Today's News: Aquaman won't settle for a Razzie

The slow week continues with only minor bits of news, in anticipation of the big Oscar bang no doubt:

Catan gaat bioscopen koloniseren

I've heard worse ideas for adaptations of games, board or video. Though most of either still fail to deliver decent movies, it's hard to deny. But at least Settlers of Catan seems to have more cinematic ingredients from which a proper movie can be distilled than the likes of Ouija or Tetris. You've got an enticing historical look, the potential of a sweeping plot of heroism and rivalry against insurmountable odds and the force of nature, plus dramatic elements like knights and bandits to spice things up a little. And of course, there's somewhat of a franchise potential, too. If the movie does become a success, there's the likes of expansion sets (Seafarers) or variations on the theme (Prehistory, or even more outlandish takes like Starfarers) to explore. And these days, every studio is aching to find franchises. Settlers of Catan might prove to become a solid movie. I just hope they don't throw in a silly random element that might alienate audiences from the original premise of the beloved game itself. Remember the response when Battleship felt the need to include aliens in the plot? I'd say Settlers of Catan has enough material going for it to do without such extra obstacles.

Jason Momoa's Aquaman onthuld

Now that shows like The Big Bang Theory have made a little too much fun of DC's King of the Seven Seas usual appearance and abilities, it comes as no surprise Aquaman needed a different, tougher look to overcome such popcultural bias. Casting Jason Momoa was a right choice in that regard, since you wouldn't want to get into a conflict with him about his style of dressing, it might be bad for your health. So no orange shirt, no green pants, and no riding sea beasts as a mode of transportation. You get a darker, grittier Aquaman, a regal appearance that screams 'don't screw with me!'. Basically it ends up looking like Khal Drogo with a Poseidonic motif, trident and fishy scales and all. It works I suppose, though it's not particularly coulourful or inspired. As for the meaning of the mysterious tagline 'Unite the Seven', beats me. I'm not into DC's comics enough to care to unravel its intentions. I'm a Marvel guy. I'll wait and see what exactly Momoa's Aquaman will be up to when he does his thing in theaters.

Winnaars Razzies bekendgemaakt

It appears the Razzies have found a new filmmaker to victimize. Though Michael Bay still won his fair share of awards, as is usual, it was Kirk Cameron that took most of the beating for his apparently dismal Saving Christmas, which was fortunately spared a Dutch release. I've never heard of the movie or the actor behind it, but when I see this flick on IMDb's Bottom Top 100 on the number 1 spot with a rating of 1.5, I get the picture. Okay, so there might be some hating hype surrounding the project that I don't know the details of. I'm not into Christmas themed films anyway, so I'll refrain from checking this one out. I've seen enough of these Razzie nominated movies for one year. I had to sit through both TMNT and the latest Trannies flick, which was quite enough of a borefest for me. Other than that, there's no real surprises among the winners here. Obviously Ben Affleck redeemed himself in the eyes of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation, as he has already done so in the eyes of everybody else. Who knows, maybe Kirk Cameron will do the same some day, as the Razzies find somebody new to pick on.

Today's News: daredevils and dinosaurs

Hot off MovieScene!:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155944/netflix_vindt_zijn_daredevil

Despite the sudden change of guard in showrunners (see yesterday's news), the Marvel/Netflix show seems to be picking up speed. Most importantly, a principal actor has been cast to assume the mantle of the Man Without Fear, and it's Charlie Cox. Pretty good choice, even though some people might be annoyed they went with the safest route and opted for an Englishman to play a (fairly iconic) American comic book vigilante. If he can throw a convincing Irish accent, like he did on Boardwalk Empire to great effect, US slang ought not be an issue. He fits the bill in most other respects - apart from not being blind, obviously - as he's the right age, charming but able to switch to a darker, more distressing persona effortlessly. Okay, so he looks in no way like Matt Murdock as in the comics, but that's something easily remedied I reckon. I think a good casting choice was made for this show. Cox's general '(dare)devil may care' attitude would suit the show, which is still only as good as its writers. There's talent in that regard as well. For the moment, I have little doubts as to the quality of this upcoming Marvel television series.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155955/regisseur_onthult_details_jurassic_world

Douts I have aplenty about the plot of Jurassic World though. But not about its director. Most of the plot has been leaked online, and instead of firmly denying everything (which in Hollywood irrevocably ends up being an act of blatant lying), Colin Trevorrow takes his time to acknowledge unavoidable fan doubts and reassure them he respects the armies of dinosaur devotees eager for another Jurassic bite. Whether they want to hear about the plot contents he just gave away is their own affair. I for one am trying to steer clear off spoilers insofar as at all possible for someone moving in the circles I do. My duty as a movie news poster sometimes leave me little choice in the matter. Do I like what I hear about JW? Not all that much, to be quite honest. The notion of a park open for visitors, where dino shit again hits the fan in that finest of 'jaws and claws' tradition, is hardly the stuff of originality. Even though it would be nice to see the original island of Isla Nublar again (though you cannot help but wonder how anyone could be so stupid as to repeat such dreadful past mistakes: all of Ian Malcolm's ramblings seem to have fallen on deaf ears, alas!). Velociraptors I have found to be overrated in this franchise and the idea of training them to establish a 'relationship with humans' is too vague to make any impression: surely both species already have a relationship, as hunter and prey? They're not gonna train them as watchdogs or bioweapons or something silly like that, are they?

