The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Movie Review

Here’s the deal with Marc Webb’s “The Amazing Spider-Man”: it’s good; it’s fine. There is, however, a but. We’ll get to that. There’s web-slinging adventure, a good amount of fun, and some wonderful actors giving solid performances. Andrew Garfield has the wise cracking, awkward loner thing down pat, and pulls off a near perfect Peter Parker. Emma Stone’s take on Gwen Stacey is charming, adorable, and in a couple moments, heartbreaking. This isn’t a perfect movie, by far, but overall “The Amazing Spider-Man” ends up a decent summertime popcorn movie. But, is fine good enough for Marvel? Will decent cut it? Given the hot streak they’ve been on, especially with the massive success of “The Avengers”, this will never be more than a slight disappointment.
You spend the bulk of “The Amazing Spider-Man” wondering if this is really necessary, and the film never quite crawls out of the shadow of being a reboot. The story is so familiar, as are the primary characters, that even while you’re being entertained, you can’t shake the sense you’ve been through this all before. There’s not anything new or different about Webb’s picture to set it apart. There are attempts to differentiate the plot from previous versions of the Spider-Man origin story, but they don’t do the trick. Fanboys everywhere raised a ruckus when they found out that there would be more emphasis placed on Peter Parker’s parents rather than Aunt May and Uncle Ben, as is the standard. And honestly that element is tacked on and creates more problems that it solves.

What “The Amazing Spider-Man” does is insert the additional factor of Peter’s scientist father (Campbell Scott) and mother (Embeth Davidtz) running off and leaving the young boy with May and Ben (Sally Fields and Martin Sheen, who, again, both give solid performances). If you were to edit any mention of his parents out of the film, you’d be left with the Spider-Man story you already know: nerd with a penchant for photography, radioactive spider bite, superpowers, uncle getting murdered by a guy he could have stopped, great power begetting great responsibility. Throw in a pretty girl, shake, and voila, Spider-Man.
The parent issue only confuses the big picture. It is more of an aside, a red herring that is set up to be the main source of conflict, but never follows through. It brings a bit of additional characterization, but also causes the focus to bounce back and forth between Peter’s search for answers and his quest for Uncle Ben’s killer. Because of this the movie meanders, directionless, for too long, you’re not sure what the actual point is. By trying to make “The Amazing Spider-Man” different, they only muddy the waters.

It isn’t until the final third of the movie that “The Amazing Spider-Man” steps up and claims the story as its own. Once all of the comic book set up is left in the rearview, things smooth out somewhat. The relationship between Peter and Gwen is given room to grow, and real-life couple Garfield and Stone show that chemistry on screen. Eventually the plot abandons all the peripheral distractions—which are important to developing Spidey, but presented in a jumbled way—and the plot narrows down to Spider-Man and Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard (Rhys Ifans). When this happens, the pace picks up and carries you on a roller coaster ride towards the end.
What they should have done instead of trying to retell a well-known, oft-recounted origin story, was keep the familiar stuff to a minimum, and focus on what is new. But they don’t, and as a result the most interesting bits of “The Amazing Spider-Man” are compressed and never fully developed. The film is hamstrung before it has the chance to truly take off.

Adding the Lizard into the mix as the villain is a let down. First off the creature looks terrible. In the comics he looks like an actual lizard, here he is a god-awful mess that looks like a burn victim who can’t stop smiling. Scales do not a reptile make. Before he becomes the Lizard, when he’s Connors, he’s just this dude with one arm that mopes around lamenting the fact that he only has one arm, gazing at his stump. You get it; you’re supposed to equate Connors and Peter. Both are after a missing piece of themselves, one literal, one metaphorical. At first you feel for Connors, and you think he’s going to provide some connection to Peter’s past, but his shtick gets tired, and the parent thing falls by the wayside.
“The Amazing Spider-Man” isn’t terrible. There are nice pieces, but they don’t amount to much more than a middle of the road superhero rehash. A too familiar story rebooted too soon, with a lackluster villain, results in a movie that you’ve already seen. At the end of the day, if you’re not overly invested in the source material, this is fun enough action romp. For fans who were hoping for something special, this is not the movie you wanted, and you’ll walk away thinking “The Amazing Spider-Man” should be better.
Marc Webb (director)/James Vanderbilt (writer)/Alvin Sargent (writer)/Steve Kloves (writer)
CAST: Andrew Garfield…Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Emma Stone…Gwen Stacey
Rhys Ifans…Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard
Denis Leary…Captain Stacey
Sally Fields…Aunt May
Martin Sheen…Uncle Ben

