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Spider-Man 2 Reviewed [updated]
Update: 06/30 15:42 GMT by T : This article has been pulled; the Spider-Man 2 review which appeared here was reposted without credit or permission from chud. (Read it in its original context.) We welcome original feature-length articles, but not plagiarism.
Spider-Man 2 seems like the next step in the slow death of the career of Kirsten Dunst
OK, she's not Meryl Streep, but she doesn't have to be; Kirsten has tremendous sex appeal--which more than compensates for her somewhat mediocre performance in Spider-Man.
Besides, I thought she was intense and believable in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Sigs cause cancer.
...a lot of action movies just leave me empty these days. I liked Spiderman 1, but didn't think it was exceptional. Hellboy should have been called Dullboy. Hulk had some interesting ideas, but was too much of a head-trip for it's own good. Will check out Spidey 2, after another viewing of F911.
Yes, you are.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Trinity dies in the end.
Oops.
No weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men.-Ronald Reagan
A friend of mine claims that at a critical juncture in the film, Tobey Maguire's character actually swings from Kirsten Dunst's vine-like breasts.
He was in a screening group, but swears this scene made the final cut. I called B.S.
Anyone?
...hoping to see it tomorrow :)
tells me this is going be a great movie and makes tons of money.
Bet this
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=112410&cid=
Read the reviews of the Star Trek/Star Wars remake and nearly split my sides laughing. Can't wait to see what they do with Harry Potter as well!
My rights don't need management.
Seriously, tho' I don't get a chance to go out to too many movies, but this may be the exception. I saw the first one after it came out on DVD, but I think I want to see this 2nd movie on the big screen.
--When it's my time, I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather -- not screaming like all the passengers in his car
Some reviews of Spider-man 2 have mentioned that Sam Raimi is not all that comfortable with CGI ... which means that he tends to focus more on the human element rather than the blockbuster aspects of a movie. Given the depth of Peter Parker as a character, this seems like a reasonable trade off that helps make this better than the "typical" comic hero movie ...
Everyone is arguing about not liking the green goblin or thinking it a bad idea if he is the villain again in the third, but I was actually thinking when I heard about this ending that Raimi and Co. probably already thought it would be repetitive and a weak character for already being used so they will probably turn to the hobgoblin, which was also a great villain in my opinion. Also in my opinion, the green goblin was a great choice, I absolutely loved that villain.
HOW'S MY POSTING? CALL 1-800-POSTING
This is a guy on slashdot.... he should be praised for recognizing a female in the movie at all. After all, there were comic book characters and electronics everywhere in this flick... im suprised he even noticed her.
She must have had alot to do with the comic book characters and electronics, now that i think of it. If I mentioned a hot blonde int he movie, he'd probably reply, "oh the one being saved by that awesome spidey from that no good doc oc.... badass, yeah I sort of remember her".
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
AFAIK the comic-book Spidey has always been a thoughtful type.
...(I'm sorry, I still miss his original partner, Gene Siskel)
Anyway, Ebert said it is probably the best superhero|hero movie ever made.
I don't like his tv show now that his original parter, Gene Siskel, who was my favorite - one of the reasons I went to that section of the Chicago Tribune (I live in Indy) first - to see what he'd written about current movies.
I'm certain we could come up with a ton of movies which would be considered superhero|hero movies, where some would be very esoteric to many who haven't had a variety of newspaper cartoons growing up; e.g., The Phantom, in the Trib. And Spiderman was also in the Trib until about the time I graduated from high shool.
Er, make that Spider-Man 2: The Game for the Nintendo Gamecube.
I suspect he is trying to make up for the general dislike he has built up by spewing mindless teenage trolling into the mix. 'YHBT. YHL. HAND'
I think we need some new acronyms...
YATR - You *are* thirteen, right?
MSCYR - Mom Says Clean Your Room!
NIOTS - Nothing Interesting or Original To Say
Any more suggestions?
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
She's not that good looking, she's just ok. And if you wanna talk chest, she's pretty flabby in that area, certainly nothing to get me all googlie eyed over without some series 18hr Playtex presence to spruce it up. And acting ability? Come on! Who did she blow to get this gig? She certainly couldn't have won it on her deadpan delivery talent.
There are thousands of actresses in LA that look hotter and act better than Kirsten. It's time for Spidey to get a new love interest!
pfffft, flamebait... what a copout! I don't see why I should expend more words than necessary to deal with this unpleasant, stinking turd of a film(industry), and I won't beat around the bush. If that makes what I have to say flamebait, then so be it.
and as for the reviewer, many people have already said what I would like to say, so I'll leave it at that.
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
...is like complaining about a stripper's dancing ability.
For pretty much the same reason.
Which is straight out of the comics. Given the first movie, anybody could see that this would come eventually. If not in Spider-Man 2 (doubtful, since Harry has to know that Peter is Spidey first), then in Spider-Man 3.
Also, the TomatoMeter is currently at 96 compared 89 for #1. This is always a very good indicator for me. I'm sure this movie will be great.
> For example the excellent train fight takes place on an elevated train in a part of the city where there are no elevated trains -- but it doesn't matter. The film makes it work, so that you don't even think about it
HOW THE HELL SHOULD I NOT THINK ABOUT AN ELEVATED TRAIN LINE WITH A DEAD END THAT WOULD THROW A BRAKELESS TRAIN RIGHT INTO FIFTH AVENUE!?!?!?!?!?!?!
also, they transformed spider-man into super-man!