The concept I'm most uncertain about, as is the majority of the fanbase, is the 'genetically modified dinosaur', by which Trevorrow hints at a made up species rather than an existing one. Of course, this was hinted at in the books where the idea of dinosaurs suited to human needs was touched upon - like Sauropods reduced to dog size to make cute pets - thus further underscoring the notion of humanity playing God. Also, none of the dinosaurs so far were actually supposed to be accurate live reflections of the fossil record, as they were already 'theme park monsters', equipped with frog DNA to fill the gaps in their genetic code as well as those in the plot. In this case, the shady corporation pulling the strings has seemingly ordered a theropod that does justice to the popular conception of giant carnivorous dinosaurs as scary monsters rather than actual animals, allowing for the creation of a 'Diabolus Rex'. Sounds ludicrous, but in terms of the Jurassic Park ideology, not wholly without merit. On the one hand it's a logical next step in man's messing with nature, on the other I would much prefer up to date paleontological accuracy to be felt as well. Maybe we'll have both. Until such time as any of the dinosaur animatronics or digital effects shots have been revealed, don't blame me for being on the (electric) fence about this one. But my faith in Trevorrow remains.

Today's News: devils and beasts get some, lose some

More news from everybody's favorite movie website (for those who have heard of it, that is):

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155901/deknight_vervangt_goddard_voor_daredevil

Apparently Marvel and Netflix traded talent for talent here. Both writers/producers have had their fair share of hits, and both stem from Joss Whedon's pool of creative talents. Both Goddard and DeKnight worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Similar backgrounds must yield similar results, the powers-that-be at Marvel probably thought. They're probably right. Personally I lamented the loss of the ingenious mind that came up with The Cabin in the Woods - if you haven't seen that hilariously inventive movie, that's something you ought to remedy - but I can surely live with the showrunner of Starz' delightful Spartacus series tackling a Marvel project. I would wager coin it won't be as vulgar as those raunchy Romans, but with DeKnight's evident capability to write intriguing character and plot twists, Daredevil doesn't necessarily take a turn for the worse. Also, DeKnight didn't burn his fingers on that one show called Lost, which might otherwise have left a sour taste in his career. And of course Goddard won't be gone entirely, as his scripts for the first two episodes will remain in use, plus he'll stay on as a 'consulting producer', whatever the hell that's supposed to be. So there's definitely gonna be a touch of Goddard to be felt at first. For now, I see more gain than loss here. And either way it's more likely to give the Daredevil his due than Ben Affleck's less than daring flick back from 2003.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155926/alfonso_cuaron_wijst_fantastic_beasts_af

Too bad, but I kinda saw it coming. Cuaron has spend the last five years working on Gravity, after all. To great effect to be sure, but I'm positive he's in definite need of a creative break from all that digital blue-screen material. Cuaron cares about characters and drama far more than about effects, as his quote makes abundantly clear. I'll say Gravity is the odd-one-out on his resumé in that regard: even though it was basically about two people trapped in space, the technical element to that film far outweighed the acting component. It was the effects that made the experience, not the story. So it's about time he changed back to his former routine, where the opposite held true. Even though not much is revealed about the specific plot contents of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, its very title suggests it's all about the fancy creatures and the exotic locales they inhabit, which are heavily dependant on visual effects to make them come alive on screen. Characters clearly seem to come second here. So that really doesn't sound so appealing to a director who has spent half a decade exploring the digital realm. Cuaron is better off returning to his roots and doing something small for a change, or indeed spending time with his actual biological kids rather than his silver screen babies (I've heard from parents that you have to make time for children for their own sake). And even though Cuaron is out for the first installment of this upcoming fantastic franchise, there's nothing that stops him from expressing his interests for one of the already announced sequels somewhere in later years. In the realm of Potter - which still is where we are in this otherwise Potterless project - anything is known to be possible by now.

Today's News: Gotham City gets its own TV show... without the Caped Crusader

This just in from MovieScene:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/150349/batman_spin-off_serie_gotham_op_fox

With all the buzz surrounding Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it comes as no surprise other studios are looking to cash in on the continuing popularity of comic book adaptations on the big screen by exploring other potential venues for the universes their franchises are set in, like the small screen. If one studio can pull it off successfully, why not another after all? Not an illogical (or very original) line of thinking, but Gotham is gonna have a tougher time convincing the audience. After all, Fox may have bought the rights to the city, but not to the city's illustrious protector, which is of course what people want to see the most, and what many will expect to see. At least in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. there is the possibility to occasionally have major tentpole characters - like Iron Man, Thor or Captain America - that people are familiar with from the movies guest star on the show, though the odds of this actually happening are slim, since the actors playing them have likely grown too big to consider a quick telly appearance worthwhile. We may be in for a pleasant surprise somewhere down the road, but don't count on it yet. Not so on Gotham. Especially since the show also excludes the option of introducing Batman from a narrative viewpoint. The vigilante simply doesn't exist yet in the time frame this show will be set in. At best, we may get a cameo or something from a very young Bruce Wayne. Still, that would make us feel like watching Harry Potter without Harry, or Jurassic Park without dinosaurs. That said, even without the Dark Knight, someone is watching over this cesspool of scum and villainy and his name is Jim Gordon (but not played by Gary Oldman this time, obviously). He's been with us for 74 years, so there must be some interesting stories to tell about him. And there's still the chance we might get to see Bats' other acquaintances, both friendly and adversarial. There's a few of his allies already around in this period (Lucius Fox for example), and a notable bunch of baddies as well. Of course, just how their copyrights are settled will remain to be seen. Nevertheless, I'm quite convinced Gotham City can be a fascinating place without Batman too. Especially when it was written by the guy who brought us Rome! After all, that particular city was still very intriguing without Julius Caesar.

