Two of Mad Men’s brassiest ladies have just landed new projects:

• Christina Hendricks will play the lead role in Campbell Scott’s (Company Retreat) adaptation of the Joan Didion novel A Book of Common Prayer.

• Elisabeth Moss, Mark Duplass (Safety Not Guaranteed), and Ted Danson will star in The One I Love from first time director Charlie McDowell (Fighting Jacob).

Hit the jump for more on each casting announcement.

The Amazing Spider-Man is intended to be a new origin story about a powerless kid who got superpowers and became hero.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t know which origin story to tell, nor does it understand what it means to be “powerless”.  Wrapped up in the notion of being “grittier” and “realistic”, Marc Webb‘s reboot attempts to spin a fresh new vision for the wall-crawler, but it constantly forgets the story its trying to tell by getting tangled up in lazy coincidences and idiotic character motivations.  The film’s problems are further compounded by the woefully miscast Andrew Garfield, who carries the sweet, good-hearted nature of Peter Parker, but none of the powerlessness that makes us root for him.  What works in the film—the visuals, set pieces, the performances, and the score—work wonderfully, but everything else in the movie is far from amazing.

A new trailer for director Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man has gone online.  Compared to the first trailer, we get a much better idea of what the plot/driving force for Peter Parker entails, there’s quite a bit more action, and we get some great looks at The Lizard.  Given that the release is a couple of months away, we’re finally starting to see some of the finished visual effects shots come in, and they actually look kind of great.  The webslinging has an edge to it and The Lizard has much more texture.  I like Andrew Garfield a whole lot, and the biggest draw for me here is the character work between Garfield and Emma Stone.  They look to have some great chemistry and Garfield brings out a dickish side of Peter Parker that we didn’t really see in Sam Raimi‘s trilogy.  Overall, I’m pretty encouraged by this new clip and I’m hoping the full film delivers.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  If you missed our interview with Webb regarding his thoughts on the new trailer, the CG for The Lizard, the point of view scenes, the sequel, and a lot more, be sure to check it out.  The film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, and Sally Field.  The Amazing Spider-Man opens in 3D on July 3rd.

In case you missed the sneak-preview of footage from Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man, you’re in luck! We’ve recapped it for you here along with images from the film thus far. But what you really came here for is the new trailer, which is much better than the previous one, which started by highlighting a young Peter Parker and finished with a “Mirror’s Edge” style parkour run over the rooftops from Spidey’s perspective. We get a nice look at the budding relationship of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy as well as the friction building between Parker/Spider-Man and George Stacy. You’ve got web-slinging, a nod to Parker’s genius through his high-tech gadgets and chalkboard equations and glimpses of Ifans as The Lizard! Much more encouraging.
The Amazing Spider-Man stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans and opens in theaters July 3^rd. Hit the jump to check out the new trailer.

While Spider-Man was already going to have to face down the Lizard in Marc Webb’s upcoming 3D Spider-Man reboot, he now has to contend with a second villain.  According to Heat Vision, Irrfan Khan (who is doing outstanding work on the new season of In Treatment) is in talks to play a new baddie named “Van Atter”.  Annie Parisse (Rubicon) is in negotiations to play Van Atter’s wife.

And if the spidey sense wasn’t already going crazy, the film is throwing Peter Parker’s rarely-seen parents into the mix.  Campbell Scott (Roger Dodger) has been cast as Papa Parker while Julianne Nicholson (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) is in talks to play Mama Parker.  Hit the jump for more on the film, which is set to open on July 3, 2012.