As you know, on Tuesdays I recommend a movie that has death in it. You may ask yourself, now why on earth would I want to subject myself to watching a movie that's going to make me sad? In my humble opinion, I think it's good to practice those sad or scary feelings with the help of Hollywood. Like I tell my son when he gets scared by something he sees in a film, I say it's just a movie. And it is.
This past week, I went to see The Amazing Spiderman with my husband and kids. I was really looking forward to seeing it because I love Spiderman. Out of all the superheroes, he is my all time favorite and I hate spiders, but I like his story. He's an orphan, he feels guilt for the death of his uncle, he's a geeky outsider, he feels he doesn't deserve love, he's moral, he doesn't have lots of money and he wants to help people. Plus, he looks pretty good in his costume.
So, I sat through the newest installment of a very familiar origin story. I laughed, I got a bit weepy when Uncle Ben died, and I thrilled at the special effects. But, and there's always a but, I was SERIOUSLY bummed out when I left the theater. My husband and kids loved this movie more than the other ones made less than ten years ago. For some reason, I felt bad for Tobey Maguire who is now too old to play the superhero. So, instead of feeling awesome, I felt like I was perpetuating ageism. Like Tobey, I'm also getting old. And call me crazy, but I guess it scares me a little bit that no one feels just a wee bit sad that he was replaced by Andrew Garfield.
Not that there's anything wrong with Mr. Garfield. I think he is a terrific actor. He stars in today's movie of the week, Never Let Me Go which came out in 2010. It's based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. And I'm not going to spoil it for you by revealing the plot, but I will say that it's science fiction. I really enjoyed it.