Spider-Man 3 (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Spider-Man 3 (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Movie Review: Fun, But Crammed And Thin
Summary: 3 Stars
The strengths of the first two "Spider-Man" films are what you'd expect from Sam Raimi - insane action with moments (and many of them) of characterization. With all of the action, you never feel rushed or short-changed, which made his films sorta the "thinking man's action movies."
The same could be said for Tim Burton's take on Batman in his first go-around with the character. Unfortunately, he fell on his face cramming two brilliant villains in one movie making for a much malaigned hurried pace that ruined what could've been two good movies. The lesson here is obvious - too many things can simply add up to too many things.
I had to think long and hard, obviously, about "Spider-Man 3." (It took me THIS long to fairly write a review!) Because there's a lot to like - I'm not being sarcastic here - yet there's simply too much jammed into the movie. I'm stating the obvious, seeing what other people wrote, but when you really want to love a movie and see it just coming in slightly above average, one hopes the criticisms will add up, thus keeping producers, studio heads, et.al., from being too "commercially ambitious."
Attacking the thinness and rushed pace is easy. Mentioning that it's a disappointment when you expected more is a given. Instead, let's look at what makes us love this movie, warts and all. There are still moments of characterization here that makes it more deep than a simple summer popcorn movie. For example, the complicated relationship between Peter (Tobey Maguire) and the important people in his life. Harry (James Franco, much underrated) and MJ (Kirsten Dunst, more than just a pretty face)get a lot of screen time here and none of it is wasted. Harry blaming Peter for Norman's death isn't repetitive, it's refreshed anew by bringing in the traumatic amnesia that plagued the Goblin characters in the comic book (a good, not overstated, nod to comic continuity). Harry's ultimate fate has that much more poignancy when it's played out because of this.
The shoe being on the other foot in Peter's relationship with MJ was also a tad interesting, because it complicates things and that's always good for a romance that will be played out in a franchise. It also tends to display how different Peter and MJ are - when Peter's life is going down the tubes, he internalizes it. MJ however lashes out at Peter whan she loses her role on Broadway. Thus the issue arises - IS MJ "perfect?" Nope. She can be self-centered too.
A conflicted villain is also interesting, which is why I rather liked Thomas Hayden Church's Flint Marko/Sandman. We see a guy just trying to make money to save his daughter. Being made into a silicon-based lifeform adds just enough of the spice to make him tough and tender. He may be a crook, but he's being a crook (now) for the right reasons. That they didn't split up the villains for two movies - giving both of them their due - is more of the shame looking at Church's take on Sandman.
Topher Grace also deserved more as he was giving a good sociopathic charm to Eddie Brock BEFORE he became Venom. At first, he's merely Peter's cheerfully obnoxious rival at the Daily Bugle. However, we see hints of his delusional nature with how he inflates a "coffee" with Gwen Stacy (sorry I can't remember the actress' name right now, and that's another issue with too much in here - the new people don't have much time to shine) into a "fantastic night." But the problem here is HIS story is a bit too rushed. Wasn't it possible to have just the Symbiotic Thing that Venom becomes with Eddie play an (interestingly) understated villain in making Peter "bad" in this movie, paving the way for an expanded, and thus much better, fourth movie?
Ah, but I'm being drawn into the negatives again. While we're on that subject, I certainly hope there wasn't a real effort to rewrite Uncle Ben's death. I hope not - Flint's flashback of the evening is left, I think deliberately vague, - because it'd be really too weak.
The point overall is that "Spider-Man 3" is rather entertaining and really worth the buying. But oh, what could've been.....
Movie Review: Walked out of the theatre
Summary: 2 Stars
Despite the fact that I own hundreds of spidey comics, really enjoyed the first two movies and nearly staked out the theatre for weeks before its openning night. I found spiderman 3 to be crappy, predictable, and a blackeye to the spiderman franchise.
To date, I've yet to see the full ending of this movie, since having walked out of the theatre. To the best of my knowledge, mary janes still stuck in that taxi cab above NYC.
Movie Review: Ruined COLLECTOR EDITION Coverbox With A DUMB Sticker - Thoughtless!
Summary: 1 Stars
This was a gift for my brother and it came with a large circular sticker on the very cool 3D effect cardboard coverbox! Have companies become this thoughtless - I ask you, would you like your COLLECTOR'S coverbox to have a LARGE neon ACTION sticker on it that cannot be removed without ruining the COLLECTOR'S EDITION box. Absolutely moronic!!! Movie Review: Spider Man 3 (widescreen Edition)
Summary: 4 Stars
I enjoy it very much. Lots of action. The story moved along well and the villains were outstanding. Movie Review: The Poorest Of The Trilogy, But Still Fun
Summary: 3 Stars
When I saw that the villain Venom would make his appearance in this film, I could hardly wait to see it, because I remember how I used to read the magazines with him in them to pieces as a child. The overall story is more or less just a continuation of the previous ones, Peter Parker (Spiderman) and Mary Jane (Mary Jane) are about to take their now rather close relationship to the next level, and the future looks bright. Harry (James Franco) and Peter have become alienated, and are hardly on speaking terms anymore, after the unfortunate demise of Harry's father (Green Goblin) more or less by the hands of Spider-Man. Introduce two new villains, Sandman, a "bad guy" that probably is "good" but just very unlucky, and a parasitical thing from outer space that multiplies any bad sides in its potential hosts by a hundred, and you've got yourself Spider-Man 3!
The special effects are, as always in this series, simply amazing, and they have truly taken it up a notch in this one. The story is also quite entertaining and well written, but there are sadly so many negative sides to this film that it really suffers from it. First of all, all the "Go America!" stuff in this film is just so overwhelming that I'm willing to bet one of my eyes that 99 % of all non-Americans (and hopefully a high percentage of Americans as well!) just feel embarrassed and sick to the bone from all this silliness. Another thing is that they overdo the whole "Ooo look at us, we're from New York, we're so multiracial and everything is so fine here." I recognize that they take their money from certain sources to make these films, but come on, tone it down a little at least. Also, the number of cheap jokes and cheesiness is just too much, it feels artificial and at a certain bar-scene (you'll know it when you see it), I was about a second away from turning the whole thing off.
Granted, I'm probably a bit older and perhaps a bit more cultivated, intelligent or whatever than the target audience, but I do enjoy a lot of the Marvel universe, so I guess that entitles me to an opinion. The film is simply too long for it's own good, not that I feel its "boring", but in all honesty there's a limit to how many times seeing Parker swing himself across a street can hold anyone's attention. They should perhaps have had one less bad guy, 3 in one movie with separate fates is a bit much, and if it was up to me, they would have had a lot more of Venom in it than the last ten minutes or so. Quite a letdown.
All in all, I recommend this film for those that have enjoyed the previous ones, and it is great entertainment for the effects alone, but it seems to me that either the customers have become dumber or they have lowered the age of the ideal customer. 3,5 stars.