The Glade 4.0

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I liked it too.

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So did I.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

We're going before our anniversary dinner on Thursday.

I'm not in any way loyal to Sam Raimi's three Spider-Man movies. I found them to be mediocre, good, and utter dreck, respectively. But even the good one still suffered from the biggest flaw of all three films: Tobey Maguire was *** as Spider-Man, playing him with all the wit, cunning, and humor of a doped-up preschooler suffering from a mild mental handicap. I'm hoping for far better things from Andrew Garfield.

I liked it too

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

This movie had more heart than all three of the Tobey movies combined. It was fantastic. I didn't care for the first person view while he was swinging... Other than that, it was fantastic.

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Raell Kromwell

It's maybe not the perfect Spider-Man movie (I've some structural quibbles, which I think may have been introduced in the editing process), but it's a damn sight better than any of the Raimi films (well, SM2 may be about equal, but that's a film that works in spite of itself, whereas ASM just has some flaws that hold it back). It's the first time I actually cared about any characters in a Spider-Man film.

Raimi's films were kind of...OK at a fundamental level (excepting numero trés), but were hideously miscast at every. single. conceivable. level. This film gets the casting right, with Garfield, Emma Stone, Sally Field, and (especially) Martin Sheen, and the film's far stronger for it.

There is no second Easter Egg in the credits. You may just enjoy the rest of the credits or leave, your choice.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Raimi cast one thing right. J.K. Simmons is brilliant as JJJ.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

That's true. As much as I love J.K. Simmons, I don't think he'd be right for the reboot's more grounded characters, sadly.

I agree, Stacy was a much better "civilian" antagonist for this movie. Which is why I'm upset that they blew their load on Leary in the first go-around.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

At least they didn't

Too true. Though

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I will say I didn't care for the dark "eyes" on the new Spider-Man costume (nor the new logo, but that's a smaller quibble). It seemed to unnecessarily add a darkness to Spider-Man that didn't need to be there, especially since the script had him acting a bit more unlikable than the Raimi iterations (which makes sense…everyone keeps blasting the decisions to make Parker a teensy bit of a jerk, because Spider-Man is "supposed to be happy-go-lucky, not-Batman, etc"). No the **** he's not! He was only like that in the comics because they were written in the '60s, before complex psychological profiles were invented, apparently. This is a guy who A) was abandoned by his parents with no explanation, B) is one of the smartest scientists in the world but is stuck in high school with loving but 'normal' 'parents' (who are far older and more out of touch than his peers'), C) had his father figure murdered almost right before his eyes, and directly because of his own (in)action, and D) is now having to deal with these awesome but insane powers that have been dropped into his lap. HE'S NOT OK. He deals with it incredibly well, but he's not without his own problems. Plus, teenager.

And that's even before the whole Gwen Stacy/Green Goblin thing.

The darker eyes didn't bother me, because it's actually, for once, a reasonable bit of practical costuming.

You can look through dark meshes/screens pretty well. The same doesn't work for light ones. It's something the comics have always treated as rule of cool, with no explanation as to what exactly they're made of (or how a high school do-it-yourselfer managed to craft them), and the movies just kind of did the same and made them look "right" by comic standards in post.

As such, I figured that going with the practical approach would have been something you'd appreciate, 'Skeee. You certainly lament the immediate turn to CG whenever ILM does it these days.

Also, I don't have a WordPress account, so I won't mention it there, but Psifonian2 forgot to mention Nutbeem in describing Ifans' career's trajectory. For that matter, no mention of Nigel the Leg, either.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

They just make him look like Evil Spider-Man, from an alternate dimension. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief of a sunglasses tint through which to see while superheroing pretty easily, particularly if it aids the overall characterization and costume design of the subject.

Speaking of 'high school do-it-yourselfness,' what's the appeal of the mechanical webslingers? I know they're all original canon and stuff, but the organic ones always made more sense to me.

Well, mechanical webshooters sidestep the uncomfortable questions about why his biological spinnerets aren't placed anotomically anything like a spider's.

In addition, throughout the comics, when they're in effect (as, yes, even the comic has flip-flopped on them), they often get used to escalate dramatic tension as Peter runs out of web fluid mid fight, etc. In fact we saw a deft variation of this at the climactic fight with the Lizard, where Connors crushed them. Can't do that with biological ones.

Finally, they showcase Peter's scientific prowess. For the same reason you don't like origins that seem just utterly by chance and that could've happened to anybody, mechanical webshooters set up that if any other guy had gotten bitten by a radioactive (or bio-engineered) spider, the resulting superhuman would end up drastically different, even discounting what they use their superhuman abilities FOR.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I kind of hate the 'good guy's out of ammo' trope. It has its place in more serious films, but it feels like tedium in escapist fare. That's why I'm perfectly fine with action movies that feature guns with limitless clips (until, y'know, it's a plot point).

Also...in the comics Peter made the web fluid, it wasn't something he ordered from Oscorp... That bugged me a little.

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Raell Kromwell

Yeah. It didn't bug me that his dad made it for Oscorp, but I'd rather have seen Peter devise a way to copy it synthetically or something.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

To be fair, there were a few things that bugged me about this Spider-Man. On the whole, however, I thought it was better than Raimi's - and back then, I didn't think there was much to dislike. This one just turned out better.

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

Decent movie.

I'd also like to share with you an epiphany that I've had, after watching that movie.

Spiderman's method of travel is aerial parkour. (Peter Parkour?)

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
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Really? Because spiders shoot webs out of their limbs?

Of course, a spiderman that shot webbing from his *** just wouldn't be nearly as popular.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.