Marc Webb And Sony's 'Cast A Director By Word Association'


Marc Webb has just made a few million dollars and also created uncomfortable situations for himself and Sam Raimi when they randomly appear at parties together. The great new idea that Hollywood has come up with is the reboot. The origin of the reboot started sometime at the beginning of the 2000's. Possibly something to do with Dracula 2000 restarting the Dracula-lore and missing the boat by about nine years. 

Sam Raimi no doubt had issues with the direction that Sony wanted the Spider-Man franchise to go - and fortunately he was a great fan of the Spider-Man mythology so gave the characters a great amount of respect. Sony sadly is the company with the money and the rights and the ability to say yay or nay and sadly for the fans of Spider-Man that leaves them in a dilly of a pickle. They get another origin story and Peter Parker is stuck in high school for the next three to six films. 

The Spidey fans are a tingling with the whinge, but what about the Marc Webb fans? 

Does Marc Webb even have fans? I mean, out of his oeuvre who really looks back at Fergie's 'London Bridge' clip and recalls its amazing visual flair, or the routinely annoying Regina Spektor's 'Fidelity' clip full of ahh's and oohhh's, or maybe you just have to put on Ashlee Simpson's 'Invisible' one more time. 

Maybe not fans of his music, but when somebody creates a debut film as interesting, beautiful, enjoyable and just down right loving as (500) Days Of Summer, well, you sit up and pay attention to what their next film will be. Granted, the second film blues are much the same as second album blues. The praise can be deafening, and the criticism for the second film can be blinding. Having a look over Marc Webb's music clips there doesn't seem to be any major visual style like your Michel Gondry, Anton Corbjin or Spike Jonze. Yet Sony have seen something and that something is quite obvious when you look at how much money they've put aside for the film.

$80 million. 

That's nothing. $80 million would almost just cover the actors and director fees for Spider-Man 4. Spider-Man 3 was made for almost half a billion dollars. Given the film brought back just over that it's no surprise that Sony probably wanted Raimi to reign it in. Where Webb's film (500) Days Of Summer is considered an indie hit (more on that in another whine), it excelled in creating one hell of a duo with Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, an extremely believable couple going through an interesting relationship.

Translate that and you've got Peter Parker and Mary Jane going through an interesting relationship, and that's what Sony is banking on. They see the Twilight saga being successful and want to monopolise on that success. Who needs special effects when you have two teens dealing with super powers and trying to be in love? Isn't that all that people want in movies nowadays? Throw in a vampire villain and Sony's got themselves a potential hit. 

Even if the fans of the films or the comics don't end up slamming their $20 down to see it opening weekend, there'll be enough people who will go and see it opening weekend to break a record or two and make Sony enough money to call it a great big filthy hit.

Marc Webb is in a unique and great situation - he may be able to prove that he can make blockbuster films and earn a great reputation for himself, but the thing is that Marc Webb is hardly going to be a director on this film at all. He is this decades equivalent of David Fincher on Alien 3. Making another installment in a cash cow and performing as a tranquiliquists dummy. It all boils down to how well Webb can take orders from above. 

Maybe Webb is an intelligent man who only made (500) Days Of Summer to get where he wants to get - a high paying director making relatively successful films. How else do you explain his consistent music clips with My Chemical Romance, Fergie, Regina Spektor and Evanescence? 

I can't say I'm disappointed as this has happened before - David Slade made an interesting (for some) film in Hard Candy and then went and turned in the bland and boring 30 Days Of Night and now he's moving onto Twilight 3. 

I can say that I'm confused by this reboot phenomenon. Especially rebooting Spider-Man. Having been an impressively successful film series - one of the best of the past decade - there is no reason to reboot. Yet, here we go again. I'm not a major fan of Spider-Man, but there are a lot of thirty-something men out there who are holding on to their Spider-Man blankets and underwear in hope that this is all just an early April Fool's.

Top Ten Albums Of 2009

10. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures - There's simply not that many albums nowadays that are mainstream successes and also have the ability to reach out and slap you in the face, demanding you listen to it. Infinitely likeable and addictive, this is the way supergroups should be made.


