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Post by =^=First Contact=^= on Apr 29, 2002 17:51:03 GMT -5
WooHoo!!!!!! I just won 4 tickets to an early Wednsday viewing of Spider Man on the radio!
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Post by Elric3960 on Apr 29, 2002 20:24:40 GMT -5
^^^Congratulations, FC! Does that mean we should expect a mini-review from you before Thursday? I'll stay tuned if it does! See what happens when you brag about your spoils?
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Post by =^=First Contact=^= on Apr 30, 2002 6:01:31 GMT -5
I've never made a real review before, but heck why not. I can't wait! WooHoo!
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Post by =^=First Contact=^= on May 2, 2002 10:09:14 GMT -5
Wow what a movie!
Spider-Man
Please keep in mind that I am a Spider-Man fan and this review may be a little biased.
The portrayal of the Marvel Comic Book classic hero was outstanding & surprisingly true to the original. The special effects were outstanding, but you can tell it's CG if you look hard enough. The casting of this movie was interesting, this is one of the first "Super Hero" movies that they didn't cast the best looking people in the world, resulting in a more realistic movie.
The music was awesome! The theme for the movie: "Hero" by Nickleback's Chad Kroeger was outstanding.
This movie portrayed a vast variety of emotion, which is always is good. Spider-Man is a must see.
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Post by Elric3960 on May 2, 2002 12:12:11 GMT -5
*Slight spoiler*
* * * * * From the previews, Peter's Uncle Ben had a more prominent role than he did in the original comic. He's the one who first makes the famous quote "With great power, there comes great responsibility." Spidey's the one who said it in the book without any sited precedent. That probably made Ben Parker's death more significant. That and the fact that one-time Oscar-winner Clift Roberson played the part.
I found it interesting that you mentioned that the characters appear "less glamorous" in this film than in other superhero epics, although I would debate that considering Kirsten Dunst is playing Mary Jane Watson. When Stan Lee created the character, he originally wanted Jack Kirby to illustrate it, but he later chose Steve Ditko because he was capable of making the story look eerie and less gradiose at the same time. Presumably, Lee had an influence in making that happen here as well.
I'm curious about how they portrayed J Jonah Jameson and if his "I hate superheroes" attitude was addressed in this film. I didn't see any of that in the promotions.
Maybe I can write a more detailed review after I see it if you don't want to do it, FC. You whet my appetite, which is all any reviewer can expect to achieve when he/she enjoys a film. Good first effort!
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Post by =^=First Contact=^= on May 3, 2002 6:54:10 GMT -5
;D
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Post by Ana Ng on May 4, 2002 15:28:44 GMT -5
Well, the boyfriend who's a big Spidey fan took me to see the flick yesterday.. and I loved it! Now, I should state that I know nothing about Spiderman, and came into the film a complete novice.. and not really expecting to like it very much, since the Batman movies and the X-Men movie were big pieces of dung, in my opinion. (Except the old Adam West Batman movie.. that rocks!) I laughed, I cried, I was really surprised by how good it was. Now, my boyfriend, who is an avid fan of the comics, he loved it too. His words: "My childhood finally feels vindicated!" So, I definitely recommend seeing it. It was good enough to please an both an avid fan like my boyfriend, and a novice like myself. Also, I think it's the best performance Tobey Maguire has actually put forth. Usually, his performances are pretty dry, as he has a tendency to be emotionless, but he did a fine job as Spidey. And of course it's also great to see the Bruce Campbell cameo.
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Post by UltimateTrekker on May 6, 2002 7:33:03 GMT -5
It made $41 Million on Friday... not the WEEKEND, JUST FRIDAY!!!
The previous record was 32 Million for Fuzzy Potter. They assume it will be the first movie to break 100 million on Opening weekend.
(edit) BTW, Madison's ticket prices jumped to $8 for this weekend (and the next due to EpII) The last time they raised them was to 7.50... yep, you guessed it, right before EpI.
Also, I find it interesting that the FIRST full lenght movie Sam Raimi directed was The Evil Dead... budget of 150 thousand... Spiderman's opening will likely make 1000 times that in 4 days....
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Post by Elric3960 on May 6, 2002 11:35:23 GMT -5
^^^HOLD IT! Sam Raimi directed this film and Bruce Campbell is IN IT? Is Raimi suffering from Woody Allen disease? Sure, even high-profile actors have been known to work on a film for scale just to work with a director that they can get along with, but a Raimi-Campbell-Evil Dead reunion? I hope Campbell doesn't wield a machine gun or say "GROOVY!" in this or I'll toss my soda as well as my popcorn at the screen! I have a low tolerance level for cinematic inside jokes!
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Post by Ana Ng on May 6, 2002 12:40:57 GMT -5
^^^ Calm down, Elric, darling. It's nothing like that
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Post by Elric3960 on May 6, 2002 16:41:06 GMT -5
Sorry about the outburst, my dear. It's just that the watering down of Hollywood has really gotten on my nerves! When genre films pander to an isolated group of film goers, it's one step away from prostitution IMHO. I only hope that it didn't happen here, that's all.
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Post by Andorian_Incident on May 12, 2002 8:50:39 GMT -5
I'd just like to point out that Raimi also has a tendency to use the beat-up yellow car from the Evil Dead series in every movie that he does--including Spiderman. I can't say that I caught it, or him, in the movie because I was too busy taking in everything else.
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Post by Elric3960 on May 12, 2002 15:50:37 GMT -5
^^^Thanks for proving my point, AI. Just because Kubrick, Hitchc*ck & Capra felt the need to put a "signature" to their films, should that prompt smart-aleck also-rans like Raimi to follow suit?
I'll reserve judgement until I see it this week.
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Post by UltimateTrekker on May 14, 2002 8:02:10 GMT -5
When it's TRULY an inside joke, it's understandable why you might get upset. But in this case it's more of a ... wait a minute, that Bruce Campbell! Cool. If you don't know him (as my wife doesn't really) you won't notice and it won't matter. Finally saw it myself and Ez and I really like the part when Dunst is covered in cold rain... I mean the scene was real good... yeah.. that's it...
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Post by Elric3960 on May 26, 2002 18:34:11 GMT -5
Any spoiler-laden comments that I have to make about this movie can be read and responded to in a thread that I just created. I would recommend that only people who saw the film read it.
I'll only comment about the things that I did like here so that I won't be dismissed as a total drudge:
1. I liked the casting choice of J. Jonah Jameson although he didn't get enough screen time to fully appreciate the performance. Maybe if there's a Spiderman II, it can feature Man-Wolf and we'll get to see JJJ as a confused and tormented father who has to deal with his own cynicism and attempt to overcome it as the original did.
2. The final battle between Spidey and the Green Goblin was faithfully translated from the book and brilliantly done! Dafoe should get an Oscar nomination for that scene alone!
3. While Uncle Ben was nothing more than a plot device in the original story, he was well handled in the film in that he played a more pivotal role in Peter's development as a young adult as well as a superhero.
4. While my biggest carp with New York-based stories is that the City Itself is usually a character, it was delightful seeing the citizens throwing garbage at the Goblin while he was fighting Spidey. How often do we see potential victims doing more than just rooting for the hero from a safe distance? Only in New York...
Using UT's rating scale, I'll give it a 7 out of 10. For more comments, see the other thread.
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