Thompson on Hollywood

Early Review Roundup: 'The Amazing Spider-Man' Soars on Teenage Emotion, Aimed at Women?

Reviews

The Guardian and the Telegraph published first reviews for "The Amazing Spider Man" today, both generally positive and citing the film's unusual amount of emotional appeal, largely due to the the cute-hot chemistry between leads Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Excerpts and links below.

By Beth Hanna
|
June 20, 2012 12:23 PM
|
6 Comments

More:

Amazing Spider-Man Comic-Con Thunder Stolen by Ifans Arrest

The big reveal at Sony's Friday The Amazing Spider-Man panel at Comic-Con was the villain of Marc Webb's superhero reboot, The Lizard, played by gifted Welsh actor Rhys Ifans, who is pixellated when in giant Lizard mode. In Hall H the studio screened a clip of Lizard terrorizing two school girls in a school lavatory, breaking up through a toilet. (The LAT made a fuss about Ifans here).

By Anne Thompson
|
July 23, 2011 6:30 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

The Amazing Spider-Man Trailer Hits on Eve of Comic-Con; Not So Amazing

The Amazing Spider-Man trailer has leaked all over the web just in time for Sony's presentation at Comic-Con and a full year before its July 3, 2012 release. Rather than show us something new, the official version below shows us what's already been done before, but this time with Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and 3-D. (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb weaves a seemingly familiar story with new faces. Check out Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man trailer, also below.

By Sophia Savage
|
July 20, 2011 12:33 PM
|
4 Comments

More:

Comic-Con Preview: The New (Amazing) Spider-Man, Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Masters of the Web UPDATE

As we gird our loins for this week's San Diego schlep to Comic-Con--which is not my idea of a good time, just getting into everything is an enormous chore--the revelations are coming fast and furious. Yes, we will see Cowboys and Aliens and Captain America there, and Steven Spielberg is making his first appearance with The Adventures of Tintin--as is another veteran filmmaker, Francis Ford Coppola, with his indie horror film TWIXT. DreamWorks/Disney is promoting Fright Night, with Colin Farrell on hand. Universal is presenting a panel on Snow White and the Huntsman, which hasn't even started shooting yet, but why miss an opportunity to highlight star Kristen Stewart, who's there anyway for Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn?

By Anne Thompson
|
July 14, 2011 5:13 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

In Development: Akira Remake, Fincher for Jolie's Cleopatra, Agatha Christie and The Fighter 2

- Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures is eyeing several actors for a reworked script of Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s six-volume graphic novel Akira, reports Deadline. Harry Potter franchise screenwriter Steve Kloves (also writer-director of The Fabulous Baker Boys) is working on the rewrite and Albert Hughes (The Book of Eli) is signed on to direct in August. In contention for role #1 ("Tetsuo") are Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield and James McAvoy; for role #2 ("Kaneda"), there's Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake and Joaquin Phoenix. Our picks would be McAvoy and Fassbender, who will likely pass on this retelling.

By Sophia Savage
|
March 22, 2011 5:30 AM
|
9 Comments

Things I Learned On the Awards Party Circuit

On Oscar night I started on the red carpet --taking pictures, grabbing video interviews and tweeting madly--and then repaired to the interview room to listen to the show and backstage Q and As (transcripts here). After the best picture winners for The King's Speech had wrapped up, I walked over to the Governor's Ball just as Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban were leaving, heading down the escalator; the trio of winning producers, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, posed for me with their Oscars.

By Anne Thompson
|
March 1, 2011 2:10 AM
|
3 Comments

New School of Superheroes: Bale, Cavill, Evans, Garfield, Hemsworth, Reynolds & Palicki in Tights

Entertainment Weekly's latest issue profiles the new generation of superheroes, represented on the cover by new Superman Henry Cavill. As his director Zack Snyder puts it: “Other actors put that suit on and it’s a joke, even if they’re great actors. Henry put it on, and he exuded this kind of crazy-calm confidence that just made me go, ‘Wow. Okay, this is Superman.’ If you can put on that suit and pull it off, that’s an awesome achievement.” An even better achievement? Still having a career after the spandex has lost its stretch. Ryan Reynolds says of his Green Lantern character: “He’s not in the mainstream the way Superman or Spider-Man is.” And he once considered himself a purely comedic actor: “I looked like Dick Van Dyke, so I thought I was going that route.”

By Sophia Savage
|
February 17, 2011 8:56 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

The Amazing Spider-Man: Official New Title and Andrew Garfield in Full Spider-Man Suit

Not to raise expectations, but that previously untitled Spider-Man reboot that is currently shooting with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone has landed an uninspired official name based on one of the franchise's long running comic books: The Amazing Spider-Man -- not to be confused with any other less amazing Spider-Man movie that has come before. The film, directed by Marc Webb from a script by James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent will be released entirely in 3-D on July 3, 2012.

By Sophia Savage
|
February 14, 2011 8:22 AM
|
3 Comments

More:

Social Network Q & A: Composers Reznor & Ross Talk Score, Fight Club Musical, Editors Baxter & Wall

Bragging rights to a quantity of Oscars are important to the bigger-scale films vying for technical awards. Amy Dawes covered the Q & A for The Social Network including composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and editors Kurt Baxter and Angus Wall:Trent Reznor took an instinctual, unstudied approach to creating his first film score, and it paid off – surprising even him. So said the Nine Inch Nails frontman last night at a screening in Hollywood of The Social Network, for which the score he co-created with Atticus Ross is nominated for an Oscar – and has already won a Golden Globe.

By Amy Dawes
|
February 10, 2011 9:35 AM
|
2 Comments

More:

Andrew Garfield Spider-Man Photo Gallery

Check out The Social Network co-star Andrew Garfield as a slim, bountifully-haired Spider-Man, complete with a skin-tight bodysuit. The untitled Columbia Pictures Spider-Man Reboot, directed by Marc Webb, opens July 3, 2012.