Escape to the Movies: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - The Movie That Broke MovieBob

[Trishbot]

How Bob feels about Amazing Spider-man is how I feel about how DC has handled EVERYTHING since the New 52 reboot and the Man of Steel movie.

I DESPISE the selfish, moronic, killer Superman they thrust onto the screen. I despise how they've taken some of my favorite female characters in the comics and turned them into fanboy fantasy women with vapid personalities. I loathe the fact they erased some of my favorite characters from continuity.

And, I'll admit this... I can tolerate the Amazing Spider-man films because I was broken on Spider-man years ago... With "One More Day". I never recovered.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I recall saying many moons ago I'd not bother with this reboot after seeing the first trailers. I'm glad I stuck to that, every review of the first and now this one has proven my gut feeling, Sony has no soul for this series... Marvel/Disney should have the rights back.

 

[tm96]

So, while everyone is busy ragging on bob for being a fanboy i'd like to point out the website we're all on right now. it's whole point is fanboys and the argument that bob is acting like a kid or something is kinda null n void by being made HERE.

I don't think the message is resonating with everyone. I can understand Bob's feelings towards this because I kinda had the same feeling with the Transformers. I watched the first one at a young age loved it then but then I began to look back, watched the second one on TV and finally realised the problem. They have no idea how Transformers works as a franchise. Its supposed to be for kids but still fun for everyone else.

I suggest we have a list of directors, franchises and production houses to avoid until they get the idea to make better movies on that list will be
Michael Bay for anything Transformers or TMNT related unless its good(STAY AWAY FROM THE BEAST WARS BAY! We've suffered enough)
Uwe Boll (We know why)
M.Night Shyamalan
Any movie from Syfy
The Asylum
Scary Movie franchise

Feel free to add more. I feel for ya Bob.

 

[jdarksun]

Bob - I've heard that the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon is pretty awesome. Go check that out, and rekindle your love for the web head!

 

[marioandsonic]

Bob, do...do you need a hug or something?

This sounds similar to how I felt after playing Sonic 2006. And I hope I don't feel the same way from seeing the new TMNT...

 

[Guffe]

I seldom do this, but this time, I am NOT going to go to the cinema based on this review.
I was thinking about it, I thought this might be a good film with all the bad guys, but killing of a part fo Bob? That takes some serious skill...
Will still watch it sometime, just don't think I will go to the cinema, unless it's a cheap, early in the day show...

 

[Norix596]

I really wish Moviebob had been more clear about how he felt about the movie.

 

[Gerardo Vazquez]

I just watched this video for the 3rd times. He spends maybe about 2 minutes of actual reviewing. The rest of it is complaining about something that has nothing to do with this movie. I understand he is upset Sony has a plan for the future of Spider-man and it's not going to be sold to marvel anything soon, but I also know you are very intelligent.

What is this "I'm done with movies" crap. Did you really think your review spider man wasn't going to hold on it's own you had to do this crap? I know you don't go into these videos without a plan and wing it based on your actual opinion. I know you plan things so that your opinion appears relevant with the viewers. I also know you understand a great deal of film and how they work. The thing is that this review is the most half assed thing I have ever seen you do. You literally filled 50% of this review with repetition and soft phrases. The 2 minutes of review were just repeated phrases from some first year film class. How in the world do YOU not understand why harry is still mad even though his illness is cured? You mention marvel more than 3 times I believe.

You aren't reviewing films with expert criticism anymore like you used to. I pretty much realized this with your review on the last twilight movie. Everything people think you will like you will hate, and everything people think you will hate you give it some kind of praise that no one would understand unless you have an "expert" level of understanding in film.

Honestly I just think that the movie dream in you died something back. The dream of making the films you love just didn't pay out like you thought. That kid you used to be that couldn't wait to be in front of a screen to be apart of something bigger than everyday life. Are you seriously becoming the thing you hate the most?

He did review the film.. To give you a concise summary "The Amazing Spider-man has no real real narrative structure, every element of the film is shameless set-up for future movies that leave the actual film in question with nothing but bones, none of the film's villains have a cohesive plan that drives the film, the sub-plot with Richard Parker is stupid and unnecessary Harry Osborn feels like a huge retcon, and while the things Bob likes are the same things everyone likes(good action, good web-slinging) everything involving the actual story is SHIT. Just shit." How's that for a review?

