With the emergence of Electro, Spider-Man must confront a foe far more powerful than he. And as his old friend, Harry Osborn, returns, Peter Parker comes to realize that all of his enemies have one thing in common: OsCorp. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and others
This is a well made movie but at the same time also one that offers far
too little.
Sure, this is some decent enough entertainment but that doesn't mean
that it does everything right as well. On the contrary really. In some
regards it's even a really poor movie, especially story-wise.
The problem with the story is that it's very hard to discover a true
main plot line in this movie. There is very little to latch on to as a
viewer and it's hard to get behind any of the characters and their
motivations, since everything gets handled so poorly and is basically
nonexistent.
In essence the story is very simple and straightforward. This can be a
good thing at times but in this particular case, this movie feels
terribly underwritten. So basically it's a movie about a crime lord,
played by Sean Penn, who is trying to take control of Los Angeles and
about the special police squad, that is assigned to stop him. But
what's the big plan and what are Mickey Cohen's (Sean Penn) specific
intentions? I have absolutely no idea, since the movie never bothers to
explain. And what big plan does the police have to stop him? There
seems to be none really and all this movie basically consists out of
are police men and gangster shooting at each other, busting places and
chases, which works fine for its entertainment but gives the movie
little to none depth.
This movie often gets compared to "The Untouchables" and for some good
reasons. They feature a similar sort of concept, similar type of
characters and it is approximately set in the same time period (well,
not really but it surely still looks and feels that way!). This however
also forms a bit of a problem for this movie. Saying this movie is like
"The Untouchables" already raises certain expectations, while the movie
down in its core is still a totally different movie, that's also going
for a totally different approach. While "The Untouchables" is more
gritty like entertainment, "Gangster Squad" is far more over-the-top
and doesn't always take itself as seriously. In some ways the movie
even feels more like a comic-book type of movie and there is nothing
wrong with that of course, as long as you go in having the right sort
of expectations and don't expect anything different from this movie.
A thing that the movie has going for it is its cast. I wish I could
also say that it uses its actors well though. As mentioned before, the
characters are all terribly shallow ones and it's hard to feel involved
with any of them but at least most of the actors still give their best,
which results in still some pretty good and entertaining performances.
I for instance liked Josh Brolin in this, as a tough looking, tough
sounding and tough acting cop. And I indeed also liked Sean Penn as the
movie it's main villain, despite the fact that he hardly gets anything
interesting to do in this. I was actually surprised to see him as such
a stereotypical, mustache twirling, villain in this, since I thought
that he refused to play villains, ever since "Carlito's Way". He's good
at it tough and easily still the most entertaining thing about the
movie. All of the other characters and actors aren't really very
noteworthy. Hardly any of that is their fault though but it should be
blamed on its simplistic and lacking writing instead.
Positive thing to also note about this movie is that it remains a well
made- and good looking one. Technically and visually it does very
little wrong and yes, you actually could say that this is the foremost
reason why the movie still remains to be such a perfectly watchable
one.
It's perfectly entertaining but just not a very good movie though!
Perhaps I'm just getting fed up with these type of animated movies but
I just could never really enjoy this one.
It's very typical for some of DreamWorks animated work; lots of
characters jumping and running around and crashing into stuff and too
little creativity. No offense but it of course is something that is
very easy to do. It expects its crowed to laugh at it and go along with
all of it but to me it just comes across as some very lazy writing and
film-making.
So OK fine, the humor isn't anything all too creative or funny but is
there a good story or are there some good and fun character to enjoy in
this, at the very least? well, I have to say no to both unfortunately.
The characters aren't awful ones but not all of them are written
equally great or interesting. The dynamics between all of them are
besides pretty formulaic and predictable and in my opinion the movie
was also lacking one good, perhaps even heroic, main character.
The movie is not really following a typical plot line, that's usual and
standard for an animated movie of this sort. Some people praise and
appreciate the movie for it but I am not among those people. Different
is fine, as long as you're doing something creative and original enough
in return. This movie is hardly doing anything with its story at all
and I actually did wish it was a more classically structured one. The
story as it is features no real, big enough, conflict in it. No item
that needs to be found or a family member that needs to get rescued, or
anything along those lines. No villain even and it mostly relies on
just its visuals and the dynamic between all of its characters, which I
wasn't all that fond of to begin with, as I mentioned earlier already.
Still not strong enough reasons for me to hate this movie as well but
it just never becomes a very interesting or original enough one, in my
opinion. It constantly felt like something was missing from it and I
kept waiting for the movie to truly start doing something surprising or
creative with its premise and characters.
I am not complaining about the animation though. It's clearly a
beautiful looking film, done by people who know their business. The
environments and animals in this are perhaps the only true creative and
effective thing about this movie.
I also will admit that I liked some of the voice work in this. I was
kind of worried once I found out that Nicolas Cage would be doing one
of the voices but to me he actually was the highlight of the movie. It
surprised me how well his voice suited the character and overall tone
of the movie.
It's really not a terrible film but still not one that I'm never likely
to see again, seeing how lacking it was with its characters, story,
humor and just overall creativity and originality.
The Croods is a prehistoric comedy adventure that follows the world's first family as they embark on a journey of a lifetime when the cave that has always shielded them from danger is destroyed. Traveling across a spectacular landscape, the Croods discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures -- and their outlook is changed forever. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Kirk De Micco & Chris Sanders
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone and others
An ensemble comedy intertwining different tales. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill, Steve Carr, Rusty Condieff, James Duffy, Griffin Dunne, Peter Farrelly, Patrik Forsberg, James Gunn, Bob Odenkirk,
Brett Ratner and Jonathan van Tulleken
Starring: Emma Stone, Stephen Merchant, Richard Gere and others
An ensemble comedy intertwining different tales. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill, Steve Carr, Rusty Condieff,
James Duffy, Griffin Dunne, Peter Farrelly, Patrik Forsberg, James Gunn, Bob Odenkirk & Brett Ratner
Starring: Emma Stone, Stephen Merchant, Richard Gere and others
First of all, it was of course totally unnecessary to reboot the series
again already. They might as well could had simply made this movie as a
"Spider-Man 4", that way we wouldn't had to sit to another origin
story, that besides isn't getting told as a very good or interesting
one.
And that is the foremost problem of the movie; I just couldn't really
ever get into it. It didn't always had a very pleasant flow to it and
things didn't always progressed and developed very natural. Things just
happen and you have to take a lot of things simply for granted.
There were plenty of things that bothered me about its story and
storytelling. I for instance never bought into the whole romance
between Peter Paker and Gwen Stacy. I have no idea what made them fall
in love and what made their love so powerful or unique. Like I said
before, it just happens but there is never really any notable chemistry
or anything about it that makes you root for their love or make you
feel and believe that these two persons belong together.
The movie also does quite a poor job with all of the character's
motivations. There is no good reason for Peter Parker to develop and
put on a suit and swing through the city, trying to catch criminals.
There also really wasn't a good enough reason for Dr. Curt Connors to
turn into a super-villain and there was even less reason for him and
Spider-Man to become enemies. With this I mean that their story lines
aren't really interconnected good enough with each other and Spider-Man
so easily could had decided not to get involved and not to get his life
at risk, since it wasn't like he was being an established superhero in
the city already, who everybody relied on. Another reason why this
movie would had been simply better, had it been done as a "Spider-Man
4", instead of as a fresh start to the movie series again.
It's a shame this movie failed to make any emotional impact on me since
this obviously was the approach the film-makers were going for. A more
personal and dramatic Spider-Man but the movie just really didn't had
the right script for that. Even the whole uncle Ben storyline totally
left me cold this time and so did the relationship between Peter Parker
and aunt May, which always is an important aspect about the Spider-Man
franchise, in my opinion.
And for goodness sake, stop recycling your own music so much, James
Horner!
It of course remains a far from bad movie but there is nothing about it
that stands out or make this a memorable or unique movie within its
genre. It does absolutely nothing new but it of course does still
provide some entertainment. I still did wish there was some more action
in it at times though. But Peter Parker doesn't really become
Spider-Man until halfway through and Dr. Curt Connors becomes the
Lizard even much later on in the movie. It therefore takes a while for
the action to truly kick in but when it does, it's all quite and fun to
watch but overall the movie remains underwhelming, in about every way
imaginable.
Also can't say that I was very fond of the casting. Andrew Garfield
never gave me either a Peter Parker or Spider-Man vibe. He feels
miscast in my opinion and I definitely won't mind at all if he gets
replaced with another actors for the next movie. As a matter of fact, I
doubt I will even notice it, since he's so incredibly unremarkable in
his role and I doubt I will recognize him on street, even now, when I
have just finished watching this movie. He isn't being very likable or
charismatic enough in his role.
It really doesn't do or bring anything fresh, original or great to the
series. Weak as a reboot and very mediocre as just another modern
superhero movie.