Batman's bane: pain and hope

The Dark Knight Rises: ****/*****, or 8/10

Say what you will about the shocking event of a lunatic dressing up like The Dark Knight's Joker and shooting dozens of people in a movie theater in the USA, at least it indicates that character as played by Heath Ledger (1979-2008) has become iconic in only a short space of time. Of course, that does cause a problem for the next installment in the franchise, since it has a lot to live up too. Not surprisingly, expectations for The Dark Knight Rises have risen to extreme heights in the last few months, every rumour involving the project mindlessly taken for actual truth, every tidbit of news meticulously examined by legions of overexcited fanboys, every newly released still picture undergoing major scrutiny and investigation as to how it might fit in the movie and its overall plot. With such hyperactive hype, it seems unlikely the film will hold any surprises for the die-hard fans that have looked at all the available evidence and undoubtedly know the movie by heart before they've even seen it as a whole. And now the final product has finally arrived in theaters everywhere, so everyone can go and watch it and we can at last put the hype behind us and look at the motion picture objectively. Simply said, Nolan struck gold again, though not as amazingly rich as before.

Warning! Spoilers! Set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, its successor first sees Bruce Wayne (still played by the overly serious Christian Bale) in the midst of a deep depression, still mourning the loss of his childhood friend and the love of his life Rachel Dawes, who fell prey to one of the Joker's diabolical shenanigans. Living alone as a hermit at Wayne Manor, only in the company of his faithful butler Alfred (again played impeccably by the ever reliable Sir Michael Caine), he has hardly set a foot outside since his alter ego Batman took the fall for the faults of the maniacal Harvey 'Two-Face' Dent, after which the Caped Crusader himself also left the scene indefinitely (and still nobody can't figure out the identity of the masked vigilante). However, when a mysterious cat burglar named Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway playing the ever infamous Catwoman, though never referred to as such) steals a family heirloom from right under his very nose, he's intrigued enough to pursue the matter personally, not so much for the stolen goods as for the identity of this intriguing female thief. However, he soon finds she's just the tip of the iceberg in a much larger, lethal scheme that once again puts his beloved city of Gotham at the hands of a mad terrorist plot, instigated by the excessively intimidating mercenary leader Bane (Tom Hardy fully muscled up and wearing a slightly silly mask). And so, the Batman is forced to come out of retirement to battle the forces of evil once more over the fate of his city, despite having been out of it for quite a while, but still equipped with all the right martial arts moves, clever detective skills and above all, fabulously cool gadgets ranging from bat shaped throwing stars to his own private stealth jet. Problem is, against Bane, it turns out it's just not enough...

As he did before to great critical and fanboy acclaim, Christopher Nolan fully manages to apply a full range of motivations and pathos to all his major characters, at times making the movie feel more like a Shakespeare play than a superhero blockbuster, but he's ovbiously fully aware this is his final Batman movie (to many audience members' chagrin, including mine) and he should close things off accordingly, deliveringly one last action extravaganza to completely blow his loyal spectators' minds in every respect. Resulting in a 164 minute film, he's definitely gone all out, but at times it feels he's just gone overboard a little too much, considering the excessively epic setpieces, including a city wide occupation that lasts for five months, armies of thugs and police officers duking it out on the streets and a nuclear explosion to neatly tie all ends up. It all feels a little too large scale for a Batman film, considering he's usually restricted to smaller, more personal vendettas. Fortunately, the movie acknowledges this aspect too by giving Batman plenty of personal issues to deal with, from a double love affair – with Selina on the one hand and philanthropist-with-a-secret Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) on the other – ending in betrayal and near death, to the admiration of rookie cop and wanna-be pupil Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and most importantly, Bane's ties to mentor-nemesis Ra's Al Ghul, thought killed in action in Batman Begins, which makes The Dark Knight Rises refer to the first movie with the proper respect, even having Liam Neeson return for a small bit part as the sinister Ducard who tutored Bruce in the ways of a shadow warrior. With so much on Batman's plate, this film has plenty of fascinating material to cover already. Just consider the epic action scenes a nice little bonus, aiding an already grand finale to this trilogy by giving it some additional visual flair that neither helps nor hurts the already satisfying experience that forms the whole.

