FF:QLD At The Movies - Reviews & Critical Musings

Yeah, I thought Meet The Robinsons looked kind of cool from the trailer. I don't know if I'd go see it at the theaters, but I wouldn't mind checking it out on DVD some day.


I'm still waiting for a movie that's currently filming and has the wonderful title "Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel." Sci Fi comedy very much FTW.

If the synopsis is correct, and it's 3 geeks sitting in a pub trying to figure out a time travel conundrum, well, Magnus, HappyBob and I must have been the inspiration for it.

 

First Hollywood invades my dreams? And now they monitor my social life?? I demand a cut of the profits!

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider

 

Cought the first screening of Spiderman 3 this morning. Been dying to finally see it. Big fan here

If you liked Spidey 2 you'll love this one. Pretty much a continuation right where it left off.

Peter is still on a emotional rollacoaster and the pacing of that part feels the same as 2, which is what I loved about that movie.

Harry was great in this one, a stand out. Peter and he go toe-to-toe a few times in this one. James Franco is a great actor and I had a new found respect for him after working on "the great raid" a few years back with him. He is a nice person as well.

Venom looks awesome


"I guess one man can make a difference. Nuff said" = Funny. You'll know what I mean


5/5 - The wait, for me anyway, was well worth it!

 

Luke, and others seeing it today, does it really feel like it goes for just under 3 hours?

 

Goob, it does feel a little longer then the running time but not overly long.

I loved every minute of it, it is really well done.

 

Just got back from Spider-man 3 myself.

Its good. Sam Raimi has made another great superhero film. Now lets all hope he takes a break from that genre and goes off to make The Hobbit with Uncle Peter's blessing

Bruce Campbell...further sacrifices will be made to acknowledge Your Glory at Your Temple.

Tobey Macguire did some great stuff here, though seriously, emo-hair Parker?? What were they thinking?

I was a little concerned about the inclusion of Gwen Stacey in the story, but it actually worked. I still think it would have worked better if she'd been the girl in the first film and had died in the end, but I'm in the minority there I suspect.

Bryce Dallas Howard can almost sway me from my love of Kirsten Dunst. The tie breaker will be how she looks in a cheerleader's outfit

I'm glad the Russian landlord and his daughter were in it. They were good characters last time, and are well used again for their brief scenes.

James Franco was great, I hope the job offers come in droves.

Stan Lee...can you do no wrong?

Thomas Hayden Church was also fantastic, a nice twist on an old villain...though I seriously thought he and Spidey were gonna hug at one point...

My only complaint; villainous intent through interpretive dance. You'll see what I mean.

If they give us 4, sure thing, but not for a while I think.

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider

 

Sounding good. Will you be joining the rest of us on Saturday night, Magnus?

 

Spiderman 3 = not so fussed.

 

Likewise. The Dark Horizons is basically in line with my feelings on it. I just tried to do waaaaaay too much. 3 villains, and more subplots than you could shake a stick at, there was just no way they could give adequate time to anything. I thought the actual emotional and character journey worked well for the endpoint to a trilogy: in #1 Peter becomes Spiderman and learns the ropes, in #2 (the best on by far of the series) he sufferes from lack of confidence and gives up, and in this one he swings to the opposite extreme and has to find the right balance in his life. If that had been front and centre, and the whole 'slide into darkness' thing with the suit had been given more than a token amount of screentime, it would have worked really well, I think. As it was, there just plain wasn't time amidst all the other stuff they were trying to shove in there. Sandman just plain shouldn't have been in the movie. As amazing as the effects work on him was (and his 'rebirthing' scene was one of the best scenes in the movie, very powerful), he was ONLY in there because someone decided it would be cool, and because they wanted to mangle comic backstory in order to give Peter a reason to want to kill him. Which again, wouldn't have been a bad thing if it had been given time. There needed to be way more tough decisions made on which "I've got a cool idea" plot points were cut.

