Tag Archives: Andrew Garfield

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Spider-Man Is Coming to Marvel Studios!

spidey marvel studios

Wow. I can’t lie. I never thought this would happen. Even after the news about the leaked emails between Marvel and Sony detailing talks that had been going on for some time. But happened it has. Marvel Studios now has the rights to Spider-Man.

This is huge news! We’re most likely going to see Spider-Man in Captain America 3. That movie is based on the Civil War storyline, which saw heroes siding with either Captain America or Iron Man over the issue of superhuman registration. Stuck in the middle between the two of them is Spider-Man. He was such a central part of Civil War that a Civil War movie without Spider-Man would seem incomplete. But that’s no longer an issue because Marvel and Sony have reached a deal that brings Spider-Man into the Cinematic Marvel Universe.

Not only that, but we get Spider-Man in the Avengers. I swear, as I typed those words, I let out a huge squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

spiderman and the avengers

There is some bad news associated with this. Andrew Garfield is reportedly out as Spider-Man. I’m not a fan of this decision. I thought Andrew Garfield was perfect as Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He was a perfect Spider-Man in two unfortunately very imperfect Spider-Man films. It would be great if Marvel reversed this decision and recast him as Spider-Man, but that seems unlikely.

garfield spiderman

It’s funny, looking back 20 years ago the film rights to Spider-Man were such a tangled mess that it looked like we would never get a Spider-Man movie. So many parties claimed to have rights to the film version of Spider-Man. It was a legal Gordian Knot. Read some news articles from then about the situation and you will find it amazing that we’ve had 5 Spider-Man movies made since then.

While I am sad that Garfield won’t be returning to the title role, Spider-Man coming to Marvel Studios is awesome news! When it comes to superhero movies, Marvel Studios has a reputation for quality that is unmatched by Fox or Sony. The worst Marvel Studios movie is arguably the first Captain America movie Iron Man 3, and that’s still a pretty good movie. But look at every other Marvel Studios movie! Name your top 5 superhero movies. Chances are, most of them are Marvel Studios films. Spider-Man is coming home and is going to be put in the best possible hands. Spider-fans everywhere are rejoicing and with good reason. We don’t know yet who will be wearing the Spider-Man mask, but for the first time in a while, I’m confident that whoever it is will be wearing it in a quality movie.

Now we just need Marvel Studios to make a similar deal for Wolverine.

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Guardian of the Galaxy – Review

Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-Poster-High-Res

I had been counting down the days until the release of Guardians of the Galaxy since last year’s New York Comic Con Marvel Unlimited Plus Members Only panel. It was in that panel that we were shown, months before others were, an extra long trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy. Twice. I remember walking out of that panel and telling my friends, “Guardians of the Galaxy is the movie I’m looking forward to most in 2014.” I was convinced that even though many superhero movies were making their way to the theater in 2014, Guardians would be the best.

Guardians of the Galaxy totally lives up to the hype that I built up for it in my head. This is awesome news for regular folks. I don’t think the average guy on the street built this movie up in his head the way I did. Most people I talked to in the weeks leading up to Guardians of the Galaxy’s release date were a mix of cautiously optimistic or just flat out confused. One person told me, “Bradley Cooper voicing a raccoon? I don’t know how I feel about that.” I wanted to say, “I’ll tell you how you feel about that. Awesome. That’s how you feel. Awesome.” But every now and then I like to keep the obnoxious craziness inside me and I just smiled.

The characters in Guardians of the Galaxy are not household names. This movie could have easily flopped. I think it’s the strength of the script, director James Gunn and the stellar cast that made it work big time. Chris Pratt is awesome as Star-Lord. I’m currently reading a Guardians of the Galaxy comic, and Chris Pratt’s is the voice that hear in my head for Star-Lord. I love Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, but Andrew Garfield is not the voice I hear in my head when I read Spider-Man comics. Neither is Toby Maguire. Maybe it’s that Star-Lord hasn’t had countless iterations on film and television the way Spider-Man has, but whatever the reason, Star-Lord is Chris Pratt to me.

