VIDEO REVIEW | The Amazing Spiderman 2 (Spoiler Free)

This is my spoiler free review of The Amazing Spiderman 2.  For my full review of the movie, watch the video.  Otherwise here's the quick version.

THE GOOD

• The cast is great, and they have great chemistry.  Any flaws with the characters came from the script and the direction.
• The relationships between the characters are amazing.  Even when the dialogue itself is on the goofy side, the actors manage to sell it.
• Some of the shots in the action sequences are pretty amazing.  

THE BAD

• The is way to complex.  By complex I don't mean complex in an Inception kind of way where the multiple plot lines intersect and are dependent upon one another.  This movie is complex like the knot of tables which are stuffed in a box in your garage.  It's a bunch of individual things crammed in a small space and coincidentally tied together, but they have nothing to do with each other.  It really feels like the script was written by a committee.  The director had some ideas, the studio had some ideas, the writer had some ideas, and they wanted all of it to setup a franchise.  The end result is a mess.
• The tone is all over the place.  The film starts with a thematically and dramatically series 10 minute prologue.  This feeds into a minute actions sequence filled with slap stick humor and goofy jokes.  The entire movie plays out this way.  One character is played very down to earth, and the next comes off like a cartoon.
• The music is strangely heavy handed.  Multiple times a song starts playing which is so over-the-top it pulls you out of the movie.  There's a romantic scene about a third of the way through the movie which comes off like a scene from the TV show Friends because of the music.
• The villains' motives make absolutely no sense. 
• Some of the action sequences feel more like boss fights from a video game than a realistic battle.
• The section after the climax doesn't work at all.
• There's multiple sequence where a super villain attacks a crowd of people with either explosive electrical bolts or bullets from a machine gun.  For some reason the crowds stand around waiting to be put in harms way rather than fleeing certain death.

THE WEIRD

• The Max character feels like he's from a different movie.
• They hired Paul Giamatti to play the Rhino. He's in the movie for may be 3 minutes. Why would you hire Oscar level talent for 3 minutes of yelling?
• Chris Cooper plays Norman Osbourne...for about 3 minutes.  He's covered in makeup, and he barely moves.  Why would you hire Oscar level talent for a 3 minute sequence?
• There's a scene with a child in a Spiderman costume which makes absolutely no sense.  You'll know what I'm talking about.

OVERALL

I enjoyed the film, but I can't imagine watching it again anytime soon.  It's a poorly scripted film, but the cast, humor, and action sequences keep things from ever getting boring.   I'd give it a 6 out of 10.

VIDEO BLOG | How to Get Great Audio and Video Without Spending a Lot of Money

For my first adventure in video blogging I decide to do a video on my setup.  I spent a good bit of time patch working my setup together, but I think it looks and sounds great for a casual video blog.  This video walks you through how you can have a similar setup.

Christmas Movie Reviews From My Wife

Every day until Christmas my wife is reviewing either a Christmas movie or Christmas episode of a TV series on her blog.  Her selections are all over place. Some are Christmas classics. Others are children's cartoons, and occasionally you get a rated R action movie.  But they're all Christmas themed.

A Charlie Brown Christmas & Thomas the Train

Die Hard

The Polar Express

A Curious George Christmas

Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas

Justice League:  Comfort & Joy

The Holiday

Video Blog: How Politically Correct Witch Hunts are Killing Comedy and Make No Sense

Movie Review Roundup: Week of June 21st 2013

Here's this week's Rotten Tomato round up of new releases.

World War Z - 70%

It's uneven -- and fans of the book may be annoyed by how thoroughly it diverges from the source material -- but World War Z still brings smart, fast-moving thrills and a solid performance from Brad Pitt to the zombie genre.

Monsters University - 77%

It doesn't scale the heights of Pixar's finest efforts, but Monsters University is still funny and thoughtful family entertainment for viewers of any age.

The Bling Ring - 59%

While it's certainly timely and beautifully filmed, The Bling Ring suffers from director Sofia Coppola's failure to delve beneath the surface of its shallow protagonists' real-life crimes.

Maniac - 52%

Shocking and bloody. Maniac is smarter than your average psychological slasher, but it's often undermined by its excessive gore.

News Round Up: June 20 2013

If you don't know, I'm just some random movie/tv lover in a small town in Texas.  So I don't have any unique scoops (though they are filming Transformers 4 just 8 miles from my house). But I do follow a number blogs, vodcasts, and news sites. With that, I can round up the interesting news of the day.


Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is Coming to Comic-

Director James Wan in Talks to Direct Fast & Furious 7

The Rock is Rumored to Join Terminator 5

There's a Release Date for the Independence Day Sequel

Movie Review: Fast & Furious 6

Just two years after Fast Five surprised audiences and critics, Fast & Furious 6 arrives continuing further down the new path paved by Fast Five. The stunts are bigger (and stupider), and the plot is thinner.  In most cases I would hold that against a film, but in this case, it just kind of works. 

Speaking of the plot...The Rock, who was an antagonist of sorts in Fast Five, tracks down Vin Diesel and his crew to ask for their help stopping an evil heist crew which contains someone Diesel long believed to be dead.  That's the setup, and it gives the film just enough plot to string together 2 hours of fun.

Personally I wasn't a big fan of the first three films in the series.  Some how this series took a turn towards awesome with the fifth film, and the sixth film is a great followup.  After the shocking increase in quality with the fifth film, there was a lot of potential for this film to disappoint, but this movie goer left satisfied. This franchise knows it's sweet spot, and it boldly plays to it's strengths with little concern for it's weaknesses.

On the negative side, this film makes no effort to add any real depth to the film.  It is a proudly superficial film with broad themes (i.e. family and loyalty).  Likewise, for a film with little plot, the small amount of plot didn't seem to make much sense. I didn't understand why the main villain was so evil or why anyone would choose to follow him.  They're written the way they are simply to act as the evil version of Diesel's crew.  Finally, this film really stretches the audiences suspension of disbelief.  This film exists in a world where the laws of physics have little bearing, and where a car's windshield is a nice cushion after a 60 mph crash. If that will bother you, this film will drive you bonkers.

But who am I kidding, I don't actually care about anything I just wrote about.  I like my Fast & Furious films big, bold, and a little stupid.

The producers have clearly chosen to embrace this franchises absurdity and just go with it. They know what the audience wants, and they work really hard to provide it.  

We get more one liners. 

We get more car chases.
We get more street races.

We get more hand to hand fights.

We get the craziest stunts yet.

This is a movie where a long chase sequence involving a tank is neither the most exciting sequences in the film or the most ridiculous.  The tank chase is only the build up for an even more exciting climax.

The inclusion of Gina Cerano (or as I first knew her, Crush on American Gladiators) is a nice addition to the cast. Once again they use The Rock greatly to the film's advantage.  In particular they did a really nice job of building the relationship between The Rock and Vin Diesel.

This cast may not be filmed with great actors, but they are great entertainers.  For this genre, that is exactly what I want.

In conclusion, this is exactly what I want from a popcorn film. If you're looking for pure escapism and don't mind a film which boldly ignores reality, this is a fun film.

Overall I give this film an 8 out of 10.

But that’s just my opinion.  What did you think?

***DISCLAIMER***

I review films based on what they aspire to be.  If a film has no pretentious aspirations and entertains me for two hours, I can forgive all kinds of plot holes.  However, if a film attempts to present itself as a grounded take on the subject matter, I will judge the plot more stringently. 

I can almost guarantee you that I will re-watch Man of Steel far more times than this film.  However, this film accomplished what it set out to do far better.