THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: Tangled Webs

“There is only one plot in all of fiction: Who am I?”

-          - Miss Ritter (Barbara Eve Harris), The Amazing Spider-Man

In early 2010, Sony Pictures was in a massive dilemma. Three years earlier, Spider-Man 3 had been released to wild box-office success but little to no love (and from some, massive amounts of hatred) from fans. Screenwriter James Vanderbilt was tasked with working with Sam Raimi, director of the Spider-Man films, to craft two more Spider-Man films with Raimi planning to film one more himself and then hand the series off to another director. Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 would tell the story of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson parting amicably (which I’m sure Kirsten Dunst was happy with) and soon, Peter meets and falls in love with Felicia Hardy (who in this version would not be the Black Cat). However, her real father would turn out to be The Vulture, to be played by John Malkovich. In a battle, Peter would actually kill the Vulture, which in turn would cause Felicia to refuse to speak to him. Peter would again vow to be Spider-Man no more. This, of course, would have been a cliff-hanger for Spider-Man 5. Tobey Maguire signed a deal with Sony Pictures that would have paid him $50 million for both films. However, as with Spider-Man 3, Sony disliked Raimi’s choice of Vulture, an old-school Spider-Man villain and would rather have him choose more ‘90s –based villains. Realizing he was going to be pulled into another situation to merely please the studio rather than make the film he wanted to make, Raimi walked. Loyal to his director, Maguire left as well.

Without their series’ star and director (Raimi would later move to Walt Disney Pictures and make the upcoming Oz: The Great and Powerful; Maguire would stay mostly out of the limelight, but returned to star in a 3D version of The Great Gatsby), Sony began making plans for a reboot titled The Amazing Spider-Man. When the announcement was made by the studio, fans were stunned and believed that Sony was merely making a cash grab. Playing nice, Raimi issued this statement with the official press release, “Working on the Spider-Man movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction and I know they will do a terrific job.” Many fans scoffed at this, but Raimi wisely didn’t want to ruffle feathers with people like the late Laura Ziskin (whom the film is dedicated to, along with production designer J. Michael Riva).

Sony launched a massive campaign to find their new Peter Parker, who due to the film’s high school setting, would have to be a new, fresh face. They found it in one of their own films for 2010, David Fincher’s The Social Network. American-born, British raised actor Andrew Garfield, Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network, was chosen from dozens of actors considered for the role. Bypassing the hip Mary Jane Watson, the new film had to find a new leading lady to portray the intelligent Gwen Stacy.  A rising star at the studio, Emma Stone, who had starred in films like Superbad, The House Bunny, Zombieland and Easy A was chosen to play the new Gwen Stacy. Ironically, Stone had co-starred with the Gwen Stacy of Spider-Man 3, Bryce Dallas Howard in The Help. It also doesn’t hurt that Miss Stone is a vision of perfection, just the essence of beauty and -- With these two locked in, Sony began looking for established stars such as Denis Leary (Captain George Stacy), Martin Sheen (Uncle Ben) and Sally Field (Aunt May). Choosing a new director wasn’t easy as well, but fittingly, the job went to Marc Webb (director of 500 Days of Summer).

At a young age, Peter Parker was left to his Aunt May and Uncle Ben by his parents (Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz) who subsequently disappeared. In high school, he’s an outcast with no friends. Haunted by the desertion of his mother and father, he finds a clue that leads him to OsCorp Tower and meeting intern Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). After he wanders from a tour group and is bitten by a radioactive spider, he soon develops spider-like powers. Though he soon delights in getting even with school bullies, he learns that these newfound abilities come with a price – the death of his Uncle Ben; a death could have prevented. In order to take responsibility for his inaction, Peter becomes a masked vigilante, Spider-Man.

