Man, it kills me to write this review. I really liked The Amazing Spider-Man, and I’d been following all the sequel news for a long time and was excited to see them flesh out the world more and add new villains. I had heard some people didn’t like this one, but I figured I would like it at least as much as the first movie. Ugh. I hated The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Honestly, this film didn’t even feel like it was part of the same universe as the first one. The writing and tone is what killed it for me. After the prologue at the beginning, things pick up with Spidey swinging around New York chasing after a criminal. The level of camp, slapstick, and cheesy dialogue in this sequence made me cringe and get that embarrassed feeling for the filmmakers. I turned to my wife (who also really liked TASM) and mouthed I’m sorry. Spider-Man pantsing Paul Giamatti sealed the deal. This was not the Spider-man I was ready to see.

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Well, this is turning out to be a big week for comic book movie news. Warner Bros announced that Wonder Woman will be in the Man of Steel sequel, Bryan Singer announced X-Men: Apocalypse for 2016, and we got this awesome trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

I quite liked the first Amazing Spider-Man movie. I was a fan of the first two Raimi films in the early 2000s, but always felt they were a little cheesy and I was never particularly fond of Toby Maguire or Kirsten Dunst. I felt like the reboot did a good job of reestablishing the Spidey universe and setting up sequels. I’ve been following the news about TASM2 for a while now, but this trailer kind of kicked my expectations up a few notches.

I’ll get to the rambling fanboy predictions in a minute, but first I want to just say that damn, that new Spidey costume is amazing. I think it’s the best incarnation that’s ever been put on film, and is so much closer to a comic book Spider-Man than we’ve seen before. In fact, it looks like the whole tone of this sequel is more comic book inspired and less ‘dark and gritty’, which is fine by me. I could do without Electro in a hoodie, but it beats lack leather.

The Sinister Six

I love how they’re setting up Oscorp as the center of the Spidey villain universe. It makes sense to have a central evil organization responsible for creating villains and teaming them up, instead of devoting a ton of screen time to individual villains’ origins. TASM2 is going to have at least Electro, Rhino, and some form of the Green Goblin. The fact that the trailer even teases more villains (Doc Ock and Vulture, plus they show that chamber with six cells), just goes to show that the filmmakers are going to throw everything at Spider-Man in the next few movies. I think that’s awesome.
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The Top Hat Sasquatch team reads a lot of blog posts every day, and some slip through the crack or just don’t warrant their own post. That’s where Missing Links comes in. Every few days we collect the best links we’ve come across and pass them on to you.

‘Amazing Spider-Man’ Sequel: Casting Harry Osborn
Wow, Paul Dano is a brilliant choice to play the new Harry Osborn, but I’m sure it’ll end up being some young whipper-snapper that I’ve never heard of.

Frankenweenie is ‘good Tim Burton’, which as it turns out still exists
I still need to see Frankenweenie, and this write-up from Ultra Culture makes me want to see it even more. I'm glad 'Good Time Burton' is back.

Yet another reason why I love Gravity Falls – Boing Boing
I'm too lazy to crack ciphers, but this is one of the reasons I love this show too.

Adventure Time‘s Genderswapped Universe Is Getting Its Own Comic Series by Natasha Allegri!
Fiona and Cake, the comic book? Awesome.

Blue Sky to produce Charlie Brown feature | Cartoon Brew
So glad to see the Peanuts going with an animation company like Blue Sky instead of Dreamworks. It sounds like these characters are in the right hands. I hope they don't look too weird in CG though.

Website Launched For ‘Monsters University,’ The College | /Film
This is awesome. I can't wait for Monsters University, and as a web designer I would have loved to work on this project. Pixar launched a fake website for the college Mike and Sully will be attending in the upcoming sequel. Heads up, you can actually order the merchandise.

I liked The Amazing Spider-man. I really did. I liked almost everything about it, with one glaring exception: the design of The Lizard. I was so excited when they announced that The Lizard would be the villain in this movie, but when the designs started to leak, I was a little bummed. When I finally saw the movie, I liked the character but the snoutless, generic Lizard design didn’t do much for me. So, to avoid actually working today I’ve been making a list of 10 things that look better than The Lizard.

As with most ‘silly lists’ on Top Hat Sasquatch, this is mainly a joke. Keep that in mind before you rage in the comments section.

The Goombas from the Super Mario Bros Movie

The Goombas from the Super Mario Bros movie were the first things I thought of when I saw The Lizard. Bald, scaly, and a big toothy grin. Exactly what The Lizard could have looked like in a 90s Spider-man movie, had they decided to ditch the snout and make it look ridiculous. I don’t know if a snout would have made The Lizard look that much better, but what is so unrealistic about growing a snout vs. growing a tail?
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It’s been 10 years since the original Spider-Man hit theaters and helped kick off the superhero movie craze. Many older fans are wondering why we need a reboot of the franchise so soon, but for younger fans, this could very well be the first time they’ve seen the web-slinger on the big screen. And if they love the new take on Peter Parker’s adventures, they might want to check out The Amazing Spider-Man AR (Augmented Reality) Storybook for iOS.

The Story

I haven’t seen the movie yet – I’m more of a second weekend of release type of guy – but I have been reading some of the reviews, so I know the general gist of the plot. From what I’ve gathered, the AR storybook covers about the first half of the movie, ending with Peter saving cars full of people from falling over a bridge. There is a hint that something strange and nefarious has caused the cars to go over the side, but we don’t actually see what that thing is. I can only assume it’s the Lizard, but he doesn’t appear anywhere in the book.

On the one hand, this seems like an odd choice. The story seems to stop just as it’s starting to get good, especially for young, action-hungry fans. But on the other hand, maybe the Lizard would be just a little bit too scary for some really young ebook readers. I know that as the father of a 4-year old with a vivid imagination, seeing photos of the Lizard would probably result in a few late-night visits with stories of the bad green man in her dreams. So while I’d be disappointed if I was a seven-year old reading the book, but it’s probably wise for Marvel to err on the side of caution than face the wrath of sleep-deprived parents complaining that their ebook is too scary.
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