Film Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

8/10

Firstly, let me start this review by saying that it MIGHT be slightly affected by the cinematic experience I had while watching the film.  That's not saying it's a bad film, far from it but the circumstances surrounding my viewing of it are not ideal.

I had booked the day off, on the day of release (as I often do with films I want to see) because I enjoy a cinema that's not empty but not heaving either.  A midday non-weekend viewing is usually ideal for such things.  Plus it's often cheaper tickets.

However, I made a mistake in not checking film times. If I had, I'd have seen the first showing was after 7pm rendering my day off unnecessary. Bollocks.  Secondly, I would now have to go to a later showing to ensure that screaming/chattering children would not be over running the place.  But the later the showing, the later I'd be home and getting to bed for work the next day.

A tangled web, indeed. Pun not intended.

The viewing I went to opened at 20:45, meaning a 21:15 film start time which was acceptable to me.  Not TOO late getting out of the cinema and with school the next day, no kids. HA!

How fucking wrong was I?

Some utter genius of a parent bought their 3 kids to the same showing, I guess their ages to be 4, 3 and 18 months.  And they sat right behind me.  Livid wouldn't accurately describe my feelings. Bringing actual toddlers to a night time showing of a 12A movie to be just smacks of bad parenting.  This was further proved when, during the scenes with the Lizard (more on that soon) the 18 month old SCREAMED out in horror and so had to be taken to the aisle and calmed down. Not once, but 5 times!  In the end, the mother stayed there until about 10 mins before the end of the film.  And all the while, the other two kids were chattering away behind me.

So yeah, a happy bunny I was not.

Rant over - now the film.

It was pretty good actually. Andrew Garfield was pitch perfect as Peter Parker (I apologise for the alliteration there) and Emma Stone was pretty as ever, and made a wonderful Gwen Stacy. In fact, she was so good, it makes me dread the next film as we all know how her story ends.

Praise must also go to Martin Sheen and Rhys Ifans who completely owned their roles. The one downside was Sally Field as Aunt May.  She just wasn't vulnerable enough, or old enough.  Aunt May is a frail, white haired lady.  Sally Field just didn't LOOK the part, but if you can look past that, her acting was excellent too.

The Lizard himself was very effective as a horror-based opponent for Spidey but I much prefer the way he's designed in the comics. He looks far too human in the film, and one of his main weapons (his bite) is missing. A missed opportunity, I think.

But the fight scenes are brilliant (with a completely genius Stan Lee cameo during one fight) and the Spiderman quips and insults are at long last reminiscent of the comic books as opposed to the Raimi versions which were largely missing.

Clearly the film is just the first of another trilogy, and the post-credits scene points to another Oscorp employee (Doc Ock? Mysterio? Electro? Vulture? Osborn himself?) being in the next film.

So I would absolutely recommend this film, even if you think the previous trilogy were perfect, this is just different enough to stand up without comparison, although if it was the very first Spider-man film ever, I think it would seem a lot, lot better.

And it was nice to see New York so completely rebuilt after the Avengers. :)

Eric Sykes

“Some people walk on stage and the audience warms to them. You can’t explain it, and you shouldn’t try. It's an arrogant assumption to say you ‘decide’ to become a comedian. The audience decides for you.” - Eric Sykes

Earlier today, the world lost a true icon of comedy.  An actual legend.

Eric Sykes passed away aged 89.

This is another nail in the coffin of my childhood.  Along with other comedians like Les Dawson, Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper, Spike Milligan, Bob Monkhouse, and so on.  These were the people that I grew up laughing at.  Laughing with.

Eric was the last one.

I still treasure the memories of my Dad videoing 'The Plank' just so we could sit down and watch it together, knowing that we had a similar sense of humour.

All of Eric's comedy shows were favourites in our house, and Dad in particular could be found howling at the telly, whenever he was on.

The last thing I personally saw him in was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which (although brief) showed that he could do dramatic roles aswell (his turn as the creepy gardener in the film 'The Others' proved this too.)

But he will be forever remembered as a comedic genius.  And rightly so.

Rest in peace, Eric. The world has lost a great man, and wonderful comedian.

Thank you for the laughter.