Harrods Makes a Justin Bieber Ice Cream That Tastes Like His Perfume

Sometimes, Justin Bieber's cherubic pie face looks good enough to eat, but then we realize that makes us creepy, cannibal people, so we stop. Imagine, then, our distraught after reading about the new Justin Bieber-inspired ice cream produced by British department store, Harrods. In celebration of his fragrance launch, Harrods concocted a sundae that tastes like how the perfume smells, which means wild-berry and vanilla ice cream, fresh pear, lavender sprinkles, and—of course—~*~glitter~*~. Getting a sundae will set you back $32, but all of the proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish-Foundation. (WWD)

Stars-align-at-the-teen-vogue-young-hollywood-party

Photos by Taylor Starr

Once a year, L.A.'s freshest up-and-coming faces gather in the name of fashion at Teen Vogue's Young Hollywood Party. Starlets like Zelda Williams stepped out in a short, sheer black dress by The Row, while Emma Roberts opted for length in a lavender floor-grazing gown, and Lily Collins went for bold pink with Michael Kors Collection's Tulip Silk Dress from the Prefall collection and a gold python barrel clutch. The magazine's Eighth Annual celeb-studded bash also drew out some familiar names this weekend—Kelly Osbourne showed off her killer body in a perfectly structured black mini-dress, while our favorite fashionistaAlexa Chung manned the DJ booth (wearing Michael Kors Organic Lace Skirt from the Resort 2011 collection). Take note of these rising stars, because we're guaranteed to be seeing them for some time to come. (Vogue)

If-the-cake-boss-took-a-bunch-of-acid

By Connie Wang

…This is what would happen. Cakeland is a space in Oakland created by artist Scott Hove, which is a floor-to-ceiling "cake environment" featuring some of the most bizarre confections you've ever seen. If you're getting hungry, you might want to skip it: These cakes are made of polyurethane and wood, though we're not sure that the infant head dentata is making us very hungry, anyway.... Also, there's this. (Cakeland)

Photo: Via M S Hove

ArtGuild

http://www.refinery29.com/daily-diversion-cute-koala-gets-tickled-even-more-cuteness-ensues.

There's a reason there's an "aww" sound in "Koala". Check out his little widdle ears go flopping around as he's being tickled by the luckiest person on the planet. ... There's a reason there's an "aww" sound in "Koala". Check out his little widdle ears go flopping around as he's being tickled by the luckiest person on the planet. ...

Pengertian Sakramen

Sakramen adalah ritus Agama Kristen yang menjadi perantara (menyalurkan) rahmat ilahi. Kata 'sakramen' berasal dari Bahasa Latin sacramentum yang secara harfiah berarti "menjadikan suci". Salah satu contoh penggunaan kata sacramentum adalah sebagai sebutan untuk sumpah bakti yang diikrarkan para prajurit Romawi; istilah ini kemudian digunakan oleh Gereja dalam pengertian harfiahnya dan bukan dalam pengertian sumpah tadi.