At the same time, Peter learns about Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), a geneticist who used to work with his father. Connors is experimenting with “cross-species genetics”, specifically reptiles. Connors lost his arm and through these experiments seeks to gain it back. Intrigued, Connors agrees to speak with him and Peter’s keen mind impresses him. After Peter fills in an equation to his key formula, Connors moves forward with human trials and self-tests a serum. Although it initially proves successful, Connors soon morphs into a giant, angry lizard obsessed on the destruction of mankind. Meanwhile, Gwen’s father, Police Captain Stacy issues an arrest warrant for Spider-Man, believing him to be an outlaw. With time running out and his loved ones at stake, Spider-Man must find the Lizard and put an end to his evil plot.

I’m very divided on this film. I enjoyed the first two Spider-Man films and while I don’t have the same amount of hate towards Spider-Man 3, the less said about it, the better. Considering what was going to be the story for Spider-Man 4, I applaud Sam Raimi for not being controlled by the studio. It’s disheartening too, to see this story play out without the original Curt Connors from the Spider-Man sequels, Dylan Baker. I think he would’ve been great. Also, considering Raimi is at heart a horror film director, he would have had some fun in scaring the crap out of audiences with the first real Spider-Man monster villain, the Lizard.

In the comics, Curt Connors is a good man with a loving family, a surgeon of war who lost an arm in the line of duty. When he turns to genetics, it’s not to boost his own ego; he genuinely wants to help people. When Connors unwillingly transforms into the Lizard, he becomes a monster. So whenever in battle, Spider-Man not only has to defeat the Lizard but restore the humanity in Curt Connors. In The Amazing Spider-Man, Curt Connors is played somewhat similarly to Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2: egocentric and insane. Connors is not given a family, so there’s nothing to remind audiences that Connors is a good man, even at his worst. Also, the worst-written scene in the movie is a confrontation between Peter and Connors where Connors says, among other things, “There’s rumors of a new species in New York, it can be aggressive if threatened.” Why doesn’t Connors just shake Peter by the shoulders and say, “I’m the Lizard! There’s nothing you can do to stop me! Stay out of my way!” It’s that over-the-top and on-the-nose, it’s ridiculous.

I think that Andrew Garfield’s performance in the film is great but if I can make a comparison to Superman Returns and Brandon Routh: he’s a great Spider-Man but only a good Peter Parker. Let me explain. In Superman Returns, Brandon Routh plays the double role of Clark Kent and Superman. As Superman, he’s fantastic; easily able to carry the torch from Christopher Reeve. But as Clark Kent, he comes up short; Christopher Reeve played Clark Kent as a bumbling, stuttering fool whom no one would suspect of being Superman which was half the fun of the movie. Routh played Kent too cool, too swift and not nearly as nerdy enough. I get that Peter Parker is supposed to be an outcast; it comes off quite well. But at his core, in the deepest darkest part of his psyche, Peter Parker IS A NERD. Glasses, out-of-style clothes, shyness and wimpiness – a “professional wallflower”. Here, in The Amazing Spider-Man, he’s just a nice guy outcast. He doesn’t look nerdy in the slightest.

However, when Peter’s in the Spider-Man suit, Garfield’s clearly having a ball. He’s having way more genuine fun in one movie than Tobey Maguire had in three. I was glad to see the filmmakers found a way to get around Peter building the web-shooters himself. When asked about using organic web-shooters in 2002, Sam Raimi answered that it was more credible than a high school boy to be able to produce an adhesive that 3M couldn’t make. In The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter simply peruses the adhesives from OsCorp and adapts them for his own use. We only see glimpses of Peter making the suit for himself, but it was more fun in the original Spider-Man seeing him draw up designs and finally settling on the one we know and love, but that’s just me.

There has been a lot of controversy lately regarding the cut of The Amazing Spider-Man that went out to theaters. Marketing materials suggested that the film would tell “The Untold Story” of Spider-Man and that his “Greatest Secrets” would be revealed. However, it appears that most, if not all, of this “untold story” was deleted from the final film. Lines like, “Ready to play God?”, “Do you have any idea what you really are?”, “If you want the truth, Peter, come and get it!” are nowhere to be heard in the film. Notably, a scene where Peter finishes the formula that his father and Curt Connors started ends up in an entirely different location. There have been suggestions that Sony was unhappy with this version of the film and cut it down so it resembled a “traditional” Spider-Man film. Evidence of this includes the dropped plotlines of Peter’s search for his parents, Peter’s search for the gunman who killed Uncle Ben and an entire character, Dr. Connors’ OsCorp superior Ratha (Irrfan Khan), goes missing. Scenes from marketing hint at a possible scene that was cut from the film that supposedly involved the Lizard killing Ratha in the sewers, with Spider-Man catching up only when it’s too late. While dying, Ratha hints that Peter may not know the whole story about his parents (while searching on the Internet, Peter finds an article stating his parents died in a plane crash; which raises the obvious question, “Why is he just now doing this?”). Sony can spin this all they want with their “new trilogy” talk, but it ends up crippling this film and only it’s wildly entertaining second half can keep it from ruination.

Ultimately, the real tragedy of the film is the comparisons people will make to the 2002 Spider-Man. Many feel that this reboot was too soon and not enough time was taken to distance both films from each other. The two versions of the exact same origin story are reduced to mere dueling banjos. In my opinion, Sam Raimi’s film held up the origin story so well, there was generally no need for the reboot to even consider adding it to the story. Heck, practically everybody knows the ins and outs of how Peter Parker became Spider-Man. What the new film should have done was simply retell the origin story through the film’s opening credits ala The Incredible Hulk. Taking its cues from the Bill Bixby TV series, the film opens with the traditional Hulk origin story silently as the theme music broods. That way, when the credits finish, the film can go ahead and tell the story it wants to tell having caught everyone who didn’t see the Ang Lee film, the TV show or read a Hulk comic.

I know this seems like a hit piece against this movie and I assure you, I enjoyed it. However, the film has a lot of flaws that cannot be ignored. Still, the cast was extremely talented and did very well, the special effects were dazzling, and with the origin story out of the way, the Spider-Man film series can really progress in a real “new direction”. Spider-Man’s undoubtedly a great character, the greatest Marvel has to offer, and the fact that he’s been around for 50 years gives fans the hope that he’ll be around for another 50 years.

Top 10 Anticipated Films of 2012

10. G.I. Joe: Retaliation (June 29th, 2012)
Director: Jon M. Chu
Writers: Rhett Reese/Paul Wernick
Starring: Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Arnold Vosloo, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, RZA, Adrianne Palicki, Joseph Mazzello and Jonathan Pryce
Studio: Paramount Pictures




Say what you will about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. One has to admit it was damned ambitious. It was also unbalanced, too heavily reliant on flashbacks and less true to the show and more of a “fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” production. That didn’t stop it from being a worldwide sensation (maybe it was due to the disdainful delivery of the line, “Real American Heroes”). Forget for a minute that this is being directed by the same guy who brought us Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (in probably one of the most outrageous jumps from film to film on a resume). This is the second major feature film being written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick who introduced the world to Zombieland, one of my all-time favorite comedies. It breaks my heart to see them not continue with a sequel, but I’m glad to see they got to see the original concept for Zombieland, a TV series, finally come around. You’ll notice that most of Rise of Cobra’s cast was jettisoned – Damon Wayans, Rachel Nichols, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and oddly Dennis Quaid (I thought he was the best actor in the entire film). I was also surprised to see that they continued the storyline of the President being kidnapped and replaced by an evil doppelganger, but if it serves this film better, I say let them go for it. Whatever appeals Dwayne Johnson into inserting himself into popular action films’ sequels escapes me but seeing him along for the ride will be just fine with me. And from what I’ve seen in the trailer, Bruce Willis will be very exciting to see in the film cast as the original G.I. Joe. If the film can also handle the Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow rivalry better than Rise of Cobra, which would be an improvement. All I can say is I trust the writers, the cast seems just fine and I’m all for a better film.
NOTE: Paramount Pictures moved the film from June 2012 to March 29th, 2013. The delay gives time for a 3D post-conversion and reshoots that are said to involve Channing Tatum.

9. Wreck-It Ralph [3D] (November 2nd, 2012)
Director: Rich Moore
Starring the voices of: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch and Jack McBrayer
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

The last time Disney delved into the world of video games were the films Tron and Tron: Legacy. Both were adventurous but perhaps a bit too serious for their own good. With this film, Disney harkens back to the days of 8-bit video games in this parody of “Super Mario Bros.”, Wreck-It Ralph. The story is that video game bad guy Wreck-It Ralph (voiced by Reilly) is constantly angry when his good-guy nemesis Fix-It Felix (voiced by McBrayer) disrupts his sleep with his building construction. All Ralph wants is the glory and fame that Felix gets and not be hated. If he has to become a good guy in another game, why not? The film promises to have a depiction of various video game worlds and styles of animation from 8-bit to the full-on photo-realistic shooters of today. This is Walt Disney Feature Animation’s follow-up to Tangled, which excites me that this film about video games joins the hallowed ranks of such films as Snow White, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. I can’t wait to see a trailer.

8. Frankenweenie [3D] (October 5th, 2012)
Director: Tim Burton

Writer: John August
Starring the voices of: Winona Ryder, Martin Landau, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Conchata Farrell, Christopher Lee, and Tom Kenny
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

In 1984, a young Disney animator named Tim Burton made the leap to live-action short films with a little story he developed about a young boy named Victor Frankenstein (a bit on the nose, perhaps?) whose dog is killed in a tragic car accident, but reanimates the corpse of his beloved pet and causes chaos in the neighborhood. This black-and-white film was Frankenweenie and starred Daniel Stern and Shelley Duvall as Victor’s parents. Disney executives were puzzled by the film and the eccentric filmmaker was ejected from the Disney company until a film he produced and wrote the story for became huge overseas, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Burton retained his position as producer on another Disney production, the live-action/stop-motion fantasy James and the Giant Peach and afterwards, left the Disney Company for good. Until 2010, when Burton returned to give his spin on a classic Disney story – Alice in Wonderland – which ended up bringing the studio $1 billion in income. Apparently, one of the costs the Disney studio had to guarantee for Burton in exchange for directing Alice in Wonderland was to allow him to go back and remake Frankenweenie in black-and-white stop-motion. Disney green-lit the project and let Don Hahn, head of the Walt Disney Feature Animation group, oversee the project personally. The film features a veritable reunion of previously Burton-used actors (notably missing Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, their first film apart in 7 years). On a side note, one actor I would like to see reteam with Burton is Batman himself, Michael Keaton. Anyhow, I think this film will be quite interesting to see as the original Frankenweenie had a lot of heart and humor.

7. Hotel Transylvania [3D] (September 21st, 2012)
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky

Writers: Dan Hageman, David Feiss and Kevin Hageman

Starring the voices of: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Fran Drescher, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon and Cee Lo Green
Studio: Sony Pictures Animation

Yes, I know the film looks like a reunion of actors from I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and Grown Ups. Might I direct your attention back to the director? If you don’t know who that is, Tartakovsky is most famous for creating the Cartoon Network shows “Dexter’s Laboratory” and “Samurai Jack” and overseeing the animation of the original “Star Wars: Clone Wars” series. He even was allowed to storyboard a War Machine/Iron Man at the World Expo battle sequence in Iron Man 2. For the longest time, he was attached to directing a sequel to the Jim Henson classic, The Dark Crystal, but was abandoned by the Henson Company. This will be his first feature-length directorial debut. The film centers around Dracula (voiced by Sandler) and his daughter (voiced by Gomez) running a “five-stake” hotel resort where all of Dracula’s friends – Frankenstein (voiced by James) and his Bride (voiced by Drescher); the Invisible Man (voiced by Spade); a family of werewolves (voiced by Buscemi and Shannon); and a Mummy (voiced by Green) – can all relax and live it up until a unsuspecting human guy (voiced by Samberg) stumbles onto them and falls in love with Dracula’s daughter. If that concept doesn’t sound appealing to you, I would advise to just wait for a trailer and allow Tartakovsky’s talents to shine through.

