The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2

Once you finish with Cap, Hulk and Iron Man I could always send you my re-edit of Iron Man 2, Thor and Incredible Hulk in chronological order, as they take place simultaneously. It results in a five and a half hour flick, but it may make it easier to sit through them if you're constantly shifting characters and settings and thus not having to commiserate on the failings of the movies individually. It'll also make all the SHIELD stuff that buts in seem less intrusive because that's the glue holding it all together, really.
It's like five GBs though.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Once you finish with Cap, Hulk and Iron Man I could always send you my re-edit of Iron Man 2, Thor and Incredible Hulk in chronological order, as they take place simultaneously. It results in a five and a half hour flick.

Oh cyanide capsule where are thou?

Did your Controller forget to issue yours, Sharky? Or are you simply a victim of another round of budget cuts?

The White Tuxedo wrote:

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

I'm so sick of this emo crap. Who is the target demo for this movie? It can't be emo-teens. Real emo-teens would/will laugh at this movie.

And I'm tired of movies trying to portray superheros as being just like us...i.e. the scene were Spider-Man pulls off his mask, tells the kid "I'm a regular guy", then gives the kid the mask to 'make him feel strong' so that he'll want to climb out of the burning car. I'd let that little punk fall to his death. Spider-Man wastes 30 seconds trying to play psychologist to the kid, only to end up shooting his with his web and pulling him from the car before it plummets to its watery grave. Why didn't Spider-Man just do that in the first place?

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

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

I'm so sick of this emo crap. Who is the target demo for this movie? It can't be emo-teens. Real emo-teens would/will laugh at this movie.

And I'm tired of movies trying to portray superheros as being just like us..

Isn't that the whole point of Peter Parker? He's not a billionaire or Superman, he's just a kid who has his own problems going on beyond Spider-Man. Besides, I wouldn't write him off as emo. Emo kids don't have a sense of humor.

Quote :

i.e. the scene were Spider-Man pulls off his mask, tells the kid "I'm a regular guy", then gives the kid the mask to 'make him feel strong' so that he'll want to climb out of the burning car. I'd let that little punk fall to his death. Spider-Man wastes 30 seconds trying to play psychologist to the kid, only to end up shooting his with his web and pulling him from the car before it plummets to its watery grave. Why didn't Spider-Man just do that in the first place?

Because he was too busy trying to hold onto his web attached to the bridge and the car at the same time, once he lost grip of the car he was finally able to shoot his web and pull the kid out.

Yeah, the whole "superhero who's just a regular kid" is kind've the entire Spider-Man MO. That's even the reason the mask covers the entire face (he was the first comicbook character to have that), because the creators felt that then any kid could pretend they were Spider-Man.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Yeah, the whole "superhero who's just a regular kid" is kind've the entire Spider-Man MO. That's even the reason the mask covers the entire face (he was the first comicbook character to have that), because the creators felt that then any kid could pretend they were Spider-Man.

My comment was a broader swipe at the movie industry other than just Spider-Man. I'm referring to the attempt to deconstruct and demystify some of the franchises that are out there. Like, well, Bond for example. Since 1987, but with the emphasis even greater more recently, there's been an attempt to humanize Bond and "peel back the onion" (to use a Brosnan expression). Same with Batman. It's not enough to be amazed by what they do, we have to know WHY they did it and how they did it.

There are parts of this new Spider-Man movie that look interesting, but there's a lot of emo-vibe I'm getting as well. Maybe I'm just too old of a fart to enjoy these movies anymore. Maybe I'm officially passing over into the age demographic that Hollywood no longer finds desirable.

Nah, I agree with the emo thing. Although, granted, Spidey has always been one of the angstier heroes. It kinda goes hand in hand with being a loser teenager.

I think, on the other hand, that it's hilarious that they are bringing back "he invented mechanical webshooters at fifteen", while trying to downplay the idea of the character being a dork. Gone are the glasses, and now he has cool hair and skateboards. You're trying to tell me this kid was a loser in high school? As if.

I mean, this is literally the first page of the first Spider-Man comic:


Being a mopey loser is kind've the character's deal. It's why when he gets the powers his first reaction is to be all selfish and cash in, which then leads to Uncle Ben's death, and thus the whole "great power, great yadda-yadda". I mean, Parker becomes Spider-MAN to escape from being a dorky high schooler no one likes. Hence the quips and the jokes, which is something the Raimi movies never really did well.

In the Raimi movies, I felt like they turned Peter Parker into Clark Kent a little too much. That is to say, a good-natured but clumsy and socially awkward mild-mannered dweeb. That's not really who Parker is. Peter is just so wrapped up in his own problems, whether that's his classes at school or his heroics as Spidey or a million other worries (money, family, girls, health) that he comes off as abrasive and self-centred and unlikeable to those who don't know any better -- the audience always knowing better, of course.

In the first comic, he actually gets invited to go to a dance and refuses because he's going to catch a demonstration of radioactivity at the University lab. Which is, of course, where the spider bites him. It's not a field trip, Parker actually chooses to go, which I guess adds some additional layers to his eventual fate, but the point is that this is how much of a nerd this guy is.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Once you finish with Cap, Hulk and Iron Man I could always send you my re-edit of Iron Man 2, Thor and Incredible Hulk in chronological order, as they take place simultaneously. It results in a five and a half hour flick, but it may make it easier to sit through them if you're constantly shifting characters and settings and thus not having to commiserate on the failings of the movies individually. It'll also make all the SHIELD stuff that buts in seem less intrusive because that's the glue holding it all together, really.
It's like five GBs though.

Awesome. I've got a new laptop with a terabyte harddrive anyway.

Heh, I was gonna go a local place to rent HULK and IRON MAN, but they were rented out. So I've got IRON MAN 2 coming from Netflix tomorrow. Hopefully this place will have the other titles back by then, but I was really bummed. I'd stream IRON MAN 2 from Netflix, but it's the wrong ratio.

http://movies.yahoo.com/video/ymovies-6393699/the-amazing-spider-man-clip-police-chase-29575359.html

Kinda liking Horner's score... We'll see how it pans out.

Review of James Horner's score.

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It seems that less and less time passes before the comic book franchises get rebooted these days. It’s probably just my imagination, but I’m sure there are limited edition soundtrack releases that last longer than the gap between the openings of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and Sony’s new reboot, directed by the appropriately-named Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield. I daresay that by the time the bananas I just bought have ripened, I’ll be writing a review of the next reboot (but unless my school friend Phil Arachnid directs it, it won’t have a more appropriately-named director than this one).

Since Danny Elfman’s wonderful scores for Raimi’s first two Spidey films, the world of scoring comic book characters has undergone a Hans Zimmer-inspired sea change. Out have gone colourful themes, out has gone outward expression of musical emotion; in has come a lot of texture and a whole load of angst. It seems that having a man dress in a colourful costume go round performing gravity-defying feats of crime-busting is absolutely fine, but accompanying him with any hint of melody while doing so – well, that would just sound silly. It is therefore a huge surprise to find James Horner attached to The Amazing Spider-Man – quite apart from the fact that it’s a complete departure from his usual earnest Oscar-bait-but-no-Oscar fare (and according to one interview he took quite some convincing by his friend Webb to take the film on), the fact that he’s an old-school film composer – the kind that film critics just love to hate these days, daring to inject music that actually has something to say into films – it’s a surprise to find him here.

As it turns out, Horner’s score is indeed very old-school – a throwback to those pre-Batman Begins days – so I imagine listeners will fall into one of two camps – some will punch the air in delight at the emergence of what they will see as “proper film music” getting a chance to shine in a film like this – others will shake their heads at how old-fashioned it all is. Guess which camp I’m putting my tent up in. (My shoulder’s come out of its socket, I’ve punched the air with such force.) There’s something in this score that has been absent for so long from any of these films – a proper, rounded, developed character theme. Its noble heraldry is a joy when first revealed over the opening credits, a joy when it blasts triumphantly from murkier passages in the action sequences, a joy when Horner uses it as the basis for several key dramatic set pieces but takes it off in unexpected directions.

One of those directions comes in the love theme – closely linked melodically and harmonically to the main theme, the piece – heard briefly in “Young Peter” at the start of the album, developed over the course of several cues until finally being revealed in full in the late “Rooftop Kiss” and allowed to soar over the end credits – it’s not like anything I’ve heard in one of these films before, so genuinely touching and loving, particularly in its solo piano form. And so closely-linked are so many of the melodic lines in the score – even “The Equation” with its surprising, gentle guitar strumming – the whole thing feels so organic, one big well-thought-through whole rather than a series of individual pieces.

Needless to say, most of the score is straight orchestral, but there are electronics from time to time. Horner actually tries to sound a bit Elfmanish at times with the electronics – he doesn’t pull it off as well as Elfman himself, but neither does he embarrass himself. More surprising are some of the other effects – an odd feel of West Side Story emerges from the finger-cracking of the slightly misjudged comedy of “Playing Basketball”, a feeling that grows even stronger in the dance rhythms of “Rumble in the Subway”. Something very strange beckons in the latter stages of “Ben’s Death”, with some hulky masculine chanting which I can only describe as sounding like the Village People – everybody is, indeed, kung fu fighting. And I have to report that it is a little bit frightening. Fortunately it doesn’t last long.

