Spidey's Webb

This is it, the first of 2012's Great Triumvirate: "The Amazing Spider-Man", "The Dark Knight Rises" and "The Hobbit". OK, I've been corrected, I should say the second of this year's Great... um... Quadrumvirate? Anyway, No.1 was "The Avengers" which did reach all hopes. Not expectations, it exceeded those, but hopes! Anyway, back to the actual topic here, "The Amazing Spider-Man"!

First of all though, what kind of a film comes out on a Tuesday? Who goes to the cinema on a Tuesday? I know Wednesday has it's films, but let's be honest, it's all about Friday. There was a time, not more than a month ago, when I wouldn't have cared about the release date as I didn't have a job and I could go to the cinema whatever day I wanted, ensuring I could see all the important films the day they were released! Alas, not any more! But, again, back to the point, I saw TAS today, something I've been excited about for so long! I'm sure I first heard of this film about two years ago when I discovered that some guy called Mark Webb had cast the nerdy, English, relatively unknown Andrew Garfield as my favourite super hero of all time! Did it reach expectations as "Avengers Assemble" did? I'm not so sure, but it definitely entertained and it definitely did not disappoint!

Starting with the cast, because we all know I LOVE Emma Stone and am hugely fond of Andrew Garfield, this film has done very well, it cannot be denied. Garfield, though approaching 30, is a brilliant choice to play the awkward but intelligent and emotionally complex teenage Spider-Man, or Peter Parker to his friends. One of Spider-Man's strengths as a comic is the character depth and interesting backgrounds of its leads, especially the eponymous hero. In this film especially there is a focus on the absence of Peter's parents and their strange disappearance, leaving him to live with Aunt May and Uncle Ben, two of the Spider-Man universe's most well-known characters. Garfield has to balance some strong emotions and life changes in this film: the loss of his parents; the discovery of a possible clue to why they disappeared ten years after it happened; the fresh loss of another loved one; first love; and to top all this off, intense physical transformations and, as we all know, the great responsibility that comes with great power. This isn't as easy a role to play as one might expect from a super hero franchise. Spider-Man has emotional depth perhaps only matched in comics by DC's Batman. Andrew Garfield has proved time and again that he is a diverse and powerful actor and this performance did not not slip from that. He also has a great charisma and likeabiltiy which I believe is key to Peter Parker and the script has tried hard to stay true to Spider-Man's wise-cracking, humorous side as he arrests car thief after car thief, all delivered very naturally by Garfield.

Emma Stone can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned, though it must be acknowledge that this part is not the most challenging of her career. She's sweet and witty and completely believable as a girl in her late teens despite again being 5 or 6 years older than her character. The chemistry between Stone and Garfield is obvious, probably helped by their real-life relationship (that lucky bastard!). Ifans is another actor who never fails to deliver a stand-out performance. Though I don't believe Curt Connors proved as interesting a villain as the Green Goblin in 2002's "Spider-Man" or Doctor Octopus in 2004's "Spider-Man 2", as a character he is made very three dimensional. An old colleague of Peter's father, Richard Parker, he is a scientist at Oscorp (run by Norman Osbourne, the Green Goblin himself, though not yet in this instalment) who dreams of a human race without weakness and strives to find the cures for human diseases in animal genes. His own personal tragedy, the loss of an arm, is the main force that drives him, and like many of Spider-Man's enemies, he is a well-meaning, gentle man, driven to madness and villainy by horrific events in his life and a lab experiment gone very wrong. When will they learn? After Spidey, these experiments never go right! Ifans masters both the sweet but troubled Curt Connors and the cruel and ambitious Lizard. He is not just a Hollywood actor, he is a real actor with great range and a strong presence and this film is no exception to that. Also, I love Sally Field as Aunt May! She is the perfect mother figure and a genuinely good actress.


