The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2

Sharky wrote:

Not the average blockbuster of recent years, though.

Marvel is on a roll right now...The Avengers broke the box-office weekend records of all time (estimated $185m in 3 days in the USA alone...Bond will be lucky to make that in 3 months). Amazing Spider-Man is expected to do over $300m...maybe not as high as the original that went over $400m.

For anyone who wants to invest in old Spidey comics....try working on owning the first 50 issues....they will never decrease in value. I recently bought #14...the first appearance of the Green Goblin in high-grade condition. Got it for just over $800, which is a great deal on eBay since the back issue stores have it closer to $2000 in that condition. Trying to get a #13 next...first Mysterio.

Sharky wrote:

Not the average blockbuster of recent years, though.

How so?

Harmsway wrote:

Sharky wrote:

Not the average blockbuster of recent years, though.

How so?

Less desaturation, wider colour pallet etc.

Harmsway wrote:

Looks very "dial-a-blockbuster" to me.

Well, that's exactly what I thought the first two times I looked at the trailer. I've watched it about 3 or 4 times since, and it has grown on me somewhat; there may be a decent film there. But I do agree, it feels as if the trailer (and vis-a-vis the movie) was put together by checklist.

Emo-teenager talking about how tough his life is? Check.
Studio attempt to make teenager look hip and rebellious by using a skateboard and a hoodie? Check.
Rebooted origin story involving parents whose disappearance impact kid when he becomes teenager? Check.

And where is J.Jonah Jameson in this? I see no reference to him on the IMDB listing. Is Peter not at The Daily Bugle in this movie?

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Is Peter not at The Daily Bugle in this movie?

I don't believe he is.

Smart move not having Jameson. Who can top Simmons?

If they bring back Jameson I rather they bring back Simmons, much better than bringing back Dench.

Dench for Jameson.

The next film should feature Spidey and Jameson as a duo, like it was always meant to be...

Jameson could be introduced in the sequel. He'd work better as Peter's employer once Peter has grown some. Presumably this would be in Peter's college years (which would be a good starting point for a sequel, IMO). This image seems to suggest there's some photography already in Peter's life, though:


As for the trailer's visuals - I like how a lot of the action takes place in the night time.

lachesis wrote:

the Uncle Ben influence - this is something the new film seems set to flount sadly

Marc Webb has said that element will definitely be present.

Makeshift Python wrote:

The smartass quips were one of the things I thought was sorely missing in the Raimi films.

It's not Spider-Man without quips! ;)

Sharky wrote:

Call it a hunch, but I've got a good feeling about James Horner's score for this.

I was hoping for someone with a less traditional sound. Something more electronic.

bondfan06 wrote:

I think Lizard will be a good villain but I'd like to see Carnage or Venom in the sequel as Raimi didn't utilise him properly in Spiderman 3.

Doing Venom in the sequel would require establishing Eddie Brock and his motives in ASM. Having the entire symbiote story - Brock's intro, Peter's struggle with the symbiote, and Spider-Man's "dark mirror" villain - all jammed into SM3 really spoiled the whole endeavour. Not to mention including Sandman, dance numbers, and New Goblin.

Some thoughts of my own. I am fairly certain Curt Connors/Lizard will not be a tragic villain (unlike what Raimi did with his villains - I mean, Sandman has a sick daughter?? blechh). What's strange is that Connors is usually very sympathetic. Peter and Curt are supposed to be friends, but they've already played out that idea with the Peter/Osborn and Peter/Octavius relationships... I noticed Connors is antagonistic towards Peter in the trailer. In some versions of the Lizard's story, his mutation is an accident and it endangers his family, but Peter saves him. Other times, Connors wants to turn humanity into lizards. I think they're doing the latter in ASM. He seems to be unleashing a biological attack on NYC, probably to give everybody the ability of regeneration by spreading the Lizard serum via the air.

Anyway. They are certainly playing up the "destiny" angle, suggesting that Peter was always intended to be Spider-Man. Seems like his father's research was for engineering a person with spider abilities. I am perfectly fine with this idea (makes a good parallel between Lizard and Spidey), so long as it doesn't turn out that Richard Parker designed all of Pete's equipment, or planned for his son specifically to become Spider-Man. I think Spider-Man should be about the accidental concentration of power into a kid's hands and how he reacts to it, not some kind of Star Wars "chosen one" bullshit.

If Spider-Man is indeed a product of genetic engineering, and if they wanted to bring out his darker side in the sequel, they could do the six-armed Spider-Man story instead of the alien symbiote arc. (After all, if Connors turns into a giant lizard, why wouldn't Pete turn into a spider?) Venom and Spider-Man's black costume are incredibly popular, but it's still too soon to repeat that stuff. Spider-Man's got enough good villains to avoid using the Goblin, Doc Ock, or Venom again. And there's lots they could do (e.g. introduce Kraven the Hunter to play up the animal side of Spider-Man). The tie-in video game is a sequel to ASM's story, and it features genetically engineered animal-villains like Rhino and Iguana. So the "animal or man" theme could be continued in the sequel, too.


