The Amazing Spider-Man
Jul. 4th, 2012 12:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theladysnarkydameSo I went to see the midnight showing of Spider-Man (in 2D) at the new Alamo Drafthouse here in KC. Short version -- AWESOME.
The theater is still getting all its stuff together, which means the online ticket purchasing system isn't up yet. So I wasn't surprised that the show didn't sell out. There was a good crowd though! And the concession stands weren't fully stocked, due to the whole rearranging everything thing. But they had M&Ms so I was good.
The custom preshow (which the Drafthouse does instead of ads and commercials while the lights are up) was great -- clips of weird Spider-Man shows all mixed up and cycled through randomly. There was a trailer for the Italian Spider-Man (which looked mostly like a porno), clips from the old Japanese version, the 90s cartoon, some strange kid's show were a Spidey that spoke only in comic bubbles fought a guy named Blowhard that was trying to ruin a b-day party, a really hysterically awful live action version where Spidey's suit looked like badly fitted plastic and the webbing was black tulle -- in this one, he was fighting Dr. Lightning out in the middle of the country, but that didn't stop him from using that black tulle to swing away (presumably hitching a ride on a passing bird); also a clip of the real life Spider Man, scaling what was possibly the Eiffel Tower.
Then there was the PSA -- the Drafthouse has a stringent NO TALKING policy -- wherein the old concession stand folk (the soda, the hot dog and the popcorn) are interrupted by a rotten food death metal band roaring about the way they bite you in the side and give you a disease if they caught you talking. It was awesome, if only for the expression on the soda's face. :D (despite this warning, the dad and the 10 year old kid behind us -- which, really, a 10 year old here for a midnight show in a theatre that allows alchohol? Okay -- were talking a lot. They didn't get kicked out, most likely because no one felt like calling the manager to kick out a child and his obnoxious dad.)
Then there was like, two or three trailers (the only one I remember was for something called Savages about a drug war involving two guys and a girl in a three way relationship and the cartel that was muscling in on their marijuana business). And then there was Spider-Man!
And guys, I know it's not Avengers level awesome, because that was some Stars-Aligned-Just-Right Awesome, and also it's the origin story, again, and everybody knows the origin story . . . but it was, sure enough, awesome.
They changed enough of the story to not be stepping too closely in Raimi's footsteps, while keeping the core of the origin story the same. I've mentioned I'm not really good at reviews? So this will mostly be a list-like thing of points I found particularly appealing.
Garfield brought the Parker sass much more convincingly than Toby Maguire did -- Maguire had the dorky charm, but not the edge that Peter Parker always had beneath it. This Peter also got to show his smarts more -- from designing his own web shooters (which I like SO MUCH BETTER than having them be an organic part of the mutation -- for one thing, it creates a lot of opportunity for trouble, like when the Lizard crushes them and denies their use to Peter at a time when he could really use them) to following along with Dr. Connor's genetic research -- even to little things, like the overheard conversation about pendulums, mass, and momentum that you could see him implementing as he learned to swing through the city.
Gwen Stacy got to be smart too! She wasn't taken as a hostage once, even if Peter and her father did come storming up to rescue her. She was obviously at home in the high tech science labs of Oscorp and got to show her quick wit in several different ways.
Uncle Ben was really cool -- with Martin Sheen playing him, how could he not be? -- and he really drove home that Power = Responsibility thing, not by his words, but by his actions (even if those actions did end tragically.)
I really liked Aunt May, too -- she seemed really warm, and tougher than she looked.
They did Flash Thompson right! From typical capitol J jock to an actual human being, reaching out to Peter after his uncle's death with genuine understanding. (also, they didn't forget that he's a total Spidey fan boy!)
The crane scene was corny, but I found it pretty moving anyway, what with the blue-collar New Yorker's wordlessly helping a wounded Spider-man reach his destination, all on the word of their foreman saying, 'this guy's okay, this guy saved my kid, make a path.' It was a great shot too, all those crane's swinging out over the street to make a webslinger highway.
The Lizard was pretty well done -- you never lost sight of the fact that this monster, who was about to do something pretty awful, was a decent man underneath it all. He got desperate, and did something stupidly dangerous, and they hinted at some dark stuff in his past, but still. Human.
Stan Lee's cameo was, I think, his best so far. Really funny.
I loved Captain Stacey -- he didn't really have enough to do until the end, but he allowed them to bring in the whole cops v Spider-Man issue that crops up again and again in the comics, and to articulate some good points about that conflict.
They didn't use the Bugle, except for a newspaper cameo. I love the whole Bugle storyline, don't get me wrong, but Raimi did that, and did it pretty well. They might use it in the sequel, but they didn't need it here, and I'm glad they didn't go for it yet.
Verdict -- I love the Drafthouse's style -- I will be going back pretty often, I think. And I loved the movie, and will probably go see it again.
