‘Can’t You Be a Friendly, Neighborhood Spider-Man?’

So this new trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming is really fun, and makes the movie feel a lot like the classic Spidey comics, in which ol’ Webhead is a wisecracking hero having the time of his life stopping street-level crime in New York City. This is a good thing. A very good thing.

Who wouldn’t want to watch that movie? I think Homecoming has a lot of potential to appeal to non-superhero fans, which could really boost its box-office numbers. And that’s not even factoring in fans of Robert Downey Jr.‘s Tony Stark/Iron Man.

New ‘Spider-Man’ Posters: The Good News and the Bad News

Spider-Man: Homecoming, the Sony/Marvel Studios co-production that aims to rehabilitate the film franchise saw the release of two new posters today — and the results are decidedly mixed. Like the two-headed monster that this dual-studio movie is, the promotional material appears schizophrenic. One poster looks like it’s promoting a new Iron Man flick, while the other looks much more like a Spider-Man movie.

Let’s look at the posters designed for release in the USA first. This poster is a jumbled mess: a bunch of no-Spider-Man characters dominate — most notably, Robert Downey Jr.‘s Tony Stark and Iron Man. Now, I don’t blame Marvel for wanting to make sure audiences know that one of their most popular characters is in this movie, but is he the star? RDJ’s matinee-idol mug is clearly the largest, while his alter ego, Iron Man, is depicted rocketing toward the viewer, no doubt to save the day!

But what about Peter Parker/Spider-Man? The movie’s star, relative newcomer Tom Holland, is there, but as a fresh face, is he immediately identifiable? Who are all those other people? And, to top it off, Spidey himself is depicted turning around, as if in shock. Maybe he’s thinking, “How did all those people get behind me?” Way to go, Spidey-Sense!

Poor hard-luck Webhead — he doesn’t even get to be the star of his own poster!

Wishful Drinking: Marvel-Themed Absolut Bottles

This “Absolut x Marvel” line isn’t real, but maybe — if enough folks post about it and the right marketing people get wind of it — the campaign could become a reality.

The good folks over at CBR first spotted these bottles, by Indonesian designer Krizia Soetaniman, who came up with the idea to combine the Absolut bottle with minimalist portraits of Marvel characters Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Thor, Hulk and — yes, really — Iron Man, along with baddies Venom and Magneto.

While this is liquor line is certainly not for children (or, seriously, alcoholic Tony Stark!), surely there are enough Marvel fans of legal drinking age around the world to justify putting this into production!

Tom Holland Takes Inspiration from Maguire, Garfield for Spidey

While we all feverishly cross our fingers and hope that the first Marvel Spider-Man movie will not be yet another origin story — c’mon, can they really resist telling it their way? — new Peter Parker Tom Holland recently dropped a hint about he plans to play the character when his flick drops in 2017.

He said he will be inspired by previous wall-crawlers Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield:

“I think it’s impossible not to, they were so great and such real and rich performances, and there’s obviously factors I love and I will continue to try and recreate, but I think the most important thing at the moment is making a film which is obviously of the same character but make it a new and exciting movie.”

 

Holland is working on Spider-Man’s debut in Captain America: Civil War.

The latest Spidey flick will be released July 28, 2017.

New Spidey 2 International Trailer

This international trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 isn’t in English, but you don’t need the words to see what’s going on: a lot of rehashed footage, but also a lot of new action —  including fighting with the Green Goblin.

Is it just me, or does Spider-Man have a new favorite weapon that he likes to deploy whenever possible: the manhole cover?

ASM2 opens on May 2.

New Spidey 2 Clip Is Actually — Fun?!

The latest clip released to tease The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is kinda comical, but it’s also the first really fun sequence I’ve seen from the sequel, due May 2.

In this bit, Spidey (Andrew Garfield) is chasing the future Rhino, Aleksei Sytsevich, (Paul Giamatti), who has hijacked a truck loaded with plutonium.

I can’t help noticing the filmmakers had the temerity to portray the plutonium as yellow cylinders instead of the traditional neon green. What risk-takers!

Great New Spidey 2 Trailer Highlights What I Hate

The trailers keep coming for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and, like the others, this one includes some new footage along with covering a lot of familiar ground. With the May 2 release date fast approaching, I’m wondering if we’re starting to encroach on seeing all of the action — certainly the biggest set pieces — spoiled in the previews. At this point, I feel like all we need is a few scenes of exposition, and we’ve got the whole flick.

See the 3rd ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ Trailer

The latest trailer from Sony Pictures’ The Amazing Spider-Man 2 looks a lot like the second trailer, but it does have a smattering of new footage:

My favorite new bit is when Gwen yells, “Peter!” and then clamps her hand over her mouth.

In case you want to relive the first trailer, click  here.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (It looks like Sony is sticking with that title) opens May 2.

Marvel Movie Rights Explained in One Infographic

The good folks over at Blastr located something very interesting: A clever infographic that explains who owns the rights to make movies about which Marvel characters. Check it out.

I didn’t know (or maybe I forgot) that Lionsgate (The Hunger Games studio) owns Man-Thing.

Amazing Spidey 2 Trailer…

I have to admit that I’m not really feeling the love for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, even after this Super Bowl trailer — which seems sorta crowded and messy and hard to follow the coherence

There are several entertaining one-liners and the CGI Spidey certainly moves better than Tobey McGuire’s version, but, still… meh.

We get the origin of Electro in this video clip — and it really is too… well, on the nose — as well as glimpses of the Rhino, but I’m definitely not a fan of packing sequels with entire rogues’ galleries of guest stars. Especially such similar characters. Seriously, does Oscorp just keep rooms full of radioactive mutants for future storylines? “Forty-third floor, transmorgrified reptiles and amphibians, magic jewels and alien artifacts.”

But what do you think? Are you psyched for this sequel, or are you burned out on the spider-puns that appear to be rampant agisin rampant in the movie.?