Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-Man
Comic book movie digest # 5: The Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, Priest and more
– by Clinton Hallahan
– Thor was released last weekend to an alright domestic box office take of $66 million, but the real story is the international take which brought that total to over $250 million. Hear that? That is the sound of scripts and stories being tailored to the new international audience. That audience is the only real reason the Narnia films are still being made, and you better believe it makes a difference in how they’re being made. Critics were mixed on the subject of the God of Thunder:
“Thor strives for mediocrity… the talent on hand and the budget of the film should add up to something better than this, better than a film whose pleasures are fleeting and few.” – Devin Faraci (BadassDigest.com)
“If its many action scenes weren’t so exciting or its characters less charming, it might seem businesslike, just another part of Marvel’s continuing attempts to build the film equivalent of its comic-book universe.” – Keith Phipps (AVClub.com)
On director Kenneth Branagh: “There’s scant evidence that a classically trained dramatist had anything to do with what’s on screen.” – Eric Hynes (Village Voice)
– SuperHeroHype snagged some set photos from The Amazing Spider-Man showing what looks to Rhys Ifans with a skin problem, Andrew Garfield being agile, and Emma Stone looking smokin’ hot. So buisness as usual over there. Hey U Guys also got an interview with Martin Sheen about playing Uncle Ben. Spoilers: In the movie he will talk about great power and something about responsibility.
– The Internet has seized on something nobody should ever trust for movie news: a Facebook posting in a fan group. Citing some unnamed source that witnessed a scene being filmed in India, the fan group claims that The Dark Knight Rises will follow a pre-pubescent Bane getting addicted to a substance called Venom and going nigh-superhuman, a trait exploited by Ra’s al Ghul. While it was leaked that the film was shooting in India, take this one with a truckload of salt.
– Smallville, the long running CW drama with Tom Welling as a young Superman is set to have it’s series finale this month after 10 seasons and over 200 episodes. Newsarama has compiled a few cast interviews and a preview clip of the Smallville finale.
No one can believe this show has been on for – what is it? – 9 years?!
– This weekend, stealth comic book movie Priest comes out to rile up Catholics and Paul Bettany fans everywhere. The trailers look about as lame as Catholic commandos throwing sharpened Crucifixes at vampire-aliens could be, and critics that are not embargoed until Friday (a death rattle for any film) call it “lacking originality or pizzaz” (Variety) and warn that if the vampire/Catholics angle “sounds like fun, it’s really not” (Hollywood Reporter). It’s hard out here for a monk.
Watch – Priest (trailer):
http://youtu.be/stAfEDSosXc