The visuals and the graphics are also to be praised. Spider-Man's new outfit is very cool. I've always loved his spandex suit, it's complex and well designed, it looks bad ass despite the fact that he's covered himself in blue and red skin-tight fabric, and it's just practical! Plus his entire face is covered, unlike say Super-Man or the Green Lantern, so we do not have to suspend belief when a family member doesn't recognise him. Where costumes are concerned, I actually believe Webb's film beats Raimi's. Maguire's outfit was very cool, but this new version is darker and looks more like its designed for battle. The Lizard is a formidable looking foe and Ifans' face has been well incorporated into it's lizardy facade. As with the first films, your breath catches in your throat and shivers run down your spine in the scenes where Spidey swings through the great heights of New York City, though I find these scenes too few and far between.

As to plot, I love the detail of the back story which this film provides. Adding the intrigue into Peter's parents is the main aspect which sets this apart from Raimi's films. Luckily this film got its villain right, unlike "Spider-Man 3", whose main flaw is its attempt to fit three complex villains into one plot: Sandman, Green Goblin 2, and Venom. The Lizard is a very interesting character in this film. I believe he is generally one of the stronger Spidey villains, and he has been allocated a strong back story as Spider-Man has. I never understood Raimi's choice of the Sandman in SM3, I've always found him a dull baddy. Furthermore, at no point does this film slow down or bore because it fits so much plot in.  There's a blooming romance; the mystery surrounding Peter's parents; the contentious relationship between Peter and his surrogate parents, May and Ben; the foreboding and invisible presence of Norman Osbourne; all on top of the Spider-Man origin story and then the ongoing battle between Spider-Man and the Lizard. 

That said, I did not enjoy it as much as, or believe it was as good a film as, "Spider-Man" or SM2. Let's pretend 3 didn't happen, shall we? The main reason I love the character of Spider-Man is because I believe he has the best powers and, with good special effects, watching Spidey swing through Manhatten, climb vertical structures, shoot web and just generally do some bad ass gymnastics is all breath-taking and I think this film's main flaw is that, although these were all done brilliantly and the fight with the Lizard in the high school is amazing and thrilling to watch, there isn't enough time dedicated to fights and to Spidey, especially with all the focus on the Peter half of him. This was a great film, just not as great as its forerunners.

Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed this film, would rate it AT LEAST 8/10 and will be incredibly disappointed if a sequel isn't announced soon. Garfield deserves to be a massive star and this franchise has fantastic potential to keep getting better. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you wait when the credits start for an extra scene a few minutes in. Gosh, I do love Marvel so!

Too Many Dicks on the Red Carpet: My evaluations and predictions for 2012's BAFTA nominees

The winner!

Well the poll on which of the"Avengers" prequels (well, not prequels, the films that led up to it) was the best has a clear winner: "Iron Man", with 80% of the vote. "Captain America" got 20% and "Thor" got 10%. Yeah, that doesn't add up, but it can only do it in 10s. I pretty much agree with the winner, though I believe "Thor" deserves more votes.  I'm very glad no one dared to vote for "The Incredible Hulk", you would have been shunned.

Ok, so this title isn't so much a film reference as the title of a song, but I think this can be overlooked as it perfectly demonstrates the topic of this post, aka, the complete absence of female nominees for the Orange Rising Star Award at the BAFTAs this year. They are showing this Sunday 11th February. Don't get me wrong, I love the BAFTAs, I adore the BAFTAs, I have been a devoted fan since my early years when I would sit and watch it with my mother and sister and laugh along to Stephen Fry's jokes, his quips, his witty comments on the films and the nominees. I have had less chance to watch it since coming to TV and living in houses that lack TVs, but this is not such a loss as Jonathan Ross can't hold a candle to Stephen Fry as host and as I always catch up on the winners online. This year however, I am going to try my darnedest to watch the awards live.

That said, this years nominees for the above mentioned award (Adam Deacon, Chris Hemmsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Chris O'Dowd and Eddie Redmayne), though I am a fan of all of them (except Adam Deacon, don't even really know who he is), I do resent the lack of female representation. There have been some fantastic female new comers in the past few years of film and I think they require acknowledgement, therefore I am going to do my own TFOO Rising Star Award and choose my own, female only short-list.

