Sunday, July 1, 2012

An Amazing experience

At the advice of my fellow blogger NotGood I went and watched The Amazing Spiderman this morning. Alone. Yes sir, with only me and myself for company.

I have always been scared of solo movie outings. What if people think I’m a weirdo? What if I get strange looks at the refreshment counter and at the ladies washroom? What if I am late and have to grope my way in the dark all alone and sit down on the one empty seat in the already full theatre? What if I laugh out loud and there’s no one there to laugh with? What if this? What if that?

But the thing with what ifs is, they are unreal. They are, most of the time, worst possible outcomes we imagined in our heads. And most of the time they didn’t happen. Just like today. None of the things I was scared of, the strange looks, the getting lost in the dark, the laughing out loud, none of it happened. It was as easy as ABC.

So the moviegoing was a breeze. I booked my tickets online, went to the mall, loitered around for a bit, went to the theatre just in time to print my tickets and buy a bottle of water, and went inside just as the movie trailers began. I found my seat easily, sat down, put my feet up, laughed at the funny parts, and had a good time. Nobody cared if I was alone or with the entire colony, nobody stared, and there was nothing awkward about it. The only minus point was that I had to keep adjusting the 3D glasses over my glasses every two minutes. Oh, and I lost the plastic spoon and had to eat the American sweet corn (buttered, no masala) with my hands.

So, shall we talk a bit about the movie?


(Pic source: Comicbookmovie.com)

Andrew Garfield? was my first reaction when I heard he was the next Spiderman. I had only seen him in The Social Network, and he was an okay guy, but I didn’t like his hair. Emma Stone, fine, she is cute, can act well, and I thought she would be perfect for the role (though Gwen Stacy is not the helpless girl Mary Jane Watson was).

But I saw the movie and Andrew Garfield was fine, yes sir he is one fine man. Beautiful eyes, lovely smile, and tall. I like tall. Tall is sexy. And the pairing with Emma Stone was perfect. Although they look a bit old for high school students, the acting was very convincing. The hallway scene, the awkward conversation, and the balcony scene, well played, guys, well played.

In this movie we get to see the young Peter Parker with his parents and were given a clue as to why they left and he had to live with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. I’m not going to narrate the whole plot, don’t you worry. What I like about it is that it is more scientific. I like the fact that Spidey did not just generate the webs and mysteriously shot them out from his wrists, but that the webs were produced in a laboratory, or shall we say cultured, and he had to wear a wristband like thing and it was from this device that the webs came. The sticky hands and feet, the agility and amazing reflexes, the super strength still came from the spider bite, which is absolutely fine with me. The effects and all that technical stuff were of course, top notch.

Many reviewers say the movie is more emotional than the previous Spiderman movies. Agreed. It was more about The Amazing Peter Parker than The Amazing Spiderman. The discovery of his father’s research, the misuse of it by the desperate Dr. Connors and the obligation that he had to stop it, the teenage romance, and the conflict in his mind (about being a superhero), all add to the emotional element. And Andrew Garfield (the fine, fine man) portrayed it very well. The only thing I miss was there were not much of the witty comebacks that we have come to expect from Spiderman. There was only one such scene I can recall: the car thief breaks open the car door and as he sits comfortably in the driver’s seat we see Spiderman in the back seat, and he says “If you’re going to steal cars stop looking like a car thief”. I laughed out loud. Alone.

To sum up, it was a good movie, worth every rupee, I didn’t feel out of place or awkward. It was indeed an amazing experience. Next stop: Batman-The Dark Knight Rises. Releasing on July 20th.

28 comments:

  1. I am not reading a bit about the movie. Just commenting. :-)

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  2. oh, thank God you liked it, te ti vel :P
    seriously, last night one guy in my friendlist updated his status with negative remarks, I opposed to all this comments, and got annoyed (really annoyed) that I commented "unfollow post" and I unfollowed his post (hehe), went to imdb and gave 9 stars (would've given 10 if he was, like you said, a little more witty.) But I loved every minute of the movie, there was for some time that i thought the flying things were coming straight towards me that I closed my eyes, many times :P too much for 3d effect :D next stop, Batman and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter :)

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    1. Oh yes I forgot to mention the flying things, especially towards the end, in the fight scene at the tower. I really thought they were going to hit me and the girl beside me was really scared. But I would have preferred the 2D version, because of my glasses (and no I don't wear contact lenses). I would rather watch the Lincoln movie, the one with Daniel Day-Lewis (another fine specimen of a man, as exhibited in The Last of the Mohicans), but yeah Vampire Hunter also looks okay.