Tl;dr: there's no reason to reuse the Raimi villains, & I hope that all the hints towards Peter being some kind of "chosen one" just lead to a fake-out.

Louis Armstrong wrote:

Sharky wrote:

Call it a hunch, but I've got a good feeling about James Horner's score for this.

I was hoping for someone with a less traditional sound. Something more electronic.

Oh, Horner can do electronic alright. Listen to FIELD OF DREAMS, COMMANDO, or THE CHUMSCRUBBER for a more recent example. In fact, the later would be an interesting approach for the "teenage angst" scenes.

Just saw this poster --



If that's where the button is, how is he supposed to reach it one-handed, much less do the Spidey "metal horns" gesture??

I think making the webshooters organic was one area of deviation from the comics that was actually very smart in the Raimi movies, and going back to the mechanical ones here just seems to be an easy way to differentiate this seemingly unnecessary movie.

The button is where it's supposed to be, as shown in some of the viral marketing: http://www.parkerspov.com/evolvethroughengineering/

I prefer the mechanical webshooters. That way, his science know-how/geekiness becomes one of his assets (albeit not a "superpower"). Re: organic webshooters - the idea that web would shoot out of his wrist every time he did "metal horns" was both nonsensical and stupid. It also removes some tension in the action, because his webbing can never run out.

On the other hand, I've always felt the "oh no, I'm out of web cartridges!" schtick was a cheap way of producing artificial tension, similar to the dilithium crystals in the original Star Trek.

I love the way they pitch it as "the most anticipated film of the year".

Um, no. The buzz for THE AVENGERS, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES and PROMETHEUS have all been much greater. And I imagine that SKYFALL could be included up there, too.

Makeshift Python wrote:

I'll take a look.

FOUR MINUTES LATER

*wakes up*

Huh, what? I'll wait to rent it.

Jesus, to me it looks almost exactly like the Raimi ones.

Looks like I'm renting THE AVENGERS and SPIDER-MAN 4, and going to see PROMETHEUS and TDKR.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Looks like I'm renting THE AVENGERS and SPIDER-MAN 4, and going to see PROMETHEUS and TDKR.

I would see THE AVENGERS in the theater. It's not going to be half as enjjoyable at home.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

On the other hand, I've always felt the "oh no, I'm out of web cartridges!" schtick was a cheap way of producing artificial tension, similar to the dilithium crystals in the original Star Trek.

It can be cheap if handled poorly, yeah. Like most elements of an action piece it would need a satisfying set-up (and I don't mean just establishing that his web shooters CAN run out.)

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Jesus, to me it looks almost exactly like the Raimi ones.

That's what I was afraid of. I saw a short preview clip a few months back, and it felt like a deleted scene from one of the Raimi films. I'm not gonna watch the clip Python posted. I'm gonna see it in theatres regardless, so if it sucks I'd rather find out there.

Harmsway wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Looks like I'm renting THE AVENGERS and SPIDER-MAN 4, and going to see PROMETHEUS and TDKR.

I would see THE AVENGERS in the theater. It's not going to be half as enjjoyable at home.

But I'd have to go through all of those other MARVEL flicks.

Bleep it, I'll maybe do it.

*changes Netflix queue*

Hopefully by the time I see THE AVENGERS I can see it in a fairly empty cinema devoid of talking children and their talking parents.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Harmsway wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Looks like I'm renting THE AVENGERS and SPIDER-MAN 4, and going to see PROMETHEUS and TDKR.

I would see THE AVENGERS in the theater. It's not going to be half as enjjoyable at home.

But I'd have to go through all of those other MARVEL flicks.

Not really.

Harmsway wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Harmsway wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Looks like I'm renting THE AVENGERS and SPIDER-MAN 4, and going to see PROMETHEUS and TDKR.

I would see THE AVENGERS in the theater. It's not going to be half as enjjoyable at home.

But I'd have to go through all of those other MARVEL flicks.

Not really.

But I will anyway.

Honestly I'd say the only movies you NEED to see to understand AVENGERS plotwise is CAPTAIN AMERICA and THOR. As long as you otherwise have a cursory knowledge of the characters you're fine.

And even without CAP. AMERICA and THOR, you can fill in the gaps pretty easily.

It's not about getting it, I just wanna see the others first. I'll go through...

HULK
IRON MAN
THE INCREDIBLE HULK
IRON MAN 2
THOR
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

I've only seen IRON MAN and CAP, and I've wanted to reassess CAP.

HULK isn't part of the MARVEL UNIVERSE canon, but THE INCREDIBLE HULK does kind of act as a sequel that continues where the Ang Lee flick left off (Banner residing in South America) but at the same time completely ignores the events of the previous movie. Basically a rebootquel.