And the nominees are...

Emma Stone

Why she should have been nominated:
Easy A (2010)
Crazy Stupid Love (2011)

Three words to describe Emma: funny, natural, charm.

Felicity Jones

Why she should have been nominated:
Cemetery Junction (2010)
Like Crazy (2011)

Three words to describe Felicity: vulnerability, intuitive, graceful.

 


 Jennifer Lawrence 

Why she should have been nominated:
Winter's Bone (2010)
 X-Men: First Class (2011)
Like Crazy (2011)

Three words to describe Jennifer: strength, charisma, elegance.

Mia Wasikowska

Why she should have been nominated:
The Kids are Alright (2010)
Jane Eyre (2011)


Three words to describe Mia: adaptable, natural, intelligent. 






Rooney Mara 

Why she should have been nominated:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Three words to describe Rooney: brave, memorable, unique.






This lack of female nominees is not by any means a constant characteristic of the Rising Star Award. In 2007 Eva Green won and in 2010 Kristen Stewart (I will withhold negative comments) and, to be fair, Emma Stone was one of last year's nominees (though Tom Hardy won). But I think, considering the female talent that is "rising" right now, at least one of my nominees, or some other female actress, should have been included on this year's list.

I've discovered that in 2009 Michael Fassbender lost the award to Noel Clarke. What an atrocity!

This of course is not the only or by any means the most important award of the evening. Here are a list of the awards - and their nominees - which I am most eager to see the winners of:

"Leading Actor"
Brad Pitt (Billy Beane) – Moneyball
Gary Oldman (George Smiley) - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney (Matt King) – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin (George Valentin) – The Artist
Michael Fassbender (Brandon) – Shame
Oh I do hope Fassbender wins, surprisingly enough. I'm not sure who I think will win, this is quite a heavy list. Everyone is saying this is the best performance of Clooney's career, and he certainly would be a more high-profile choice than Fassbender. They quite often give it to someone who's been nominated before, one of those "it's about time they got one" scenarios... I haven't seen "The Artist", but I doubt Dujardin will win. Gary Oldman will certainly give the others a run for their money and Brad Pitt can't be dismissed. To hazard a guess, I will say Clooney, but who knows, this is Fassbender's year...


"Leading Actress"
Bérénice Bejo (Peppy Miller) – The Artist
Meryl Streep (Margaret Thatcher) – The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams (Marilyn Monroe) – My Week with Marilyn
Tilda Swinton (Eva) – We Need to Talk About Kevin
Viola Davis (Aibileen Clark) – The Help
I don't think anyone expects this to go to anyone other than Meryl Streep, though critics do rave about Davis' performance in "The Help". You can quite often guarantee awards if you play convincingly a famous public figure, which gives Streep the edge, but also Williams. I am going to go for Meryl Streep! (That said, Tilda Swinton is constantly nominated and a strong contender also.)


"Outstanding British Film" (a category in which I am very interested) are:
My Week with Marilyn
Senna
Shame 
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
We Need to Talk About Kevin
I didn't see "We Need to Talk About Kevin" or "Senna", but the former has had a lot of positive response and has definitely been one of the most talked of British films this year. I think "Shame" was a much stronger film than "My Week With Marilyn" (I would happily see Michelle Williams get Best Actress, but I think Best British Film is pushing it) and a touch better than "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", though the latter was superb, with some amazing performances. I shall go for "Shame" out of hope, but I imagine "We Need to Talk About Kevin" may just beat it and both that and "TTSS" made it into the Best Film category, which "Shame" didn't, so logically it shouldn't be able to beat them.

"Best Director"
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
Drive - Nicolas Winding Refn
Hugo - Martin Scorsese
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Tomas Alfredson
We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lynne Ramsay 
Hmm... This is tougher to judge than the previous categories. I have only seen "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", so really my opinion is moot, but purely from the talk I have heard about the other four, I would guess either "The Artist" - which has the advantage of being in black and white and the first silent feature film made in years - or "TTSS". I don't believe an American children's film like "Hugo", despite its fantastic reviews, will win, but I haven't seen it so your guess is as good as mine. 