6. Django Unchained (December 25th, 2012)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Dennis Christopher and Tom Wopat
Studio: The Weinstein Company

That’s right! Six years after Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino is back! Who else but Tarantino would be crazy enough to have their film released eleven days after Peter Jackson’s 3D juggernaut The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey? This film is his take on a Western. Jamie Foxx plays Django, a former slave who was freed and became a bounty hunter. Now he has returned to the Mississippi plantation he once worked at to free his wife from the tyrannical reign by the brutal Calvin Candie (played by DiCaprio). The cast is full of Tarantino regulars – Waltz, Jackson – and great actors like DiCaprio (in his first role as a villain) and Tom Wopat (most famous as Luke Duke from “The Dukes of Hazzard”). I’m enthusiastic to see what Tarantino does with this film.

5. The Amazing Spider-Man [3D] [IMAX 3D] (July 3rd, 2012)
Director: Marc Webb
Writers: James Vanderbilt/Alvin Sargent
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Julianne Nicholson and C. Thomas Howell
Studio: Columbia Pictures





Ten years after Spider-Man’s first cinematic adventure comes this re-telling of his origins which most people complained was already told quite well in the first film, directed by Sam Raimi. However, this film appears to expand on more of Peter Parker’s years in high school and the mystery surrounding the disappearance of his parents. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man film spent fifty minutes on Peter Parker in high school and zero on his parents (albeit one brief mention of his father). Also, a pivotal character in Peter’s high school years, Gwen Stacy was only introduced in Spider-Man 3, when Peter is in college. After the critical drumming that Spider-Man 3 got, Raimi and his team set out to make a Spider-Man 4. I’ve read the outline that they came up with and man, was it bad. One of the main plot points was revealing that Mary Jane was really fathered by the Vulture (to have been played by John Malkovich). Reboot away, please! When I first heard that Andrew Garfield was going to play New York’s Wondrous Web-Slinger, I was a bit outraged because he was a British guy playing an American icon (slipping my mind of course that Christian Bale was British playing Batman and later Henry Cavill was British playing Superman). However, I was calmed later by two reasons: first, I learned that Garfield was indeed an American, having been born in Los Angeles and was simply raised in England and secondly, seeing his fantastic performance in David Fincher’s The Social Network. I can’t imagine how much pressure he’s got to be under having to take such an iconic role from a decent actor like Tobey Maguire, who will be forever identified with Spider-Man (he seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet outside of his role in the upcoming The Great Gatsby). I love Emma Stone. For real. On the outside, she is the living, breathing incarnation of Mary Jane Watson, even more so than Kirsten Dunst who could not bring herself to play the Mary Jane from the comics. However, for this film she plays Gwen Stacy (taking the role from her The Help co-star Bryce Dallas Howard). Hopefully she can still bring a sense of fun with her naturally blonde beauty. I don’t know much about Rhys Ifans, but the Lizard was the character that was hinted at in the Sam Raimi movies from a brief mention in Spider-Man to a one-armed portrayal in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. The late great Cliff Robertson had a great role as Uncle Ben in Spider-Man and gave a fantastic delivery of the famous line, “With great power comes great responsibility”. Having Martin Sheen come in surprised me because he is a quality actor and I wouldn’t have figured him for a superhero movie. I’m not quite convinced that Sally Field is really OLD enough to play Aunt May, but that’s beside the point. James Cromwell was severely underused as Captain George Stacy in Spider-Man 3 (really he’s in one scene). Denis Leary is a great actor and him leaving his show “Rescue Me” to make this film tells me his character’s death probably won’t happen in the first movie. All in all, Amazing Spider-Man has a lot of heat against it, but also has a lot of potential. There’s no question that the movie will be a box office hit.