There isn’t much strange about the action music – and there’s a lot of it. Powerful, brassy, it’s stirring stuff. The swirling strings of “Metamorphosis” which lead into one of the grandest performances of the main theme certainly count as a highlight. ”The Bridge” introduces a hint or two of dissonance, along with some interesting vocal effects (no Village People in sight). But the stars are the 14-minute trio of “Lizard at School”, “Saving New York” and “Oscorp Tower” which make up the explosive finale. The way Horner ploughs such a dynamically fluid route through such a lengthy period of uninterrupted action without the attention even once threatening to wane is truly impressive; I doubt that an extended period of thrills like this has been heard for a while. The music goes through a gamut of emotions – an ever-changing, carefully-managed mixture of light and dark, always with an acute sense of forward momentum – a mixture of hair-raising thrills with heartfelt feelings. It’s the stuff of a master film composer at work. But – while it’s a great, all-too-rare treat to have a proper end titles cue at the end – the lengthy “I Can’t See You Any More” which separates it from the explosive action may be an impressive composition in its own right, but feels like it slows things down a little too much on album.

Any film composer who has notched up well over a hundred scores (as James Horner has) will almost inevitably offer up some familiar-sounding parts in any new work. Because of his reputation, this particular film composer will of course come under greater scrutiny. I am surprised – and pleased – to report that while there are a few recognisable faces from the past, the music here mostly sounds fresh and new. The greatest surprise of all is that Horner resisted the temptation to depict the film’s villainy with his patented four-note “danger motif”. This is in fact the first score of his in a very long time (that I can remember, in any case) that doesn’t feature that oh-so-familiar musical phrase at all. (If you ask me, Horner should be given some sort of Special Achievement Oscar for managing to write a score without it.)

I predict a really mixed reaction to this one. Those who have become completely attuned to the modern ways (or indeed never even knew the previous ones) will probably find it as strange that a film like The Amazing Spider-Man could contain music like this as I find it strange that a film like Iron Man could contain its laughable attempt at music. I daresay various reviews of the film will direct predictably cretinous venom at Horner for putting such heart-on-sleeve music in a film in 2012. If the film does well then perhaps – just perhaps – coupled with Alan Silvestri’s own admirably old-fashioned score for the phenomenally successful The Avengers – we might see a bit of a turning point. I won’t hold my breath; instead I’ll offer the vacuous quip that Horner has spun a tantalising web here, one which doesn’t work absolutely throughout the gargantuan run time of the album, but which feels like a three-course-meal in a world mostly serving up McScores. ****

http://www.movie-wave.net/?p=2517

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I predict a really mixed reaction to this one

no shit.

--I've not given a Horner score a blast probably since Perfect Storm/Enemy at the Gates both of which have their moments but can be quite similar (though The Decision to Turn Around has singular moments for Perfect Storm). Anyway gang, I might just bother with the Spiderman score to see just how it sounds.
As for the movie, shrug of the shoulders.

Hey!

I just looked at the full cast list for the first time:

Where in the Fuck is Mary Jane?

Control wrote:

I don't get it!

:evil:

There's really nothing to figure out...

The humour is way too subtle for Jay Seven.

Control wrote:

There's really nothing to figure out...

I'm going to take a stab at it: Batman and Iron Man are making so much money that they are throwing it at one another like loose change found in the couch cushions, and poor little Spider-Man (which suddenly feels like an after thought compared to THE DARK KNIGHT or THE AVENGERS) is on the ground trying to get in on the action and scoop up some for himself.

As Horner's score...so far I like what I've heard; also like the soundtrack for Prometheus, so maybe this is a good year for music scores. I wouldn't be able to recognize a score for THE HULK or IRON MAN or GREEN LANTERN if my life depended on it. Maybe SKYFALL will benefit from this trend.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Control wrote:

There's really nothing to figure out...

I'm going to take a stab at it: Batman and Iron Man are making so much money that they are throwing it at one another like loose change found in the couch cushions, and poor little Spider-Man (which suddenly feels like an after thought compared to THE DARK KNIGHT or THE AVENGERS) is on the ground trying to get in on the action and scoop up some for himself.

As Horner's score...so far I like what I've heard; also like the soundtrack for Prometheus, so maybe this is a good year for music scores. I wouldn't be able to recognize a score for THE HULK or IRON MAN or GREEN LANTERN if my life depended on it. Maybe SKYFALL will benefit from this trend.

IRON MAN had a score? I thought it was just some guy playing the same guitar chords over and over again.

Tubes wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Control wrote:

There's really nothing to figure out...

I'm going to take a stab at it: Batman and Iron Man are making so much money that they are throwing it at one another like loose change found in the couch cushions, and poor little Spider-Man (which suddenly feels like an after thought compared to THE DARK KNIGHT or THE AVENGERS) is on the ground trying to get in on the action and scoop up some for himself.

As Horner's score...so far I like what I've heard; also like the soundtrack for Prometheus, so maybe this is a good year for music scores. I wouldn't be able to recognize a score for THE HULK or IRON MAN or GREEN LANTERN if my life depended on it. Maybe SKYFALL will benefit from this trend.

IRON MAN had a score? I thought it was just some guy playing the same guitar chords over and over again.

The same guy wrote the music for GAME OF THRONES.

:x

thank God j7's not here to ask what the hell that image means.