Of course, the category everyone is talking about is "Best Film", for which are nominated:
The Artist
The Descendents
Drive
The Help
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
I doubt "the Help" will win, I think this film was more about performance and I didn't see any 5 star reviews in proper film magazines or newspapers, the Guardian etc. "Drive" came 1st in Empire's best films of the year, but the BAFTAs are different. I haven't seen it, so I can't really judge what kind of film it is. It may well win. I don't know anyone who's seen "the Artist", it must have a very niche audience, that said it highly praised by all critics I've read. All I've heard of "The Descendents" is Clooney's brilliant performance, so I shall eliminate this film... I suppose that leaves me with "TTSS". I believe either this or "Drive" will win.

Film News: Our favourite Joseph Gordon-Levitt is set to direct his debut film, an as of yet untitled romantic comedy, which will star himself and Scarlett Johannson. A Guardian article on this subject described it as "reportedly the tale of a lothario and "his journey to become less of a selfish dick"." - There's a JGL quote within a Guardian quote for you. Gordon Levitt already runs a webiste "hitRECord" on which he encourages burgeoning artists of all forms, film makers, musicians, artists, photographers, to collaborate and make art together. He submitted a film they'd made at Sundance and has produced a book, filled with collected works, called "Recollection".

A Very Long-Distance Engagement

I was very eager to go see "The Grey" this weekend. I have seen many 4 star reviews in reputable magazines (aka, not "Zoo", "FHM" or "Hello"). But then when I looked online I could find practically no viewings in Bristol, so, of course, instead of giving up on my weekly trip, I inspected what other goodies were on offer and found "Like Crazy". I'd seen a trailer for this in the cinema about a month ago and forgotten when it was coming out, but it had very much appealed to me at the time, largely because I love Felicity Jones, but also because the subject matter seemed intelligent and not like your average rom-com and the advert displays several Sundance Film Festival award wins:

This is the film of Anna, a young British university student studying in LA, who falls in love with American student, Jacob and decides to stay there with him after their study ends. But Anna comes into problems with her visa and is refused entry back into the US. Subsequently, they struggle through an on-off-relationship, trying to find the best solution to make them both happy. I completely agree with the repetitive 4 star review this film has received. It delivered all I hoped it would, a fantastic performance from Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin, a moving and natural script and a very insightful look at long-distance, seemingly doomed relationships.

This is one of the best depictions of a young relationship, still in the honeymoon phase: utterly devoted to each other, unaware how to live without each other. When you watch the film, you feel like it is a documentary or just select recordings some of your friends have made to detail their relationship, its ups and downs. It feels so natural for several reasons: The fantastic performances, the great chemistry between Yelchin and Jones; the hand-held camera style, that gives an un-airbrushed, non-Hollywood feel to the film, you feel like you're watching a home video or even that you're right there with them; the lack of pop songs, pre-published songs, in the sound track, it merely uses a score written for it, using pianos and other classical instruments and a lot of the time there is no music at all, which all adds to the natural, real-life ambiance.

The film is very well-paced. It has to cover several years of relationship and so the editors had to pick out the key moments, which is done very well. There is little focus on the early days of the relationship, because what matters is the difficulties they face once Anna is denied entrance into the US. Their first date, however, is included and its definitely a bonus in this film. It helps the audience build a clear image of their relationship, helps you feel invested in it, as you've known it from the start. And it is just a fantastic scene. The dialogue is awkward as they try to think what to say to this person whom they are clearly interested in, but don't know all too well and have definitely never been in a romantic situation with before. This is your typical, honest first date. The chemistry between the two throughout the film is undeniable.