With so many characters, many of them new additions to the cast and thus terra incognita, it's a wonder the many plot lines involving them don't get in each other's way, though it must be said, both Michael Caine and Gary Oldman (playing Batman's long time ally Police Commisioner Gordon again) are out of the picture for longer than we would like. The new characters all get a decent set-up and the necessary background information is supplied (though some retain a fair amount of mystery), but the main villain Bane and the delightful rogue Catwoman get the lion's share of attention. The former opens the movie with an instant classic action scene, where he is bound and held on a plane by the CIA, only to quickly have things revealed to be totally under Bane's control as he turns the tables on his supposed captors, demolishes their plane spectacularly and forcefully takes what he was after. Bane is in essence a one-man army, much like Batman himself, with all the right training, fights skills and gadgets, except more prone to violence. Hardy, exceptionally beefed up to make him larger than life, plays him with believable bravoure, lack of subtlety and genuine scariness to make you believe that if anyone can break Batman, mentally and physically, this is the guy who would, and he does just that, snapping the Dark Knight's back upon their first encounter, taking all his assets, overrunning his town and reducing it to total anarchy and banishing his enemy to a creepy prison pit that nobody but Bane himself is said to have escaped. With regard to the latter, this literal hell hole feels a bit out of place in Nolan's vision of the Batman legend, surrounded by mysticism and located in a desert environment, but with such a contradicting feel to the dark streets of Gotham it serves adequately as a place where the defeated Dark Knight can rise, surviving his ordeal and returning to his home town with a vengeance to have another go at his new archnemesis.

You might ask, 'why so serious?', and the answer would be that Bane just doesn't joke around. He's no Joker out for general chaos, he's Gotham's reckoning, out to finish what Ra's Al Ghul started in Batman Begins, razing the city to the ground, reducing its citizens to utter desperation and destroying their dark protector in every way possible. However, he's also no Joker in the way he just doesn't have the same impact as a villainous character, despite the havoc he wreaks on poor Batman. It's likely due to his somewhat grotesque appearance, wearing a goofy breathing mask that distorts his voice but still leaves room for a funny accent. Of course the Bane from the comic books looked worse, but in hindsight Nolan would still have been allowed to change the character's look to make him less comic-y and more realistically a bad guy.

Fortunately the much needed levity is found in the character of Catwoman. Hathaway portrays her as the typical sultry “feline fatale” we've come to love in all her incarnations (with maybe one blatant exception; eh. Halle Berry?). She's obviously more interested in her prize than the men she deceives to get what she wants and she features catchy dry wit and major seductive talents, though there's also a certain level of fragility mixed in: her origins remain to be revealed but it's clear she didn't grow up in a happy place, making her only care for herself and her blonde (girl)friend Jen, seeking to escape the world and aiming for a clean slate. She may look cheerful in her devil-may-care attitude but there's an undeniable level of fright and trauma present. Plus, she's extremely spiteful of rich people, making the chemistry between the nonchalant billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne – who's really loosing up from his personal demons when meeting her – and Selina a surprise to herself and a blast to watch for the audience, surpassed only by the even more charming and wittier chemistry between both their masked alter egos.You root for the pair of them, though Selina's bad history makes it seemingly impossible for them to ever affectionately exchange anything other than wisecracking dialogue as they fight Bane's henchmen together. While Bane is the movie's major antagonist, it's clearly Catwoman who steals the show.

Nolan completes his masterpiece trilogy by addressing yet another major theme that forms an integral part of the Batman persona. Whereas Batman Begins revolved around fear and The Dark Knight was all about chaos, The Dark Knight Rises' focal point is hope, though in every character's event it's born out of pain. Selina hopes for a chance at a new life to escape her gloomy old one, whereas Bane, suffering from terrible pains only controlled by his mask, hopes to exact revenge for Ra's Al Ghul by breaking his mentor's wayward pupil. Bruce Wayne has lived in pain for nearly a decade and finally learns to let go of it in getting involved with Catwoman and Miranda, but their betrayal leads to even more pain, as he is exiled to an abyss and forced to watch as Bane cuts of his city from the rest of the world and threatens to destroy it in a nuclear explosion, making Gotham's citizens hope for a champion to end this reign of terror. The good guys eventually rise above their pain and face their tormentors to liberate Gotham from its ordeal. As with all of his movies, Nolan injects his story and the characters inhabiting it with a great amount of psychological issues, delivering an action film that doesn't just go for high adrenaline spectacle and sensational sights (though it does feature plenty of both) but also contains thematic values and insights that make it rise far above the average summer blockbuster, yet still consists of many excellent moments making it a successful popcorn movie too, especially when Batman goes all out on fighting crime with his array of awesome vehicles. When the Caped Crusader finally hits the screen in full regalia on his Batpod in the middle of a wild chase scene between cop cars and thugs on motorcycles, accompanied by Hans Zimmer's memorable booming orchestral score, the audience can do nothing but cheer and fully immerse itself in the gripping action.

It might as well be called a fact Ledger's untimely death gave The Dark Knight and his own performance as the Joker a mystique that could never be duplicated, and Nolan doesn't bother to try, going so far as to never even mention the Joker in The Dark Knight Rises. While the regrettable Aurora incident will certainly give this film a macabre place in film history all its own, and it will undoubtedly break a number of box office records as any film this highly anticipated would, Nolan's Batman-movie-to-end-all-Batman-movies cannot surpass the superior The Dark Knight, despite Nolan's best efforts. Like the Bane character, it's simply larger than life a little too much and it could be called too epic for its own good. However, it's doubtful anybody ever expected it to top its predecessor, no matter how much people looked forward to it. As a conclusion to Nolan's superhero trilogy as a whole, it succeeds in its purpose, resulting in a grand finale for the much beloved and acclaimed franchise ending on a bittersweet note that still allows hope for more to come (which Nolan states is not gonna happen: maybe for the best). Were it not for the studio already in the process of revamping the character and rebooting the franchise yet again (after all, there's simply too much opportunity to make more money here), Batman could finally retire for real this time. In any event, Nolan's Batman will always be fondly remembered as the ultimate take on the Dark Knight.