 

[Gerardo Vazquez]

Bob, I like the vast majority of your reviews. They're normally very accurate and professional. However, I've found that I simply cannot take any of your opinions on super-hero movies at face value. This review in particular was more a monologue about how Spider-Man is ruined forever for you and barely a review on the actual movie. And like the last movie, I fully expect this one to be an okay action flick for its super-hero fighting and less the train wreck you seem desperate to get everyone to believe.

I'm honestly just going to have to stop watching your videos on super-heroes and monster movies after ASM1 (I found it okay), Iron Man 3 (terrible movie, like IM2), The Avengers (overly hyped and not as fantastic as you made it out to be) and Pacific Rim (I thought this was one of the dumber movies I've watched) and now this movie. Granted, I have not seen it yet, but this reaction to it seems entirely unwarranted and your record doesn't really make me think I can entirely believe you. It may not be a good movie, but I sincerely doubt it's as awful as you make it out to be.

I know this is all just your opinion, and I respect that I don't always agree with you on movies that aren't super-heroes or monster movies. But my goodness, these reviews in particular just seem to lack objectivity.

"The Amazing Spider-man has no real real narrative structure, every element of the film is shameless set-up for future movies that leave the actual film in question with nothing but bones, none of the film's villains have a cohesive plan that drives the film, the sub-plot with Richard Parker is stupid and unnecessary Harry Osborn feels like a huge retcon, and while the things Bob likes are the same things everyone likes(good action, good web-slinging) everything involving the actual story is SHIT. Just shit." That looks like a pretty good review to me.

 

[Ashley Blalock]

It seems so long ago when their was all the promise of hey the geeks and nerds have grown up and now they are going to take over Hollywood because it turns out we have money to spend on movie tickets. But instead of the promised land Hollywood found ways to disappoint and even embitter us toward the geeky stuff we once loved. Sometimes you almost have to wonder is really worth having so much stuff ripped to shreds by production teams that thinks they know better just for the one or two production teams each year that really get something?

 

[Gerardo Vazquez]

We shouldn't expect everything to be as great as the Dark Knight Trilogy or the MCU, not everything needs to be a masterpiece, some are just movies based on comics (talk about convoluted writing BTW...).

No. Stop it. I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate when people defend a crappy film by going "It's not supposed to win Oscars". Get out.

 

[petef201]

So much for giving it a chance, eh? I get that it's a very cynical approach to filmmaking by mainly existing to set up future movies and I can see why that would be annoying. But is it really that much different to the Marvel Studios method? Yes the Marvel films are generally better but I can't help but feel MovieBob's forcing himself to hate this a bit more than he needed to. I've seen the film and it's definitely not perfect, but I had a good time with it despite not particularly enjoying the first one.

I can see how hating the behind the scenes stuff, combined with having issues with the film (to be fair most of his negative comments about the actual film are fairly accurate) could lead to hating it, but there's still so much positive stuff he ignored. For me Spider-Man himself was pretty much perfect in how he moved and acted. The action was superb, not just 'cos it looked cool but because he spoke and fought like Spider-Man, something I'd argue Tobey McGuire never did.

I don't normally complain about reviews, and I usually enjoy MovieBob's stuff, but this seemed a bit too far. No the film isn't perfect and I have no issue with folk not liking it for some of the weak characters and (occasional) poor dialogue; or the conveniences and generally messiness of the plot. But I can't help but think that if the Sinister Six and Amazing Spider-Man 3 through 900 hadn't already been announced that this would've been a more positive review.

 

[Matthew Jabour]

This was the pain I felt with Other M. Hope you feel better Bob.

For the sake of completeness, I must point out that Moviebob actually liked Other M.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc4h8hNYev0

 

[Gerardo Vazquez]

So much for giving it a chance, eh? I get that it's a very cynical approach to filmmaking by mainly existing to set up future movies and I can see why that would be annoying. But is it really that much different to the Marvel Studios method? Yes the Marvel films are generally better but I can't help but feel MovieBob's forcing himself to hate this a bit more than he needed to. I've seen the film and it's definitely not perfect, but I had a good time with it despite not particularly enjoying the first one.

I can see how hating the behind the scenes stuff, combined with having issues with the film (to be fair most of his negative comments about the actual film are fairly accurate) could lead to hating it, but there's still so much positive stuff he ignored. For me Spider-Man himself was pretty much perfect in how he moved and acted. The action was superb, not just 'cos it looked cool but because he spoke and fought like Spider-Man, something I'd argue Tobey McGuire never did.