After my last, "Avengers"-orientated post, I decided that it was really time I got around to  re-watching "Thor", which I did on Saturday night and I have to say, though it doesn't have the impact at home as it does on the big screen, it is still jolly good fun. I do think the contrast between the scenes in Asgard and the scenes on Earth is stunning. "Thor" has what no other super-hero film has, a completely different world, the world of the (almost) Gods, which is giant, glorious and gold! This allows Marvel to use their special effects to new, more exciting uses. Chris Hemsworth is fantastic as Thor. He's brilliant at playing the rash, aggressive and naive God of thunder, but he's also hilarious. A prime example of the films humour is the scene in the cafe, when Thor, not used to human civilisation, smashes his cup of tea and demands: "Delicious, I'll have another!" And you have to admit, with the long blonde hair and beard and the immenseness of his pecs, he is a God-like sight to behold. I think he may well be my new number one Avenger, edging out Downey Jr's sarcy, smart, sexy Stark (I am owning the alliteration).

For this week's Top 5 I am going to look at my Top 5 Directors, considering the films that have put them on my list:

Tim Burton

Edward Scissorhands

This man has been my no.1 since I was like 6 and my parents introduced me to "Edward Scissorhands" and soon after "Beetlejuice", still two of my favorite films. I love his gothic style, you know you're watching one of his. I love his characters who never fit into the world they are born into. Characters like Edward, who in their loneliness and feeling of misplacement, are achingly beautiful. Other masterpieces by Burton are, as I have already mentioned in an earlier post, his two "Batman" films, "The Nightmare Before Christmas", based on his story and his characters, though directed by "Coraline"'s Henry Selick, and "Sleep Hollow", which I must have watched about ten times when I first bought the video in 2010.

Ridley Scott
I have always argued that "Gladiator" is a perfect film. Every aspect of it is perfectly chosen and conducted: the acting, the script, the scenery, the music. It is not to be faulted! Another masterpiece of his is "Blade Runner", whose beauty and depth go beyond the visuals, but in the way Scott addresses the question of good and bad and right and wrong. It has one of the best endings of any film ever, when Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer battle it out on the rooftops. Also, "Alien" - need I say more?

Christopher Nolan
I'm sure I've said it too many times now, how much I love "the Dark Knight" and even "Batman Begins", which hadn't yet reached the complexity and genius of its sequel, but is still fantastically directed and an incredibly unique take on filming the comic book hero. That said, I have seen all  of Nolan's feature-length films and none were bad. He seems to get better with every film, but we mustn't forget the older ones, like "Momento", one of the most cleverly edited films I've ever seen, and "The Prestige", with its brilliantly complicated and twisted plot, its outstanding performances and scenery.

Peter Jackson
Because no one else could have done "the Lord of the Rings" so perfectly and so in keeping with the atmosphere and life of the book. Though Guillermo del Toro is also amazing and would have made an incredibly dark and haunting "Hobbit" I am sure, Jackson was born to make this prequel.

Hayao Miyazaki

Howl's Moving Castle

Because he directed all of the best Studio Ghibli films, some of which are my most beloved films of all time, for example "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Spirited Away". The Studio's films are totally unique and surreal and the studio is Miyazaki essentially. The artwork, the stories, the characters. His signature is on all his films and no one else can possibly claim to be similar to the style of Ghibli.



Film news: They are definitely onto filming "Star Trek 2", which has me all excited, because I am a BIG fan of the first film and slightly in love with Zachary Quinto, ever since he terrified us in the first series of "Heroes". There are many sequels being set up at the moment, including a "Ferris Bueller 2", that's right, it's 26 years after the first one, Matthew Broderick is now 49, but they're doing it. Also in the pipe-line are "Terminator 5", though who is directing it or starring in it is yet to be confirmed and "Fast and the Furious 6" - seriously guys?

The Gangster Squad

In other, very important news, I have discovered a new film to be released on November 9 starring the love of my life, sorry, I mean Emma Stone, alongside Ryan Gosling (repairing them after last year's "Crazy Stupid Love"), called "The Gangster Squad", looking at the LA mafia in the 1940s and 1950s. Sean Penn and Josh Brolin also star, but I was sold at Emma Stone, who has yet to do a film that I haven't liked.