Although many consider the start of the summer movie season to be Memorial Day weekend, I will start this list with this weekend's release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. This was a good movie, but I anticipate it falling down the ranks rather quickly.
On the positive note, this movie does a really good job at realistic human computer graphics. You can still tell at times when these aerial scenes were computer animated, but they make it very easy to suspend disbelief and enjoy these sequences. In addition, Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man/Peter Parker plays the perfect adolescently angst, verbally sassy, and haunted by his past and responsibility that is the heart of the Spider-Man character. His agile physical movements went not wearing the mask is at the same time humorous and and impressive lending a believability to his super human feats he demonstrates when wearing the mask. He has a subtle young Jackie Chan style with his use of the physical world around him. The overall look of the film seamlessly intertwines the realistic look of modern day New York City with the near future of a technology reliant culture with clean stylized touch screens everywhere and holographic projection displays. With modern day cell phones and tablets, this technology comes off very realistic and believable. It's also fun to see the Empire State Building in the same skyline as Osborne Tower. 
On the down side, this movie felt
long with exposition seeded throughout the entire movie. Too many villains were introduced giving the movie as a whole a thinned out quality. There was quit a bit of time spent with Peter's turmoil with his past and his future as Spider-Man, but his past with Harry Osborn was glossed over. It felt that Harry's and Max Dillon/Electro came to hate Spider-Man out of necessity for the movie and not from a sincere wrong done to them. You can make the argument that both these characters are mentally unstable and prone to make irrational choices, but the movie depicts these moments as though flipping a switch was all that was needed and leaves a "what just happened " quality with the audience. It was very reminiscent of Anakin Skywalkers switch to the Dark Side in Star Wars Episode III. One minute he is defending the Jedi Order and all that is "good". And the next he is murdering kids. Hmmmm. As with most super hero movies of the past, the development of the villains seemed rushed and forced. It just suddenly happens that they are now bad. From a visual design stand point, I was also disappointed in the look of the Green Goblin and the last villain. These outfits were designed and their occupant's drew their "power" from technologically advanced suits which reminded me of Iron Man knock offs. In the end, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a good movie, but did not excite me nor left me wanting more. Currently this movie is ranked #1; however, it's the only one rated thus far. This coming weekend there is not much coming out that excites me, but I'm looking forward to the week after's release of Godzilla.
1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
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