I don't normally complain about reviews, and I usually enjoy MovieBob's stuff, but this seemed a bit too far. No the film isn't perfect and I have no issue with folk not liking it for some of the weak characters and (occasional) poor dialogue; or the conveniences and generally messiness of the plot. But I can't help but think that if the Sinister Six and Amazing Spider-Man 3 through 900 hadn't already been announced that this would've been a more positive review.

The difference between The Amazing Spider-man and The Marvel Movies is the Marvel movies focus on creating stand-alone features with world-building, and sequel set-up relegated to the sidelines, whereas here a lot of the story is about bringing up plot points that are meant to pay off in future sequels or spin-offs, and lots of interesting characters and threads are dropped for use in later movies. Iron Man 2 has set-up for future Marvel movies, but Iron Man doesn't spend a third of the film looking for Thor's hammer, or freeing Captain America from the ice.

 

[SweetShark]

Really? The first movie was bad? I thought it was good. Not perfect, but good.
By hearing this movie is better that the first one, I fear maybe it isn't for my taste...

 

[MB202]

Really? Why so soon?

Either way, I totally know the feeling right now. Hell, I'm feeling it right now. I used to be all about reviews and analysis, but now thanks to this one encounter with an otherwise incredibly nice person, I can't find myself thinking too deeply about anything without thinking about what she would say in response. See also: anything made by CR! of Familiar Faces fame, who continuously acts immature and overly critical about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to the point where I can't enjoy any of his work anymore.

It's sad, though, because people will just continue to dismiss Bob's criticisms as just whining or that it's not as bad as Bob makes it out to be. Quite frankly, I tend to agree with Bob, and I see no reason to doubt what he says here is true. Hell, I'll agree with Bob in saying the Spider-Man costume looks great, WAY better then it did in the first movie, same goes for the web-slinging! But much like a lot of episodes of TV shows I like, a few good things sometimes can't outweigh what I ultimately don't like about the whole thing.

 

[coheedswicked]

So I'm sure no one knows what I'm talking about here but Bob's problem is his vision of what spider-man should be is steve ditko's run on spider-man. Classic simple art on paper clean single arc storylines. Sony however is making 90's spider-man which had a slew of convoluted plots and villains all constantly retconned in ways that just complicated things more. Some of it was pretty cool and some of it wasn't. I've never had a problem with Spider-mans parents being mystery scientists though and that's Bob's biggest heartbreak plot wise.

I feel like Bob wants the movies to be more like the Stan Lee/ Steve Ditko comics because they were really good. Having read alot of silver age comics, the Spider-man comics always stood out to me as step above the other comics of the time and still age remarkably well (in my opinion).

My problem with ASM is that it doesn't seem to understand who Peter Parker. The importance of the alter ego was Stan Lee's entire design philosophy when he was creating characters. He wanted you to think Spider-man was cool, but he wanted you to CARE about Peter Parker, and in these new movies I don't.

 

[MovieBob]

To be honest, I'm a bit sick of your criticism of the amazing Spiderman.. considering how FUCKING HORRIBLE, the original Sam Raimi trilogy was.
I have more fun with these movies, they are more entertaining, the dialogue between the characters is great. Where Tobey Maguire had as much personality as stale bread, Garfield is actually entertaining, and Emma Stone adds some actual depth to her character unlike the flat as hell Kristen Dunst. I think Sam Raimi is a terrible director, if spiderman 2 and 3 didn't break you completely, then you are simply a fanboy, and this is just whining. Those movies are HORRIBLE by ANY metric, and this one.. is just ok.

 

[shogunblade]

As far as my interests of Spiderman go, The Playstation 1 game is probably the only thing I played and genuinely like about Spiderman, The first Raimi movie is sillier in hindsight, but Spiderman otherwise hasn't been a property I've been interested in too much for quite some time (Well, okay, I bought Web of Shadows and I hear Spiderman 2: The game is amazing, but the PSX game is the highest point to me).

As far as the movies go, I didn't like Amazing Spider-man, I thought it wasn't coherent enough to really get into, the film felt more of an amalgam of comedy, sci-fi (slick sci-fi, the kind that explains midichlorians to an audience, not dark difficult sci-fi) and adventure, but not as smart or witty enough to really get into, but neither was Sam Raimi's version.

But, it was fine, I was glad I waited until it came out in such a fashion that I didn't have to pay for it to watch it, but I don't think this will be much better, and I'll probably reserve the "Wait N' See" option of the last movie for this one. I could go see Capt. America, that's still in theaters.

A great (but as what cost?) review, Moviebob.