Archive for May 15th, 2007

And so the PANELGEEK has finally picked up an off-the-internet bootleg of Spider-man 3 to watch in the comfort and scrutiny of his own secret headquarters and, much to his own surprise

It WASN’T BAD!!

Now its important to mention that expectations were already very low. I was somewhat unimpressed with the first two, thinking that there were mistakes in casting (Maguire is NOT PETER PARKER) and some visual and directorial choices (The super-lame Green Goblin mask, when Willem Dafoe’s face is clearly what a psychotic super-villain should look like!) Combine that with a lousy script most of the time and Sam Raimi’s undeniably campy approach somewhat soured the franchise for me.

But by the third film, the characters were established enough for some of the actors to really sink into them. Kirsten Dunst seemed, for the first time to have really grown into the womanly glamour that is Mary-Jane Watson

(in the first two, she just seemed like a pretty little girl.)

James Franco’s reprise as Harry Osborn, trying to live up to his father’s might as the Green Goblin was impressive, especially because the script team had the courage to change te course that Harry took in the comics, and in this film, turned him into the reluctant hero that I found myself (by the final battle scene) wanting him to be.

I was very skeptical about adding The Sandman to the film franchise, finding him to be a cheesy, two-bit stock villain complete with campy striped shirt. But when the Oscar-nominated actor Thomas Hayden Church, with his deadly serious expression picked up that familiar shirt in the early scenes, something struck home about the character, and the director: It is possible to portray a campy, pulpy comic book story and still take it seriously. Something Raimi has had trouble conveying in the past.

Church: perfect casting as Flint Marko (The Sandman.)

Then there’s The Symbiote Black Suit, which just falls out of the sky without explination and we find out increases the wearer’s strengths but also increases their aggressive tendencies

And there’s Eddie Brock, played with complete lack of depth or nuance by That 70’s show’s Topher Grace. Brock is The Daily Bugle’s skeevy photographer counterpart to the morally irreproachable Parker.

When the two become one, the fusion is Venom: The closest thing Spider-man has ever had to an evil mirror-image.

Oh, and there’s also Gwen Stacy, Spider-man’s other romantic interest.

And Flint Marko was also apparently Uncle Ben’s real killer.

And isn’t Peter’s frail Aunt May supposed to fit in here somewhere?

Oh, and the alien suit is vulnerable to sound waves, too!

Herein lies the problem: Too many characters and too many plot threads equals NOT ENOUGH PLOT DEVELOPMENT! Each of the scenes seem like they’re just trying to string us along on an over-worked plot (or multiple plots) while not giving any one plot the right amount of exposition it needs.

The special effects for Sandman and Venom were brilliant, and the scene in which Spider-man defeats Venom was AWESOME, but I can’t help but feel that if Raimi left the showdown with Venom for the next film, he would have had a little more leeway with other development but sometimes its hard to suppress a vision (or multiple visions) with so much money, expectation, and MERCHANDISING behind it (does everyone have their Venom figurines yet?)

But acknowledging all of its flaws, Spider-man 3 was still a great super-hero action film with just enough camp, and all the special-effects magic we could ask for in a summer block-buster.

One last gripe: Tobey Maguire, pathetically trying to be Peter Parker, pathetically trying to be “baddass” montage, with a black outfit and smiling and winking at every supermodel he passes was appalling.

His white-as-white-can-get disco homage to John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever made me physically nauseous. That entire scene knocked one star off my review. The scene in the Jazz Club was, as well, utterly stupid.

Damn you Sam Raimi for your idiotic mockery of a character I’ve loved for years.

If I never, ever saw Tobey “wide-eyes-and-pouty-lips-is-NOT-an-acceptable-substitute-for-actual-talent” Maguire mangle the insight and moral complexity of Peter Parker, it’ll be too soon.

We just got an awesome offer from The Museum of TV and Radio. The first 10 people to email jschneider@mtr.org will receive a pair of tickets to this Thursday’s screening and discussion of A First Look at “Little Mosque on the Prairie”. All winners will be notified via email.

Details of the show:

A First Look at “Little Mosque on the Prairie

• TIME: 6-7:30pm
  PLACE: Museum of TV and Radio, 25 West 52 St between 5th and 6th Ave
  COST: $15, if you use the discount code MTR2007
• SUMMARY: “This hit Canadian sitcom from the CBC, centered on a Muslim community nestled in the wilds of rural Saskatchewan, has debuted to strong ratings and curious speculation: is it possible to find humor in Muslims interacting with suspicious North Americans in a post–9/11 world? Members of the cast and creative team will discuss the challenges that arise when sensitive social and political issues provide the context for a traditional comedy show.”