Trailer: “The Amazing Spider-Man” 2012 (Video)

In 2002 “Spider-Man” was a smash hit that launched a franchise and made Tobey Maguire a star. 10 years later the franchise is being reborn. This time it will be Andrew Garfield taking over as the famed web-slinger in “The Amazing Spider-Man”, due to release to theaters in theaters July 3, 2012.

The first trailer has been released and with it the growing excitement, if only for this self-admitting fan, for what’s shaping up to a great film.

“The Amazing Spider-Man” will be an origins film, telling the story we’re now familiar with; Peter Parker starts out as a run-of-the-mill teenager only to be bitten by a radio-active spider, imbuing him with powers and changing him forever.

Director Marc Webb and screenwriters Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves have the immense task of telling us the old story in a new way. We get glimpses of what they do from the trailer, and I must say, I like what I see.

We get to see something new from “The Amazing Spider-Man” trailer. All the “Spider-Man” films that have come before have shown us the hero slinging his way through the sky rises of New York, but not until now did we get to see it from his point of you.

I’ll tell you what I’m excited about; the director, the cast, the writers, the effects…. so… everything.

Webb, the film’s director, has blown me away once before with his film “(500) Days of Summer,” a wonderfully creative film that everyone should see. Outside of that his résumé consists of a career directing music videos, this could be a chance to turn him into a mainstream director and kick-start his career.

The film’s writers have actually written many familiar films. Sargent wrote the last two Spider-Man films and has also won an Oscar for his writing (“Ordinary People”) and that bodes well in dealing with “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Kloves is in the same boat, he’s written seven of the “Harry Potter” films and was nominated for an Oscar for his “Wonder Boys” screenplay.

As for the cast, Andrew Garfield can be just as much the average nerd as Tobey Maguire so perfectly was on the first go round. He’s proven he can act in films like “Social Network” and “Never Let Me Go” and where “Social Network” introduced everyone to Garfield “The Amazing Spider-Man” has the potential to make him a true star.

Emma Stone will play Gwen Stacy, not only the film’s love interest but Peter Parker’s first true love. Stone’s a great actress who’s shown in her short career the ability to tackle just about anything a script can throw at her. I’m excited to see her getting bigger roles, I’ve already picked her as an actress to watch and her star’s starting to shine.

Interesting side note: this will be the first Spider-Man film to not feature Mary-Jane Watson.

I’m also intrigued by the films potential bad guys, The Lizard and Proto-Goblin. Rhys Ifans will be playing Dr. Curt Connors (who becomes the Lizard), he’s an actor I’ve always enjoyed and it’s nice to see him get what could potentially become a big role. Playing our other potential villain is Irrfan Khan; he’ll be Nels Van Adder/Proto-Goblin according to IMDB, what any of that means? I have no idea, this is the first I’ve heard of Proto-Goblin but he looks potentially terrifying.

I realize I just said potential a lot, and here’s why; I don’t know what’s going to happen in this film. Searching the internet, including the “The Amazing Spider-Man” official website, I could find no official synopsis for the film. All I know for sure is what the trailer shows us, which is what we could have guessed would be in the film anyways.

Either way the summer blockbuster season of 2012 is shaping up to be a very interesting one and come July 4^th weekend I’ll be making plans to see “The Amazing Spider-Man.”

Movie Review: Social Network

Social Network stars Jessie Eisenberg as the creator of Facebook, picture from news.cnet.com

Like many movies, “The Social Network” starts with a bad date. For Mark Zuckerberg this date ends his relationship but puts into motion the events that lead him to creating facebook and becoming one of the world’s youngest billionaires. David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin skillfully craft a quality movie and get the most of a talented cast. For the most part the movie is told through flashbacks, Zuckerberg is being sued in two separate cases and we watch the movie unfold from the stories told during each delegation.

The movie centers around Zuckerberg, and understandably so, and Jessie Eisenberg turns in a performance worthy of the focus. Eisenberg has been landing bigger roles over the last few years but it’s this one that will separate him from his peers. He plays Zuckerberg as an out of the loop yet incredibly in touch individual that’s fascinating to watch. He pulls off having the intelligence of the Harvard student that creates facebook without losing Zuckerberg’s awkwardness. It’s amazing to watch Zuckerberg know what people want, he’s clearly a keen observer, yet he can’t seem to connect to the people closest to him. Eisenberg walks a fine line in this performance and he walks it well.

But Eisenberg’s isn’t the only role that makes this movie such a great watch. New to the scene, Andrew Garfield plays Zuckerberg’s best friend, Eduardo Saverin. It seems he’s the only real friend Zuckerberg has, and Zuckerberg knows it, after all its Saverin that he looks too to finance the website that becomes the facebook we all know and use today. Saverin tries to be the voice of reason but through their run ins with Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake, ends up being cut out of the giant he helped create.

Timberlake turns in an interesting performance as Parker, the name you might not know, but you all know of his creation, Napster. Parker knows what Zuckerberg wants to hear and his contacts in the world make it easy for him to take Saverin’s place and eventually cut out Zuckerbergs old friend completely. What makes this role so interesting is the development of the character. When we first meet Parker he comes across as very cool and charismatic, it’s understandable to see how his image can seduce anyone. But watch him, watch the places Parker goes, Timberlake can do more than make a hit song, the man can act too.

The movies creators are no slouches either. We know director David Fincher from such create movies as “Se7en”, “Fight Club”, and “Zodiac”, his skills as a director have never been questioned and with “The Social Network” this streak will continue. He gets the most from his actors and balances Sorkin’s fabulous script with excellent visuals and even some digital wizardry in the Winklevoss brothers.

Jessie Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield have a complicated relationship in Social Network, photo from altiusdirectory.com

Aaron Sorkin has had quite the career himself; he wrote movies like “A Few Good Men” and “Charlie Wilsons War” as well as being the brain behind television shows like “The West Wing.” His script matches the intelligence of its characters and his dialogue comes across as not only believable but decipherable for those of us who don’t understand computer algorithms.

Together they’ve created something special. Now some people call into question the legitimacy of this film, saying that much of it is very exaggerated or even made up to add drama to what’s otherwise a boring story. I look at this film and say who cares? After all it’s a great film and it tells a great story, I don’t go to the film to watch history, I go to be entertained. “The Social Network” does an excellent job of just that.