Change Your Image
bobsta98
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try againReviews
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Haven't we seen this before?
The Amazing Spider-Man is one of those films which your nostalgia prevents you from liking. There are a few positives to this film, such as the chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, some of the fight scenes and Garfield's Spidey was a fresh take on the character, although somewhat lacking.
What bogs this film down for me is the fact that this is just the first Spider-Man again. There are scenes which are practically copied from the first, such as Peter taking pictures of Gwen. He then gets bitten by the spider and finds out he has his powers by easily beating someone up. The villain of this film is, again, a scientist Peter admires but then has his funding pulled, so performs his experiment on himself and kills those who took away his funding. Oh, the villain is also green.
Uncle Ben is shot again because of Peter's incompetence and this leads to one of my biggest gripes with the film: Peter Parker doesn't fight crime because of the responsibility he feels over his Uncle's murder, he fights crime to seek revenge for Ben which completely undermines the character. This is why it annoys me when people call him the 'Definitive Spider-Man' when all he does is spout lame jokes at the wrong times. His revenge plot is also forgotten about halfway into the movie and never picked up again, it takes the video game for the sequel to resolve that thread.
In terms of the film's score, there is not much to rave about, it does what it needs to do and nothing more. It's disappointing considering we had Danny Elfman's score for the previous films which managed to be fun while also emotional when it needed to be. It also had memorable motifs which I just can't pinpoint in The Amazing Spider-Man Overall, this film is a competent reboot and does what it needs to keep the franchise afloat (until The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at least, which forced them to give creative control back to Marvel).
The Last of Us (2013)
Not for me
While I can see why people enjoy 'The Last of Us', I was not impressed. The game starts strong, with a semi-original premise and character development based on previous traumatic experiences. This game is also graphically stunning and the soundtrack is near perfect and manages to provoke an emotional response. The gameplay and later part of the story is where the game falters, in my opinion. While the stealth and gun-fighting elements were exciting and sometimes even terrifying, the spaces between those parts proved very tedious as the game followed a repetitive formula: walking, gathering/crafting, action, repeat. It's almost as if the developers said "Stop having fun and look at this gorgeous game we've crafted." The ending was very anti-climactic in my opinion and out of character for Joel. I would have rather been given the choice of how to act in those final moments rather than have the game force me in one direction. Overall, I can understand why people love this game but I think my opinion has been twisted by the fact that I purchased this game after it had been out for a while and hyped immensely that my expectations were to high so I was disappointed with the result.
Misfits: Episode #5.8 (2013)
Disappointing Ending
Misfits has never been the same since series 2, with season 3 being my least favourite and I didn't even view series 4. However I entered series 5 with an open mind and it was rarely disappointing with a larger use of powers and I was able to get to terms with the departure of the original cast. However the build up of the entire series with the jumper that predicts the future was disappointingly carried out. A story arch reminiscent of multiple previous episodes involving the bulk of the episode occurring after time has been manipulated seems incredibly unoriginal and seems like a safety net for the writer as he can just rewind time if people are upset with the outcome. In short, the outcome of the episode has no impact on the overall canon and the ending just seems like an ordinary ending with no overall impact. The episode would have been a lot more emotional and dramatic if the events that happened in the future were non-reversible. Aside from the story, the special effects were on par with a YouTube Lego stop-motion animator and not what you would expect when the special effects in previous episodes seemed a lot better.