- add eyeglasses to alternative identity. check
- not a smart ass. check
- CAN STOP A FSCKING TRAIN WITH ITS BARE HANDS! check
oh! the humanity!
Bonch, dude, you just spent 3 hours writing a review of a 2 hour film....
Kinda makes you wonder doesn't it?
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those with good memory.
I didn't really find the game all that exciting... It takes about 4hours to complete or so and it seemed to have alot of training wheels. For example web slinging is dependent on specific web spots clearly marked throughout the city, and you get a popup when you fight an arch foe showing you what moves you need to do to defeat 'em. Also your web fluid is unlimited, and your number of lives is unlimited. Dispite being geared tward the inexperenced gammer, I did find the Mysterio sequence to be the best, where you must navigate New York in the clouds broken up into levitating islands. All and all as far as theme games go it was acceptable, almost worth the $15.00 it's presently being sold for.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
"despite Kirsten Dunst"
are you daft?
Do you honestly think the majority of the movie-going public who will see this film have read the comic books? I haven't read them, but I'll see the movie.
When will the Indian version hit theatres in America?
Creative Demolition
I remember this... it's a program that generates screeds. Pretty clever stuff, because ultimately it's all content free.
Hooray for Markov!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
People, do *NOT* click on the last link. Mods, take note - browser breaker, standard pr0n and probable IE exploit (just crashes out the firefox tab, thankfully)
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
I looked at the last link, and I have to say that I don't remember that bit in the film? Did I go out to the toilet at a bad time?
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
An examination of the source on the last link reveals IE exploit.
Might I also suggest finding out this guy's ISP and IP address, informing them, and prompting criminal proceedings?
Damn right. And with the Moore film, people couldn't wait to come out and complain about it not being relevant to Slashdot... not today tho. You're the first, though it's already crossed my mind!
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
I don't remember the exact progression (which came first, GG or HG?), but I do know that Harry takes up the mantle of the Green Goblin. The Hobgoblin was someone else (Googled for it). I thought there were only three Green Goblins (though I couldn't remember other than Norman and Harry). It looks like there were four of them. There were also four different Hobgoblins. Apparently villains in the Spider-Man mythos like to recycle old ideas (see the page above, there are several different iterations of a number of villains).
True, she's been a lot of mediocre teen-movie fare, but to claim that she hasn't had a better performance since Interview with a Vampire indicates to me reviewer hasn't seen Drop Dead Gorgeous.
Berardinelli gave Spiderman 2 three stars out of four, which is a fairly solid recommendation.
That's EXACTLY what I'm trying to say - I think I phrased it very poorly. It is obviously OT and should have been modded as such, NOT as a troll. I don't really care about the political content one way or the other; I just want the 'troll' mod to be reserved for real trolls.
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
Fair enough. I can see that you are thinking for yourself. Keep it up.
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
Yes on both accounts.
Especially the 2 seconds thought. I've seen people modded informative, who clearly have NO clue what thier talking about and post complete gibberish relative to the topic. But hey since the mod can't understand it, it must be informative.
One of these days a gnaa crap-post is gonna get moderated +5 informative.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
"Spider-Man 2 hits theaters tomorrow, though some of us have seen it a bit early."
Yeah my download finished yesterday.
"Derp de derp."
Agreed. I was just thinking that Spiderman is no more and no less relevant to /. than Mike Moore's films. Next topic, please!
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
Tell treyarch to fire the xbox developers. I've been playing for 20 minutes and the game has already locked up.
http://www.chud.com/reviews/spid2.php3
seems to me bonch just copy/pasted this article in its entirety, without giving any credit to the chud guys, who did the real work!
> One of these days a gnaa crap-post is gonna get moderated +5 informative.
I guess they are informative, in a way, just not about the sort of things most people want to be informed about. *You* know the things I mean.
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
agreed, I certainly see your point. I would also argue that for a certain subset of nerds, (myself included) politics is a vital and useful part of my existence and philosophy. As a philosophical nerd, i think it's relevant, but I realise that I don't fit the standard nerd stereotypes. It's an interesting point, thanks for bringing it up!
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
I don't know if the movie touches on the significance of MJ being in this play. It's one of Oscar Wilde's famous comedies, and it's all about the dangers of living a double life.
The short of it; a young country gent(Algernon) goes to city to flirt around and cause trouble, but when in the city goes by the name of Ernest so that no rumours of his city life make it back to his home in the country. One of Algernon's city friends, Jack, travels to the country to dally with Algernon's young ward, and he also uses the name Ernest. Combined with some witty dialogue, a good does of sarcasm, and some smacks at the upperclass, its probably one of Wilde's best works. And Oscar Wilde, along with GB Shaw should probably be up there with Shakespeare among England's finest playwrights.
Summary here
Full text here
If it follows the usual pattern for superhero flicks, Spiderman 3 will have several villains and not just the 2nd Green Goblin. Remember how many bad guys show up in Batman and Robin or Batman Forever? Let's see, we have the Rhino, Sandman, Mysterio and Electro from the early Spiderman comics, or Venom the living spidy suit from the later years. Or maybe Spiderman 3 will also be X-men 3.
Earrghh! I thought I'd outgrown this stuff 20 years ago. Why do I even remember the names of a bunch of Spiderman villians?
Who is John Cabal?
Why was this modded funny? The file is at large, although not widespread yet.
blow your mind already
Thanks. Now you've done it. You've destroyed two perfectly good sex-pots with your nitpicking... Thanks.
;-)
May you both rot in hell.
