As an avid childhood reader of Marvel Comics, I’ve felt compelled to see pretty much all of these recent super-hero blockbusters Stan Lee has stamped over the past few years. And while I kinda had a beef with The Avengers movie not sticking to the script of the original comic books, I hafta say, the Spider-Man series has been pretty good in that regard. Of course, the origin story is well-known, but I recognized storylines from the first two films coming from issues of the comic book back in the day. (Spider-Man 3, on the other hand…) Not such whether Marvel had more input on these ones or if Sam Raimi was just a Spidey fan, but I thought they were well done.
Of course, the departure of director Raimi and lead actor Tobey Maguire for The Amazing Spider-Man has led to a whole refresh of the series with a new cast of characters (exit Kirsten Dunst as Mary-Jane, enter Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy) led by British actor Andrew Garfield. While I’m not sure whether this one will capture the feel of the initial trilogy, I’d probably still go and see it–if only it was opening this weekend. This being one of the biggest summer blockbusters, the studio has given the go-ahead for a July 3rd opening ahead of the big long weekend in the States. But I guess the Canadian arm of Columbia Pictures has no pull, as its northern opening inconveniently comes after our national holiday weekend–and by one day, at that!
Of course, the day that Canada became a country was the 1st, not the 4th of July–although America has us beat by about 90 years. And because the day itself falls on a Sunday this year, most Canadian workplaces (mine included) have Monday, July 2nd off. Since the second is of no particular patriotic significance, it seems like a good time to catch a flick–it’s just too bad that the movie I most wanted to see opens a day late. That said, part of me wants to watch Ted, the new Mark Wahlberg film, just to see if the twisted mind of Seth MacFarlane has directed a sex scene between Mila Kunis and a teddy bear. (Hey, this sorta thing has happened before–albeit only in porn parodies, I suppose.) I also kinda wanna see the new Oliver Stone movie Savages–but that one doesn’t even open till next Friday.
Mind you, I know where I’ll be spending my Day-After-Canada-Day. The Bloor Cinema is offering a hoserrific double bill of Strange Brew and Fubar for freakin’ free(!!!) on Monday afternoon starting at 1 pm. The second-best part is that it’s free–the best part being that it’s only a couple blocks away from my apartment… Take Off, Eh!
