Life Between Films

I’ve been out of the country for a week at a time when I am anticipating many movies being released so I have some catching up to do. Expect many more posts on double features this week because of this. In honor of the 4th of July, I did two of my favorite things - watched movies in the early afternoon and ate a whole lot of great BBQ (and burgers, and mac & cheese, and pork & beans… you get the point) with friends in the evening. Where movies were concerned, I wanted to mix it up so I picked one family drama sure to pull at my heart strings (People Like Us) and then the quintessential comic book movie with some action (The Amazing Spiderman). Read on for my thoughts on them…

Do See: People Like Us (Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde, Michelle Pfeiffer) I never claimed I wasn’t a sucker for sentimental films, and this one rightly appealed to me. I absolutely loved this movie which follows Chris Pine’s character Sam, a slightly sleazy yet totally lovable saleman whose troubles have come to a head - he is in terrible debt, he has made a huge mistake at work that could cost him his job, and he has just discovered that his estranged father has died. He is a guy that makes a habit of running away from his problems but situations forces him to deal with the fall out that arises from his father death - the discovery of his father’s secret family that includes an alcoholic sister named Frankie (Elizabeth Banks) and nephew that he never knew about, uncovering his mother’s involvement in these past secrets, and decisions on how to move forward in his relationship with his girlfriend (Olivia Wilde) and fully let her into his life. We are right there with him as he becomes “more of a person”, developing a relationship with his sister and nephew (without her knowledge of who he is) and coming to understand his mother and her motivations of wanting to protecting her family with secrets. The most beautiful part of the movie is watching the siblings interact and bond and learning about their separate but eerily similar situation of being their father’s children. The movie is crafted so that we come to want them to be in each other’s lives, that these were two people that really need and bring out the best in each other. It is the father who we never see but who seemingly pulls all the strings as his actions and decisions so impacted the lives of everyone on the screen. Yep, I teared up alot at this one, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I would also like to say that Chris Pine is on my short list of underrated and under-appreciated actors that are really versatile and amazing to watch, and this film further proved that for me. I saw him in a play The Lieutenant of Inishmore out in L.A. a couple of years ago which he was excellent in; that was when I really looked at him as a great actor, and I hope he continues with a few more independent movies in order to show his acting range.  

Do See: The Amazing Spiderman (Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone) This short review has a caveat. Do see this film… if you haven’t seen or didn’t like the last franchise with Tobey Maguire (to which I ask, what is wrong with you?!?!?). Otherwise, you don’t really need to bother with it so much. I know alot of folks about there feel the same way that I do, that this movie came too soon after the last franchise. I think I went in to this alittle biased; I loved the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire versions (sans the third movie which was God awful. The second one made up for it though which I consider one of the best contemporary superhero movies), and I thought this one was alittle unnecessary. Is it a prequel? A remake? That feeling stayed with me the whole time I watched. Don’t get me wrong - I adore Garfield and Stone, two of the best young actresses we have right now (see: Boy A and The Social Network for proof for Garfield’s talent, Easy A and The Help for Stone’s) and they did some pretty great work here (though was all that great acting wasted for this movie? I wonder…) For me the chemistry between Peter Parker/Gwen Stacy was some of the best I’ve seen between love interests in superhero movies. It bordered on sexy. I loved it. Stone and Garfield both brought their characteristic lovableness that I enjoyed in all of the small moments they had on screen together. Other than that I didn’t love or was excited about this version of Spiderman. Peter Parker at many times came off too arrogant which didn’t for me meld with him being a nerdy outsider. The quest of discovering his destiny and his living up to his responsibilities, though core to the Spiderman story, was nothing really innovation from what we had already seen in the Sam Raimi version. The villian, The Lizard, wasn’t villian-y (is that a word?) enough for me. There was no real bravado or sense that he matched the wits and abilities of Spiderman. The action sequences? Yawn. Some some moments got me to sit up alittle straighter in my seat but that’s it. All in all, I’m not seeing the improvement on the last franchise that explains the quick reboot. What I will say about it is that I laughed so much at Stan Lee’s cameo in this one; it was so cute and funny. I love Marc Webb; he has given me one of my favorite movies (500 Days of Summer) and maybe because of his experience with that, the relationships between the lead characters were so good. I think they it suffered from not being original enough when it set out to be original. It would have been better off if it was a straight up prequel and ended where the 2002’s Spiderman began. What I want to know now is, what is going to happen to the only great thing about the movie (Garfield + Stone) when they kill off Gwen Stacy (if they follow the comics)?