After my last post was so emotionally wrenching, now for something completely different: Spider-man!
And there is a hyphen in that word, according to the movie! I got 2 tickets for today, actually could have seen it last night in a special sneak preview but I choose last night to see Y Tu Mama Tambien, and actually those movies do cover some of the same material, at least in terms of angst. I got the 2nd ticket for my grandson, but it turned out he had other plans (I am sure made my mom since we have been talking about Spider-man for a long time) so I went alone and it actuually was a bit tough to just give away my extra ticket. No one wanted to believe me that I was offering a free ticket. And let me tell you, seeing all those ill behaved children in the theatre lobby and in the theatre, I was very thankful that my grandson is mine, he has his wild side, but he is also a gentleman. And he doesn't get up and go up and down the aisle 18 times during the course of a movie, like the kids next to me did. A cardinal rule of mine: you do everything you need to do and you load up on whatever, popcorn, pop, before the movie begins and you never, ever not watch the movie from beginning to end. Anyway,. Spider-man itself - it has more than enough plot holes - hey, two people live next door to each other for so long and act like they have never talked before? You were never both in the backyard at the same time? C'mon, sometime between 1st grade and high school you spoken to Kirsten Durst--- and girl, you are hanging by a web thread connected to a cable car full of children, all about to fall in the East River, and Spider-man is saving you in a life and death battle with the Green Goblin, and you are thinking of Peter Parker? And some of the scenes were a bit cheesy, the fact that so much was filmed against a blue screen rather than on location was actually distracting to me. The movie was basicly done before September 11th and the scenes of buildings collapsing in NYC (and yes, the World Trade Center is there, they couldn't edit that out totally) were a bit tough. One of my friends has an original Spiderman poster in which the WTC was reflected in his eyes, posters that were yanked last fall, but they just couldn't edit it all out of the movie. And then they added a gratutious scene (you mess with one of us, you mess with of all us) that flew right over the audience's heard, I suppose it was intended to make us cheer, but it failed, it was obviously added on, and there is a flag at the end that wasn't there on September 10th in the edit room. And gees, could it be more obvious that there is a sequel coming? They might as well have labeled this, Part One. They were setting up the sequel half way through the movie. That all aside, go see it! It was wonderful! The action scenes - and that is what you go for after all - were stunning, certainly far better than I expected, and that is where the movie budget must gone, and was it worth it! It really is a romantic comedy with this stunning action - keeps the romantic comedy part of the movie from being too much, and it keeps the movie from being Die Hard, it was just the right balance of a little of this, a little of that. The actors are perfectly cast, and it was well acted, and well directed. I am not a fan of action movies, but I was eager all through Spider-man to see what the next action sequence would be, and each one was better than the one before. Spidey swoops through the caverns of Manhatten, a visual delight. Willem Dafoe played the villian Green Goblin in a way that added so much depth and character, actually underplayed in a scene or two which made other contrasts more vivid. At no time watching this movie did I feel that I was watching a cartoon with cartoon characaters. The plot might have holes, but the characters didn't. All of the lead actors were excellent. Superman was always just so wholesome. Batman was always so dark. This Spider-man avoids both of those pitfalls. Plot holes aside, it still plays well enough, I could believe this kid suddenly finding himself witth these spider powers, and the delight that he takes in discovering what he can do was so real to what a kid would do. (And thankfully the movie avoids any sexual innuendo other than Kirsten Durst in a wet shirt, and that is cool because when I do take the grandson, it is just nice sometimes not to have to deal with that. And it avoids that without being so wholesome you want to puke.) The rumored steaming kiss was not as charged as I had been led to believe, but it was a great movie kiss anyway, and thankfully as we last glimpse Kirsten Durst she is touching her lips and recognizing who just kissed her again... I actually can't wait to see Spider-man again. It will be on his mother's head when Gage learns that I had opening day tickets and he didn'tt get to go. But we have a rule between us that we can a movie as many times as want, there is nothing wrong with seeing a movie again and again, and this is one of the most enjoyable films that I will see in this period in which we see so many movies that are kid-ok. I do want to see those action sequences again, and for me, that is rare. Spider-man is not the original Star wars category, and it sure is not as overwhelming as Lord of the Rings was, this was paced and you gotta see Spidey deal with bullies at school... Spidey going to a wrestling match --Spidey swooping through NYC... this was just so much fun. And there even is a moral: it answers the question, "I missed the part where this is my problem." For a night you want to go and have fun and relaz and be entertained, this is the film. I got a sneak peak briefly at the new Star Wars yesterday and that will be more LOTR style, constant coming at you, and that will be cool, too, it looks very good, the best since the original from what little I saw, but Spider-man is a perfectly fun and relaxing, great action flick! (the Rev) Vince
