Movie Review: Amazing Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man is a character that's always been very near and dear to my heart. Probably like most people my age, I was introduced to Peter Parker through the Fox Kids' Spider-Man cartoon and one of the first comics I ever purchased was a back issue of The Amazing Spider-Man from the 1970's. The adventures of Peter Parker left a lasting impression on me and helped influence my superhero tastes.

Keep that in mind when I say The Amazing Spider-Man 2 disappointed me. Now, don't let that lead you to believe that I hated the film because that couldn't be further from the truth. I actually rather enjoyed the film for what it was and would recommend seeing it if you have the time. However, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had so much potential and could have been spectacular. Unfortunately, its problems cause it to fall short of reaching those heights.

Like the previous film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 tells the story of Peter Parker, a teenager from Queens who developed super powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. Now, he must balance the demands of his everyday life with the growing responsibilities of being a superhero. After saving the city from the vicious Lizard, Peter has to deal with a shocking new villain and the numerous secrets surrounding the disappearance of his parents and Oscorp. Will Peter be able to protect the city and his loved ones, or will this be the end for Spider-Man?

The biggest problem with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is its unfocused narrative. At one moment, the film is a romantic drama between Peter and Gwen Stacy, at another its a conspiracy movie focusing on the mysteries of Oscorp and his parent's connections to the corporation, then its a movie about the struggles of being a superhero and how great power also leads to great responsibility. While each plot point is relatively fine on its own, bringing them all together into one film causes the story to be less cohesive and very muddled.

There are also times where certain subplots either end in plot cul-de-sacs or seem to only be included to tease future movies. The best examples of this are the two scenes that contain Aleksei Sytsevich (a.k.a. The Rhino). He appears in one of the first few scenes of the movie to give us an example of Peter being a hero, then disappears for the remainder of the film to randomly show up at the end piloting a gigantic, robotic suit designed to look like a rhino. You could easily replace both of these scenes and lose absolutely nothing.

However, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 does have two very strong points: its characters and its action scenes.

Like its predecessor, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 possesses a menagerie of interesting characters with great interactions played by wonderful actors. Andrew Garfield continues to be perfect in the role of Peter Parker, capturing the cocky jokester persona of Spider-Man and balancing it with the nerdy outsider that is his secret identity. Emma stone is equally as perfect, making us truly care about Gwen and you believe the two character's relationship due to their excellent chemistry. Finally, I feel like I would be doing Jaime Foxx a disservice if I didn't mention his fantastic performance as Electro. In the hands of a less talented actor, Matt Dillon would have come off as an insulting caricature, but Foxx makes the character believable and you feel how tragic his situation is.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 also excels in the action department. Almost every action scene is kinetic and visually interesting, making you feel the weight of everything that is happening and is incredibly entertaining. I'd also like to applaud the decision to utilize slow motion to visualize Peter's "spidey sense". It works perfectly and really gets the idea across.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a good film that unfortunately could have been an excellent one. If the story was just as good as the characters and action scenes, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would have truly been amazing.

Movie Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The First Avenger is easily one of my favorite superhero movies. Like the director's previous work The Rocketeer, The First Avenger was a period piece that was just good, old fashioned fun. When I learned the sequel would be going in a more serious direction, I was somewhat nervous.

Thankfully, my fears turned out to be unfounded. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is easily one of the best Marvel films to date.

After the battle with the Chitari invaders during the final act of The Avengers, genetically-enhanced super-soldier Steve Rodgers is now an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., handling a number of missions for the powerful organization. However, not everything is at it seems when Nick Fury is seemingly assassinated by a mysterious culprit known simply as "The Winter Soldier" and Rodgers becomes a wanted man. Can Captain America, Black Widow, and the new comer the Falcon discover the truth behind this conspiracy before it's too late, or will they become its newest victims?

Unlike the previous film, The Winter Soldier possesses a much more serious tone. In many ways, the movie resembles a political thriller set in a world where superheroes exist. However, the films doesn't let this new tone overpower the film. The Winter Soldier manages to hold onto the underlying feeling of hope that made The First Avenger great and infuses this darker tale with some well-written humor and fun action scenes that give the film a since of equilibrium and make the film incredibly enjoyable.

The film is also enhanced by a talented cast who all give excellent performances. Chris Evans continues to prove that he was born to play the role of Steve Rodgers, perfectly capturing the essence of the character and making him feel like a real, three-dimensional human being. Scarlett Johansson is equally fantastic, breathing life into a rather complex character and possessing some real platonic chemistry of Evans, making you believe these two characters would work well together as a team and would eventually become friends. Anthony Mackie does a fine job with the new character of Sam Wilson, presenting this veteran as a likable individual who just wants to do what's right and Sebastian Stan is excellent as the Winter Soldier, managing to be terrifying at one moment and tragic the next.

