Woody Allen is one of the fair haired icons of Hollywood, but, not everyone is a fan; for instance, his daughter is telling the world about sexual abuse that happened over 21 years ago…again. Dylan Farrow is 28 years-old and is the jointly adopted child of Mia Farrow, a member of the Hollywood elite and Woody Allen. The 78 year-old film auteur and Farrow got together as a couple back in 1980; the two had a relationship that lasted till 1992. Their twelve year partnership, during which time the two never married, ended quickly and dramatically when Mia found nude pictures, taken by Allen, of one of her adopted children Soon-Yi Previn who was about 20 years-old at the time. In the same year that Allen’s relationship with Soon-Yi was made public, Dylan Farrow made allegations that her adoptive father had sexually abused her. In a 2013 Vanity Fair feature about Mia Farrow and her extended brood; Mia, Dylan, and the other children mentioned the alleged abuse.
Like many other fans of Sam Raimi‘s Spiderman films, I was not just outraged at the news of a re-make, but shocked. In my mind Raimi is the King. I’ve been a devoted fan since his Evil Dead days. I felt that his pairing of Toby McGuire (who I admit would not have been mychoice to play Peter Parker) and Kirsten Dunst with the memorable villains of each film were the pinnacle of perfection in the Stan Lee verse.
Tonight I watched the Blu-ray copy of Mark Webb’s The Amazing Spiderman and amazingly (you see what I did there) I was entertained. I can’t say that I loved Webb’s casting choices over Raimi’s (although to be honest once you get Parker out-of-the-way, the film focuses on his romance with Gwen Stacy who was, of course, pre-Mary Jane) but the pairing of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone worked brilliantly.
I can’t really complain about the change in the basic verse of Spiderman though. If Stan Lee can do a cameo in the film (and my goodness, it was brilliant) then he must not have thought too badly about the altering of Peter Parkers back story. I read the Spiderman comics almost religiously when I was a kid and I don’t remember any back story elements that included Pa Parker being a scientific genius. I may be wrong, but I don’t remember that at all.
Gwen and Peter in a “tender” moment.
Still the story works well for the film and apart from my being yanked completely out of the verse when I saw Sally Field as Aunt May, I enjoyed the plots mechanisation’s. Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben was an admirable choice as they obviously could not get Cliff Robertson. Sheen is as close to Hollywood royalty as you can get these days. It is probably my age that causes the Sally Field rift; I still remember her as Gidget and The Flying Nun, not to mention Frog in the Smokey and the Bandit pictures. She doesn’t look a whole lot older either.
It was really good to see actor C. Thomas Howell in a “critical” cameo. The last film I saw him in was so far down the alphabet that it could not even be rated as a ‘B’ film. Great to see him back in a major motion picture where he belongs. Seeing the film on Blu-ray made me realise that I should have taken a chance and seen it in the theatre. The CGI looks brilliant and the stunts played very well, despite a little “ropey” wire work.
I was also pleased to see Denis Leary as Gwen’s dad. He’s looking older (aren’t we all) and still looks good on the big screen. All in all the cast was excellent and Rhys Ifans as Dr Curt “The Lizard” Connors rocked it. Again great CG on his ‘stump’ and his Lizard-man transformation. He managed to elicit sympathy as the man who so desperately wants to help mankind and regrow his missing limb.
Emma Stone doing what she does best.
Andrew Garfield as Peter “Spiderman” Parker does a great job. He has a sort of old-fashioned look to him. My daughter Meg at one point in the film said he made her think of Anthony Perkins. After a moment or two of watching him, I had to agree. Emma Stone continues to act her socks off and still look so damned beautiful it hurts. She’s making a career of playing the girl who is a Geek’s dream and she does it well.
I always count on how well a film has done if I feel euphoric or teary at the film’s end. In the case of The Amazing Spiderman, I felt euphoric. In fact I think that was my feeling about the film overall. It is well paced and damned funny in places. It kept me glued to the screen and my attention never wandered for one moment.
So I have decided that there is room for both Raimi’s Spiderman and Webb’s Spiderman. I’ll just think of Webb’s as a new beginning for the verse and set back, eat my popcorn and cheer for old ‘Spidey.’ Oh and continue to look for Stan “The Man” Lee’s future cameos.
With the 2002 release of Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst as ‘Spidey‘ and his love interest, I felt that Sam Raimi had done justice to Stan “The Man” Lee’s comic creation. Two more films quickly followed and a fourth was rumoured to be in the works.
Then, nothing.
The scuttlebutt was that differences of opinion between Maguire and Raimi was causing delays. It ended apparently with both sides leaving the ‘table’ and shelving Spider-Man 4 indefinitely.
Enter director Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) with just the one feature film under his belt who was now going to helm the “new” Spider-man film.
With Toby Maguire admittedly being a bit long in the tooth to reprise Spidey at this late date, a search for a younger actor was launched.
Enter English actor Andrew Garfield, former gymnast and Spider-man fan. Good looking enough to set the ladies heart racing and athletic enough to do a lot of his own stunts.
With a new Spider-man, a new love interest was required. Kirsten Dunst was, like Toby, a bit old for the new, younger Spidey so they replaced her with the drool inducing Emma Stone. *Not as Mary Jane, but Peter Parker‘s first love in the Comic Verse, Gwen Stacy.*
The story line has been changed to allow a different take on the perils of Peter Parker. Deciding to focus on the ‘lack’ of Peter’s parents, it follows his journey to discover what his father did and who he was.
In a move that completely baffles me, actress Sally Field has been cast as Aunt May. Presumably because Cliff Robertson is no longer available, forever, they felt that a ‘name’ actor was required. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Sally Field, but I am having a hard time picturing The Flying Nun as Peter’s auntie. It also does not help that she doesn’t have the white librarian hair bun that May always sported in the comic.
They’ve also come up with a new villain. The Lizard aka Dr. Curt Connors, who, I am pretty sure, does not exist in the comic book world of Stan Lee. But hey! Why not ‘make up’ a villain? You’ve already made up a dubious plot line for Spidey and friends.
**I have to stand corrected on the Lizard villain, he does indeed exist in the Spider-man verse, I just forgot him, quite understandable considering he was introduced in 1963 when I was five. I was not yet a Spider-man fan. Just goes to show there is a reason to do ALL your research.**
Stan Lee (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)
I know that a little detail like a non-existent search for Peter’s parents demise will not stop most of the targeted audience from attending in droves. It will be in the ‘new’ 3D, it will feature the ever beautiful Emma Stone and it will feature lots of web slinging, swinging, and splatting.
It looks to be witty (at least in the trailers it does) and very action packed. A perfect Blockbuster for the summer holidays. It opens here in the UK on the 3rd of July. I doubt I will be queuing up to see it.
I am slightly allergic to the demographic that will be in attendance and I really rather liked the ‘old’ Spider-Man. So I’ll most likely wait for the DVD. My Spidey-Sense is tingling and it’s telling me that, chances are, this might not be that great a film.
Actress Emma Stone is certainly very busy these days. It seems like only yesterday she played the love interest in the nerd-rom-com that was Super Bad. Now, when she is not being wooed by Jim Carrie via YouTube, she seems to be in everything.My daughter Meg pointed out this film to me. She then rented it from iTunes and pretty much insisted that I watch it. I am glad I did.
Set in Mississippi during the civil rights unrest that was the sixties Emma plays Skeeter Phelan. Skeeter has graduated from college and now wants to be a writer. She returns to her home town to re-establish ties with old friends and to check on her mother who has cancer.
The first thing Skeeter does is get a job with the local paper, ghost writing for the Agony Aunt columnist who is having a baby. Viola Davis plays Aibileen Clark one of the many black ladies who work as “the help” to the white members of the community. The whole cast work brilliantly in this ensemble film. I will admit that I was overjoyed to see Cicely Tyson in a big-ish cameo as Skeeter’s family maid. Of course I have to mention Sissy Spacek who has the small role of Hilly’s long suffering mother. She is delightful to watch.
Now amazingly the film’s main plot deals with the issue of toilets. The local white community follows Hilly Holbrook’s lead on the “separate but equal” practice which was prevalent in the sixties. Hilly has gotten the local government to pass a law that makes it a criminal act to use the white residents bathroom. The help must instead use an outside one specially made for them.
As played by Bryce Dallas Howard, Hilly is a nasty piece of work. A bully who is sly, malicious, and vengeful Hilly rules over her little flock of the Ladies Club with an iron fist. It seems that while the black community might be good enough to clean the white folks’s houses, cook their meals and look after their children, it is not okay to use their employers bathroom.
Skeeter is outraged at this new law and decides to write about the ‘separate but equal’ travesty. She teams up with local housekeeper Aibileen with the idea of writing a book. This book will be filled with all the terrible, funny and sad things that the black workers have encountered . At first the only “help” that will work with Skeeter is the slightly hesitant Aibileen, but as events in the Mississippi town get worse she finds herself inundated with offers of more stories.
Mary Steenburgen has a microscopic role as the editor Elain Stein who encourages Skeeter to write her book and guides her toward publication with her company. It was nice to see Steenburgen on screen again and I do wish they had used her a bit more.
I loved this film. It has the same feeling as Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe and Driving Miss Daisy. This film made me angry, made me laugh and made me cry. I cannot begin to express how well this film was presented. The sets, the location, and the costumes all felt like the south in the sixties.
The characters as they were written also felt right. Overall a real gem of a film. It attempts to show that some people were racially aware in the civil rights fraught sixties. I think it does this very well, without resorting to bloodshed or gun play.
And on a closing note, never has the phrase “Eat my Shit.” been so appropriate and funny.
Mikes Film Talk 
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