And watch the trailer here

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/thedarkknightrises/

Uncle Ben dies again

The Amazing Spider-Man: ***/*****, or 7/10

One of the most respectable and thoughtful things about this year's biggest Marvel movie, The Avengers, is the way it was set up in the first place, introducing the various superheroes individually before assembling the team itself, thus establishing a shared, epic cinematic Marvel universe very close in feel to the comic books it is based on, yet not so convoluted as to alienate audiences unfamiliar with the wondrous world of Marvel Comics. It was a huge gamble, but fortunately for the studios involved and for the many fans of the characters and their films, it payed off big time, smashing many box office records, thus paving the way for a 'Phase 2', another large scale five year plan, not only adding sequels to the Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Avengers films, but also kickstarting more Marvel projects to tie in with this brave new world on film, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man and Nick Fury movies. Such foresight and careful planning unfortunately can't be detected in the Sony Pictures' franchise of that other much beloved Marvel character, Spider-Man, who after an initial hugely successful trilogy of movies ingratiously was denied a third sequel because of creative differences between the studio and the top people involved, making the former take the much dreaded 'reboot road' instead, restarting the movie franchise all over again only a decade after it first originated. It's a kick in the groin, not only for the webslinger himself, but also for his legions of fans and even regular audiences across the globe, who now get treated to another take on a character who's origin story is no secret to anybody.

Of course a different approach had to be taken to avoid the new flick, now titled The Amazing Spider-Man (and so at least respecting Spider-Man's first own comic book series of the same name), feeling too much of a déjà vu compared to what we've seen before. Warning! Spoilers! Undoubtedly inspired by the success of the recent rebooting of the Batman franchise, the studio opted for a darker beginning for the otherwise merry and witty superhero, heavily involving the absence of his biological parents – something Raimi's trilogy largely ignored – who left their little son Peter Parker (now played by Andrew Garfield) to be raised by his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and were supposedly killed in a plane crash shortly after their departure. Drawing inspiration from the Ultimate Spider-Man line of comic books, Peter's parents were involved in shady genetic experiments involving the crossbreeding of humans with animal species, which is of course what the origin of Spider-Man is all about. Unfortunately the subplot concerning Peter's mommy and daddy is largely left unresolved the moment Peter's investigation into his past leads him to his father's close colleague Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), a one-armed scientist working for the sinister Oscorp Company, further attempting to crossbreed species, in his case humans and lizards, in an admittedly somewhat silly, comic-y attempt to regrow his lost limb, with dire consequences.

However, under the direction of Marc Webb (I'll refrain from using 'nomen est omen' remarks here, since that has been done to death already), whose director's credit of importance prior to this gig only included the acclaimed romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer, it's not all creepy experiments and traumatic childhood incidents that form the prime ingredients of Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man. Clearly establishing Peter, performed by Andrew Garfield of The Social Network fame, to be a typical high school kid, Webb also finds time for lighter scenes developing the romance between him and Gwen Stacy (the beautiful and talented Emma Stone). Peter's previous movie girlfriend Mary Jane Watson is left out altogether in favor of having him hook up with his original lady love from the comics, even though this might confuse audiences since Gwen was already featured in Raimi's Spider-Man 3 (then played by Bryce Dallas Howard). Stone plays off wonderfully against Garfield's Peter Parker: unlike ex-Peter Tobey Maguire, he seems more appropriately aged to convincingly pull off a high school teenager, and he does a better job at playing both Peter and Spidey, carefully balancing between being too much of a nerd and too cool a superhero to believably be a nerd in real life. However, unlike Stone, Garfield is found guilty of overacting in his display of various ticks and goofy mannerisms when first feeling spider powers within: but playing a regular human being, Stone just has it easier, while the task of carrying the picture falls on Garfield's shoulders, which he does it adequately enough. The lighthearted scenes of teen angst and young love between the pair form a stark contrast with the gritty look into Peter's family issues, but they are a necessary part of recreating the Spider-Man persona, since the webslinger was always a lighter, easy going and cheerful superhero to begin with. In fact, it's clear Webb has more experience with romance and teen drama than he does with superheroism, considering the scenes between Garfield and Stone on many occasion feel more compelling than the action stuff, which of course is also a major must-have for any superhero movie. Plus, the smart and ambitious blonde Gwen is a welcome reprieve from the naive, childhood traumatized redhead Mary Jane from the previous films: unlike the latter Gwen does not find herself in grave danger at the hands of nasty supervillains at least twice per film, at which point her only solution seems to scream for her hero to come and rescue her very loudly. Apparently there was still some room for improvement left in Raimi's otherwise superior tackling of the franchise, which Webb eagerly accepts by making Gwen an independent young woman who's at least as smart as her boyfriend and shows much more tact and discretion when the going gets tough.

