Soapbox Commentary: Your Friendly Neighborhood Andrew Garfield!

After months of speculation, rumors, and Sony beating around the proverbial bush, Tobey Maguire's replacement as Spider-Man has been announced.

Many names were kicked around. Aaron Johnson ("Kick-Ass"), Jaime Bell ("Billy Elliot") and Josh Hutcherson ("Journey to the Center of the Earth") were the popular choices by Sony, where Logan Lerman ("Percy Jackson and the Olympian: The Lightnigh Thief") was the most popular choice among fans of the series -- though definitely not my first choice...or second for that matter.

And now we have a new confirmed Peter Parker! And it's...Andrew Garfield. And the world all went...who the fuck is Andrew Garfield?!?

I will admit I had to look it up too, though the name seemed vaguely familiar. Upon looking him up (God I love IMDB), I realized that I should have known him already. Why? Because he was in my favorite movie last year, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"! And he was good. Shockingly good. Definitely one of the finer performances that year.

So, do I think Andrew Garfield is the perfect choice? Well, maybe not perfect. I would have loved to see Jaime Bell kick a little ass in the Spidey suit. And he could have brought an angsty side to Peter Parker, seeing that Bell did excellent work in "Dear Wendy" and "The Chumscrubber". However, Garfield has a lot to offer the role of Spider-Man, and so I welcome him. It makes me more curious to see his next film first though -- the Facebook movie "The Social Network", which also stars Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake.

Does this mean I'm totally going to endorse the new "Spider-Man" reboot? Eh...not entirely. Though they cast a really good actor to fill those red booties and the rumored villain is The LIzard, which would be really cool, the director, Marc Webb, does not have my full endorsement.

Who is Marc Webb? Still not a household name yet, Webb directed last year's indie darling "(500) Days of Summer)". First of all, this movie wasn't that good. It tried to be the perfect blend of "Memento" and "Annie Hall", but failed major at both attempts. Second of all, this is supposed to be a gritty reboot in the vein of "Batman Begins". How gritty can this film be when the reigns of the film are now in the hands of a guy who's real only film credit is a romantic comedy?

But hey, I'm willing to give it a shot. I've been wrong before about directors in the past, so I'm willing to admit I could be wrong here. Only time will tell.