The theater is still getting all its stuff together, which means the online ticket purchasing system isn't up yet. So I wasn't surprised that the show didn't sell out. There was a good crowd though! And the concession stands weren't fully stocked, due to the whole rearranging everything thing. But they had M&Ms so I was good.
The custom preshow (which the Drafthouse does instead of ads and commercials while the lights are up) was great -- clips of weird Spider-Man shows all mixed up and cycled through randomly. There was a trailer for the Italian Spider-Man (which looked mostly like a porno), clips from the old Japanese version, the 90s cartoon, some strange kid's show were a Spidey that spoke only in comic bubbles fought a guy named Blowhard that was trying to ruin a b-day party, a really hysterically awful live action version where Spidey's suit looked like badly fitted plastic and the webbing was black tulle -- in this one, he was fighting Dr. Lightning out in the middle of the country, but that didn't stop him from using that black tulle to swing away (presumably hitching a ride on a passing bird); also a clip of the real life Spider Man, scaling what was possibly the Eiffel Tower.
Then there was the PSA -- the Drafthouse has a stringent NO TALKING policy -- wherein the old concession stand folk (the soda, the hot dog and the popcorn) are interrupted by a rotten food death metal band roaring about the way they bite you in the side and give you a disease if they caught you talking. It was awesome, if only for the expression on the soda's face. :D (despite this warning, the dad and the 10 year old kid behind us -- which, really, a 10 year old here for a midnight show in a theatre that allows alchohol? Okay -- were talking a lot. They didn't get kicked out, most likely because no one felt like calling the manager to kick out a child and his obnoxious dad.)
Then there was like, two or three trailers (the only one I remember was for something called Savages about a drug war involving two guys and a girl in a three way relationship and the cartel that was muscling in on their marijuana business). And then there was Spider-Man!
And guys, I know it's not Avengers level awesome, because that was some Stars-Aligned-Just-Right Awesome, and also it's the origin story, again, and everybody knows the origin story . . . but it was, sure enough, awesome.
They changed enough of the story to not be stepping too closely in Raimi's footsteps, while keeping the core of the origin story the same. I've mentioned I'm not really good at reviews? So this will mostly be a list-like thing of points I found particularly appealing.
Garfield brought the Parker sass much more convincingly than Toby Maguire did -- Maguire had the dorky charm, but not the edge that Peter Parker always had beneath it. This Peter also got to show his smarts more -- from designing his own web shooters (which I like SO MUCH BETTER than having them be an organic part of the mutation -- for one thing, it creates a lot of opportunity for trouble, like when the Lizard crushes them and denies their use to Peter at a time when he could really use them) to following along with Dr. Connor's genetic research -- even to little things, like the overheard conversation about pendulums, mass, and momentum that you could see him implementing as he learned to swing through the city.
Gwen Stacy got to be smart too! She wasn't taken as a hostage once, even if Peter and her father did come storming up to rescue her. She was obviously at home in the high tech science labs of Oscorp and got to show her quick wit in several different ways.
Uncle Ben was really cool -- with Martin Sheen playing him, how could he not be? -- and he really drove home that Power = Responsibility thing, not by his words, but by his actions (even if those actions did end tragically.)
I really liked Aunt May, too -- she seemed really warm, and tougher than she looked.
They did Flash Thompson right! From typical capitol J jock to an actual human being, reaching out to Peter after his uncle's death with genuine understanding. (also, they didn't forget that he's a total Spidey fan boy!)
The crane scene was corny, but I found it pretty moving anyway, what with the blue-collar New Yorker's wordlessly helping a wounded Spider-man reach his destination, all on the word of their foreman saying, 'this guy's okay, this guy saved my kid, make a path.' It was a great shot too, all those crane's swinging out over the street to make a webslinger highway.
The Lizard was pretty well done -- you never lost sight of the fact that this monster, who was about to do something pretty awful, was a decent man underneath it all. He got desperate, and did something stupidly dangerous, and they hinted at some dark stuff in his past, but still. Human.
Stan Lee's cameo was, I think, his best so far. Really funny.
I loved Captain Stacey -- he didn't really have enough to do until the end, but he allowed them to bring in the whole cops v Spider-Man issue that crops up again and again in the comics, and to articulate some good points about that conflict.
They didn't use the Bugle, except for a newspaper cameo. I love the whole Bugle storyline, don't get me wrong, but Raimi did that, and did it pretty well. They might use it in the sequel, but they didn't need it here, and I'm glad they didn't go for it yet.
Verdict -- I love the Drafthouse's style -- I will be going back pretty often, I think. And I loved the movie, and will probably go see it again.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-04 08:44 am (UTC)Btw, was this the black tulle webbing spider-man you saw? I was just reading about it the other day!
no subject
Date: 2012-07-04 07:45 pm (UTC)And the Drafthouse is really cool! I'm glad they're expanding. :D
no subject
Date: 2012-07-04 02:13 pm (UTC)And so does the film. I must put it on my to-see list.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-04 07:45 pm (UTC)