The Amazing Spider-Man - Actually Amazing

When I heard there was a reboot of Spider-Man, I sort of rolled my eyes and thought, "Great, another money-maker." But after watching The Amazing Spider-Man, I can really see the relevance of it and why it's okay. I will start by saying that this movie was simply fantastic.

Sure, you've got your expected scenes of Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) bitten by a spider, getting powers and all that, but it's how they delve into the character and his backstory that really makes this film shine. 

This movie really focuses the attention on Peter's desire to be with his parents, and his curiosity as to why they aren't around. Peter has to deal with so many issues colliding into him at once that it seems a bit overbearing for him.

   

It's inevitable that people are going to compare The Amazing Spider-man to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man from 2002. I will say that this one is just darker and takes on a much more serious tone. 

The acting in this movie is superb. You couldn't have cast a better Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen). He makes his character so real and relatable. Andrew Garfield too was witty and his emotions felt genuine. You could really see the pain in his face when certain events took place. 

There are a few things about this movie that are subtle, but really make the movie better than any of the others. I like that throughout the movie, Peter Parker looks like he got the crap beaten out of him when he's finished patrolling or going after bad guys. He has black eyes and bruises almost the entire movie and that makes it a lot more realistic. Also, his costume stays ripped and torn, because, well, he didn't have time to fix it. Go figure!

I also really liked how Parker used his webbing in the story. It's so smart. He wasn't just using them to swing from one place to another, but to actually try to figure out things, like where the lizard was hiding. It's hard to explain without giving away too much, but it was a nice touch. 

It was refreshing for Spider-Man to have a different love interest and Emma Stone did very well at portraying Gwen Stacy.

Now, the reason I see the relevance of a reboot is this: In the past Spider-Man movies, there were no smart phones, Facebook, and few people used the Internet like they do today. I read about this in another article and I completely agree. We live in a much different world than we did even 5 years ago. Smartphones didn't even exist when we started Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. It really changes how things are done today and it was nice to see all of this in action.

There's also a very touching scene that really shows that the common man too can be a hero. When you watch the movie, just remember crane operators. 

This was a great movie experience and I would recommend it to anyone.

The McDandy Rating: A MUST SEE

Trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man:

Prometheus - Edge of Your Seat

Prometheus will hold your attention throughout the film, that much is true. But that doesn't mean that you will understand everything that is happening in front of you.

Director Ridley Scott did well in making you stay on the edge of your seat the entire movie. I remember watching the trailer for this and never got the indication that it was a horror-like film.

I love sci-fi movies, and that's what really drew me to this one. I wasn't expecting nearly as much violence and suspense. There are moments in the movie that will make you cringe and plenty of times that you will jump.

The visual and audio effects of this movie were absolutely stunning. It's worth seeing in the theater just to get the crisp clearness of the massive screen and the resounding woofers of the dynamic sound. Lately I've been really tired of seeing CG effects that you can tell were CG when the directors are trying to convince you that you aren't watching a cartoon. In Prometheus, it all looks real. And that's an accomplishment with a sci-fi movie these days.

The acting was ok. Michael Fassbender was the best out of all of them for sure. The others, well, they seemed like all other movies. Nothing special in the least bit here.

The characters were just ok as well. I never really felt for them and what they had to go through. During the film I would think, "Ah, man...that stinks for him.." or "Oh no! Get out of there, get out of there!" but I was never really disappointed when it didn't work out for certain people, and I wasn't really against the antagonists. Plus, the person I'm thinking is the main character halfway through the movie, isn't actually the main character, so that was a bit odd as well.

The plot is where it starts to go down hill...sort of. I mean, it was very intriguing and it had a good concept, but they never really delivered with answers. There are several scenes that you think will make sense when they explain it later, but they never do. Looking back on the movie, there are so many questions that I have, that I feel like I missed so much, but I don't feel like I would get those answers by watching it a second time. Also, I really don't think they needed a 'save the Earth' moment in the movie. It was almost like an afterthought, and the writers just decided to throw that in there. There was no need for it, and the movie would have been just as good without it...maybe better. We were never really given a reason why the antagonists wanted to destroy Earth anyway...

Overall, I would say you should go see it. It's worth paying the extra bucks to see it on the big screen, though I did not watch the 3D version, so I can't say much for that. It was a very entertaining movie that will hold your attention through to the end, but also leaving you scratching your head.

The McDandy Rating : Big Screen Worthy


Trailer for Prometheus:

Snow White & The Huntsman

Snow White & The Huntsman is one of those movies that you just might forget you went to see in a month or so. The problem with this movie is that it had several really good scenes, but the rest of it seemed to make you want to check your watch a few times before it was over.

To make it easier on myself, I'm going to break this review up into sections this time.

1. Story
You know the story, it's the same classic fairy tale. Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is the fairest of them all, and the evil queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) wants to kill her so she can live forever. Then the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) comes in to rescue her and they start a war to take back the kingdom.

I have to say though, there were several parts of the film that left me scratching my head. The magic displayed throughout, although cool in the graphics department, didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense and made me wonder on several occasions about how "this" and "that" worked. I know it's a fairytale, but in many instances, there seemed to be no logical explanation as to why certain things happened. For instance: why was the queen eating bird hearts? Why did kissing Snow White wake her up? Maybe I missed something, but I felt like the creators of the movie could have made it a little more believable.

At 127 minutes, you begin to question yourself as to why you thought it was necessary to order a large drink at the concession stand, especially when the movie isn't gripping you like you hoped it would. I felt that way through the entire movie. I truly believe that the creators could have made it 30 minutes shorter and would not have missed a beat. It was simply too long for the story they told.

