Movie Review: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, 8 Stars And Amazing 3D!

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First of all this review will not have any spoilers, so relax you can read the whole thing and not be precisely tipped off about anything. I do talk loosely about one scene that bothered me but no details are given. However the comments are free reign and anything goes as far as spoilers!

I saw director Marc Webb's THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN last night in IMAX 3D (yes, I scored a poster) and let me tell you it is well worth the price of admission.

Allow me to admit that I am very biased toward Spider-man. He was MY superhero growing up so if this movie is halfway decent, I'm going to love it. I was smiling broadly many, many times through this movie which is something I normally don't do.

There is only one scene in the movie that was far from being perfect. Towards the end there is a need for our webslinger to get across town and he needs assistance. The assistance that's rendered totally does not belong in the movie and I was actually thinking about one the best moments from Sam Raimi's Spidey universe and hoping that Webb wouldn't feel the need to replicate it somehow. 

You know what though? That scene smells like studio interference, not the director. This is complete conjecture on my part, but I can't see Webb buying into it. I think Sony over-analyzed what was good with the original franchise and tried to do it again (pun intended). We'll discuss in the comments. The intentions were good.

My movie rating was quite severely cut simply because of this scene! It weakened my suspension of disbelief. It messed up the story for me. It blew my total enjoyment frankly. Everything that had nicely been built previous to this was dampened. But not devastated.

Enough on the subject for now.

What else? Aunt May's hair should have been grey or greying and not perfectly dyed, but Sally Field otherwise was perfect. Martin Sheen was a bit too close to Peter, but I liked the message he gave him.

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What did I like? More like what did I love! The 3D was jaw dropping at times, especially in the end sequence. You can tell the native 3D truly captured detailed scenes like the panning aerial shots of New York and it's bridges. I love the feeling that the 3D was caught effortlessly - a natural, green feeling if you will. You can thank 3ality Technica and Red for that. John Schwartzman again lived up to his name as one of the world's premier cinematographers. There were only two moments where anything broke the screen and came at you and those were suitably ejected using visual effects. 

The fight scenes were breathtaking, really. Such inventive choreography! When Parker turns into Spider-man you can feel his worry and excitement at the same time. Wonderful directing achievement.

James Horner slammed another movie score home run. Loved his work on this.

The visual effects? Wow. Remember SUPERMAN's tagline "You will believe a man can fly"? Ok, maybe you don't, but it applies here... "You will believe a man can swing. And shoots web from his wrists. And duck bullets. You get the idea..." Beautiful job guys! And a happy marriage between practical and visual effects too. Check out this great article (fx guide) on the various effects for THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.

Make up your own mind about Andrew Garfield. Don't read other reviews. Don't listen to anybody else. For me though, HE WAS PERFECT. This guy was born to be Peter Parker. Other than being slightly tall for the role, he makes up for in every other way. His looks, posture, physique, voice, mannerisms and his inept social skills was portrayed PERFECTLY. Let me say that again. PERFECTLY. I should know, Peter Parker / Spider-man was everything for me growing up. If you are a fan of the character, go see this movie.

Emma Stone nailed Gwen Stacy too, but at times she is almost didn't seem to fit the science geek persona. Rhys Ifans did remarkably well with Curt Connors / The Lizard given that everything I had seen him in previously was no where near this role.

I could care less about the timing of this reboot. I could literally watch a Spider-man movie every six months and not tire of it. Try telling it's too soon for a spidey movie to any true fan.

In conclusion, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN could have easily been 9 stars, as the cinematography, acting, 3D, score and visual / special effects were outstanding. A few more edits, a reshoot perhaps and a tad more Peter Parker struggling with this thoughts ALONE would have sealed it. But Marc Webb did an admirable job. Well worth your time and money! It's not THE AVENGERS by any stretch, but heck - this is our friendly neighborhood Spider-man.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has done $7.5m from domestic midnight shows last night which is on par with what SPIDER-MAN 3 made. IMAX pushed the way with a $4000 screen average.

Was the 3D as good as PROMETHEUS? Yes in my books. On par. Get out and see it!! 8 stars.

Special thanks to Empire Theatres for the screening!
 