I saw a premier on monday night... free. They even had security guards with metal detectors. I couldn't see any night vision goggles though (and I was looking).
A brief review here.
1979 spiderman rules.
Toby mcguire looks like a little kid . He's 30 . Do you want this guy to save you.
Bruce Campbell kicks ass!
Veramocor
I saw it yesterday and the thing that stands out most in my mind, granted I'm a geek, but when the fusion reaction goes out of control -- critical in fact, and starts magnetically sucking all metal towards itself and fusionically threatens the entire city!?
That's right, I said fusion.
It appears that one of the basic requirements for writing a film these days (and I like to write) is to have not only no knowledge of science, but preferably a vacous gaping city sucking fusion orb where even the most basic science knowledge should be.
Also a complete lack of knowledge of trains is helpful. You might notice an elevated line that is built to go two stories to a dead end at... THE RIVER. Exactly where are the engineers? The physicists? Were you all killed by Doctor Octopus?
And where is Ozcorp getting its never ending funding from? Why wasn't this stock shorted by everyone after their CHIEF SCIENTIST went nuts in the last movie and started killing people? These are details that could have been written into the film, but instead are just thrown away in favor of cliches. The other things that actually save this film from the dreck pile are 1) the performance of J.K. Simmons (the angry editor guy), who once again steals every scene that he's in, on top of being strongly written. (every time that Tobey is in the newspaper office he might as well be invisible.) Meanwhile, Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus) does a stellar job with second rate lines. Now he is an interesting character -- and, unlike spidey, his CG didn't look fake. Why not make a film about him rather than the bland kid in the spider suit?
Romance is one of the things that saves this film -- because make no mistake about it it's the exact same formula that you've seen and know and love. If you like that film that you've seen a dozen times -- this is it too! Now with extra romance. It's fun for what it is, but don't expect more than cliches.
Is it just me, or isn't there so much more that could be done with film?
The baby's fine -- please stop sending business cards.
why dont you just marry spiderman...
sure, it probably is one great movie..but still, that review sounded way over the top
You bothered to calculate this, and then accuse me of needing to get a life? I really don't care.
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
So, overall, in the things I've seen her in she's been a pretty good performer. I certainly can't recall a performance where she's been a shocker.
In any case, bad directing can make even the best actor look bad. Natalie Portman, besides being achingly beautiful, is a fine actor, and let's consider just how wooden a performance she gave in Attack of the Clones. It'll be interesting 20 years from now to interview her about working with Lucas; I think she might be less than complimentary.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Sam Raimi is a good director, yes. He is considered an auteur director as well. I love his work. Spiderman was good. However, Spiderman 2 is not his work alone.
The full credits of the film tell the full story. Spiderman 2 was written by a total of 6 people - none of which was S. Raimi. There were also 6 producers and executive producers (although, 'executive producer' is often a title given to someone simply as a 'feel good' title and has little involvement). Cinematography was done by Anette Haellmig and Bob Hope. Bob Murawski did the editing. There are also hundreds of others that were directly involved in the production of this film (sound, art, makeup, set, casting, costumes, set managers, original music, special effects, visuals, stunts, hell - even assistants for the actors and common tradesmen such as electricians) - and that's not counting the actors and extras.
Granted, Raimi is responsible for the over-arcing presentation of the film, but he is in no way the sole artist behind this film. I'm a fan of his earlier works as well, but I'd credit the tallent of those he's worked with just as much as I'd credit him. Things such as Xena and Hercules were not exactly quality productions, even with extreme exageration and drugs influencing your opinion: they were cheesy as hell.
You seem like you're endulging in a bit of hero worship here. Raimi is a good director, yes. He's made due with some less-than adequate filming conditions, and has illustrated a phenominal ability to make due with minimal supplies, creating inventive means to get the film footage he wants. Given the scope and size of Spiderman (and Spiderman 2), I suspect that his hands-on directing style was less prominent than it has been in other works he's been involved in, simply due to this fact.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
A ton of credit has to go to Bill Pope, who has shot himself
Sure nobody can get a new account over there these days due to the IRS investigation, but that is no reason for a flamebait mod.
Making the moon less necessary since 1998.
Bonch, aka Overly Critical Guy, who keeps proclaiming he hates the bias of Slashdot and all the people the comment here, has submitted a review here. Talk about interesting personality conflict.
I didn't know trolls submitted articles these days.
Trolls submit articles.
But trolls don't write articles.
THIS REVIEW IS PLAIGARISM, PURE AND SIMPLE
bonch (38532) did write this review.
Unless bonch's name is really Devin Faraci, "bonch's" review is cut-and-pasted from chud.com.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
The LizardMan, the Shocker, the Chameleon, Kraven the Hunter would be good choices. The Vulture wouldn't be so good. And for those with long memories, the Kingpin was an enemy of both Daredevil and Spidey, but who fought him first is something I can't remember. I suspect that Mysterio the actor, or LizardMan would be areas filmmakers would explore first(Mysterio would be a tie-in to MJ, and LizardMan well that's a spoiler hehehe.
It appears that one of the basic requirements for writing a film these days (and I like to write) is to have not only no knowledge of science
It's a friggin movie about a highschool student that has the powers of a spider!
and you're banging off about realism?!
My god you are right... that's just pathetic on the part of the poster, and he should be banned/suspended from Slashdot for posting this as if it were his work.
Plus it was a crap review anyway as it did what I HATE in reviews which is giving away some of the best bits. ie. "And the humour was supurb like when he turned into a chicken and ate all the guest's dinners"... that may not be in this film, but you get my drift, I was reading through the review, got to a spoiler of what would have been a great SUPRISE joke and stopped dead right there...
Geeze, how hard is it to write a review that doesn't reveal jokes or plot points? Why can't people stay more generic? X's acting was Good/bad/indifferent, the CG of Y was not so hot, or was during running but crap during swinging. Etc. etc. It's NOT THAT HARD.
1. Ebert & Roeper MP3 review from 6/28/2004 show.
:)
2. Rotten Tomatoes
3. IMDb (more reviews tomorrow morning)
4. Darh Horizon's review by Garth Franklin (Webmaster)
As far as I see, everyone seems to like it over the first movie! I hope I can catch the flick this Monday with friends. I didn't love the first one, but it was enjoyable. I hope the second one is a lot better.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
here. Sorry about that! :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
That's incredible! You're right that the review is cut-and-pasted. I hate to say it but this is a great example of how /. needs to have a way to moderate stories off the front page.
-wilde_karrde
you might have a point, if those magazines had electronics and comic heroes in them.... and until they start being regulars in hustler.... its apples and oranges.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
Something to make sure that every slashdoter world wide will continue to worship at the idol of K. Dunst.
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/0189-sta/du
Ahhh geek sheek, you can't resist a nerd chick!
I would rather be ashes than dust!
And where is OzCorp getting its never ending funding from?
BayStar.
I agree. This was the only bummer to me. I know they have to end the Harry/Peter thing, but I really hope they make it a minor part of #3. I'd much rather see a 3/4 made and have them do a fun treatment of the Venom arc. Venom was my favorite Spidey villain ever. And how fun would HE be on the big screen?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
fellow Spiderman fans.
Did anyone else catch Jameson's son doing that huge leap to get to MJ near the end?
I am convinced its a nod to showing him having the symbiot in him (from the cartoon, not the comic books) where I believe he contracted it while in space.
Anyway, I think for a sequel (or triquel?) now that we have:
A) love interest issues resolved (no more harping over MJ)
B) identity issue resolved
We need something to spice it up some more. We obviously have the green goblin 2 coming in the next one, but what about Venom? Any thoughts on this? (i may have the names mixed up, it's been a while since i've read the comics / cartoons).
I work at the movie theaters, so my schedule was suppose to be from 8:00 PM to 1:00 AM... but my manager let me off early because he knew I wanted to watch the movie. It was pretty crazy once 12:00 hit (Yes, we had a 12:00 show. Not a preview.) As I removed the tensile barriers, shouted "Spiderman 2!", pointed at House #3, and ran -- a lot of people chased after me to the theater. It was pretty intense. Thank God for employee benefits... including not having to pay for a single movie. w00t.
"Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
And well....it was great.
Not just a little bit.
For comic book fans, it's got what you want. For film fans, it's got what you want. For action movie fans, it's got what you want.
Granted, there were moments when I wanted to scream "but that doesn't make sense!" ( {spoiler} like when the fusion generator was sucking in everything....except things like people and important props {/spoiler}) But in general it was a well done film.
There are only two criticisms I could possibly give this movie: Kirsten Dunst's acting (*cough* wooden *cough*) and it being a wee bit too angsty.
In it's defense, it was SUPPOSED to be a wee bit angsty. Spider-man in the early days was like that - a confused young man that didn't understand his place in the world. In other words - a teenager.
{spoiler}
Another possible problem is the Batman situation. In the first batman, they killed the Joker. In the second, they killed the penguin. In the first Spider-man they killed the Green Goblin (which was okay - if a little fast. He was supposed to die eventually. But now - if Doc Ock is dead, well that causes continuity problems....and comic book geeks hate that.
{/spoiler}
As a side thing - here's a comic book geek drinking game you can play with Spider-Man 2. Every time a writer or artist or editor that worked on the Spider-Man comic books at Marvel is shown on screen, take a shot. You are guaranteed to be half dead by the end of the movie if you catch them all.
Here's my one line review for the game (played it a few days ago on the PC)
"My sphinctersense is tingling"
This is the sig that says NI (again)
Drop Dead Gorgeous is one VERY funny movie. I own less than 10 movies and this is one of them. Everyone should see this movie.
My favorite moments (from the top of my head):
-Kirsten Dunst practicing her tap dance while applying makeup to a corpse.
-last year's anorexic winner.
-Ellen Barkin with a beer can melted onto her hand.
-The retarded kid and his dad.
-The judge who is a little too interested in the "young girls".
-The girl who just wants to be deaf.
-The Denise Richards performance with the wooden Jesus.
This movie is definitely worth renting.
-Brian
./ can't support this crap. pull the review or credit the author!
I just got back from it. It was so fantastic. I've been reading the newspaper strip on the Internet since the first movie (it's actually written by Stan Lee, the comic books aren't), and it made it that much sweeter. Not to spoil the movie, but the final line of dialogue is a catch phrase in the strip.
But both Peter Parker and Spiderman came alive in a way they never had to me before.
http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/s/stacy gwen.htm
Besides other failings, such as cheesy attempts at humor and no end to alliterated names (Peter Parker, Otto Octavius, Green Goblin?, come on!!), the amount of science that was sacrificed in the name of entertaining the masses almost made me weep. Disappointed by Roger Ebert's positive review, I emailed him the following:
On a number of occasions you have pointed out scientific inaccuracies in movies -- be it characters outrunning fireballs, or the wrong speed of the line of sunlight in observation #4 in your Mummy Returns review. The horrendous way Spider-Man 2 handles science, however, transcend these by an order of magnitude. So why didn't this get at least a passing mention in your review?? I would have walked out of the theater at one point, if I had been sitting in an isle seat! There's something to be said for suspension of disbelief, but when a movie uses science buzzwords like fusion and nanowires, it is making at least some pretense of minimal scientific accuracy and should have avoided some of the more glaring nonsense seen here.
I know you get lots of mail, so I'll just point out a couple of examples. Spidey expels a large amount of webbing, and not just in terms of length, but as we see in close-ups, it's fairly thick and clearly of a lot of volume. Spider-man somehow manages to produce material that's at least a significant fraction of his weight. So now that we've dropped as fundamental a law of physics as the conservation of mass and energy, I suppose anything is game. This was wholly avoidable while still allowing Spidey to perform as he does, for the simple reason that we know much stronger materials exist (i.e. carbon nanotubes) and the web could have been many times thinner.
I could swallow that problem, but the next one was too much, and prompted me to write this message. The depiction of fusion was plain embarassing. Bombarding a fuel pellet by lasers will cause it to release its energy in an instant flash. The lasers would be only on for a moment, otherwise the pellet will evaporate and disperse before fusion can start. In the movie, the lasers started one after the other; the first laser would have destroyed the pellet. It gets worse. They showed a fiery ball looking like a star. I suppose the twisted thought process that gave birth to that must have gone something like this: stars are powered by fusion, so a small fusion reaction must look like a small star. In reality, stars glow because fusion in the core heats the upper layers. Due to the hundred million plus degree temperature, the actual light emitted by fusion is in the gamma and x-rays spectrum (which, together with the neutrons would have killed anything around due to the lack of heavy shielding; the magnetic containment cannot affect non-charged particles), with only a bit of mostly violet visible light. And that tritium pellet, come on! Tritium is radioactive and you can't just carry it around in a glass sphere. And tritium is a gas; to have a solid pellet it must be stored at extremely cryogenic temperatures. I could keep going, but the point is that many people that watch this kind of stuff get a totally twisted view of science.
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
But strippers don't have their mammas chaperoning the clubs to make sure the bad bad directors don't get too much boobie in the shots.
The smartest thing Kirsten's mother ever did was put the 't' on the end of their family name.
i haven't seen it yet (must be to bed too early to see a midnight showing) and i probably won't get to see it until at least the weekend. but let me say this, i have heard way too much hype for this movie. seriously everyone keeps saying how great the movie is and even go as far as to call it the best superhero movie ever. the problem is they are pushing it way too much. seriously if the movie has even a slight flaw some people are going to absolutely hate it because of the fact it was so overhyped. so long as it can live up to the hype i won't be one of these people. either way this should be the largest grossing film this summer.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
I don't see how. Standards on looks should be the last thing posters on Slashdot should worry about.
i cant seem to come up with a sig.
She was good in Crazy/Beautiful also.
That's probably a bad idea -- it makes it harder to develop any of them beyond the cardboard-cutout level.
Remember how many bad guys show up in Batman and Robin or Batman Forever?
The prosecution rests.
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
Stan Lee (As) Man Dodging Debris.
I'm glad he made it into the film again.
Spider-Man 2 is certainly the movie that pays off all the promise Sam Raimi has held for the past few decades.
Whassat? I think that you just unintentionally implied that Army of Darkness was not the greatest movie of all time!
The only thing that we learn from history is that nobody learns anything from history.
If you want to get technical, Spidey has fought every Marvell villain. He has fought Dr Doom, Sentinels, Galactus, and most of the heroes.
BTW, it is the Lizard, not LizardMan. But the Lizard is almost definately to be in the third. Most likely Venom will never play a role.
For the special effects, Hydro or Sandman would be good choices.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
While you're at it, check out Lucy Liu's eyes. Where the hell is she looking? You just can't tell.
- "Sweet merciful crap!" Homer J. Simpson
But do you think the majority of people here will have read the comic books? (Or watched the old TV show... or the old cartoon... or the old cartoon with his friends Iceman and Firestorm... or the new TV show... or the old movies...) :)
And of course the modification of the old theme...
Nephilium
Basic truths cannot change and once a man of insight expresses one of them it is never necessary, no matter how much the world changes, to reformulate them. -- Mr. DuBois in Starship Troopers
The Ex-Lax is in the cabinet.
The Glass is Too Big: My Take on Things
as in, he should have a couple of.
as in, his attitude is like a.
as in, what he no doubt does for a living.
Sorry Prune baby! It was there, I had to go for it!
Meanwhile, Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus) does a stellar job with second rate lines. Now he is an interesting character -- and, unlike spidey, his CG didn't look fake. Why not make a film about him rather than the bland kid in the spider suit?
Look Doc, just because you I can beat the snot out of you with only FOUR limbs is no reason to get bitter and start calling me "bland". I mean, just because it's white bread doesn't mean it won't pack a punch. Know what I mean?
It appears that one of the basic requirements for writing a film these days (and I like to write) is to have not only no knowledge of science, but preferably a vacous gaping city sucking fusion orb where even the most basic science knowledge should be.
Doc, you were told before you signed on that the faulty experiments were written into the script. That's just the way it goes in Hollywood. Sure, the fact that you couldn't build a controllable fusion reaction makes you look like a moron, but look at it this way: the writer didn't have me accidentally kill you at the end of the show. That means you can always come back for more humiliation later.
