The Amazing Spider-Man #ASM #AmazingSpiderMan

The Amazing Spider-Man (July3rd, 2012)

Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Rhys Ifans, Dennis Leary

I'll be the first to admit: when I heard that they were making another Spider-Man movie, I wasn't entirely convinced. It's only been five years since the last one came out (even though we don't talk about that one, and for good reason), so I had plenty of reason to be completely skeptical. 

And then Andrew Garfield was cast as Peter Parker. 

He was phenomenal in The Social Network and initially I thought he was a bit old for ASM. 

But then I actually saw the movie. 

Let me just say that for being in his late twenties, he can pull off a seventeen-year-old high school student very well. He plays the shy brainiac very well—that awkward part of high school where everyone's a little awkward was portrayed pretty well in the film. It's not awkward for the audience, though—sometimes I almost felt bad for laughing at Peter Parker's very obvious discomfort and awkwardness around Gwen, but his curiosity was something that got the audience interested in his life. As Spider-Man, there are some very touching, moments in the film (like the car off the bridge scene), lighthearted times as he is looking for a costume and testing out his own webbing, and then there are some other portions that are dark and intense as he's trying to conceal his identity from Captain Stacy. The movie is funny, intense, touching, and quickly draws its audience in with Peter's quick wit and awkward tendencies.  

Obviously the movie has its problems, but overall, it was very enjoyable and very funny. There's a point where you can see who Spider-Man really is that comes about halfway through the film that just makes the movie absolutely wonderful. The CGI was okay--I think some things could have been done a little better but overall it was enjoyable. Emma Stone was cute and enjoyable and I'm not sure if I want her character, Gwen Stacy, to be killed off like she was in the comics, but I suppose we'll find that out in the future. 

OH. There's a couple of great scenes between Peter and Flash that just kills me every time. Ironic tension that's supposed to be there is kind of there. It's pretty great. 

Anyway. Go see it. It's good in 3D. 

And so the summer movie season begins.

Summer is always a great time to go to the movies. Why? Because everyone's out of school, we can stay out late, go to midnight releases, all without having to worry about if we have exams the next day. It's pretty awesome. So, without further delay, here's the list of summer movies that my friends and I will most likely be checking out.

Marvel's The Avengers (5/4) — Obviously this kind of opened the summer season (in a big way, it's the highest grossing film of all time now), so having this come out this past week was a great way to kick off the summer season.

Dark Shadows (5/11) — I mostly just want to see this because, let's face it: the TV show was so campy and corny.

Battleship (5/18) — I feel like I need to make it clear that I don't really want to see this movie. Yeah, I like explosions but a movie based off of a game that's more fun when played with pizza boxes and shots just doesn't really cut it for me. I mostly just want to see it so I can poke at all the little plot holes in it.

Men In Black III (5/25) — I'm not a huge fan of the MIB series—I'm a borderline fan, not obsessed but not completely unaware of what they are. But it looks good. I'll need a refresher, because I don't really remember what's happening in the other two movies, but it still looks good!

Snow White and the Huntsmen (6/1) — In the spectrum of all the movies and TV shows about Snow White/fairy tales/whatever that have come out this year (seriously, where did all this hype come from, these things have been around for hundreds of years...), this one actually looks the best because it looks so dark. It's a different take on a classic fairy tale (at least, I think it is, I obviously haven't seen the movie yet), and ... wait for it ... Kristen Stewart actually shows some emotion. So, it looks pretty good.

Prometheus (6/8)— It just got announced that this movie has an "R" rating. I've wanted to see it since I heard about it, but now I really want to see it because it means that they won't hold anything back. Pure Ridley Scott sci-fi goodness. Bring it. I seriously don't even know what this movie is about, I mean, the previews have been pretty cryptic and I don't want to go and search out what it's about online, but this movie just looks so awesome.

Brave (6/22) — I'm a sucker for Pixar movies. It looks good.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (6/29) — Yeah, Rise of Cobra wasn't perfect. But I am only a female—who am I to pass up an opportunity

The Amazing Spider-Man (7/3) — Andrew Garfield, I love him so much. This movie looks so good, I'm so excited. My inner fangirl is just dying at all the comic book stuff that's going to be happening this summer. We didn't get tickets to Comic-Con (which kind of killed my soul), but these will have to do. Maybe we'll just fly to California and skulk around the outside of the convention centre.

Savages (7/6) — It looks okay. I'm not a fan of Blake Lively, but whatever, it looks okay.

The Dark Knight Rises (7/20) —I think that, in light of all the Avengers hype, I may have passed over this a little bit but I'm truthfully so excited for this movie. I love all of Nolan's Batman films and I'm really looking forward to it. Mostly because one of my friends and I have it in our heads that Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, cop John Blake, is going to be Nightwing. We're aware that there will be no more Batman movies from Nolan, but hey. You never know what those studios have up their sleeves.

The Bourne Legacy (8/3) — Jeremy Renner. And his arms. And his face. That's enough for me. Also: Edward Norton, who I think is so cute.

Total Recall (8/3) — This movie will be awesome. Period. That's all. I'm so freaking excited for this movie. And it comes out the same day as the Jeremy Renner/ Edward Norton arms extravaganza/face extravaganza. This is the 'Colin Farrell is really hot all around' extravaganza.

That's all I can think of right now. There will probably be a couple more movies that I'll end up seeing this summer, but for right now, these will all do.