Sakramen Protestan

Artikel utama untuk bagian ini adalah: Sakramen (Protestan)
Bagi Gereja Protestan, kata "menjadi perantara" atau "menyalurkan" digunakan hanya dengan pemahaman bahwa sakramen adalah suatu simbol atau peringatan yang terlihat dari rahmat yang tak terlihat. Gereja-Gereja Pentakosta klasik, kaum Injili, Nazarin dan Fundamentalis, menganut suatu bentuk imamat yang unik. Karena alasan ini, kebanyakan dari mereka lebih suka menggunakan istilah “Fungsi Imamat” atau “Ordinansi”. Keyakinan ini menjadikan ordinansi efektif dalam hal ketaatan dan partisipasi orang-orang percaya serta kesaksian pimpinan dan anggota jemaat. Cara pandang ini bersumber dari pengembangan konsep "imamat setiap orang percaya". Kegiatan ordinansi lebih ditekankan peran imamat dari pada peran sakramentalnya sehingga ordinansi lebih dipandang sebagai suatu tindakan pengorbanan yang dipersembahkan oleh orang-orang percaya dari pribadinya masing-masing, dari pada sebagai suatu ritual yang mengandung kuasa sendiri.
[sunting] Sakramen Katolik
Artikel utama untuk bagian ini adalah: Sakramen (Katolik)
Gereja-Gereja Katolik, Ortodoks Timur, Ortodoks Oriental, Assyria, Anglikan, Methodis, dan Lutheran yakin bahwa sakramen-sakramen bukan sekedar simbol-simbol belaka, melainkan "tanda-tanda atau simbol-simbol yang mengeluarkan apa yang dilambangkannya", jadi, sakramen-sakramen, di dalamnya dan dari padanya, yang dilayankan dengan benar, digunakan Allah sebagai sarana untuk mengkomunikasikan rahmat bagi umat beriman yang menerimanya.
Dalam tradisi Kekristenan Barat, sakramen kerap diartikan sebagai tanda yang terlihat, yakni kulit luar yang membungkus isinya, yaitu rahmat rohaniah (walaupun tidak semua sakramen diterima semua Gereja sebagai sakramen). Ketujuh sakramen adalah Pembaptisan, Krisma (atau Penguatan), Ekaristi (Komuni), Imamat (Pentahbisan), Rekonsiliasi (atau Pengakuan Dosa), Pengurapan orang sakit (Minyak Suci), dan Pernikahan. Kebanyakan dari sakramen-sakramen ini digunakan sejak masa apostolik dalam Gereja, tetapi perkawinan, misalnya, baru diakui sebagai suatu sakramen pada abad pertengahan. Beberapa Gereja tidak menganggap beberapa dari sakramen di atas sebagai sakramen. Beberapa Gereja yang lain, misalnya Gereja Anglikan dan Kaum Katolik-Lama (bukan Gereja Katolik), menganggap dua sakramen ketuhanan dalam Injil, yaitu Pembaptisan dan Ekaristi, sebagai "sakramen-sakramen yang diperintahkan, yang mendasar, dan yang utama, yang dianugerahkan bagi keselamatan kita," serta menganggap kelima ritus sakramental lainnya sebagai "sakramen rendah" yang merupakan turunan dari kedua sakramen utama tadi.
Sudah jelas bahwa Gereja-Gereja, denominasi-denominasi, dan sekte-sekte Kristen tidak sepaham dalam hal jumlah dan pelaksanaan sakramen, namun umumnya sakramen-sakramen diyakini telah dilembagakan oleh Yesus. Pihak yang tidak percaya pada teologi sakramental menyebut ritus-ritus tersebut — atau setidak-tidaknya ritus-ritus yang mereka gunakan — terutama pembaptisan dan Komuni, sebagai "ordinansi." Sakramen-sakramen biasanya dilayankan oleh klerus bagi satu atau lebih penerima, dan umumnya difahami melibatkan unsur-unsur yang terlihat dan yang tak terlihat. Unsur yang tak terlihat (yang bermanifestasi di dalam diri) dianggap terjadi berkat karya Roh Kudus, rahmat Allah bekerja di dalam diri para penerima sakramen, sedangkan unsur yang terlihat (atau yang tampak dari luar) meliputi penggunaan benda-benda seperti air, minyak, roti, serta roti dan anggur yang diberkati atau dikonsekrasi; penumpangan tangan; atau suatu kaul(sumpah) penting tertentu yang ditandai dengan suatu pemberkatan umum (seperti pada pernikahan dan absolusi).