Look, Doc, I don't want there to be any hard feelings. I'll put in a good word for you: I'll ask the writers to have you get over your mental deranged-itude and maybe the equations will start to make sense again. How's that for bonhomie?
Also a complete lack of knowledge of trains is helpful. You might notice an elevated line that is built to go two stories to a dead end at... THE RIVER.
Um.. Doc? New York City? Hel-LO? Like you really care about trains anyway.
Romance is one of the things that saves this film -- because make no mistake about it it's the exact same formula that you've seen and know and love. If you like that film that you've seen a dozen times -- this is it too! Now with extra romance.
Aw, Doc. And here I thought you were just a bad ol' mean person at heart. I'll run this by your therapist and see if he doesn't change his mind about you.
Fun, but a downloader folks
Oh wait, I see; going Internet are you? You'll definitely get the /.ers on your side with that one! Well, I guess I have to admit that the only reason I don't download many mp3s is I'm too busy putting on spandex and sticking to skyscrapers. Maybe in #3 we can rumble in cyberspace! Ta-ta, Doc!
signed,
YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN
Personally, he was the most intriguing of Spidey's foes (too bad he ate a bullet about 20 years ago). He always seemed to bring out the best in PP.
It would be nice if Spider-Man did not follow the "Batman" path and have multiple villians in the sequels (Don't forget the second Batman had Catwoman and the Penguin as well as Christopher Walken as Max Schreck). This is what Michael Keaton complained about and why he refused to do anything after Batman Returns; the francise movies became less about the title character and more about the guest villians.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
History written by the victors, and all that.
I can't imagine there being any more spoilers in it than there were in the trailer...
Spider-Man 2 succeeds in many ways that I did not expect, justifying my decision to watch the midnight showing and stay up past 4:00am to write a small review for my web site!
... not for shooting spider webs out of wrists, but for the human element. Above all else and beneath the mask, Spider-Man is Peter Parker, an emotional, rational being like the rest of us. He has decisions to make, and whether they make sense or even matter to anyone else, they matter to Peter Parker.
... before we are rushed through an action-packed, emotional frenzy that climaxes with one of the most satisfying endings I have ever enjoyed for what I would normally describe as an entertainment film (as opposed to being a serious film).
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Spider-Man 2. A sequel is supposed to dwell in the shadow of its predecessor, but this one does not. Spidey is beaten and humbled -- by enemies, friends, the public, and himself -- and yet he still comes across as one of the most realistic heroes imaginable
The key to this film's success, aside from Tobey Maguire's excellent portrayal of a hero torn among many difficult choices, is Sam Raimi's ability to open and close numerous plot elements while maintaining a coherent and cohesive plot. The movie takes its sweet time to inform you of what has changed, who is important, and why it is all so
Why does the right-wing fear Michael Moore? They have Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Oliver North, Bill O'Reilly, Fox News Channel, etc. spreading their propaganda 24-7. When ONE guy comes up with a counter to them they go apeshit. There used to be civil discourse and some respect for the opinions of desenting voices in this country (Like Moore said, Dude, Where's My Country?). When Bill Clinton was in office they spewed their views and no one on the left really challenged them. Now that the shoe is on the other foot they attack anyone who doesn't agree with them. They are hypocrites of the worst magnitude and I agree when someone said that they are RINOS. They are "neocons" and radicals who are moving the Republican party so much to the left that it is going to backfire and they will all have to crawl into the holes they came out of.
What about Carnage? Or maybe the Vulture (one of the original Spidey villains). They have such a huge base to draw from it could be anyone. Maybe they'll bring the Punisher in...just kidding.
Not to mention The Virgin Suicides.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
only fanboys give a 9.2/10 rating to a movie like this. [...] Adding the extra decimal point is like forcing the newspaper to print an additional 1/10 of a star
:o)
I think if you check, you'll find that 9.2 would be adding two tenths of a star.
"and I'm sure most right-thinking people don't. But nore do I take Fox News at face value."
:)
My solution is to ignore both Moore and Fox News. Call me crazy, but I do not see a "liberal" bias at CNN. And I wish Al Franken would hang up his politics and rejoin SNL and O'Reiley would go back to hosting Inside Edition. Come to think about it, I think Inside Edition had more credibility than O'Reiley's current program...
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
"When ONE guy comes up with a counter to them they go apeshit. There used to be civil discourse and some respect for the opinions of desenting voices in this country (Like Moore said, Dude, Where's My Country?). When Bill Clinton was in office they spewed their views and no one on the left really challenged them. Now that the shoe is on the other foot they attack anyone who doesn't agree with them. They are hypocrites of the worst magnitude and I agree when someone said that they are RINOS. They are "neocons" and radicals who are moving the Republican party so much to the left that it is going to backfire and they will all have to crawl into the holes they came out of."
You certainly have a short term memory. The alleged "liberally" biased media went out of their way to attack Presidents Reagan and Bush during their time(s) in office. Limbaugh got big nationally about the same time Clinton was "elected" into the Presidency with only 42% of the popular vote. His success is more of a testament to his format, his sensationalism, and the general publics disdain for talk radio (and television) hosts like Larry King and Phil Donahue who were well known to be liberals. You could even throw in Howard Stern whose politics have run rather conservative up until the current Bush Administration with the media crackdown. Bill Clinton was attacked and not successfully defended because most of the things he was attacked on were his own fault. The public did not support Hillary's health care plan even though the majority of the public wanted a public health care safety net instituted. The backlash against that complex bureaucratic scheme led to the Republicans sweeping out the Democratic majority in the Congress in the 1994 elections and ending a 50 year control streak. There were plenty of voices on the left defending Clinton throughout his presidency yet the thing is, they weren't successful. No matter how you look at Clinton's "affair" of sorts, he purgured himself in court and that has led to his disbarment after he left office. There wasn't a Republican right-wing conspiracy to bait Clinton with bimbos no matter how Hillary justifies her husband's behavior.
As for your assertion of the Republicans moving the party to the left, you must be smoking crack. The criticism is that the party is moving too far to the RIGHT.
The outrage over Moore has to do with the labeling of his film a *documentary* when it is an opinion piece. He does not check his facts enough, just as he named his last movie "Bowling for Columbine" because he thought the killers called in during their morning classes to go bowl when it didn't happen.
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
Well don't stop now... who else needs a bit of cutting down to "less than diety status"??
jason
Nooooooo!
Don't wish that on SNL. It was actually good for a while. Although it's started to suck again now.
-Graham
The problem with your comment is that Parker's wisecracks were, to a large degree, how he covered his insecurities. He was laughing at the darkness with his one-liners. I'm sure you've known people who are pretty straight-laced, but put them under pressure and they're constantly cracking jokes. It's how they remain sane. Honestly, I cannot state for certain that they said as much at any point in the series, but it seems reasonable enough to me.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
The first two Superman movies were good, the book for the third movie was good, but it failed in the execution. Could anyone ever believe a coked up Richard Pryor could be a passable computer programmer?
Batman movies were OK, the first three anyway. George Clooney was less than stellar, but I don't think he cold help a bad script. I snoozed through that one at the theater and at home after rental. I rented it just to prove it wasn't me being tired. It was dull until the point where Batgirl joined up. Even she couldn't rescue the crappy script though. And Robin became a real ass.
I have to hand it to Stan Lee, keeping the studios close to the original hero stories though. Quite a feat. The X-Men movies have been great, Spiderman too. I haven't seen the newer Punisher, but I liked the one w/ Dolf Lundgren from several years back, even though I am unfamiliar w/ the comic. I really liked most of the Daredevil movie. I thought parts of it showed him as the dark brooding hero like Batman, Punisher and Wolverine were.
What I have to say about Hulk is less than stellar though. Close your eyes if you liked it. It was a CGI movie that was so far over the top it was no longer believeable. The story sucked. The acting was wooden and sucked. Love Jennifer Connely, but she was wasted in this role and almost as much in A Beautiful Mind. They truly fucked up by telling the story out of order. It became confusing. The scene w/ the mutant dogs was very hard to see and didn't make much sense. Did I say the dialog sucked? The general was not believeable and his character sucked. I think that I enjoyed the old Bill Bixby/Lou Farigno combo so much that it just ruined it for me. Bill Bixby was so much better than that no-name loser they got for the HULK movie. The director should be taken out and shot. The only thing I liked about this movie was the cut in of the comic book-like frames, so that you have multiple scenes on the screen at once, but they made it look gimmicky. But this wasn't supposed to be all about Hulk, I digress.
Spiderman was very good, probably ranked among the best of the comic book movies. A good blend of live action, cgi, and a good story/back story, and good dialog. You could actually see feeling from Toby McGuire, like you could from Christopher Reeves and Ben Affleck in their roles.
What all comic based movies suffer from is the need to start at the beginning and introduce all the characters in the first movie. We have to learn where they came from, why and how they got their powers, what drives them, why they are so brooding, etc. Often this leaves little time for the rest of the story to naturally evolve to show where they are in the present day. X-men almost lost it here, because they had so many characters to introduce. Batman, Superman, Daredevil, Spiderman and the first Punisher really struck this balance well. They made the trip enjoyable and made you care about the characters. That is what makes any movie great.
--Somewhere there is a village missing an idiot.
I meant right not left. There was a "vast right-wing conspiracy" and Hillary said that before the Monica Lewinsky affair became public. Read "The Hunting of the President" or see the film made from it. Farenheit 911 is very well documented so there is little that you can call into factual dispute. You may not agree with his conclusions but he didn't doctor the comments from Bush and the others. The main reasons for the war have been disproven and a lot of the intelligence they based their decision to invade on was known to be bogus by the administration because the CIA told them it was. Everything that Chilabi gave them was false and the CIA told the administration not to trust it. Yet they went before the U.N. and offered up this discredited evidence and said there was "NO DOUBT" it was true. No amount of spinning from the right is going dispute those facts.
I must say, this movie comes damned close. Through the first two-thirds of the movie, I kept turning to my friend and asking, "Are we supposed to feel THIS SORRY for him?" However, the ending was a big payoff, set up by Peter Parker's suffering throughout the beginning and middle. I was practically cheering when he turns around without his mask on after convincing Doc Ock to drown the reactor, and Mary Jane finally sees his true identity. Likewise I was almost yelling "YOU DUMBASS!" at the screen when he gives her his "we can't be together, too risky, blah blah blah" speech, but that in turn just helps to provoke her to leave Jameson's son at the altar. At the very end, there's all this depressing stuff (Harry becomes the Goblin, Aunt May loses her house, Jameson's son gets stiffed) but all you're focused on is Peter Parker, finally redeemed, in love, and swinging between towers as Spider-Man. That feeling of total empathy with Spider-Man is what makes the movie so great.