And tough it gets for poor Peter Parker. First, he has to contend with the bite of a genetically enhanced spider, which is what you get for sneaking into a lab which is clearly marked off-limits due to biohazards. The result is Peter not only gets superhuman strength and reflexes and the ability to walk on walls (even when wearing shoes), he also gets a lot grumpier, to the point of treating his loving Aunt and Uncle in a very ungrateful manner (the many occasions where he immediately plunders the fridge when coming home, all the while ignoring their sound advice, are a good example of his douchery), as well as breaking an excessive amount of stuff both at home and in school. Obviously, this leads to the obligatory life lesson that with great power must come great responsibility, a value the audience already had learned in obnoxious preachy detail in Raimi's films, but is also too important an element in Spider-Man's origin to be ignored. And so, Uncle Ben bites the dust again, shot dead by a thief, and Peter knows he shouldn't be an ass and help people with his new found abilities instead of acting like a dick. Only took an hour of the film to set this up, thus making half the film a redundancy for retelling things that didn't need retold, except for the mounting sexual tension between Gwen and Peter. Fortunately, from here on out Webb gets the opportunity to develop the story more as he sees fit, now that the back story is firmly on people's minds again (though it can only be called arrogant on the studio's part to think it never was in the first place). However, there's still plenty of unresolved things left, so we can only assume the truth about Peter's parents is left for the unavoidable sequel. Considering the dull way it was handled here, that's not something to look forward to too much.

After Uncle Ben has died, Peter looks for the criminal who did it, acting like a vigilante and beating up people who were not at all involved, though many of them were caught in the act of unlawful behavior anyway. This gets him on the radar of police captain Stacy (Denis Leary), Gwen's father, who feels nobody but law enforcement should clean up society's sinister side. This ideological conflict between Peter and Stacy is one of the movie's strongest additions to the overall Spider-Man film franchise, though in itself it's not entirely new, considering a similar difference of opinion was witnessed in the previous trilogy between Peter and newspaper edition J. Jonah Jameson (a beloved normal human character from the comic books who was present throughout Raimi's films, but sadly remains completely absent in The Amazing Spider-Man), but is handled on a more serious note here instead of ending in skits of comic relief as it did before. It also adds fascinating but underused conflicts of interests for Gwen, who has to choose between her loyalty to her father and her love for her boyfriend. However, Spider-Man's main problem in this film lies not in the police issuing a warrant for his arrest, but in a scientist losing his objective thinking because of his obsession for personal enhancement on a genetic scale.

Like Gwen Stacy, Curt Connors was already introduced in the previous Spider-Man films, but was never put to full use. Originally, Raimi had planned a fourth Spider-Man film which would see him evolve into the bad guy Lizard. Ironically, Raimi left, but Lizard stayed and is now the first supervillain Webb's new Spider-Man faces. As an introductory nemesis, Lizard may not have been the best choice, especially considering the rather ridiculous diabolical ploy of his to release a bioweapon that would turn the population of New York City into lizard people like himself (and what is the silly deal with him attracting all those little lizards in the sewers? I'll have you know under normal circumstances lizards would just die in such an environment. Shenanigans!). However, in relation to the subplot taken from Ultimate Spider-Man concerning Peter's father dabbling in biogenetics and the personal connection between Peter and himself this implies, he's the logical choice, considering the other available Spidey foes, Norman Osborn/Green Goblin and Otto Octavius/Dr. Octopus, have already been used in Raimi's films (though one of them does get his fair share of references and possible sequel set-ups in this film). Rhys Ifans portrays the “mad scientist” affectionately as a sympathetic but obsessed man who too desperately means to improve his body, which affects his mind as he finds his judgment impaired when his solution transforms him into a huge lizard man. Oddly enough, unlike the Lizard of the comics, he seems to fully retain his mental faculties instead of becoming more beast than man, which makes it all the harder to accept his final weird wicked scheme. However, the creature he ends up becoming does make for a decent amount of action scenes, including a rampage on a bridge, a high school confrontation between him and Spider-Man and an impressive though overly digital final battle on top of a skyscraper when he fights both Spidey and Captain Stacy. However, Webb ultimately disappoints where action is concerned, considering there's not nearly as much fight sequences as one would expect from a superhero movie, mostly because of the excessive focus on retelling Spidey's origin story and dragging his parents into the mix. At least the action that is present feels dynamic enough, but we would have wished for more. Better luck next time.

And there will unmistakably be a next time, considering the amount of unresolved plot lines and the extra scene after the main end credits which sets up the next movie's bad guy very similarly to the way The Avengers did, except the precise identity of this villain still remains somewhat of a mystery (quite frustrating if you're a long time avid comic book fan like me). However, it's clear this new Spider-Man franchise, like its predecessor but unlike the superior Avengers franchise, doesn't look much further into its own future than a few years down the road, a tactic that, if not changed soon, will undoubtedly lead to yet another unnecessary reboot in the next decade. Unlike the many superheroes that form the Avengers, Spider-Man still stands alone, so if it's amazement you're after in your marvels, this is not where you should look for it.