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    2. "I opposed to all *his comments..." typo typo typo

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    3. lol I didn't see that typo until you pointed it out :P

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  3. I read this article about how Spidey is a metaphor for male puberty- the sudden bodily changes, the illusion of flying and the ejecting of the white webby substance over which he has no control of at first etc- you get my drift :D I should stop hanging out with the wrong people, huis. Haven't watched the movie but this Spidey looks mighty fine, but he's not witty? What's Spiderman without the smartaleckiness!

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    1. btw, mentioned you in my latest post :P

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    2. He is not as witty as the earlier Tobey Maguire Spiderman, let's just hope for better in the next movie (assuming there is going to be a next.. of course there will be a next).

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  4. I didn't read much about the movie as I am yet to see it, but I'm glad you enjoyed watching it alone. :)
    There's no one to pester you with "what'd he/she say?" while you've already got the joke and laughing with the rest of the audience, and no one to ask you why the Villain, although hated by all, is at the same time, torn between respect and hatred for the Hero, and weeps in sorrow as he mercilessly butchers family members of his Nemesis in cold blood, while our Hero watches helplessly because he is caught up in another dimension, unable to teleport back to save them in time, and only being able to view the carnage through an anomaly in the space-time continuum caused by the Villain's own invention, solely for this purpose... etc..

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    1. Your comment reminds me of the time we went to see The Matrix (when was that? 1999? 2000?). A friend of mine did not understand a single thing and it was an exasperating experience (she still didn't understand even after we explained it when the movie was over).
      Go see the movie, it's worth the time and money.

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  5. Didn't recognize Andrew at first when I went to see the movie. Then it finally dawned on me that he is the awesome Jean Ralphio on Parks and Recreation. Man crush on Andrew, 'normal' crush on Emma.

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    1. I didn't know who or what Jean Ralphio or Parks and Recreation was so I had to google and I still don't know. Some TV show?

      I didn't know men had "man crushes", thought you all were too macho for this stuff :P

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    2. "man crush"... huhu, and so Chhama's secret has been finally revealed :D

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    3. Mimi, why are you even surprised? He's Amos' ex roomie...

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  6. Kei 3D in engmah ka la en ve lo, eng film pawh a hmuhnawm duh ngawt chuan ka ring. Aizawl a en ve theih hun ah ka la en ve ang chu.

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    1. A hmuhnawm tho a, chuti em em chuan a hmuhnawm phah pawhin ka hrelo. I hman veleh en ve ngei rawh.

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  7. Iceage 4 hmuhnawm zawk ang.. so i'm saving for that :D

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  8. I am a big fan of the Ice Age franchise, one of the few movies I re-watched (is there such a word?). Yes that is also on my list, now that you've mentioned it :)

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  9. i'm right here waiting for Game of thrones season 3; but sorry for lacking to share such kinda amazing expe..of 3D.

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    1. Everyone's talking about this Game of Thrones. Is it a kind of musical chair where kings run around a bunch of thrones?

      Just kidding :P I don't watch serials much, but I heard this one is good. Maybe I should get the book.

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  10. Aduh, you and I have soooo opposite taste :) Well, to each his/her own I guess. I hated the movie, and the only CG that made me sit up was the same scene which they kept showing during every trailer. There was nothing more to offer apart from that. Dayymm... this is why I pirate. I feel they should have paid me to watch the movie. Such a waste of money :(

    But kudos on watching it alone! That is definitely on my list of things to do before I die. Those questions you pointed out were exactly the reasons why I haven't done it till now, but now I surely must too.

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    1. Well, if everyone has similar tastes then imagine the chaos that would follow? What if all the girls like one boy(oh you wouldn't know.. :P) and if all the boys like one girl (it was a difficult time, I am the most indecisive person) etc etc..

      Anyway, I didn't watch the movie with a maginifying glass over the CG stuff, but because I wanted an entertaining movie and I wanted to go alone that weekend and it just so happened that Spiderman was released that Friday. By all means, go and see a movie alone. Trust me, you wouldn't regret it.

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  11. From your amazing experience, the film seems to be soooo interesting... :-)

    One day, a lady colleagues of mine asked me, 'Doc, how often you to go to theatre? Twice in my life; first when i was in tenth standard, and repeated last year!' I replied.
    Can you imagine, what would be her reaction! But, believe me; she was not that amazed; she simply asked me, 'No girlfriend?!' I'd smiled her back and said, 'Nope, only girl friends..' :-D

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  12. @Doc Mahming There was a time when we used to see every movie that came to town. But nowadays with the easy free downloads and the prices of moviegoing shooting up I rarely go to theatres anymore. But some action movies demand to seen in the big screen with the awesome sound, such as The Avengers etc, otherwise it's torrent downloads for me :)

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