Finally, the directing and writing are top notch. Anthony and Joe Russo, a pair who are not really known for action films, definitely show off their directing chops. Almost every scene is tight and uses the visual language of film superbly. This is only enhanced by a solid script from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Its smartly written and doesn't treat its audience like children, which is a nice change of pace from hand-holding nature of most modern blockbusters.

However, the film does have a few blemishes. While I felt the film's twist was great and I enjoyed its villains, I felt their motivations were a little simplistic. While that's not necessarily a bad thing and I would rather they keep something simplistic instead of overtly complicated, I wish their motivations had a little more meat to them. Also, some of the foreshadowing at the beginning of the film was a little too on the nose at times.

Thankfully, these minor problems do not ruin the film in the slightest. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is probably the 2nd best Marvel film to date, just barely falling short of The Avengers. The film manages to go a darker, more suspenseful route without loosing the sense of hope and fun that was present in its predecessor. If I haven't made it clear by now, I love this film and it easily blew past all my expectations. You will be doing yourself a great disservice if you don't go see this film as soon as humanly possible.

The Return of Wally West

The Flash Annual #3 Cover by Brett Booth

According to an announcement made via USA Today, Wally West will finally be returning to the DC Universe in The Flash Annual No. 3, which hits the shelves April 30th. I'll consider this a late birthday present, since Wally West has always been one of my favorite characters and I've always preferred him to his mentor, Barry Allen. 

However, I'm unfortunately not too fond of the new costume. While I'm glad he's not wearing a black and red costume like so many other DC characters are sporting, I'm not a fan of the electrical elements. With that being said, I will say it looks a lot better than another former Teen Titan's new costume (*cough* Raven *cough*). 

Based on the design of the costume, I'm guessing Wally will be the new Cobalt Blue. However, that's pure speculation at this point. I'm just glad Wally West will finally be returning to the comic world, along with my favorite Batgirl Stephanie Brown (I know she's Spoiler again, but I'll take what I can get). 

Question Time: What do you think about Wally West making his return to the DC Universe? Do you like the new costume? What do you think his new role will be in the comics? Leave your answers in the comments below. 

The Death of Net Neutrality

Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overthrew the FCC's 2010 order that imposed network neutrality regulations on wireline broadband services. This is something of a blessing for telecom companies who have been desperately fighting this ruling for years.

For those of you who are not familiar with the original FCC order and why this is a bad thing, I'll do my best to elaborate. The original order stated that wireline ISPs "shall not block lawful content, applications, services or non-harmful devices, subject to reasonable network management" while also mandating that ISPS "shall not unreasonably discriminate in transmitting lawful traffic over a consumer's broadband Internet access service."

This essentially meant that an internet service provider couldn't block or throttle a completely legal website or online service because it just felt like it. However, with this new ruling, that is no longer the case. Here's an excerpt from a Popular Science article talking about the possible repercussions of this ruling:

"Without a net neutrality requirement, service providers could turn internet connections into a toll road, charging companies like Netflix or Google extra money to deliver their packets with a higher priority than others. This, in turn, could also slow down the loading of sites that couldn't or refused to pay. The biggest fear is a "cable-ization" of the internet, where certain internet providers only provide service to certain sites, in much the way that cable channels are packaged and sold separately." 

Now, you might be asking yourself, "If the possible repercussions are so bad, why did the Court of Appeals make this new ruling?" Apparently, the court believes the restrictions are no longer needed since users have a choice in what ISP they use.

"Without broadband provider market power, consumers, of course, have options. They can go to another broadband provider if they want to reach particular edge providers or if their connections to particular edge providers have been degraded." 

The problem with this is the court did not take into account that a user's choices might be limited by service location, and or by rental contracts that say they can only use one particular provider. For example, let's say you live in a more rural area of the country where your choices are extremely limited. If your service starts to mess with your internet in an attempt to wrestle money out of these popular services, I guess you're just screwed and hope Google Fiber starts spreading a lot faster.

Hopefully, with enough media attention and people complaining, we can get this stupid ruling overturned. If you'd like to show your support, you can sign this petition and hopefully our voices will be heard.

The Problem With Steampunk Wonder Woman

Recently, DC Comics released a handful of steampunk variant covers for their releases next month. Some of them look pretty cool and make me actually want to pick them up just for the cover alone. However, others are a little problematic. 

To elaborate, I'll use a visual aid and see if you guys and gals can figure out what I'm talking about. First, I'll show you the two covers that I really like. 

Batgirl & Batwoman Variant Covers

Both covers look awesome and capture the characters and the concept of steampunk pretty well. Now, let's look at the two covers that I'm not that fond of. 

