I just finished watching (500) Days of Summer. I am a huge sucker for these types of movies. It's not really a romance movie, but it's not really a comedy either. It is definitely fun, and sad, and hopeful. Zooey Deschanel plays the perfect girl next door roll. Maybe not in the movie, but I would have died trying to get her to notice me if she was next door to me growing up. Nowadays, I would probably awkwardly smile when I would see her on the street, picking up her mail. Still, even disjointed as the movie was portrayed, it told a good story without the need of an over the top cast. I liked the little sister character of the protagonist, but she filled the typical "too smart for her own age" template.
Other than Zooey Deschanel, the movie entered my radar because the director, Marc Webb, has been tagged to possibly direct the next Spider-Man movie. I needed to see something of his work if I could make an accurate judgement as to if I feel he could do it. Granted, I am not an expert in the movie field at all. My only experience were bit parts in student films and writing scripts for classes. Still, the powers that be feel they need to relaunch Spider-Man with a fresh beginning. Apparently from what I know, Sam Raimi, the director of Spider-Man 1, 2, and 3, had a conflict with the people with the money. It could have been timing, direction of story or maybe he just couldn't find the right role for Bruce Campbell. Sony, the company that can make a Spider-Man movie, feels they want to cash in on a still acknowledgeable product.
Relaunches are weird. For the most part, they can work with comic book adaptations. Most of the time, the comic a movie is based on has been around for at least 40 years. This is different than remakes of movies, like Halloween or the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street. Too many things are being remade in my opinion. Some of them are fine (Dawn of the Dead), while others seem unnecessary (Psycho). The more annoying ones are the too soon remakes of stuff that is younger than me (I'm looking at you Karate Kid). Still, comics skirt the issue because it's just another story with those characters. There doesn't need to be a progressive story between some movies, like Hulk and Incredible Hulk. Of course, the latter was far better as a comic movie fun. It can work extremely well with a connecting story structure, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Of course with Dark Knight, I have no idea how they will top that for a sequel.
From watching (500) Days of Summer, I think Marc Webb can definitely pull of the atmosphere of Peter Parker (Spider-Man in secret identity mode). There was one sequence in Summer that I thought the main character was Peter Parker. Hell, he even looked exactly like him, sweater vest and all. My only concern is the action scenes. Doing those is a bit different than trying to make your actors come across as real people while dealing with what Love means. The depth of Spider-Man and his inner conflicts can definitely be portrayed by Webb. I just don't know if he can make the punches count.
All I know is that I will boycott a remake of Back to the Future.
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