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/theamazingspiderman/

Dark Knight, The

Rating: *****/*****, or 10/10

Superb sequel to the excellent Batman Begins (2005). The already dark and sombre atmosphere of its predecessor is carried on in this film as the vigilante Batman (Christian Bale) is confronted with his ultimate nemesis, the insane criminal mastermind named simply the Joker (Heath Ledger (1979-2008) in his penultimate screen role, undoubtedly the most memorable character he has played in his sadly all too brief career). Continuing to step up his game in his master plan to bring chaos to Gotham City, the Joker unleashes a reign of terror on the town: in response, Batman is forced to use ever more desperate tactics to ensure the city's survival and order, aided by the relentless district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who is waging his own war against organized crime. However, even the pair of them can't stop the Joker from killing one person too many, the woman they both love (Maggie Gyllenhaal), with dire consequences to both Dent – turning him into the villain Two-Face – and Batman himself, who must take the fall for Dent's undoing so Gotham's laws he established stay in effect. Ledger's eerie and psychotic but in a twisted manner surprisingly amusing bad guy is a perfect counterpart to Bale's overly gritty and brooding Caped Crusader: after all, 'why so serious?', since this is still a comic book adaptation. However, of all the comic book adaptations done so far, this one deserves to be taken the most serious considering the gripping story, the compelling performances by the lead actors (Ledger was posthumously awarded with an Oscar) as well as grand established actors in supporting roles (among them, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman) and some edge-of-your-seat action scenes, including a night time freeway chase involving a truck and Batman's fan favorite vehicle gadgets, the Tumbler and the Batpod. Partially shot in IMAX, Nolan's preferred cinema format: on the home video releases, this leads to changing aspect ratios that tell you what was and what wasn't produced using IMAX cameras. Nolan would conclude his epic threesome of Batman films – dubbed the Dark Knight trilogy due to the overwhelming success of this film – with The Dark Knight Rises (2012), a formidable flick in itself, but no match for this movie, which in the mind of many (including myself) remains the finest superhero film of them all.

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart

Directed by Christopher Nolan

USA: Warner Bros., 2008

Captain America: The First Avenger

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

The last of the single Avengers films, though ironically the 'Living Legend' is the oldest Marvel comic book character of the bunch. Applying a delicious comic-y retro visual style to the Second World War and the introduction of the super soldier, the adventures of the 'First Avenger' resemble their drawn counterparts the most, making for a very fun action film. Eager to sign up with the armed forces during WW II, brave but physically feeble Steve Rogers (Chris Evans, who previously played another Marvel character, the Human Torch, in Fox's Fantastic Four) continues to be rejected for service. However, his strength of will and general boldness eventually make him a good candidate for a secret super soldier project, which turns him into an almost superhuman character, physical and sensory abilities all functioning at peak efficiency. Dubbed Captain America, Steve is initially used only for propaganda performances, but after pulling off a heroic rescue mission deemed near suicide, allied command realizes he's of most use at the front lines, where he soon gets on the radar of the Red Skull (another great villain on Hugo Weaving's resumé), the leader of a covert Nazi organization called Hydra, which dabbles both in the scientific and the supernatural. Meanwhile, Steve also has a hard time finding time for romance with feisty army dame Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). If you overlook the blatantly patriotic American overtones and you don't mind the fact Captain America's battles look nothing like the actual WW II due to their use of near steam punk levels of science (partially courtesy of the Thor influence, continuing to successfully set up a larger, shared Marvel cinematic universe) and the presence of the somewhat silly, overly politically correct, ethnically diverse Howling Commandos (Wah-Hooo!), you're in for one awesome rollercoaster of a semi-superhero action flick. Plus impressive visual effects, including making a tall, muscular man look short and skinny (yes, those were actually Chris Evans' real muscles, but he never looked like that whimpy little guy).

Starring: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell

Directed by Joe Johnston

USA: Paramount Pictures, 2011

Chronicle, or why teenagers shouldn't have superhuman abilities

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

It had to happen sooner or later: a superhero kind of film that applies the so-called 'found footage' style of filming to display its overall narrative. And why not? So far it worked well in the horror genre on multiple occasions (of which The Blair Witch Project still rules supreme as the most memorable and original example), as well as in other genres such as the monster movie (Cloverfield). It seems a logical step to apply this tactic to a genre which remains ever popular after more then a decade of successful (and a few less so) entries, and still shows no signs of slowing down (with The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man just around the corner). Chronicle takes a smaller, less bombastic approach though. Now that the emphasis of the superhero genre is increasingly often put on ordinary people as superhumans, either equipped with extraordinary powers or not at all (Super, Kick-Ass), all it took was a talented young director to jump on the 'found footage' bandwagon and make a decent movie out of the simple premise of some young people video taping their experiences with unusual abilities. Newcomer Josh Trank did it first, and given his extremely limited directorial experience (this is his first full-on motion picture), the result has turned out rather positive, so it seems likely we'll be seeing more work from Trank soon.

Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) is having a tough time. His mother is very ill, his father is an abusive alcoholic, he lives in a trashy neighbourhood and he's not very popular at school. He records his personal trials on video – his reasons for doing so remain somewhat vague, but let's just call it self therapy – so we see his daily struggles through the eye of his camera, and our viewing perspective stays with him for the better part of the film. His only friend is his cousin Matt (Alex Russell), a cheerful guy with obviously less personal problems, who tries to lighten him up a bit and gets him to participate in the kids' activities regardless of his low social status at school. So far, nothing remarkable. That soon changes when the pair, together with Matt's friend Steve (Michael B. Jordan), find an odd hole in the ground out in the woods. Kids being kids, they go in and stumble upon a dazzling display of lights emanating from a sort of big crystalline contraption. What exactly this is supposed to be and where it comes from are left entirely up to the viewer to decide. It could be anything ranging from an extra-terrestrial device to a freak natural anomaly to a government experiment gone awry, but the truth is it simply matters not what it is, but what the effects are it has upon the protagonists. Trank makes this very clear when upon touching it, the guys are knocked out and so is the camera, so what exactly happens to them remains shrouded in mystery. The trio soon finds out their close encounter with the light show has given them fantastic telekinetic abilities, the full extent of which they start testing by playing childish pranks on unsuspecting victims. And this is where the film really kicks into gear and the actual fun begins.

Of course, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but teenagers with power just do the same as regular teens always do: hanging about, screwing around. Of course, the effects of telekinetic teenagers doing this are a bit more severe. In an often very amusing sequence of separately videotaped scenes we see the boys first practice their newfound powers on themselves, throwing balls at each other's heads from impossible angles and sticking forks into their hands just to find they can bend them, but the more mischievous they get, the more other people suffer from their irresponsible actions. Little girls being terrorized by floating teddy bears and people finding their cars having been moved across the parking lot soon turn out to be the vanguard for things far more sinister. It comes as no surprise the troubled Andrew is the first to cross the line when he pushes a car and its driver into a ravine and shows little regret for doing so. Matt and Steve soon realize they should stop acting so immaturely, but Andrew has only just begun, at which the movie takes a more serious direction and once again reaffirms the age-old message that with great power must come great responsibility. However, traumatized teenagers seem to care little about acting responsibly...

And this is where the movie looses some of its own power, considering the rather predictable turn of events where the agonized boy turns out to be a menace to himself and everyone around him. Andrew's character just offers little surprise when he starts to abuse his power for his own satisfaction. The only real question remaining here is how long it will take before he kills his lousy father. At least DeHaan does a terrific job portraying the poor boy, which is all the more noteworthy considering his fairly short resumé as an actor. Despite being able to predict his emotional outbursts from his overly simply written character, DeHaan makes you feel for poor Andrew all the way, and you feel no moral qualms when he starts talking back at his abusive environment with deadly results to the many who've hurt him earlier in the movie. Of course, since most of the movie is shot with his camera, we are given no choice but to emphasize with Andrew, so us rooting for him the most is a logical result. DeHaan acts out the basic fantasy of being able to take out bullies effortlessly to great dramatic effects, which ultimately overcomes the fact that as a character, Andrew is fairly standard and never exceeds the sum of his parts as a boy tormented a few times too often.

Andrew's buddies Matt and Steve, also never surprise the audience as characters, though they too are performed with skill by Russell and Jordan. Considering most of the movie is shown from Andrew's point of view, neither of them has to carry the movie as much as DeHaan does, so as far as acting is concerned, the latter impresses us the most. Still, they too do a very adequate job of portraying two average kids who get powers they shouldn't get and mess around with them a little too much. Unlike Andrew, they know when to quit, which at least makes us respect them. It will shock nobody when they soon find their friend too far gone to reason with him and have to violently confront him with his mishandling of his abilities with no regard for other people's lives.

However, Andrew turns out to be more than a match for his former mates, which eventually leads up to a typical large scale conflict involving SWAT teams, helicopters and a lot of explosions, as the boys try to take each other out in downtown Seattle (utilizing the iconic Needle building to the fullest). From a narrative point of view, this too offers little news, but considering the fairly low budget (the movie cost only 15 million dollar to make) this climax looks suprisingly expensive, showing us Trank knows what he's doing in making his film look good on a shoestring budget. It's obvious though that most of the FX money went into the final showdown, since some of the visual effects earlier in the movie, including various floating objects and flying people, look less convincing, but still good enough not to fully ruin the film's credibility. Overall though, Chronicle shouldn't be considered an FX movie, but more of a character study of teenagers gifted with superhuman abilities, and why we should pray this never happens for real. Of course, most teens aren't as stereotypical as Andrew (though Hollywood obnoxiously often thinks they are), but that doesn't change the fact we really like to see him take revenge on his tormenters, and dream we could have done the same during some of our own less shining moments as teenagers.

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox/chronicle/

Batman Begins

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

Christopher Nolan's darker, grittier and overall more realistic take on the much beloved Batman character results in a fantastic origin story that universally made audiences forget about any previous incarnations of the Caped Crusader. Portraying Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) as a young man ruled by trauma and fear, the movie witnesses him learning to embrace that fear and wield it in his fight against the rampant crime of Gotham City, ruled over by mob boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). However, Wayne's educator Ra's Al Ghul/Ducard (Liam Neeson) also doesn't prove to be very trustworthy and has his own shady agenda for Wayne's home town, after which Bruce dons the Batman persona to go at it his own way, together with this trusted butler Alfred (Michael Caine), his associate Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) providing all the awesome gadgets and hardware in his quest for justice and redemption. This is undoubtedly the prime example of how to reboot an extremely popular franchise correctly. First movie I saw in IMAX.

Starring: Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine

Directed by Christopher Nolan

USA: Warner Bros. Pictures, 2005