Also, the storyline/subplot involving Snow White's childhood friend William (Sam Claflin) was completely pointless. It added nothing to the story at all. In fact, I think it took away from the story that should have been more focused on the Huntsman. It made Snow White's relationship with the Huntsman more shallow. It seemed like the creators were trying to add a bit of "who will she go to in the end?" but fell flat in that regard.

2. Acting
Actually I think the acting was very good. Charlize Theron seemed to outshine them all, while Chris Hemsworth seemed a little dry at times, but his character was decently deep. Kristen Stewart did well too, though she couldn't seem to decide if she wanted to stick with her American accent or go British. Personally, I think she should have just kept the American accent. There were so many different accents throughout the movie that I don't think it would have been noticed.

3. Overall
This movie wasn't a bad flick by any means, but it wasn't that good either. The costumes were terrific and the graphics where really well done. The fight scenes were intense though very short-lived. Often times I thought the camerawork was a little shaky, but I only noticed this a few times.

If you're on the fence about seeing this movie, I'd wait and maybe rent it. I'm not too sure it's worth the full ticket price. It's an ok movie if you absolutely have nothing else to do.

The McDandy Rating: Rent It Later


Trailer for Snow White & The Huntsman:

Men In Black 3 - A Sequel With Depth

The first Men In Black Movie was a classic. And let's face it, MIB 2 stinks. But MIB 3 offers something we have yet to see in either of its predecessors.

Depth.

There's a lot more here than witty banter between Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) or Agent J, (Will Smith). The creators are done with making the oddities of the aliens as a major focal point of the story and humor, though there is plenty of it in MIB 3. This time we get to delve into the characters of both Agent K and Agent J, and the result is refreshing.

They do this by time travel. In order to save the life of his partner, Agent J must travel back in time and rescue Young Agent K (Josh Brolin) from Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement). Here we learn a lot about Agent K and how he might have become the hard-nosed stickler for rules that he is.

Being about time-travel, you can expect there to be a lot of twists and turns, and quite frankly a couple of scenes that will blindside you. (But in a good way.) I obviously can't get into specifics because I don't want to give anything away, but there were several moments throughout the movie where I had to ask myself if I was still watching a Men In Black movie. Though it is still classified as a comedy for sure, the elements of action and suspense kept you on the edge of your seat, while the tenderness of some scenes nearly brought me to tears - something I would have never expected from a Men In Black movie.

The acting was superb. Will Smith is at his best, and Tommy Lee Jones is always a delight, but he is only in the movie for twenty or thirty minutes it seemed. I would have to say that the real credit goes to Josh Brolin for portraying Young Agent K. I'm not sure they could have picked a better actor for the job.

Starting out, the movie seems that it was only adding to the poor job done on MIB 2. I went in to this movie thinking that it HAD to be better, because if it wasn't, I don't know why they would even try. (Sorry for those of you out there that really liked MIB 2...Please let me know what I'm missing there.)

If you haven't seen the first two MIB movies, where have you been? But seriously, it would be good for knowing the background of the characters. I would say this one trumps the first two by far. Fantastic movie.

The McDandy Rating: A MUST SEE

Trailer for Men In Black 3:

The Avengers - McDandy's first review

The Avengers is quite possibly the most anticipated superhero movie in history, but does it quite live up to the hype?


I know that this is the Marvel movie we have all been waiting for. This is the movie that all the others made by Marvel Studios has been leading up to. This is what they have been aching to show us.


I was pleased to learn that I would be given the chance to see the movie before its May release date in the United States, but despite my privileged opportunity, I went in with relatively low expectations. (It's just another superhero movie, but with a bunch of them at one time, right?)

Wrong...

If you are a fan of Marvel, superheroes, great CGI or just all-around intense action films, you MUST see Marvel's The Avengers. 

The CGI was the best I've seen in a long time, the fighting as intense as ever, and the plot is top-notch. But these things aren't the only aspects of the movie that make The Avengers great. For me, it was the characters. 

Yes, we've seen all these characters before. We've enjoyed their specific movies, but having them on screen together worked better than I could have imagined. 

In fact, that was why I was apprehensive at first. I had been afraid that perhaps one hero would take away more screen time than another. (We all have our favorites.) But this wasn't the case. 

Tony Stark (Robert Downy Jr.), provided his much expected wit and humor for the film, causing the crowd to laugh on many occasions. The banter between Stark and Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) flowed well and added a lot to the character depth. 

I wasn't sure how Thor (Chris Hemsworth) would be playing his part either. I thought he actually might be taking too much screen time from the others since his brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), was the main antagonist, but this wasn't the case. 

I found myself most excited in the movie when Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) came on screen. His character was done so well for this movie. I found myself thrilled and even scared in some of his scenes.

I must also mention here that Ruffalo did a superb job of taking Edward Norton's place as Bruce Banner/ The Hulk. If there's one thing that annoys me about sequels, it's when they change actors, but I actually enjoyed Ruffalo better in this role.

Of course you can't forget about Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Each of them played their part of the story wonderfully, though I found Sam Jackson's acting to be a little stale.

I would say that if you haven't watched the other movies made by Marvel Studios that you might want to watch them. Most references will be lost on you if you don't. 

As far as screen time, it felt like every character got their time in the light. No one person stole the show, and just as Marvel intended, they ALL stole the show.

There is one particular scene that I enjoyed where the camera panned to each hero, doing their own special moves, though it's hard to explain further than that without giving anything away.

However, there were moments in the movie where I had to lean over to my wife and ask what someone was talking about, but these instances were minor.

Obviously, if you care anything about Marvel movies, you're already planning to see The Avengers. If you haven't seen any of the other Marvel Studios films, take a weekend, watch them. Then go see The Avengers. I don't think you'll be sorry you did. 


The McDandy Rating: A MUST SEE


Trailer for The Avengers: