Taking the Good with the Bad: My Thoughts on Spider-Man 3

I think that SM3 was a good film and not great...I agree that while Venom was cool...that story could've stood in it's own movie by itself. The build up to a Venom theme would've been a much better story arc....although, there's still some of the symbiote around....we'll see. The Saturday Night Fever thing was cool at the begining but by the end it was overdone. The look of women on the street was just about how I felt about it too....

The problem with the saturday night fever homage was the way Peter was acting. I feel that's how Peter would act if he was in a good mood, with no symbiote interference. I'd bet the day after he and MJ first slept together, he walked down the street like that. He should have been "cooler." He should have been too cool and confident to walk around like a dork.

Oh, that's cool. Pick on me when I can't even defend myself. I get no respect.

I'll tell you how lame I thought Spider-Man 3 was in six months when I rent it from Netflix. LAME.

Below is a very odd interview with George Lucas........

Fox411's Roger Friedman talked to George Lucas at the all-star Time magazine dinner and got some interesting sound bites from the Indiana Jones 4 executive producer.

Lucas says that Sean Connery still hasn't signed on, but his character, Indy's dad, is in the script. Other than that, his lips are sealed.

Lucas said that he has seen all the summer movies since his company, Industrial Light & Magic, does most of the special effects. The only one they didn't work on was Spider-Man 3. What did he think of it?

"It's silly. It's a silly movie," he said. "There just isn't much there. Once you take it all apart, there's not much story, is there? People thought 'Star Wars' was silly, too," he added, with a wink. "But it wasn't."

While Lucas is readying the new "Clone Wars" animated series, he told Friedman that he will make two more live-action films based in the "Star Wars" universe as well.

"But they won't have members of the Skywalker family as characters," he said. "They will be other people of that milieu."

The two extra films will also be made for TV and probably be an hour long each. But, like "Clone Wars," Lucas doesn't know where on TV they will land.

At first I just thought it was okay, but the more and more I think about it the more and more I realize Sam Raimi dropped the ball with this one -- BIG TIME. It flat out stunk. When it was trying to be funny (such as the "darker Parker" strutting down the street hitting on women scene) it just came across as bizarre. The action was too over the top -- come on, Spiderman surfing down the highway on the back of an armored car door!?! I also found it hard to invest in the characters because they didn't have room to breath in the way too cramped storyline. I heard Venom was a last minute change from Vulture and it shows. The directing felt lazy and uninspired, especially the way the characters were all haphazardly connected (Eddie Brock and Gwen Stacy) and how vemon just landed right next to Peter when he first came to Earth. Come on! And I love the way it didn't even resolve in the end -- so it's okay to go and kill if it's for your sick daughter, Sandman? Just for kicks I rewatched Spiderman 2 and it just made me sad how far off part 3 was.

Very nice review, Kurt. Very thoughtful and insightful. I minorly disagree that the jazz club dance and the strutting didn't bother me at all (I appreciated the zany, over-the-top humor to give me a pause from the romantic drama and the too-much action) but other than that I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Oh, and -
Gen13 by Simone IS very well written; Thunderbolts stinks to high heaven and has for so long its ridiculous the title still exists; Countdown will be well worth the money if it is half as good as 52 and manages to be released on schedule.

I loved Peter's "pimp strut." It made me laugh hard precisely because it was so exaggerated and cheesy. As far as him being a dick, the symbiote does have a function there. Peter would've never had those fits of anger and violent aggression if he weren't under its influence.

The inclusion of the Venom storyline (which would've been great on its own) does bring the film down for me. I could accept the fact that Raimi intended to stick with the Spider-Man villains he liked from the 60s, but he just had to insert arguably the most popular villain in the Spider-Man mythos at the behest of Avi Arad and the fans. It's a shame. I will say that Topher Grace made a believer out of me. When I first heard he'd been cast to play Venom I decried the decision. However, he actually managed to elevate Eddie Brock beyond his character in the comics. This is a rare feat.

Reviewers have been ripping on Mary Jane left and right and I have to disagree. I intend to go more into this on my blog, but I'll make a few points here:

- Any misunderstanding which involves the boyfriend KISSING ANOTHER WOMAN is hardly "idiotic." In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to call it a "misunderstanding."

- It isn't wrong that MJ would be jealous of the public adoration Peter receives as Spider-Man. Everyone has insecurities and fears, and most of us don't always handle them gracefully. This is especially true with women. When you add Mary Jane's painful relationship with her father and Peter's egoistic blindness to her emotional needs, it's even worse. She put a lot of effort and hope into her career. To have it deteriorate like it did was horrible for MJ and you can't just say, "Well, shit happens. Deal with it." It isn't that simple every time; her success was very important to her.

- The scene in the restaurant is about what I would expect. It's pretty silly and unrealistic to claim that two adults in our world would surely work it out on the spot. That doesn't really happen in the heat of negative emotions like neglect, frustration and anger.

That's enough for now. Overall, I was satisfied with Spider-Man 3 even though it suffered under its own weight.

I agree with Kurt almost 100%. As far as George Lucas' comments, that guy should bury his head in the sand after making Episodes I,II,III. Please. SPM3 was a great movie to watch and offered so much more depth to the characters than SM1 and SM2 and not to mention much more action. I think people are just looking for reasons not to like the movie for some unknown reason. Maybe you didn't like the scene with him dancing down the street, but I'll tell you who did, my 6 year old nephew loved it!! And those are the kinds of people that it was made for, but we don't here from them because they aren't on here.

that's just it....I did like the movie...I think you're on to something jonnie1017 when you say you're 6 year old nephew thought it was cool....only someone who hasn't seen Satuday Night Fever under the age of 18 would've thought that was cool...and that's the target market for this one...obviously.

I was amazed by the action sequences, and Topher killed as Venom. I loved it when he said "uh oh, my spidey senses are tingling!" He should find darker roles...they completely agree with his acerbic personality.

Parker with a bad attitude was pretty cool too...I enjoyed when TM got dark and was a bad boy. It was a peek into what could happen if SM went there....the Harry and Parker Fight II was cool as well...I liked the banter between them....

Buffy, Astonishing and Runaways were so good. Loving Joss' work.

As far as Mr. Revisionist goes:
If Lucas supposes that, then Lucas is a ass, a idiot!