Wonder Woman & Wonder Woman/Superman Variant Covers

We have Wonder Woman, an Amazon and powerful warrior, is depicted as a flirty show girl and posing for Superman while he carries what I assume is her luggage because everyone knows girls always over-pack and make the men do all the hard work. 

See the problem? 

Out of all the characters, why is Wonder Woman depicted like this? Why is she placed in all the stereotypical "girly" roles, especially when Batgirl and Batwoman aren't? It just seems like a weird decision to me. Actually, this is DC and they are in the business of making weird and stupid decisions, so I shouldn't be too surprised by this. I guess I still have some hope left in me. 

Now, let me be perfectly clear about something. I'm not saying the covers are badly drawn. Both covers, especially the one on the left, look good from an artistic stance. Also, my problem isn't with the costume Diana is wearing, but how they depicted her. For example, let's look at the Teen Titans variant cover. 

Teen Titans Variant Cover

Wonder Girl is depicted in a similar show girl outfit to Wonder Woman. However, at least she is in an action pose and not posing for her boyfriend or giving a flirty look at two people wielding guns. I don't mind the outfit, I just wish she was depicted in a way that matched the character's personality. 

Is that too much to ask?

Scott Snyder to Introduce Female Nightwing in Batman #28

Art by Dustin Nguyen

Today on Twitter, Batman writer Scott Snyder told his followers that Batman #28 would not continue the "Zero Year" story. Instead, it would give the reads a glimpse of Batman's future.

 "Then I started thinking about all the crazy plans we have in BATMAN, and in BATMAN ETERNAL (the weekly), for Gotham of 2014, and I figured: what if, as a thank you to you guys for all the support, we took a month off from ZY right at the halfway point, and instead did a special issue that showed you what's coming up in the world of Batman AFTER ZY? Not an issue that cuts to the present, but one that actually shows you a glimpse of the FUTURE of Batman - Gotham circa summer 2014?

So I got to talking with the other Gotham writers, and we agreed that with all the crazy stuff that's going to happen in 2014 - and my goal above all in 2014 is to keep things daring and fun - it'd be a thrill to do a total spoiler issue. A stand-alone issue that takes place in the near future and reveals all sorts of massive surprises coming to Gotham in the spring of summer of 2014. 

Afterwords, Snyder tweeted the above piece of art from comic artist Dustin Nguyen of what appears to be a female Nightwing. DC has been teasing about the last of Nightwing for awhile. Could this be why?

Last month, Snyder tweeted a Thanksgiving portrait of the Batfamily that seemed to lack a certain Boy Wonder and had Snyder's character Harper Row sitting with beside Stephanie Brown, Red Robin, and Batman.

While this is purely speculation, I have a feeling Harper Row will take on the role of Nightwing. The character depicted in the Nightwing design does look like her and the costume fits her style. Also, it would make since for a character that Snyder created to take on the role and become a full -fledged member of the Batfamily.

Personally, I'm fine with this. I like the character of Harper Row and I had a feeling Snyder would do something like this eventually. I thought he would make her Robin after the situation with Damion Wayne, but I can't be right about everything. However, this does leave me with a question: How does Dick Grayson fit into all of this?

Is something going to happen to him? Will he be retiring from the superhero game or will DC kill him like they've done so many other characters in the New 52? Will we have two Nightwings, one red and one blue? Who knows.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Trailer: Initial Thoughts

Sony Pictures released the trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 today. As the number at the end of the title implies, its the sequel to 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man, a reboot of the franchise directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. 

While I had some problems with the first movie, like how they handled the Uncle Ben plot elements and the costume design, I really enjoyed the film and thought Garfield embodied the character of Peter Parker a lot better than Toby Maguire. So, its safe to say that I have high hopes for this sequel and have been waiting to see the trailer. 

However, while this trailer looks nice, I find myself somewhat nervous after watching it. Apparently, there will be three villains in the film: Electro, Green Goblin, and Rhino. The last time they tried to shove three of Spidey's villains into a film, it didn't turn out so well (*cough*Spider-Man 3*cough*). While the film could prove me wrong, knowing they are going to be juggling three villains makes me a little apprehensive. 

Also, while the trailer does look good and has me intrigued with the mystery behind Peter's father and his relationship to Oscorp, the CG seems a little off to me. I've never been a big fan of CG, having always preferred practical effects. However, I accept that sometimes you have to use CG due to budgetary reasons or that it might not be possible to create the effect practically. With something like Spider-Man, I know most of the effects will be CG. However, the CG in the trailer seems too "clean" for my tastes and looks really fake and weird at times. 

However, this is just a trailer and my first opinions based on said trailer. The final project's special effects might be a lot better and Webb and the script might prove my suspicions about the three villains wrong. So, with my opinions out there, I'd like to hear yours as well. After seeing the trailer, are you excited for this film, or apprehensive? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.