4. Men in Black III [3D] (May 25th, 2012)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Josh Brolin, Jermaine Clement, Emma Thompson, Nicole Scherizinger and Alice Eve
Studio: Columbia Pictures





Will Smith’s last two films in 2008, Seven Pounds and Hancock, were not well-received critically and only one (Hancock) was financially successful. In the four years since his film absence, he has gotten his son in a well-received remake of The Karate Kid and making his daughter into a pop star and in a new adaptation of Annie. Now he has returned to the black suit and the black shades of the Men in Black. Granted, Sonnenfeld hasn’t directed a film since 2006’s RV (he was busy show-running ABC’s “Pushing Daisies”). Putting together a new Men in Black film clearly wasn’t easy from the set reports of the actors often working without a finished script. The teaser shown recently certainly shows that Jones and Smith are clearly back in character and Brolin’s impersonation of Agent Kay is flawless. As a fan of the films, I’ll continue to hold out hope for it.

3. John Carter [3D] [IMAX 3D] (March 9th, 2012)
Director: Andrew Stanton
Writers: Andrew Stanton/Michael Chabon
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Hayden Church, Mark Strong
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures





This is another one of those films that most people I know don’t have much faith in. All I have to say is, “Trust in Andrew Stanton”. He’s made two fantastic animated movies – Finding Nemo and Wall•E – both of which won Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. This is his first live-action film, and if the success of fellow Pixar alumni Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is any indication, I think people will be highly receptive. The film’s biggest obstacle will be trying to differentiate itself from popular science-fiction films like Avatar and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. What people don’t seem to realize is that is that Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote “A Princess of Mars”, the first story to feature John Carter was written over 100 years ago! The cast seems to be made up of actors involved in Marvel movies: Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins both appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Willem Dafoe and Thomas Hayden Church were both in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies and Mark Strong was in Kick-Ass (a graphic novel published in part by Marvel). I know a lot of people are also worried about giving a first-time director a budget of $200 million, which is very, very risky but if Stanton made a good film, it will all be worth it.

2. The Dark Knight Rises [IMAX] (July 20th, 2012)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Jonathan and Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Juno Temple, Josh Pence, Joey King and Liam Neeson
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures



I’m sure most people will be upset with me putting this film in second place and leaving out The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Prometheus. One reason it’s in second place is because this film features ONE superhero. The full-length theatrical trailer left me somewhat confused and wanting more, but that’s exactly what Christopher Nolan wants. This man is a true genius. The cast is fantastic and anticipation for this film has never been higher. I went to a New Years Eve party where someone had the audacity to ask me if I thought The Dark Knight Rises will be good. I angrily replied, “Does a bear $#*! in the woods?” He didn’t know what I meant. Sigh.

1. The Avengers [3D] (May 4th, 2012)
Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Clark Gregg, Colbie Smulders, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Gwyneth Paltrow
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Studios





This is a film I’ve been waiting for since 2008. With one line delivered by Samuel L. Jackson playing his comic-book counterpart Nick Fury at the very end of Iron Man, “I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative,” Marvel Studios launched the imaginations of a thousand fanboys like me everywhere. One bump in the road was losing The Incredible Hulk’s Edward Norton (who would’ve been great fun to see with this team) but I’m sure Mark Ruffalo will do just fine (he previously co-starred with Downey in David Fincher’s Zodiac). This is the first Marvel film that Walt Disney Pictures will be distributing (not publicly apparently, thanks to Paramount Pictures). Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth both gave fantastic performances as Captain America and Thor, in their respective films and I can’t wait to see more from them. Two time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner rises from a brief post-production cameo in Thor to his full role as Hawkeye/Clint Barton. It’s always nice to see Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson who probably has the best dry comedy delivery in the business. For the first time in cinematic history, the Avengers will assemble and you can bet your ass I’ll be there opening day.

Honorable Mentions:

The Hunger Games (March 23rd, 2012)
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (March 2nd, 2012)
Brave (June 22nd, 2012)
Ted (July 13th, 2012)
The Watch (July 27th, 2012)
Skyfall (October 26th, 2012)
Prometheus (June 8th, 2012)
Rise of the Guardians (November 11th, 2012)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (December 14th, 2012)