Films I Saw This Week (17/08/2015)

Welcome to Me (2015)

As a mentally ill lottery winner who buys airtime for her own TV show, Kristen Wiig gives one of the best performances of her career. Equal parts pathetic and sympathetic, Wiig nails the fast/loose talking, narcissistic side of Borderline Personality Disorders. Unfortunately, the film never quite lives up to her performance. Shira Piven’s black comedy is entertaining and has a few memorable moments, but struggles to find the right tone, flitting between whacky comedy and dark drama. Though the ending is genuinely quite moving and the supporting cast (Linda Cardellini, Wes Bentley, James Marsden, Joan Cusack, Tim Robbins) are fun if underused, Welcome to Me isn’t as successful as it should have been.

B-

Film Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

The problem with rebooting any film that only came out originally in the last 15 years is that the reboot will inevitably draw comparison with the original. That is to The Amazing Spider-Man’s fault; it is impossible to watch without comparing to Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man. However, The Amazing Spider-Man, directed by (500) Days of Summer’s Marc Webb, manages to retell what is essentially the same story with enough changes to actually warrant a watch.

The story features much of the same plot points as the original; Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is still a geeky high schooler, although Tobey Maguire was more of a traditional nerd, whereas the annoyingly handsome Garfield is just more awkward. His Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) still gets shot by a mugger, leading to Parker making the choice to fight evil. And, there’s still a love interest Parker stalks, although rather than the wooden Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane, we get the always good Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey.