Yay Pictures!

I'm a little late with these, and most of the blogosphere has already passed their judgement about these pictures and where their respective films are headed. But that's just fine with me; its a new-ish perspective after we've collectively moved on to the next thing (the Internet is so fickle, isn't it?).

First up, the first official photo of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man:

I'm still not convinced that this reboot is really necessary, even with Garfield, Emma Stone, and director Marc Webb involved. Wouldn't a fourth sequel make more sense? Still, looking at this picture, I have some guarded optimism about the project. Garfield fits the Peter Parker bill pretty well, and he's obviously not unnecessarily muscular, which good since Parker is, you know, a dweeb with superpowers (I mean that lovingly). And above all, it looks like the movie is on its way to avoiding becoming the oft-maligned, could-feasibly-be-from-a-Saw-movie Broadway production that has learned nothing from the ancient Greek oracles (which, by the way, is looking more and more like a real-life Producers scheme, complete with being a hit instead).

Then there's this first image of Chris Evans as Captain America:

I have mixed feelings about this one too. I like that it takes the form of a rather-realistic looking WWII soldier's uniform, but it looks a little...big, doesn't it? I mean, the helmet looks like its a head-size too big for him. As for the movie itself, I still want to see a trailer for it before I decide on seeing it: grounding the film in WWII is a smart idea, and Evans could deliver, but Joe Johnston as director is still a problem for me, seeing as how he managed to mangle Jurassic Park III so terribly. But I'll give him a chance here.

How about Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander?

What strikes me the most about this image is that its not a direct Xerox of Noomi Rapace's Lisbeth in the Swedish Girl films. Mara is, physically, a great choice for the role, and her transformation into the character works for me and actually further stokes me for the American remake (something I don't say usually). My only complaint really is how incredibly thin that Mara is: please eat something! Otherwise, this looks good.

And finally....

There have been plenty of posters for end-of-the-world movies that use this kind of motif, but there's something that just really strikes me about this one. Maybe its the silhouette of the Santa Monica pier in the background as meteors (presumably carrying the aliens that will wage war with the human race) streak across the sky, leaving these anonymous surfers gawking in awe of what their witnessing. This just gets me more excited for the movie, which I feel is going to let me down, but man am I ever hoping against hope otherwise.

* A note about Battle: Los Angeles: the second domestic trailer for the film makes note that "every colonizing force has to eliminate the local population." This really got me excited, being a history major studying the post-colonial Third World and all. In my mind, this film will be an action-packed sci-fi thriller that is also an intelligent rumination on the effects of colonialism on the indigenous population of an area, a sort of anti-imperialist screed that reminds "the Western World" about the devastation its wrecked on the rest of the world by putting Western civilization into the position of the natives. I know for a fact this won't be that film (it lists Ne-Yo as a star, for chrissake). But how great would it be if it was?