May 12 2007
Spiderman Schmeiderman
I saw Spiderman 3 Thursday night, and was terribly disappointed. The high-flying Spidey action was so fast, that it was tough to make out what was actually happening — as if the the filmmakers said, “we don’t have anymore cool ideas, so we’ll just have everybody zoom around at Mach 5 so that nobody notices.” Dizzying is the word. Despite a few good laughs when Peter Parker goes macho, the “character” story was nauseating, everyone looked bad (especially the befanged Dunst), and for a franchise that seems to want to go on forever, I don’t get the need to jam three villains into one movie. Spread it out, slow it down, and make a better movie. The other two were good, but this one stinks. Still, nothing can touch Batman Begins.
You wouldn’t think that The Pursuit of Happyness would be the kind of movie you’d watch in order to christen a brand new HDTV, but it came in the mail so we watched. It’s a touching film, a little slow but well performed, and definitely worth a rent.
you and nick turner are more alike than i thought. the villains were well connected, and sandman had a backstory that was well-conceived considering it didn’t exist in the comics. i definitely did not think it stunk. oh well.
In a big giant world, a meteorite full of alien, anger-enhancing goo just happens to land right beside Spiderman, makes only a little poof of noise, and no one even notices? And what was going on inside that ridiculous pit the sandman fell into? There was nothing in there but sand for them to be testing? Random and contrived. The bell thing was silly, too.
by the bell thing i assume you mean venom’s weakness, and i’m pretty sure that was straight from the comics. plus, after all, this IS a comic book world, which raimi has never let us doubt, and in comic book world, scientists have many random experiments that fugitive criminals or mild-mannered photographers can stumble into. but i definitely agree that spiderman 2 was way better, though i don’t know, i guess i just don’t like the first one all that much.
i don’t know. i just really liked the way that the villains interweaved with the character side of stuff. i was really afraid that sandman would be relegated to a kind of ‘opening battle’ villain and then the rest of the movie would be about the goblin, with venom being thrown in at the end. the juggling act could have been done a lot worse. the moments of humor were really funny, and the revenge / sort of hatred-consumes-the-soul type themes worked well with the villains and backstories they chose. obviously things could have been cut, but it’s spiderman 3! who’s gonna tell raimi to cut spiderman 3? in what could conceivably be the last film with the original cast and crew, they let him run wild, and it may be a little unrestrained at times, but i could see the effort put into it, and i think it came out better than i had anticipated, especially considering it was coming off of the heels of spiderman 2, which was incredible. tough call either way though.
A writer should never say, “but that’s how it really happened” in defense of a story, nor should he/she, working on adapted material, say, “but that’s how it was in the book.” If it’s important that bells bug Venom, which it is, then work a little harder to plant it organically and logically in a manner which we understand and believe. My buddy literally though MJ was going to start singing to quell Venom’s rage — now that woulda been funny given how bad she sucks.
PS — a huge problem with these epic tentpoles lately is the freedom that mega-directors are being given to do as they please. Again, I point to Nolan and Batman Begins as proof positive that these movies can be cool, can work, and that, of course The Batman is the best superhero of them all.
now that’s another argument all together. but you’re right, the bell was a little bit forced i suppose. i guess i just enjoyed it for some reason, outside of some of the script problems. i certainly hope that my training in becoming a halfway decent writer doesn’t ruin my ability to enjoy obviously flawed movies, because honestly, sometimes i just want to watch dumb shit. film school has done that to me.
As a superhero myself let me explain a few things. When i gained my super powers i was golfing in a rain storm. I was looking to break 50 and was doing pretty good so i continued through the storm. Things got pretty bad so i sat under a tree for a few minutes. A walnut fell from said tree and a little gnome popped out. He crawled into my shoe and gave me my superpower. The ability to see small white balls at tremendous distances. Right now i am sitting on my couch but can see a Maxfli sitting on my friends dresser in erlanger. Not a bad super power, unless you mind having a gnome in your shoe all day. Regardless, i have not seen the movie spiderman 3, although i talked to the man yesterday. It was his turn to drive to DQ to get our weekly blizzard. However, our world is a little different than your mere mortals world. Crazy things happen all the time. So i’m sure i will enjoy it a little more than you did brad. After all, i live it everyday. P.S. Batman is not a superhero, he is a talented acrobat and an amazing engineer. He makes all kind of cool things in the batcave. I was over for poker the other night and he actually had a machine that drops nachos and the cheese in your mouth so you don’t have to lay down your cards. Amazing. He’s also gonna help me build my deck. Superman is the best. Only kryptonite can hurt him. And Batman’s nachos.
I thought I was a superhero once. I soon found out that: (1) I was not, (2) I had a black eye, and (3) my brothers did not always tell me the truth.
I’m gonna have to give you guys passwords so you contribute along with Tina. Funny stuff. Thanks for writing.
PS, everyone should go to YouTube and search for the DC vs. Marvel videos that are done like the Mac vs.PC videos. They’re very funny. But not as funny as Chad.
Be careful how you use those superpowers Chad. You might get thrown in jail and lose a career if you get caught looking at other dudes’ small white balls.
if you’re gonna see something, go see 28 weeks later. now that’s an enjoyable movie.
I got Pan’s Labrinth today, i’m pumped.
And Marvin said on a radio show that if the nfl reinstates odell he’s gonna let him come to camp and compete for a spot. Ahmad in the middle, Hartwell and odell on the outside, along with Landon Johnson.