else wants to advance. Although, if there's a line where does it get crossed? At the expense of your friends and business partners over your own ambitions? "The Social Network" centers around a remediating legal case in progress between different parties who feel they had their rights violated. This switches from past to present with some stylized filmmaking mechanics to make one think more is going on than meets the eye. The backdrop is basically your average college kids--think National Lampoon minus the comedy--doing what they do between classes. There is no doubt a minor story to had, though the filmmakers slipped in some tabloid scandal to pad the rest and it didn't require two hours to tell it, insignificant ties to it, or extremely loud music that drowns out conversations to sell it. This would have been better suited as a documentary as it would cut away the flash and trivial fat.

Conversations range from incoherently fast to frequently drawn out. Literally word for word is expressed without pulling away or cutting back on whether it's significant. This isn't rewarding like a "A Beautiful Mind" where you got a balanced understanding of how a unique process works and an intimate knowledge of the unconventional person behind it without wanting to wring their neck. Facebook mogul Mark Zuckerberg is like Spock from "Star Trek" or Chloe from "24" who looks at situations as logical as opposed to emotional. Zuckerberg doesn't see companionship like you or I, but sometimes wants to fit in despite mostly being a jerk without necessarily doing it on purpose. Possibly his only true friend and co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, gets the short end of the stick as he's a nice guy in a dog-eat-dog world. Napster renegade, Sean Parker, is a leech that sucks onto opportunity without actually bringing in technical skill but instead charisma and connections. The three who originally brought their social network idea to Zuckerberg--Divya Narendra and Winklevoss twins--range from reserved, outspoken to confrontational, though each equally want what is deserved by bringing lawyers to the table as a last resort to negotiate. For all parties, it turns into he said this, he said that bickering. When millions of dollars are on the line maybe you would too, though that shared connection doesn't make this any more intriguing or even noteworthy to watch with all the minute nit-picking and overdramatization.

"The Social Network," like the film "Flash of Genius" about Ford using windshield wipers without permission, brings a deal gone sour to the public's attention. It's hard to say if this is 100% accurate as it's based on the book "The Accidental Billionaire" from the perspective of Eduardo Saverin: the co-founder who got the short end of the stick. If all parties were involved, this would have been better suited towards a sanctioned biography, as it's still interesting that these sexed up, drinks down college guys started out young and made something out of themselves by sheer luck and risk. The film tries to tie it all together by hinting that a socially awkward guy used the only skill set he had to create a massive social network to win over the girl. Of course, he doesn't care about those billions of dollars but the love of the game: writing code. Though getting to that point and trying to sympathize after dragging through the nitty gritty was an exercise in ad nauseam.

Director: David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac)
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rashida Jones
Website: IMDB

The Social Network (2010)

Starring: Jesse Eisenburg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake

Director: David Fincher

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network

When I first heard about this film, I blasted it as a stupid "white adolescent melodrama" with a plot that should have not been used for a long time. Need proof? Here you go: http://docuniverse.blogspot.com/2010/08/movie-trailers-other-guys-edition.html. I stated that I never wanted to watch it. However, after all the praise it has received, both from critics and people I knew, I finally relented. Well, I have been wrong before, and I admit I was wrong this time as well. Here is why:

The film starts off with a Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenburg) who after a scuffle with the university, agrees to meet with two identical twin brothers named Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) about the creation of a website made exclusively for Harvard students. He ends up taking this premise into his own hands, however, and with the help of his best (and only real) friend Edwardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) and Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) he creates the phenomenon what would eventually be known as Facebook. As it turns out, however, success can come with a price.

Despite the title, the film is not so much about Facebook as much as it is about the human story behind it, and there is one central theme to this story: betrayal. There are a number of back-stabbing that ensues, or at least it is perceived, and that leads the characters to fall from the heights of their success. Granted, their fall is cushioned by millions of dollars worth of corporate revenue/settlement agreements, but still, it hurts. While they may enjoy the riches that Facebook provides them, the amount of emotional bitterness that they develop never true recedes.

The characters themselves really bring the story together. Jesse Eisenburg does a great job playing Zuckerburg, an intelligent but arrogant twenty-something who strives to be successful and gives a great amount of time devoted to his craft. This comes at the expense of the people around him, with his harsh anti-social behavior and cold demeanor that makes it appear ruthless and uncaring; it is almost like he has Aspergers. But the final scene of the film, which is simple but poignant, seems to indicate that much of what he does is a cover because he feel like he has to do it rather than wanting to. This gives the character not so much a sense of sympathy, but a curtain amount of ambiguity that makes you ponder whether he is really the person that you think he is even after the movie ends.

The rest of the characters are impressive as well. Saverin sticks with Zuckerburg through thick and thin, only to be, you guessed it, stabbed in the back. The Winklevoss's are depicted as the typical Ivy League snobs who want to get their way, aided with great accents, yet there is still the feeling that even if they legally did not deserve the rights to Facebook that they were somehow double-crossed. Timberlake does well as Parker, a playboy who angered the corporate world by selling free music online, stealing revenue from popular bands at the time such as *NSYNC...oops. Well, despite the awkward casting, it still works, as he takesZuckerburg under his wings, though it appears that even he is not immune to the entrepreneur's scorn. Are you beginning to understand why this guy doesn't get much sympathy as a character? Still, that's sort of makes the story interesting: there are no real heroes or villains in this picture, only people, with flaws and all. It is all held together thanks to the partially darkened yet soothing atmosphere usually seen in David Fincher's films as well as Aaron Sorkin's rich writing abilities (I guess I owe them an apology too, don't I?).

There has been a lot of talk about the accuracy of the film. Some movies are better at depicting real-life events than others; I thought that Sorkin's screenplay for "Charlie Wilson's War" was fairly spot on. However, I think he took a few more creative liberties with this picture, because from what I have been able to find out, neither Zuckerburg nor the rest of the players involvedbelieve that the film is that realistic. As much as I hate it when films distort real-life people and events (and I can imagine that some of these people got rightfully annoyed when they saw it and said "Hey, I didn't do that; that's totally unfair!"), I have to accept it as an unfortunate compromise when it comes to bringing it to the big screen. I mean, let's face it, in the end its still about a bunch of guys creating a website; if they were going to make the film at all, they had to add a few things to spice it up! Anyway, that being said, I find that it is best to focus on the film purely from an entertainment standpoint. And from that point of view, it excels.

It is hard to believe I would be saying this a few months ago, but I recommend this film. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go check on my Facebook account...