Spiderman 3

Spiderman 3 was much better than I was expecting but still lacked something. Funny, since most of the reviews I've read said there was too much going on and was overstuffed.

My wife Tanya said that it felt like a mini-series trying to be a movie, lots of up and down action and it kept going on. I can see her point but...

I loved moments in the film. I loved that Peter Parker is dorky, even when he was evil he was dorky. I laughed when Butler Exposition gives away an important piece of information and then disappears. I loved the strong continuity. I loved John Jonah Jameson. I LOVED Sandman. I loved how they used Gwen Stacy (modeling a Photochopier! HA!)

The thing of the movie is, its cornball comicbook Spiderman with a glossy CGI look. All the girls screaming, Spidey with the American flag waving in the background, all that clapping for the hero... it's all just window dressing but it maintains the spirit of that gosh wow, cheesy feel of reading an old comicbook.

HOWEVER... one thing that they dropped the ball on was the soap opera part. There was something a bit TOO cliche about the whole MaryJane and Peter romance - the whole phone thing as a motif... jeez, that was just frickin' annoying. And that makes me sad because I loved the romance in parts 1 and 2, especially 2.

Another was Venom. Too little use of him - he's got potential to be a fantastic character in the future and he was just... underused. Nuff said.

I think some new blood needs to be injected into the Spiderman series. Sam Raimi's been doing an excellent job but it's starting to feel a little bit (a little bit) stale.