Babe of the Week: Emma Stone

Check out her new movie The Help in theaters now.

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011): The first RomCom in years to actually have a brain

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) *** Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

While watching the widely amusing new Romantic Comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love it occurred to me just how brain-dead this genre has become over the last decade. An endless series of cardboard cut out characters combined with inane dialogue and gross out situations has left this Movie Monkey dreading the feared Rom Com.

Crazy, Stupid, Love starring Steve Carell actually has something to say about modern love and relationships.

The film begins with Cal Weaver living under the assumption that his married life is perfect until his dissatisfied wife announces she wants a divorce and has cheated on him with Kevin Bacon no less. After this earth shattering announcement Cal goes on a downward spiral of drunken self loathing until he meets the ultimate playboy Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) who teaches him some moves and tries to help him win back his ex.

The film goes over familiar territory but puts a different spin and actually gives it characters something insightful to say. While watching it I couldn’t help but compare this to an unofficial sequel to Carell’s The 40 Year Old Virgin where Andy has been married for a few years to his true love and eventually loses interest, gets lazy and dumped only to be nurtured back to relationship health by his friends. Interesting movie with some unique characters and as always Emma Stone is outstanding.

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) ***

118 Minutes

Comedy, Drama, Romance

Directed by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa

Starring Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Emma Stone

The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3, 2012): Exclusive Trailer

The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3, 2012) Marc Webb

This movie looks AWESOME!! Ok I admit, I am a gigantic Spider-Man nerd and you can pretty much assume from my scathing review of Spider-Man 3 that I was sorely disappointed by the last installment of the Spidey franchise. All my hope in Spider-Man has restored with the announcement that Andrew Garfield (who was outstanding in last years The Social Network) was signed on to play the newest Peter Parker. Not only did they get Garfield who is perfect for the part, they have signed the lovely and always charming Emma Stone to play Gwen Stacy. Who in my honest opinion was the best girlfriend Spidey ever had in the comic books. (I was never a big fan of MJ) They should have included Gwen Stacy in the earlier 3 installments but what are ya gonna do?!?!

Obviously the director of this latest adventure, Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer), saw the abomination that was Spider-Man 3 and set out to please the loyal Spider-Man fans around the world with this cinematic reboot which focuses on Peter Parker as he once again begins his quest as Spider-Man during his high school years. This movie looks to be outstanding.

Hiring veteran character actors Sally Field and Martin Sheen as Aunt May and Uncle Ben was a really nice touch as well. Even the great Denis Leary (Rescue Me) has been cast as Captain Stacy. I don’t see what could go wrong with this. Apparently our villain in this latest chapter (hopefully they stick to just 1 villain this time) will be Dr. Curt Connors who as you may know will become The Lizard played by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans (Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 1) who seems perfect for the role as the menacing Lizard.

Interesting bit of casting trivia for you Outsiders fans. C. Thomas Howell, the actor who played Pony-boy Curtis in 1983’s The Outsiders will have a small part in this film as a construction worker who gets rescued by Spider-Man. It’s going to be interesting to see him on-screen again. “Stay Gold Pony-Boy.”

The Amazing Spider-Man will be in theaters 4th of July weekend 2012 and I will surely be lining up opening weekend to watch the cinematic redemption of our beloved Spidey after the travesty which was 2007’s Part 3. See you there!

Check out the trailer and don’t forget to comment.