Spider-Man 3, and some other tidbits

Alright, so Neuromancer is supposedly getting made into a movie finally. This is one of the pieces of source material Matrix took from. It is amazing, and was one of the first cyberpunk novels. It's a quick story, but is a lot of fun and I recommend it. Hopefully the movie will be as amazing.

Spider-Man 3... now I loved the first, but unlike many a person, I did not adore the second. I don't really like Doctor Octopus, and I just didn't dig it. Batman Begins and the first two X-Men movies are the pinnacle of superhero movies for me, along with Spider-Man 1. I read a bunch of reviews for the third Spider-Man, and it got shellacked in a number of them. So, whereas earlier in the year, this was my most anticipated summer blockbuster (which isn't saying much), I quickly lowered my expectations. And it worked accordingly.

Overall, I enjoyed it as much as I had hoped to. At first, I didn't think this was going to be so. The movie opens with Peter Parker talking about how great his life is, and Tobey Maguire is giving the narrative in this ridiculously fake happy voice. Not very long after this, the first action scene of the movie commences between Spider-Man and The New Goblin (James Franco). The special effects in this scene were pretty bad. It just looked incredibly computer generated. Eventually though, I felt the movie picked up.

James Franco is just weird in this movie. He gets amnesia for no real reason, because an hour later in the movie, he's the same spoiled Spider-Man hater he was at the beginning of the movie. I think they just did it so they could "realistically" leave that plot thread hanging for a bit while the other 40 plot threads get some time.

Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) was done well, but Venom needed MORE face time, and LESS Topher Grace.

"Evil-emo" Peter Parker was fun, and while I know some probably thought he was cheesy and lame, I enjoyed it.

I guess the bottom line is, Spider Man 3 was not a great movie. However, I found it to be fun. Being that I don't like the Spider-Man franchise as much as others, it didn't bother me that this movie was far less than stellar. Still, it was no X-Men 3 or Batman and Robin... woo wee.

So I wanted to talk about the remaining blockbusters, at least the ones I'm seeing. I am NOT seeing Shrek 3 or Fantastic Four 2. But lets see about the rest.

Next up will be Pirates 3. Pirates 1 was amazing, a genuine surprise that I did expect, with great acting and a fun story. Pirates 2 was the exact opposite. It was a boring retread on the second and suffered from "second movie in a trilogy-itis" worse than Matrix Revolutions, which is bad. It was just a pointless side quest, meant to introduce a villain and "kill off" Jack Sparrow. There were some bad action scenes mixed in also.

Now with the third, I am hoping they get back to the basics. The trailer looks fun, what with the various pirate groups meeting up. Chow Yun Fat is sweet. I DO NOT want another fight on some rolling wheel, vertical, horizontal or otherwise, which has appeared in the last two films. The special effects have been very good for the previous two, so I don't expect that to let up.

Die Hard 4... or Live Free or Die Hard. The studio is going for a PG-13 rating with this, but Bruce Willis claims it's even better than the first one. I don't know if this is necessary, but they're doing it anyhow. I just want it to be a good action movie. When was the last good big budget straight up, good guys vs bad guys action movie?

Transformers... I'm reading good things about it. It looks like fun, and Michael Bay, who is hit and miss on my chart, is the man to go to for fun summer blockbuster action fests. I of course enjoyed the cartoon as a child and even now. The robots in the trailer look astounding. I have a good feeling for this one.

Harry Potter... I'm counting this because they tend to make big money. The only harry potter movie I've liked was Prisoner of Azkaban. The first two were made for pre-teenagers, and the fourth felt jumbled and messy. And Daniel Radcliffe (who plays harry potter) and the girl that plays hermione truly showed there is no hope for their acting skills. They are just terrible. With Order of the Phoenix enters Dolores Umbridge, played by Imelda Staunton. Umbridge is probably one of my most hated villains in a book ever, and that's a good thing, so hopefully this will make the film fun. It's a pretty good book, hope it translates well.

So that's it for the bigguns. We also have movies like The Bourne Ultimatum, The Simpsons Movie, Oceans Thirteen, 1408, and Knocked Up which look poised to be pretty big earners. I think all five of these could be great movies. There are probably others that'll be good, but I don't want to be here all night typing.

I hope this summer as a whole is better than last, which was pretty bad. Mission Impossible 3 and Da Vinci Code were watchable, but Superman was boring, X3 was awful, and POTC2 was, as mentioned earlier, a mix of boring and awful.

Next summer is where it's at, even though Avatar, the revolutionary scifi film by James Cameron, got pushed back to '09. Next year we have The Incredible Hulk, with Edward Norton and Tim Roth. You can hate the Eric Bana one all you want, I know I do, but this is a restart with Ed Norton! There is Iron Man, with Robert Downey Jr and Terrence Howard. And The Dark Knight!! I mean, it's the summer of superheroes played by Jeff's favorite actors. I can't ask for much more. But there is.

The next Narnia movie is supposed to be released, Prince Caspian. The first wasn't anything amazing, but it was worth seeing. Speed Racer will be released, directed by the Wachowski Bros. Who knows how this'll be. They're able filmmakers, so maybe this will be good.

On the unnecessary remake front, we have The Day The Earth Stood Still. I don't know why.

Hopefully, Indiana Jones 4 will be released.

Hellboy 2... Get Smart with Steve Carell... and the new probably going to be laughably terrible M Night Shyamalan movie.

Alrighty I'm done. Later.

UPdate

Man, I haven't posted since the Scifi Marathon, but I have not stopped seeing movies.

Lets see...

most recently I saw Vacancy, with Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson. This was a short 80 minutes long, but for the most part, it was enjoyable and intense. It becomes more vanilla as it continues, but to begin, it's a truly great scary movie. I absolutely loved when they first got to the hotel, there was something so REAL about it. Basically, they've just gotten into their room, and someones pounding on their door from the room next door. It's before the two heroes know they're meant to be part of a snuff film, and it's a lot of fun to watch, but also scary because you don't know just what is going on. It's still a quick fun movie, but I'd say wait for the rental.

Hot Fuzz was amazing, no Shaun of the Dead, but still just as brilliant at dissecting and making fun of a genre.

I still haven't seen Spider-Man 3, though I hope to within a few days.

I saw Fracture, which, for all it's great acting, turned to absolute crap. It was interesting and involving, and then suddenly the film treats the audience like a 12 year old, spelling out all the mystery of the movie with laughably obvious scenes. Definitely should be skipped.