2001 - The Amazing Spider Man 2

You can likely tell from my photo selections the aspect of the film that I'm most into.  In my defence though, the chemistry between Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield is solid and unique.  I'm a big fan of Emma Stone and she brought a LOT to this series.  In fact, that's the story line that absolutely worked pitch-perfect through-out this and the previous film.  Without going into spoiler details, it's a beautifully worked out love story.
I liked how this instalment dug deeper into storylines and the past.  Electro is a pretty lame villain, and Rhino (I assume this is the third film) looks to be equally lame.  Given how strong the Gwen Stacey and Peter Parker stuff is, it almost feels as if someone else is writing the scenes involved any of the villains talking - their dialogue is so on-the-nose and cliched and.... often terrible.  It doesn't ruin the film, but it pulls you out in key moments and I did have the odd eye roll.  I like the surprise of Green Goblin at the end, but he's such a big thing that it felt short changed - those we haven't seen the last of him at all, so there's that.
I think I liked this better than the first for a few reasons, and as such it's absolutely worth trying to catch while it's still in the cinema.  Enjoy!

2000 - The Amazing Spiderman

Late to the game with this one, and hoping to check out the new one tomorrow evening.  I was pretty damn impressed here.  I like the redo on the origin story.  I never truly loved Tobey Maguire in the part, and I love what they do with Andrew Garfield here - he's charismatic and nerdy in an honest way.  His chemistry with Emma Stone is pretty goddamn great as well - their first kiss scene is the kind that could go down in the history of cinema as part of the great first kisses.  The Lizard isn't a great villain, but I like the idea of using a small villain to help build set up the world for us to play in, and set the stage for things to come.  Over-all a smart fun action flick - looking forward to seeing how the world builds into the second one.

1716 - Crazy, Stupid, Love

I really liked this when I first saw it, and I liked it even more this time.  The writing is absolutely exceptional - especially for this genre.  Each single character really pops in a fun way.  It's emotional and charming, clever yet honest.  It's no surprise that this cast came aboard this film.  I like how this film handles it's multiple shorelines, and I'm engaged in each one, never wanting to be back in the other, always happy exactly where I am at each moment of the film. 
I'm re-watching a lot of more "talky" films that I love recently just to really take a look at how they up the visuals despite the dialogue heavy script.  This film in particular is fairly stylized for this kind of film.  A film like this has a ridiculously higher budget than what we'll be working with, but it's a good reference none the less.
If you haven't seen this film you really owe it to yourself, especially if you're a fan of any of the cast (Emma Stone is amazing) or just romantic comedies in general.  It's absolutely delightful.

1611 - Crazy Stupid Love

This film has come highly recommended - and I wanted to see it based on the storyline and actors alone - big fan of all of these people.
So, coles notes, this film is about a man whose wife randomly tells him that she wants a divorce and how he and the rest of their family deals with that. 
The one thing I kept hearing was that, if there's a complaint, maybe that it's a tad too long.  Ironically the length was fine - but it was a bit... slow in spots.  But it didn't bother me for the most part, mostly because I was just really enjoying the whole thing.  What was most impressive in this was simply the writing.  Don't get me wrong - the actors are all fantastic - the film itself is stylish and looks great (a big step up from the director's last outing - I'm looking at you 'I Love You Phillip Morris'), but when you see this film, or you revisit it, just notice how well all the threads layer and integrate over one another, and how the film never loses site that it's a comedy - no matter how intense it is at times, heartwarming and emotionally honest, the comedy stays present - it never loses site of that.  I do have two issues with the film that I'll mention below so as not to spoil - but by and large this is a fantastic film.  I recommend it highly to all.

***SPOILERS BELOW***
Okay.  So the two things that bothered me - the twist later on where we discover the greater connected between Gosling and Carrell just felt like a tad bit of a cheat.  The third connecting party was well named with a nickname that makes total sense - but their absence otherwise feels a bit forced.  Don't get me wrong, it was a wonderful reveal - but the more I thought about it the more it bothered me. 
The other thing the scene at the graduation - Carrell standing up in front of everyone was one of the very few times where I felt like the scene was being written a bit - it was a little too perfect how it went down, I found - I think that it didn't match the tone of the rest of the film perhaps and that's what bothered me.  Alas - small potatoes.  Can't wait to see it again!

1510 - Easy A

Let's get the crappy part of the review out of the way right away.  I had a hard time buying into the beginning of this film.  In this day in age does anyone in high school really make a big deal of a girl sleeping with someone?  Sure, once they start giving it away to everyone perhaps, but after just one guy the news spreads like wildfire?  Especially a girl who is apparently "off the radar"?  When I was in high school no one cared and we were in a small town, and that's all you did was gossip.  So with that, and the Hippie and the Christian girl who had the skankiest make-up of everyone, that's my gripes with this film.  Outside of that, there was a lot to like about this film...
I've been a big fan of Ms. Emma Stone since I first was graced with her screen presence.  She's cute as hell, but funny and smart as a whip.  And she's given great stuff to work with.  Some amazing scenes and dialogue going on here - no idea how much was scripted Vs. improv, but it felt real and spontaneous and fun.  Stone is on her way to being a superstar, and for good reason.  Here's hoping she makes good choices.
Stanley Tucchi and Particia Clarkson are goddamn brilliant as the parents in this film.  It's a testament to great casting, acting, and writing.  These roles could have been the standard cliche, but what the screenplay of this film does is give all of the smaller roles something to really do.  There are no wasted roles here.
So while I had initial problems buying into the concept of the entire film, I was over taken by how much fun it is.  The filmmakers are quite obviously in love with the teen comedies of the eighties, and perhaps this is their tribute to them, and if so, it's a decent one.  This is by no means one of those you-absolutely-must-see films, but if you want to be entertained by a pretty damn good teen comedy, then this should be right up your alley.
Easy A  Easy A [Blu-ray]