star lord gotg

One of the reasons that I made sure to see Guardians on opening weekend was that AMC was giving away Guardians of the Galaxy pins to their Stubs Card members if you saw it that weekend. You had the chance of getting Star-Lord, Rocket, Groot, Gamora and Drax. There was also a rare 1 in 100 chase pin of the Guardians insignia. I really wanted that pin. Luckily, I got my second choice, Rocket. Unfortunately, so did my wife. I wanted to trade one of our Rocket pins with a friend who got Groot, but didn’t have a chance to do so before the movie started and he saw how awesome Groot is.

i am groot

Groot steals the movie. He’s like a more awesome Hodor. I would totally go see a Groot and Rocket buddy movie. Just the two of them out in space ripping shit up. Yes, please. I would see that movie in 3D, possibly even twice. Marvel, give us a Rocket and Groot movie, or even better, a season of Rocket and Groot on Netflix!

In case there was any question, Zoe Saldana is just as hot green as she is brown. Yeah, I wasn’t surprised by that one either.

zoe saldana gamora

Can we talk about the soundtrack for a minute? Hooked on a Feeling, The Pina Colada Song…this is my favorite soundtrack of oldie but goodies since Reservoir Dogs. Sorry, The Big Chill…

If you haven’t seen Guardians of the Galaxy yet because you don’t think it counts because the Avengers aren’t in it, stop thinking that and go see it. Thanos, the mastermind bad guy of The Avengers film, is the mastermind bad guy of this movie. I don’t think Guardians necessarily plays into what’s going to happen in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but it definitely contains a lot of necessary exposition for The Infinity Gauntlet movie that we are undoubtedly heading towards.

Yes, Guardians of the Galaxy is worth seeing in the theater, and worth seeing in 3D at that. Sadly, it is not the best superhero movie of 2014, but that is only because Captain America: The Winter Soldier was so damn good. Go see Guardians of the Galaxy. And then see it again.

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The Amazing Spider-Man (At The Theater 2012 #8)

I’m of two minds about The Amazing Spider-Man, On the one hand, I thought the story was great. I’m a big fan of the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book, and I thought this movie was almost a direct adaptation of the first six issues of Bendis and Bagley’s Ultimate Spider-Man, just with the Lizard standing in for the Green Goblin and Gwen taking the place of Mary Jane. On the other hand, I felt like I wasn’t really watching a new movie, but rather a revised draft of 2002’s Spider-Man. There were some differences, but not enough to make it feel like it was a new movie.

That said, I thought Andrew Garfield was excellent as Peter Parker. I like that this Peter Parker wasn’t just a complete nerd, but still an outsider. It was Peter Parker by way of James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.

“You know something? You read too many comic books.”

I also thought Emma Stone was excellent at Gwen Stacey. She is such an improvement over Kirsten Dunst as in every way. I never understood the casting of Kirsten Dunst in Spider-Man. I think the only movie I liked her in was Bring It On. But I’ve loved Emma Stone in everything she’s been in, including this movie.

Adorable.

Their chemistry together worked so well.

The dialogue was great. I can’t decide which was my favorite line. It was either:

Mrs. Ritter: “Peter, don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
Peter Parker: “But those are the best kind.”
or

Spider-Man: “Oh, no! You have found my weakness. Small knives!”

I have to say, as much as I liked The Amazing Spider-Man, I am very glad that I saw it before The Dark Knight Rises. Don’t get me wrong, I thought The Amazing Spider-Man was a great movie, but if I had seen The Dark Knight Rises before it, I may have had bigger issues with the issues I have with it.

The Lizard looked a little silly. I wish they had gone with a more long-snouted gator head, like in the comic. Here he looks like a hairless, green ape. Even a roided up Geico Gecco would have looked better.

Sir, you’re needed on the SyFy lot for their latest Friday night movie.

My biggest problem with the movie was the scene where the crane operator gets all of the cranes to swing in the same direction, so that Spider-Man is able to swing uptown easier. It took me out of the movie completely. It might be the cheesiest scene I’ve seen in a movie this year.

The worst!

In a year where we have The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, I feel like The Amazing Spider-Man may get swept under the rug and not remembered. It did well enough to merit a sequel, but I can’t help thinking it would have been the biggest or second biggest comic book movie of 2011 if it were released last year.