9. Wonder - Lisa Mitchell - Back when Australian Idol was interesting and - dare I say -  enjoyable (whilst I don't hold out for a Chanel Cole revival, I do look back on those days wearing funky rose tinted glasses) a little 16 year old twirp in the shape of Lisa Mitchell appeared. The judges praised her and said that success was on the horizon. Then she was voted off before her chance (or Chanel's for that matter) to monopolise on the Idol success. A few years later and she burst onto the scene with a damn likeable album - even the worst track on the album (a speech pathologists dream) Coin Laundry is catchy and enjoyable.

8. Radio Wars - Howling Bells - Waikiki were never big on my radar, what with the somewhat comical name, but with the refresh button pushed and Howling Bells' second album in, they've peeked my curiosity. Radio Wars is one of those albums which you forget you have on your iPod and when you hit shuffle and the amazingly brilliant Into The Chaos or Treasure Hunt surprises you, you just have to listen to the album again.


7. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear - It's very easy for a band to become successful off one track yet when you buy the album it's all very same/same - here's looking at you Mumford And Sons - yet Grizzly Bear explode onto the scene with a great alternative album. Whilst Grizzly Bear no doubt have been around for a while, it's their track Two Weeks which people will remember them for, and when they buy the album they'll simply just have to dive in and get the rest. 


6. It's Blitz! - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - I've never gotten the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I've bought their albums. I've listened. I've appreciated. I've just simply never enjoyed their music as much as others have. Then It's Blitz! came out and bam! Zero and Head's Will Roll are perfect examples of great pop music. Karen O knows how to create great music, and here is an album which moves your ass whilst you are unaware of it. And that I'm quite happy to have happen.


5. Hombre Lobo - Eels - Hombre Lobo is a sequel to an album released almost a decade ago. Whilst I'm no fan of Souljacker, Hombre Lobo is much like Howling Bells Radio Wars album. Fresh Blood is just one hell of a great song - one which you just want to wind your window down whilst driving at full speed and howl along to. This is one of those albums that you just feel great listening to.


4. A New Tide - Gomez - At first listen to A New Tide I was convinced that Gomez had jumped the shark. I was convinced that Ian Ball had somehow managed to tear (the best band in the world) the band apart. I don't know how I came to that conclusion, but I just damn well did. And so I put the album away and listened to The Drones a little bit more. And a few months after A New Tide came out and the critical ribbing that A New Tide got (not just from critics but from the fans as well) had subsided. And oh was I sorry. The album is just pure bliss. It very well may be their best album of the decade.


3. It's Not Me, It's You - Lily Allen - My wife is confused about men. Specifically, men's admiration and love for Lily Allen. She's hardly a good looking girl. She can't speak proper english. She's obnoxious. But damn, her album is just fucking great. It's all infectious pop, and fortunately she avoids the pap. From the much male vocalist covered It's Not Fair to the anti-whatever "anthem" Fuck You, It's Not Me, It's You is just one hell of a great album. Enjoyable from start to finish.


2. As Day Follows Night - Sarah Blasko - I never thought that I'd use the term "beautiful" to describe music, but here goes. As Day Follows Night is the most beautiful album you will hear this decade. Sarah Blasko previously co-wrote her past two albums, but this time she went it solo and I really wish she had done this earlier. As Day Follows Night sees Blasko maturing and improving on everything right that she had done previously. If it weren't for my love and admiration of the man behind my album of the year, Blasko would have walked away with it.


1. Everything Is True - Paul Dempsey - When lead singers go solo sometimes things work out well and sometimes things go all Ian Ball-ish. Paul Dempsey gave the term solo album a new meaning with the release of Everything Is True. Playing most of the notes you hear on the album, Dempsey proves he's not just a great singer and guitarist, but very adept at other instruments too. Naysayers came out mentioning that Dempsey's solo album sounded a little too much like Something For Kate. That was inevitable, but what Dempsey created with Everything Is True is best realised in the track Fast Friends. Dempsey creates lyrics which people who listen to his music casually think that they understand and can relate, but with a song like Fast Friends he almost alienates those people. And that's part of the charm and brilliance of Paul Dempsey - writing songs for the emotionally fraught but tailoring them for everyone. Sure, Take Me To Your Leader is a retread of This Is The Life For Me from Desert Lights, but that's only a small mark on what is an emotionally exhilarating album.