It's still an enjoyable romp if you can ride past all that stuff. The fight scenes and action are very cool, despite the fact that the insane camera work often obscures what's actually going on, something neither of the previous movies suffered from. The effects work was astoundingly good. Sandman was amazing to watch, the symbiote was creepy as hell, and the sequence with the out-of-control crane smashing the building was amazing. James Franco was great, and has Future Leading Man written all over him. J.K. Simmons continued to steal every scene he was in, which was not at all unexpected. The Russian landlord and his adorably oblivious daughter were hilarious. Bruce Campbell stole the show, though (Morgan literally squealed with delight when he appeared on screen ).

But then there was the hair. More Peter Petrelli than Peter Parker. Toby Maguire is great at clean-cut, likeable characters, but he just cannot do bad-ass. Not at all. Not even with the aid of half a container of eye shadow to make him look menacing and grim. He might as well have been sporting a goatee.

And then there was the dancing. Oh lord. Any kind of seriousness the movie might have been trying to go with the Evil Spidey plotline was destroyed by that 10 minutes of surreal... well, I'm not even sure quite what to call it. When he hit the jazz club, I was starting to wonder if someone had switched the film reels by mistake. I was expecting Richard Gere and Reese Whitherspoon to wander in from Chicago at any second. Evil through interpretive dance indeed.

The movie wasn't unenjoyable, and I didn't hate it by any means. I'm just disappointed that they couldn't live up to the greatness of the second one (which I honestly never expected them to do), and that they neutered several promising plotlines by trying to cram to much other stuff in on the side. Damn shame.

 

Okay. Spiderman.

I am happy to have seen it and enjoyed on a few different levels, but came out a little confused as to what the tone was and what I was supposed to take from Peters journey.

I really enjoyed the first half of it, the character exposition, the complications in the relationship between MJ and Peter but it wasn't really movie stuff, more like a Smallville episode. Loved watching him have no idea how to interpret her feelings and actions. Liked the bits that dealt with her knowing he was Spiderman and having to live her life with that.

But then I remembered it was a comic/action movie! The fight between Peter and little Goblin I enjoyed, the rest I got somewhat bored in. Sandman I felt fairly meh towards. Didn't like him enough for the tragic villain thing, didn't hate him enough to be the focus of Peter's venom fueled revenge. Actually was concentrating more on his shirt. I think we should discuss it even more than we have.

I liked Topher Graces character before he was venom. Almost disliked him enough for him to become a decent enemy. But lost any caring when he became venom. Special Effects were great here though, but yeah, another enemy I wasn't very involved with.

I already said it but I would've liked it so much more if they'd "queer eyed for the straight guy" Toby when he was in his black suit. A VERY sexy, suave ladies man I would've understood more on top of the sexy evil thing. But emo Spidey THINKING he was sexy..I wanted to run..away..fast. I'm still wanting those who've seen the cartoon/read the comics to explain if he actually was sexy cool evil, or whether daggy silly emo Spidey was as it should have been. ANYONE?

Favourite scenes were pretty much character based despite the great effects. Between Peter and his Aunt and Peter and MJ. Maybe comic boks adapatations are doing it completely wrong, and they should be character studies and not action flicks.

I give it 3/5 because I did enjoy it, the acting was good and it was fun. I laughed and cringed and reacted to it at least. Not so bad.

 

Spiderman 3.

The Good

- The Action scenes were amazing.
- Visual effects.
- New goblin.
- Bryce Dallas Howard.
- Harry.
- Topher Grace.
- BRUCE CAMPBELL
- The audience laughing at people crying / MJ kissing Harry.


The Bad

- Stan Lee's awkward cameo.
- Harry's butler / autopsy performer just gets around to telling Harry.
- We get it. Aunt May is old and wise.
- Everybody crying.
- Camera angles during fight scenes.
- Spiderman conveniently runs right past a huge American flag. At least in the other two movies, they put the flag in tastefully.
- Venom wasn't done right. He's supposed to be HUGE and he was lanky. Venom is also supposed to refer to himself as 'us' or 'we' and he didn't.
- Tobey Maguire isn't much of an actor and he really can't do badass.


The Ugly

- Emo-Parker. He's internally conflicted so he pulls down his fringe. I was literally saying "What the Christ?!" during that. This kind of sums up my thoughts on that.
- Deuchebag Peter strutting. It's funny, just not in the context of the movie.
- The Black suit gives piano playing and dancing powers?
- Retconning the first movie. Uncle Ben was killed by Marko, who was already outside when the other crook was running from the fuzz at the wrestling. The completely absolves Peter of any responsibility from the first movie. So the whole "with great power come great responsibility" thing from the first movie has been weakened. Peter letting the crook go had very little to do with Ben being killed.
- The script was really poor.
- The dancing scene. What. The. Christ.
- Peter going back to being BFFs with Harry when Harry has amnesia.
- Sandman didn't even need to be in the movie.
- The scientists built a machine to spin sand around?
- The pasing was all over the place.


2 out of 5 alien heads.

 

hahahah MS.
I'd forgotten about teh machine stripey shirt fell into. The explanation for that was astonishing!

 

The completely absolves Peter of any responsibility from the first movie. So the whole "with great power come great responsibility" thing from the first movie has been weakened. Peter letting the crook go had very little to do with Ben being killed.

My god, I didn't even think of that. You're completely right. Ugh. Okay, that's the worst thing about the movie. The central pillar of Spiderman's character being smashed down in order to shoehorn in a 3rd villain and a hokey moral dilemma. Blaurgh.

 

Actually I did think of that and I disagree. If Peter had stopped the crook, he wouldn't have bumped into Flint Marko outside, making him accidentaly discharge his firearm and shooting Ben Parker. Its also more likely that if the crook had been stopped, Ben would have talked Marko into putting down his gun and walking away.

Peter isn't absolved of responsibility. However he is involved with the wrongful death of that particular crook, and that is an issue that should have been explored.

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider

 

Oh come on, you all loved the emo pimp daddy / dancing sequnce, admit it!! My Gods, I almost died laughing when he hip-thrust his way out of that shop. That and the crane sequence were easily the best bits. And pre-venom Topher Grace.

The emo/dancing is almost universally hated, but I think the idea was that Peter was so good that that was the most evil he could be, even with the symbiote suit.

 

A fair point, Magnus. But still, I don't like it. The simplicity and, well, brutality of the original event/story is just better, in my view. It does still work to a degree, as you say, but it's still just shoehorning unnecessary stuff in. Oh well.

 

I don't agree/ The addition of sandy for me cheapened the whole spidey saga. In fairness, in retrospect I might agrree, but spur of the moment, gut reaction I felt robbed by the sandy/ben side arc.

 

Saturday Night Spidey. You were all thinking it, be honest. I know I was.

 

You know, I wasn't thinking it, but Geezuz, that scene actually almost works with the BeeGees behind it.

 

Hmph. And here I thought it did have the beegees in that scene. Musta been all that pure blonde...

Ah well, you get old, you start hearing things...

 

Sorry MS- I disagree with most of your points. Here's why.

Emo-Parker. He's internally conflicted so he pulls down his fringe. I was literally saying "What the Christ?!" during that. This kind of sums up my thoughts on that.

Hair is really important in forming identity. Although I must admit that I did find it amusing that his hair kept changing length - but it's still a big thing. I know it sounds stupid but it is an important thing - if you really want me to explain why I shall.

The Black suit gives piano playing and dancing powers?

No-one said that Peter couldn't play the piano. Also the suit is supposed to heighten abilities and senses and you'd be surprise what you can do when you have an awful lot of adrenaline and endorphines running through your system.

Retconning the first movie. Uncle Ben was killed by Marko, who was already outside when the other crook was running from the fuzz at the wrestling. The completely absolves Peter of any responsibility from the first movie. So the whole "with great power come great responsibility" thing from the first movie has been weakened. Peter letting the crook go had very little to do with Ben being killed.

I have to agree with Magnus. It made Peter feel worse, not better. He's now responsible for the death of someone who was 'innocent' of the crime that Peter had thought he had committed. Also Peter is still responsible for Uncle Ben's death because as Magnus (and others) have said if the other crook had been stopped then it would have been unlikely that Marko would have set of the gun.

The script was really poor.

It's a comic book! It's based on a comic book! I'm sorry, but it's not bad in terms of script. The Punisher was bad and while there were a couple of lines that you may well squirm on - you have to remember that ultimately it's based on a comic book!

