8. The Amazing Spider-Man

Director: Marc Webb
Stars: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Embeth Davidtz, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, C. Thomas Howell, Irrfan Khan, Amber Stevens, Chris Zylka
Release date: July 3

Does the world really need another cinematic interpretation of the Spider-Man saga? As far as we can tell, Sam Raimi’s trilogy, starring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, did a rather fine job of giving Marvel Comics’ wall-crawling superhero a proper movie platform—and, yes, we’re including the problematic Spider-Man 3 in that assessment.

When it was announced that Raimi had fallen back from directing any more Spidey flicks, due to behind-the-scenes drama, naturally our reaction was one of pessimistic dread. That is, before Marc Webb, director of the excellent rom-com (500) Days Of Summer, was revealed as the reboot’s overseer and top-billed duo Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Emma Stone (Easy A) stepped in as the film’s stars. We’re also not mad at the decision to give popular Spider-Man villain The Lizard (played here by Rhys Ifans) his long-overdue movie debut. Anything is better than Topher Grace’s Venom.