Much as was the case with The Cabin in the Woods, I missed The Amazing Spider-Man when it was released in theaters last year. There are a bunch of possible reasons for this, but the most obvious was that it just felt too soon to reboot the Spider-Man story. Sam Raimi’s trilogy had only ended 5 years ago, and the first movie was only 5 years before that, and I just felt that if they weren’t continuing the story that they’d be better off leaving Spider-Man alone for a while. However, over the weekend I watched it (thanks to a free weekend of HBO) and I generally enjoyed it. While it’s too far removed from the film’s release to give it a full review (though I’d generally give it a B+), I thought I’d do another “Not Exactly a Review” filled with my disorganized thoughts.
I’ve always believed that films should be appreciated on their own merits, and that it’s unfair to judge a film either positively based on the reflected glow of other films (The Dark Knight Rises benefitting from the praise for The Dark Knight) or negatively simply because it is being compared to something universally loved. However, it is fair, and in this case unavoidable, to compare this film with the Raimi trilogy, given the close time frame and wide appeal of the previous films. The Amazing Spider-Man tries to blaze its own trail, succeeding in some ways and failing in others. Continue reading
Epic is almost exactly what you would expect from the trailers. In many ways, it’s a ripoff of Ferngully, minus the obvious environmental message (one of Ferngully‘s most endearing attributes). It varyingly hints at or downright copies elements from that movie, from characters, to story, to design. It also borrows from a slew of other films, including Arthur and the Minimoys, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Spiderwick Chronicles and Happy Feet. I knew all of this going into the theater, and had already begun to write my review in my head when something unexpected happened. Epic won me over.
The Love Pirate 