The dancing scene. What. The. Christ.

While a little odd, and rather funny - it's just about Peter thinking he's cool as all of the endorphines from the suit run through his system.

Peter going back to being BFFs with Harry when Harry has amnesia.

Wouldn't you? If one of your best friends hated you, and you'd try to explain what happened in the incident that made them hate you but it hadn't worked and then they suddenly forgot. Wouldn't you jump at the chance to have them back again (rather than them trying to kill you?)

Sandman didn't even need to be in the movie.

That I will agree with.

The scientists built a machine to spin sand around?

Yes! Like most of marvel things are based on science. There are scientiests who spend their lives working on how sub-atomic particles behave. Because (being small like they are) sub-atomic particles are rather difficult to observe so if you can simulate that with say...sand you'd get some idea of how they may well work.


I enjoyed the movie. Not as much as the first but I still thought it was good. I was annoyed by the American Flag scene, but just hoped that they were going over the top to make a point about how stupid it was. However, I just tried to remember that it is just a comic book movie and therefore you do need to make allowances for things like script and having lots of bad guys. Maybe it's because I love comics and I love superheros and therefore will make allowances for it - but I didn't think that spiderman was as bad as everyone is trying to make it out to be.

Kithera

 

Sorry Kit, but this one's like waving a red cape:

It's a comic book! It's based on a comic book! I'm sorry, but it's not bad in terms of script. The Punisher was bad and while there were a couple of lines that you may well squirm on - you have to remember that ultimately it's based on a comic book!

V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Sandman, The Dark Knight Returns, I can go on But yeah, the majority of Spider-man isn't up there with that esteemed company.

Regardless, the quality of the source material is no excuse for a script that reads fine for a first draft but was still made into a feature. Hell, look at The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the source material for that is brilliant, yet the less said about that movie, the better. Though I do enjoy it after a couple of glasses of wine...

Its even less excusable when its a film that follows Spider-man & Spider-man 2, both of which I recall were pretty good scripts.

Well, I recall Spider-man 2 was. I can't recall Spider-man at half three in the morning, oddly.

Nap time!

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider

 

Maybe it's because I didn't see any major problems with the scripting itself, rather than trying to fit too much in in too little time but the actual lines didn't make me squirm.

*Meh* You are right about it not being up with V for Vendetta or Batman Begins or even Spiderman 1 (I will debate with you about Spiderman 2 though as I wasn't as taken with that one).

Hmmm, maybe I need to see the film again incase I am watching a different version! Although it's probably more a case of horses for courses. Definitely something to debate though when I'm back in Australia (Five weeks now) and when it finally gets out on DVD!

Kithera

 

I agree with Kit about the script. While the construction of the story was lousy, cramming way too much in in order to sell more toys and throwing all the plot arcs way off, the actual quality of the writing within scenes was good. Lots of good lines and interesting things going on, just totally overshadowed by everything else wrong with the construction of the film. From cute scenes like the bit with Peter on the phone and the landlord's daughter, to nice little motifs like the broken door, and even the interplay between Peter and Amnesiac-Harry, as Peter tried so hard to hold onto something from his past, that he knew was going to be taken away before too much longer. None of that stuff is related to the problems I have with the movie, and is a big part of why I still found it enjoyable enough to watch.

 

Well I can't dispute that when focussing on scenes, the dialogue as written is still good. Its when you pull back and look at the construction of the movie that the pacing is off and things start to look wonky, and more often than not that looks more like a result of the scripting rather than the editing.

For example, the symbiote crash lands right next to the only superhero in this setting. That's just lazy.

However I hope editing is the result of some of the pacing issues though; Flint Marko's daughter subplot, for example. At the end fo the day, this is a movie that screams out for a Director's Cut.

Either way, my only issue was the idea that source material can be used as an excuse to explain a film's flaws. While Kit wasn't using "it's a comic book" as a defence as she liked the movie, it still felt dangerously close to that idea.

To be fair, I like the movie, I'm just annoyed by the amount of mediocrity on display in it.

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider