Okay, so I've been seeing a lot of movies recently, and I thought I'd review a few of them.
The first is The Amazing Spiderman.
This is the first reboot film directed by Marc Webb and stars Andrew Garfield as Spiderman.
I really liked this movie, although for a movie called The Amazing Spiderman, it doesn't follow the comic very well. It's more of a reboot of the entire story. The problem with rebooting Spiderman or any movie is that the fans are always going to compare it to the original. I've compared this film to the Sam Raimi film, and I noticed that this one did not feel like an origin story. It felt a lot more like a sequel, whereas the first Sam Raimi film felt very much like an origin story. A few problems I had were that Peter Parker didn't frequently wear glasses. In the Sam Raimi film (and I believe the comics) Peter Parker wore glasses, but once he became Spiderman they became unnecessary. Also, Flash Thompson, Peter Parker's school bully and Spiderman superfan, was too nice to Peter in this. Also it was never really clear whether or not Peter caught the man who killed Uncle Ben (possible plans for his character in a sequel?). Despite this, it was fun to watch and had a great Spiderman VS Lizard scene in the climax. I give this film a 8/10 despite the problems, however I do hope the sequel is better.
Now for The Dark Knight Rises, it starts out with people at Harvey Dent's funeral, and then people bringing hostages on a plane, which you don't understand until you realize one of them is Bane, he destroys the plane but saves Dr. Leonid Pavel for as of yet unknown reasons. You then see Commissioner Gordon looking at a speech telling the truth about Harvey Dent, which he decides not to read yet. You then see Selina Kyle stealing Martha Wayne's pearls. She then proceeds to kidnap a congressman. Later while Gordon is chasing who he believes to be the kidnappers, he is captured by Bane who takes his speech (remember this). Gordon then escapes into the water, and is rescued by John Blake, who takes him to the hospital. Gordon then proceeds to promote Blake to detective.
Bruce Wayne then returns to the Gotham public, then Bane attacks the stock exchange and Batman returns to Gotham. Bruce Wayne then returns to Wayne Enterprises, and correctly suspects that John Daggett has hired Bane to help him take over Wayne Enterprises. Bruce Wayne gives control to businesswoman Miranda Tate, and Bane proceeds to kill Daggett. Selina Kyle then leads Batman to Bane, who proceeds to cripple Batman (after revealing he's been using Daggett's construction firm to plant explosives), and he brings batman to a foreign prison that is inescapable. Batman later learns that Ra's al Ghul had a child, and Bruce believed that child to be Bane. Meanwhile Bane lures most of Gotham's police force underground and detonates the explosives. He then destroys most of Gotham's bridges, turning Gotham into an isolated city state. Any escape attempts would result in the detonation of the Wayne Enterprises fusion core which had been converted into a nuclear bomb by Dr. Pavel, who Bane killed. Bane releases the prisoners locked up under the Dent act, and reveals the circumstances surrounding Dent's death through Gordon's speech. The rich and powerful are sentenced in a show trial by Jonathan Crane, and are sentenced to either exile or death (victim's choice). If they choose exile they have to try to cross the thin river ice and usually fall through. If they choose death, well, you get the idea. After the special forces fail, Gotham is blockaded and descends into anarchy. Bruce Wayne escapes the prison and returns to Gotham as Batman. He receives the help of Gordon, Lucius Fox, John Blake, Miranda Tate, and Selina Kyle. He is about to kill Bane, but is then stopped by Miranda Tate who is revealed to be Talia al Ghul, the child of Ra's. Bane is then revealed to be her protector, and her plan to destroy Gotham is revealed. Gordon blocks the bomb's ability to be remotely detonated, and Talia escapes to detonate the bomb. Selina Kyle then saves Batman by shooting and killing Bane using the Batpod. Batman then chases down Talia in an aircraft called the Bat. Talia is killed when her truck falls of a bridge, but claims that the bomb cannot be stopped. Batman plans to sacrifice his life by using the Bat to fly the bomb over the water. Gordon tries to stop him claiming Gotham will want to know the identity of their hero. Batman hints to his identity, and Gordon is surprised to figure out Bruce Wayne is Batman. Batman then proceeds with his plan and is presumed dead. Later, Batman is given a statue and Bruce Wayne is given a funeral. Lucius Fox discovers that the autopilot was fixed months ago by Wayne. Later, Alfred, on his vacation, sees Bruce and Selina together alive in a cafe. John Blake, who's full name is revealed to be Robin John Blake, is given coordinates to the batcave and enters the cave, ending the movie.
I enjoyed this movie very much. I give it 9/10 only because there was not enough Batman screen time.
And now for Ted. I will give a link to the plot at the end of the review. The whole film was very Family Guy-esque, and you could tell it was a Seth Macfarlane film. I like this movie because it takes the classic idea of a child's Christmas wish coming true, and turns it into a hard-r comedy. There were also a lot of Family Guy actors, besides Seth Macfarlane, there was Mila Kunis as the girlfriend, Alex Borstein as Johnny's Mother, Patrick Warburton as Guy, Mike Henry had a cameo, and Patrick Stewart from Start Trek: TNG, X-Men, and of course American Dad narrated. My problem is that besides the Teddy Bear part, it was a typical comedy, relationship, conflict breaks them up, getting back together at the end, could double as a romance. But I laughed, and I really liked it. 9/10.
Well, I will not be doing another movie review for a while, although I may review the remake of Total Recall. That's a wrap.
Ted on wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_(2012_film)
