I'd never seen Spider-Man 3 out of sheer resentment for the handling of the Gwen Stacy arc. I threw it on for Laundry Night.
Raimi, I'm going to choose to believe that when Sandman mourns at the end, "I didn't want this. But I had no choice", he's speaking for you and your three-picture contract.
I was happily ignoring the whole affair...until the DANCE SEQUENCE. Until Tobey Maguire's hair flipped over the barrel-bottom it had been scraping and found an entirely new barrel, and he began to....dance. In a jazz club. And then Topher Grace stole my velociraptor noise. James Franco's wildly inconsistent scar makeup and subsequent fourteen death scenes. The Exposition Butler (love love LOVE this review: "It doesn't mean he killed himself - unless the butler has watched Spiderman 1"). The clumsy American flag imagery. The marimba fight! I sincerely regret that I didn't see this in time to grab a pitchfork and torch and join the angry mob.
So much of this movie I hadn't bothered to remember (save for b.campbell Diamonds).
The J-Wills thought they were going to see a movie that couldn't fail them, and were punished for their hubris.
Posted by: Big Daddy at May 28, 2008 09:22 PMI wish I'd seen it sooner to share in the hate-in. Or that I hadn't seen it at all.
Posted by: Holly at May 28, 2008 09:24 PM*eyes buckle under heaviness*
Post movie,
The hate-in was preceded by this dead-air between us, and then a buzzing we both admitted to hearing in our ears, until finally our mouths found the power to move, a volley undeterred for at least forty-five minutes of righteous deracination.
Sigh.
Posted by: Big Daddy at May 28, 2008 09:31 PMIt was shown during a flight I took last September, and this is what I remember: visually uninteresting to the point that a 2 1/2 year old on a transatlantic flight couldn't be bothered to look at it, and a sand monster so unconvincing that my 5 year old was able to remind herself that it wasn't real or scary without my intervention. Which latter point was much appreciated, but probably wasn't the result for which they were trying.
Posted by: DC Trojan at May 28, 2008 09:38 PMHow they handled Gwen Stacy across the three films was bad. I refused to see it in theaters because I knew they would fuck up the Black Suit/Venom/Eddie Brock, and lo and behold, when I saw Topher Grace being cast, it confirmed it.
The symbiote is supposed to bring out the inner rage, something like that -- all it did was turn Peter Parker emo.
Posted by: S2N at May 29, 2008 12:39 AMI still stand by what I said (very loudly after a press screening last year and made at least three execs cringe...)
"Best Spidey yet! Especially when the gay musical broke out in the middle!"
Posted by: TheStarterWife at May 29, 2008 09:28 AMPerhaps now you understand my vehement opposition to Raimi directing The Hobbit. He drove that franchise into the ground.
Posted by: j at May 29, 2008 10:59 AMI think the real problem is that Sam Raimi never wanted to use Venom in a movie, because he doesn't like the character. After the studio pushed him to use Venom he was pretty much directing a story he couldn't fully get behind.
I think all the emo crap was a middle finger to everyone who wanted their precious black suit.
Posted by: Scott at May 29, 2008 04:37 PM