Community News - St. Charles County • May 30, 2012 • 9
“The Summer of Superheroes” Nearly a month after its debut, “The Avengers” continues to dominate the movie box office. This superhero adventure brings together Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor and other characters created by Marvel Comics. The film also captures the personality conflicts that have dogged the Avengers for 50 years on the printed page. When squaring off against “Battleship,” Earth’s Mightiest Heroes soundly defeated the board game adaptation, sinking it with a $55 million take in its third weekend. “The Avengers” has cracked the billion dollar barrier, but will this summer’s other superhero adventures do nearly as well? On July 3, Andrew Garfield takes over the title role in “The Amazing Spider-Man,” a reboot of this movie franchise. “Spider-Man 3,” the previous installment, was an overloaded with too many important characters and not enough screen time. Introducing two keys villains, Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and Venom (Topher Grace), was really a bad move on the part of director Sam Raimi. In the reboot, Garfield takes the character back to his
high school days and reintroduces Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), the love of his life. As Peter Parker, Garfield has to deal with superpowers and the fact that his girlfriend’s father wants to have him arrested for being a vigilante. After a 10-year wait, the Lizard (Rhys Ifans) finally appears. Though he and Peter Parker are friends, Dr. Curt Connors, the Lizard’s alter ego, becomes corrupted from a serum that regenerates his missing arm. This summer also marks the end of Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy. Christian Bale returns in the dual role of Bruce Wayne and Batman. The events of “The Dark Knight,” the previous film, have cast Batman in a darker light than even before. Living in seclusion for years, Wayne resurrects his Batman persona in a city that now considers him a criminal. The plot of this movie comes from “Knightfall,” a 1993 story arc in the “Batman” comic books. The Caped Crusader faces off against Bane, a brilliant and impossibly strong villain. Tom Hardy plays Bane, who is the one villain that hurt Batman in ways that the Joker could not. Bane literally breaks the Batman and set
By Steve Bryan
Christian Bale in Warner Bros. Pictures' "The Dark Knight Rises" - 2012
the comic books off in a new direction. Anne Hathaway has received a lot of press for her role as Selina Kyle, the woman also known as Catwoman. In the comic books, Batman and Catwoman have had an ongoing relationship that fluctuates between enemies and lovers. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes dominated May, but Peter Parker and the Dark Knight stand to heat up the summer even more.
Main Street Calendar of Events: June Through June 2: 2012 Riverfront Paint Off A week-long plein air art event at Picasso’s Coffeehouse, 101 N. Main, St. Charles
June 10: Rendezvous in St. Charles Concert 7:30 p.m. at the First Missouri State Capitol Historic Site, 200 S. Main Street in St. Charles. Free admission.
Through June 16: Quilt Show Exhibit Every Wednesday through Saturday at the Frenchtown Heritage Museum and Research Center, 1121 N. Second Street, St. Charles.
June 10: St. Charles Community Big (Jazz) Band 7:30 p.m. at Frontier Park in St. Charles. Bring a picnic basket, blanket, or lawn chair and enjoy the music along the Missouri River.
June 17: Erin Bode and David Halen Concert 8 – 10 p.m. at the Foundry Art Center. $35 for general admission and $30 for Foundry members. Info: 636.255.0270. June 18: 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812 The city of St. Charles will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 at the St. Charles
June 20 : Music on Main Join us the third Wednesday of the month through September. Held from 5 to 7 p.m. in the 100-200 blocks of N. Main. Bring your lawn chairs to this free outdoor concert. Food and drink available...
June 21-23 and June 29-July 1: Shakespeare in the Park Held from 8 to 10 p.m. at the south end of Frontier Park. “As You Like It” performed. June 29: St. Louis Wind Symphony Concert Join the Foundry Art Centre and celebrate the Fourth of July with a special patriotic music performance by the Saint Louis Wind Symphony.
www.gstcc.com
June 3: Sunday Funday Live entertainment, food, drink and fun from 1 – 6 p.m. between the 100-200 blocks of N. Main Street. No coolers. Bands play from 1 – 3 p.m. and from 4:30 – 6 p.m.
City Veterans Memorial, Bishop's landing. The ceremony is at 7 p.m.
Every Thursday: St. Charles Municipal Band 8 p.m. through August. Bring a picnic basket, blanket, or lawn chair and enjoy an evening of band music along the river in Frontier Park. June 9: Lewis & Clark Fife and Drum Corps The Corps will march and play on Main Street from noon to 1 p.m.
www.historicstreets.com
www.stcharlesconventioncenter.com