New James Horner Interview

Jim here. Check out a new interview with James Horner over at Film Music Magazine:

All of these melodic feelings, and many more from dozens of memorable Horner scores can be felt amidst the jungles of Pandora, the latest, and one of the most impressive epic worlds that Horner’s music has allowed us to visit. It’s a world that further evolves for “Avatar,” Horner’s third teaming with writer-director James Cameron, who first let Horner feel the militaristic terror of being swarmed by “Aliens” before segueing to the epic romance and tragedy of “Titanic.” This winner for Best Picture and Director also brought Horner his first Oscar for Best Score. And it’s likely Academy voters will also take notice of this majestic visual, and musical leap into a score that conveys an alien world, and culture like few soundtracks before it. For Pandora’s jungle is filled with haunted electronics, the songs of its Na’Vi inhabitants, the tender, and the tender, transcendent emotions of a human visiting its world in their form. Yet Pandora’s dense sonic terrain will also be invaded by the dark strings and military fury of the terrans who covet its riches- something the Na’Vi won’t give up easily with exhilarating “War” music that will thrill audiences, and Horner’s vocal fans in particular.

One of favourite movie score composers. What I am most curious about is how he brings in the Na'vi language!

Listen to Clips of James Horner's "Avatar" Score!

Michael here. On first listen I am loving this music. It sounds very big: orchestral and bombastic with a cool electronic and tribal twist. And I love the way he layers the vocals into the tracks.

To me it seems like it will be as memorable as anything Horner has done. Music is so important to Cameron's movies, and with the years Horner has been working on this I am sure I will listen to it on repeat just like Braveheart, Aliens, Titanic, etc.

Listen to the one-minute samples from the Avatar OST below:

http://soundcloud.com/user2753116/sets/avatar_ost_samples

Thoughts? Which track is your favorite so far? Chime in below!

Give Leona Lewis Some Credit (s) - Will Sing I SEE YOU For AVATAR

Jim here. Looks like Leona Lewis has the AVATAR closing credits song wrapped up. The song is entitled I SEE YOU.

She will not be alone for the performance. Oscar winning James Horner and Simon Franglen are producing; these are the same guys who helped Celine Dion on TITANIC's MY HEART WILL GO ON. Horner is of course delivering the movie's score.

You may remember Lewis from winning X FACTOR.

Leona should help bring in the female demographic and underscore the romance that is embedded in the special effects.

Quick Post: Some "Avatar" Bite Size Pieces

Jim here. Darkoo - an avid AVATAR fan and MarketSaw enthusiast (thanks!) dropped some more background for us to digest. Nothing of extreme importance, but nice to hear some stories associated with the project:

1. AVATAR Score: James Horner - Forces Of Geek have a nice post by Tommy Pearson about Hollywood film composers and naturally James Horner is talked about. Here is an excerpt pertaining to AVATAR...

"He's worked with Cameron before, of course, most notably on Aliens and Titanic, which won Horner two Oscars. They were fairly traditional orchestral scores but Avatar will have a different approach, employing all sorts of exotic electronic sounds and soundscapes mixed with orchestra - sounds that would be impossible to replicate on a piano. So Horner finds himself working with mock-ups to enable Cameron to hear properly what the score will sound like. When I talked to him about it, there was an air of excitement about doing something new, but also a whiff of apprehension. We'll hear the results at the end of 2009."

2. Sidebar has an audio interview with Neville Page who of course worked on AVATAR. Neville was very coy with the interviewers, if fact to the point where he was putting together sentences after reading them in his mind first! Kind of disjointed, but who can blame him? I certainly can't. Anyway, an interesting listen - especially in the last 1/4 of it where they talk about AVATAR. Love the part where Cameron shows him the ORIGINAL concept drawings of ALIENS and THE ABYSS. Here is the MP3.

Enjoy!

Na'vi Alien Language Incorporated In "Avatar" Music Soundtrack

Another breaking story from your source for all things Avatar!

One of my better known sources (to me anyway!) just tipped me on what is happening with the soundtrack for the movie - read on intrepid James Cameron fans!

We have known for some time now that James Horner has been attached to "Avatar" to deliver the soundtrack for the epic 3D sci-fi.

But what we didn't know was that they have been at it for some time now - since July of last year! The task at hand has been to create music for the alien race that resides on the planet Pandora called the Na'vi. The Na'vi have their own language and yes, it has been created just for this movie. In fact, James Horner has been hard at work meshing in this newly developed language into his soundtrack for the movie! The singers must get the pronunciations just right.

Horner has been working with at least 5 singers to accomplish this feat for the movie sequences and it seems that they have been very successful - most of that integration has been completed. The singers have been awe of Horner in how much of a visionary he is and how productive he can be in completing an obviously challenging task.

Music is such a key component to James Cameron's films. Think Titanic. I may get some comments to the contrary, but I really think that Celine Dion's mega-watt performance of "My Heart Will Go On" is one of the best, if not THE best song ever attached to a movie. Honestly, I can't imagine what that alien language is going to sound like but I can say without a doubt, that the music, language and the integration into the movie is going to be out of this world. And I don't mean that as a pun!