Umm...Peter Parker's been angst-ridden since he first showed up in Amazing Fantasy #15. It's Batman who went from fluff to haunted figure some time in the early seventies, when DC tried to imitate Marvel's style. Either that, or someone realized that, although Spider-Man is so called because he has spider powers, there never was a reason for Bruce Wayne to fight crime dressed as a bat, unless there was something a little...off about him.
"Hardly used" will not fetch you a better price for your brain.
Apparently villains in the Spider-Man mythos like to recycle old ideas...
As if that's restricted to Spider-Man. Almost all villains are copycats in some way -- they have to get their ideas somewhere! And sometimes it's just easier to pick up where someone else left off, and some are groomed specifically to be a specific type of villain. I don't suppose there's room for a "like father, like son" cliché around here...
But I see your point. Most copycat villains don't assume the name of a previous villain, and most won't even consider themselves copycats -- it's usually the CSIs who discover the patterns and the media that assign the labels.
Speaking of which, I just remembered which Spider-Man movie character I like the least: that damned newspaper editor!
Easy, killer. You can't put out the fire with your own flame.
:-)
What if I hate the bias of Slashdot readers too? (I said "what if"!) It doesn't mean that I'm not allowed my own bias -- it just means that I hate their bias. My bias is good bias in my opinion, because it's mine.
"Bias" is just a negative word for "opinion".
...to claim that she hasn't had a better performance since Interview with a Vampire indicates to me reviewer hasn't seen Drop Dead Gorgeous. ...or The Virgin Suicides, or Crazy/Beautiful, or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind... Not that those were necessarily better performances, but it's hard to measure her performance in either Spider-Man movie against those movies where the focus isn't on a web-slinging hero in a tightsuit.
Also, for what it's worth -- which is more to me than it is to you, since I rarely agree with Ebert but you couldn't care less what I think -- I agree with Ebert: Kirsten plays a valuable role very well, and I can't imagine these movies without her.
Besides, she's hot!
A few friends and I sat in our seats discussing the first movie, and we digressed into discussing what it would really be like to be Spider-Man. Someone suggested that not only would it be really cool, but it would make a funnier movie if (for at least the first few times) Spidey's webbing was accompanied by some kind of orgasmic physical reaction. Boys and girls all around us then joined in the conversation, proposing interesting shower scenes, uncomfortable moments with Mary Jane, not to mention a theatre-row full of moviegoers pretending to shoot spiderwebs from our wrists and making orgasmic noises and gestures.
I guess you had to be there.
Do let's not. Boy, I waited all movie for that to get good. And it didn't.
Bunch of girls off themselves. Nobody's sure why. Isn't it angsty?
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
First off J.J. Jameson is supposed to be like that, and so is parker around him. That IS the way it was in the commics when parker was still new at the Bugle (first few years anyway).
OK the fusion magnetism and tritium are horrible science, but frankly 99% of the audience will buy it because thier NOT nuclear physcist or even close.
It wasn NOT thier chief scientist that went nuts in the last movie, it was thier founder, and no one knew it, they thought he just tragically died. Many companies survive without thier founder once they hit mega-corp status like ozcorp borders on at that point in the marvel timeline. Heck Apple survived firing Jobs and Woz going off on his own.
I guess if your not much of a fan of Spider Man, or even commics this will only be an average movie to many. But IF you like comics, and especially Spider Man. This is a pretty good movie to see, excluding the whole fusion/tritium issue and the stupid train dead end for no reason.
If you don't get why MJ saying "go get 'em tiger" had to be in the movie, it might not work as well for you.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
I have to disagree with you, Jawhawk, about the smartass thing not working with live actors. The TV version of Buffy the Vampire slayer usually had a one-liner of one sort or another, and I don't whether it was Sarah Michelle Geller's acting or the brilliance of Joss Whedon's writing, but I never found the one-liners in BtVS sounding like they were forced.
I got all jazzed when I saw "Nerdshack.com" in that other guy's sig, thinking it was a nerd dating site.
You're right. There really are a lot of dumb hot chicks out there. And yes, I have hit that in the past, but once you know you CAN get some if you want it, just getting some loses its shininess quite a bit.
Now I just need to find a real nerd dating site and I'll be set.
+++ATH0
Look, Mr Preachy, I'm not sure who you are trying to impress or what you are trying to achieve by this. By posting your unhelpful, snide remarks as an AC, your input is about as relevant and interesting to me as the stupid spiderman film this forum is about.
And you think you can lecture me about being indoors too much? How the hell do you know what my life is like? For all you know, I'm posting this from a laptop in the park or a cellphone in the desert. Stupid, boring, petty, pedantic moron. If I had such useless things to say, I'd do it as an AC too.
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
I certainly do. Thats why I haven't posted any anon posts bashing you. I log in for every comment I write. Looks like more people are annoyed at you then just me.
Think nothing is impossible? Try slamming a revolving door.
Kingpin was a Spidey villain first. He moved to Daredevil when DD needed a nemesis. However, Kingpin cannot appear in a Spider-Man movie because the character rights are tied up from the Daredevil movie.
In Soviet Russia, TV watches you!
Movie rights keep getting in the way of good movies don't they?
The few comics I remember of Kingpin as a spidey villain certainly showed him to be the villain most in tune with the spirit of the Spiderman comic itself: a smart, ruthless, dangerous enemy both to Spiderman and innocent bystanders, on a physical level, and more importantly, on a moral level.
Lucky for her, that didn't quite ruin her for me... I'll probably take her back if she asks nicely and brings peppered jerky.
Mom says my