Monday, July 25, 2011

...I come back with a rant about nothing.

So I just saw the new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man; you know, the re-launch of the Spider-Man movie franchise by Columbia/Sony. And with Sam Raimi being done and moving on, the director is Marc Webb - who I honestly only know from (500) Days of Summer. But I am not going to judge based on that. The trailer on the other hand speaks fairly well for opening hopes and potential.

Trailers, as most know, are there to grasp your attention and draw you - the consumer - into wanting to go see the film for said trailer. And more often than not, the "blockbuster: summer films have been pretty much based on an existing name (ip as most know it as). When you initially see something you have grown up with and enjoyed at one point on the screen you may or may not smile. Most of us get excited before the reality that they never really go by all of the source material, but still maintain a hope that not only will a movie be good, but will at least remain true to source in some extent.

This attempt at spider man seems to be a true fresh start, explaining more in depth the character of Peter Parker before, and how being Spider-man changes his life. Some aspects of which I think look better for a more character driven story. However, one cannot forget that there was one beforehand that seemed to be more action driven in comparison to what has been seen thus far. Yes, I am thinking waaaay too goddamn much into this. For those who wish to view said trailer, it can be found here.

The only thing I can really say rubs me odd is the same thing that rubs most people odd these days when it comes to movies and Hollywood's lack of ideas (and the ones they have are sub-par by a long shot for a good run now). Yes I share the same bewilderment that they are rebooting a film franchise so soon after the last one ended. However I have to say that they can get away with it, as there is more than one Spider-man comic; and the way Marvel divides up titles and story lines means they can get away with it.

I say again as a start that this one looks more dramatic than the last run. Which would probably do the series some good as Spider-Man and the X-Men IPs seemed to come off as more dramatic over time. And truth be told, had a pretty decent balance of character development mixed with action. At least when I read the comics. Both also share a good first outing, and a kick-ass sophomore run movie wise.

The only gripe that I have had real discussion was in Spider-man, how the web shooters were not there and thus taking away from the geek quality of Spider-man being more a thinker and not just using brute force. I will honestly say that it made sense to have his body make the stuff as he gained spider powers and, well spiders produce webs. Either way, its fucking retarded because at the end of the day its FICTION, and no one really gives a shit.

Alas we come to the part where most people cringe, fans of the comics and movies alike; the third in the trilogy. Granted the track record of movies seems to have a record of coming in strong, with a decent, if not great follow up and then the fated "what the fuck is this garbage" third installment. Really seems that the first and second ones were great and brought in the money. With the third and final installment it would seem that they have to tie up loose ends, as well as throw in as much shit as possible to make a fuster-cluck of a story. I mean, at least in my opinion, that Spider-Man 3 and X3 were just beyond garbage (and we're going to leave Origins: Wolverine alone for now.. just ugh). It was just too much of an attempt at fan service with nothing substantial to hold it together. It was almost a classic example of "fuck it, you will pay to see it anyway, and we don't care anymore".

Switching gear, and speaking of the fabled third, there is of course a third in a trilogy (and thus far a damn good trilogy) in the pipeline. Which brings me to this, as happy as I am with anticipation for The Dark Knight Rises, it's the third in a trilogy. Hollywood, as said, has developed that reputation for screwing up not only good franchise, but good directors (at least in Raimi's case) on the third one. Needless to say, I hope Chris Nolan has the balls/knowledge to tell the studio to fuck off. But I'm pretty sure he has the reputation to be able to do his own thing and be left alone for the most part. Just looks good thus far with "leaked" information and the trailer.

That or I guess we have to give up on Hollywood and refuse to see some other movie based off an established franchise unless it's done by HBO. Yes, Game of Thrones was that damn good, and yes it stayed true to the book (for the most part, I understand things not needed to show, or budget/time constraints).

On a lighter, yet somewhat unrelated note... now that all of the old cartoons and TV series are now on netflix as well as the re-launches of series from my childhood - I am now in childhood nostalgia nirvana. Really, those of us who grew up watching this stuff in the 90's, it's pretty much awesome. Although very few are ageless, take a moment to remember being a kid and having fun before all the mess of responsibility and adulthood hit. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be in front of my TV with my choo-choo-train jammies and a bowl of cereal.