11 Things About Spider-Man

An Anonymous Coward writes: "This has got to be the most inane, greedy thing I have heard of yet! The owners of the billboards on Times Square are suing Sony and those involved with the production of Spider-Man 'for digitally superimposing advertisements for other companies over their billboard space in the film.' Their argument: '[the ads] do not depict the area accurately.' Oh, and a guy in spider costume swinging from the buildings does? Give me a break!" That's one thing; read below for the other 10, if you can handle some movie spoilage. Update: 04/14 21:04 GMT by T : Oh, and a 12th thing: as reader marcsiry points out, that's "Spider-Man," not "Spiderman."

CheeseburgerBlue writes with his space-saving, 10-thought mini-review.

1. "Worst opening titles sequence ever. Probably recycled out of un-used material from 'The Last Starfighter.' Truly IntelliVision-level graphics here.

2. Peter hacks himself an awesome wannabe costume at first. This is good, because nobody is so well-rounded as to be ass-kickingly fierce, unswerving moral, academically gifted *and* a knock-down seamtress to boot. (It's unheard of, aside from that mama's boy show-off Clark Kent.)

3. There is actually some credible character development. (Smacks own agape jaw in disbelief.) So much for the frickin' Batman franchise.

4. We are treated to several exciting shots of M.J.'s heaving bosom through clinging wet fabric, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

5. J. Jonas Jamieson: beautiful! This character absolutely could not have been done better. It's like a really angry Perry White mixed with Lou Grant, drunk.

6. Nice casting. Not only is Peter's pal Harry the spitting image of his screen father (Dafoe), but he also makes a passable Anakin Skywalker. (I can't wait to see what kind of a Darth sombitch Harry turns into in the sequels.)

7. Many agree that the animated Spidey flying around looks like crap in the TV spots. Luckily, in context, it works. I found that what the C.G. webslinger lacks in verisimilitude is made up for in choreography -- the sequences of Spidey swinging through Manhattan and thrilling and fun.

8. I've always counted on Spiderman to deliver some quality wise-cracks, in stark contrast to Superman's squarejawed mumbling about truth and justice. I also expect Peter Parker to have a dark side that is less cheese-gothic than Batman's silhouetted form baying at the moon. This movie delivers -- Spidey's character is perfectly true to form.

9. Great pacing. It's more than half-way through the movie before Peter really becomes Spiderman. His gradual transition to superherohood is convincing, and helps sell Peter as a real guy along the way.

10. Despite the fact the Green Goblin essentially kicks his own ass in this movie, he does duke it out pretty cool with Spidey a few times first. (The best part is when the angry New Yorkers pelt him with trash for messin' with their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.)"

Comments

Kirsten Dunst

[Splat]

"M.J." "clingy" "wet" "shirts"

Anyone else have a sudden renewed interest in seeing this film now ...

Re:Kirsten Dunst

[Anonymous Coward]

For the price of the movie ticket, you can get a nice skin mag with all the heaving bossoms and wet clingy clothes in it you want. If that's what you want to see, just do it. Don't waste 2 hours of your life waiting for a few glimpses of some hollywood harlot's mediocre rack. Spend the cash, get the porn, and get on your life.

Sheeesh.

Re:Kirsten Dunst

[digitalunity]

If you want to see some real acting by Kirsten Dunst, you're watching the wrong movies of hers.

Try these:
"Crazy Beautiful" - She plays a self-destructive troubled young teen daughter to a suicided mother.
Kirsten did a great job on this one. Although there are a few 'cheeze' moments, overall this was a very dynamic role in comparison to most of her work.

"Virgin Suicides" - Again, she plays a self-destructive teen hell-bent on killing herself. A very complicated movie, sad and dramatic. With an allstar cast featuring James Wood, Kathleen Turner, Josh Hartnett and narrated by Giovanni Ribisi, this movie was very well made. A+ to Kirsten.

"Bring It On" - Nevermind. This one sucked. I think those two were her only really good roles.

In related news...

[not_cub]

... I am being sued by advertisers for tippexing my eyeballs in the space normally occupied by banner ads in slashdot.

not_cub

Hmm

[Have Blue]

If I create a digital version of Times Square in a modeler, am I required to include the billboards?

Re:One more thing about "Spiderman"

[ConceptJunkie]

Sounds like you're a candidate for a /. No-Prize!

Excelsior!

3 more facts about Spider-Man

[Nailer]

1. Spider-Men are mammals.
   
2. Spider-Men fight ALL the time.
   
3. The purpose of the Spider-Man is to flip out and kill people.
   

Paraphrased from The Official Ninja Homepage

I almost hope they win...

[Greyfox]

I'd be first in line to sell billboards in New Zealand before the LOTR sequil is shot! The elves could go into a jingle about baking cookies halfway through the movie!

Cynical? Me?

Re:Virtual Times Square

[kubrick]

To portray one aspect and not another is changing the reality.

Changing the reality? This is Spider-Man, not some deadly serious documentary.

In my reality, people don't develop the ability to spin webs after being caught inside a nuclear experiment with a spider (or whatever the original reason was).

Spider-Man

[istartedi]

Are you sure you don't mean Spider-Person? Or perhaps Spider-American or Arachno-American. Then of course there are those who believe it should be GNU/Spider.

Re:I am a professional news photographer...

[trenton]

What!!?

If it was a "documentary" they still don't have a leg to stand on.

Spider-Man isn't a documentary? What have I done with my life? All these years wasted following the chronicles of a fictional character, ohhhhh, the humanity!!!