Rating:  -
In this first movie of the Spider-Man franchise (2002) director Sam Raimi did almost everything right. He concentrated on character development and character growth. Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker becomes a fully-realized person before our eyes. He's not a cardboard or cartoon character hero. He's vulnerable, innocent, a wide-eyed likeable person that we can empathize with. Orphaned, he lives with his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) and Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) in a very modest Queens(?) home. He has a lifelong crush on the girl next door Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst).
Bitten by a spider, he gets great powers that he uses to fight evil. Fighting the bad guys becomes a mission more important than his personal happiness and his love for Mary Jane. His wealthy friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) has a father Norm (Willem Dafoe) who because of an experiment gone awry becomes a nut case villain, the Green Goblin, who buzzes around on a flying machine like a sled. The two masked men, Spider and Goblin, go after each other and all heck breaks loose.
The subsidiary characters are well-done including J.K. Simmons as Peter's editor who thinks Spider-Man is a menace. Uncle Ben is instrumental in carving out a career for Spider-Man/Peter.
Spectacular scenes of Spider aloft weaving in and out through the Manhattan canyons are memorable along with the Roosevelt tram episode.
This movie surmounts its action-oriented genre, and creates believable people. Toby's acting is a key to the movie's success and its artistry. Enough teasers and unfinished business was left in this one to spawn sequels and perhaps even a Broadway musical.
Rating: -
the spiderman almost jump out off the screen, get the box set not one by one..
Rating:  -
Hi, Fat Boy. I am the world-famous film critic, Movie Review Kid, who is gonna tell YOU how to lose weight. First, you need to exercise daily and stop eating fatty foods. Now that I'm done with that, let's get on with the review.
This week's movie is Spider-Man-The Motion Picture DVD Trilogy. This little beauty contains the three Spidey movies (Spider-Man [2002], Spider-Man 2 [2004] and Spider-Man 3 [2007]) which are conveniently packaged in this low-priced box set. The movies star Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker a.k.a. your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Kirsten Dunst is the Girl Next Door, Mary Jane Watson, Spidey's love interest. And James Franco as Harry Osborn, Peter's best friend, until he finds out that Peter is Spider-Man who killed his father (explained in more detail below.)
Spider-Man is a famous Marvel Comics superhero. With every superhero comes supervillians. A rogues gallery of Spidey's fiercest enemies appear in the trilogy. In Spider-Man, it's the Green Goblin (played by William Dafoe), who is the father of Harry Osborn, turned evil. In Spider-Man 2, it is Doctor Octopus, abbreviated Doc Ock (played by Alfred Molina), a former scientist who is controlled by his evil robot tentacles. In Spider-Man 3, it is New Goblin (James Franco) a.k.a. Harry Osborn who tries to get revenge on Peter after finding out that he killed his father. Another Spidey 3 villian is Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), a burgular who gains sand powers after falling into a particle acclerator (I have no idea what that is). The final Spidey 3 villian is Venom (Topher Grace) a photographer who is stricken with an alien symbiote and given the same powers as Spider-Man, but uses them for evil use.
Now that we've patched that up, I--Are you eating chips? If you wanna lose weight, you have got to stop eating this junk. Hey, I see those pork rinds under the pillow. Give them to me! Yeesh, no wonder you're so fat. I bet your mama's that fat, too.--should start telling you about the movies themselves.
Spider-Man: High school student Peter Parker's life dramatically changes after he is bitten by a radioactive spider and receives spider powers. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn turns into the Green Goblin and starts terrorizing the people of New York City. Peter starts using his powers to gain publicity and make some extra dough. So this guy who was supposed to give Peter money doesn't give him the money, see. So after that guy gets robbed, Peter lets the thief get away. Then, that thief goes and shoots Peter's Uncle. Ironic, isn't it? Then Peter learns "With great power comes great responsibility." He then becomes Spider-Man, saving people and whatnot. He faces the Goblin on several occasions and the Goblin tries to convince Spidey to join him in a life of crime but Spidey disagrees. It all ends in a climatic battle between the Spider and Goblin and the Goblin ends up dying (Spidey did not kill him; he died by his own hand). Spidey then sends the Goblin home and then Harry sees him and thinks that Spider-Man killed his father. After the funeral, he vows that Spider-Man will pay.
Well, after that intense ending, Spider-Man leaves ya begging for more. Two years later, you stop begging. Why? 'Cause the second movie's in theaters. The storyline goes like this:
Spider-Man 2: Peter is having a hard time balancing his normal life and his superhero life. First, he's failing school. Second, his best friend, Harry, is out to revenge on Spidey. Third, the girl he loves, Mary Jane, is getting married to John Jameson, the son of the editor of the Daily Bugle (Peter's boss). Dr. Otto Octavius, a scientist, creates these four mechanical arms, or tentacles, to handle this big ball of fire that he is unveiling to everybody. Then, everything goes haywire and there is explosions and Peter transforms into Spider-Man to try to help get things back on track. In all the ruckus, Octavius's wife dies and the scientist decides to blame Spidey for the incident. Then the four mechanical arms mend into his body and he becomes Doctor Octopus. Spidey later temporarily loses his powers and Doc Ock (hearing that Peter is close to Spidey) commands Peter to tell Spidey to meet him at some place or else he'll kill Mary Jane. That scene also has a cool scene where a car comes crashing through the window, that's so cool. Peter gets his power back and the Spider and the Octopus face off in an epic battle. Also, Mary Jane and Harry end up finding out that Peter is Spider-Man. Suprising, huh? I can't tell you how they found out, that would ruin the supriseness.
It all ends in this movie. Check it out.
Spider-Man 3: Spidey/Peter's life is going great. He has finally got the girl (Mary Jane) and can balance his life. But his friend (Harry) now hates him 'cause he thought that Spider-Man killed his father and then he found out that Spider-Man is his buddy, Peter. Harry then dons the same suit his deranged father had and becomes the New Goblin. He faces off against Peter but gets sent to the hospital afterward. When he is released from the hospital, he cannot remember that Spider-Man killed his dad or that Peter was Spider-Man, which is good news for Peter. But Peter's luck changes when he finds out that the man who killed his uncle (the thief from the first movie) was actually NOT the guy who killed his uncle and that the actual guy who killed his uncle is Flint Marko, a thief who is still at large. This angers Peter because he finds out that when he killed his uncle's shooter, he actually killed an innocient man and that his uncle's real killer is still out there. Now, Flint Marko actually falls into that particle accelerator and becomes half-man, half-sand, or Sandman. So, when Sandman robs a bank and Spider-Man tries to stop him, Spider-Man gets a mouthful of sand. Also, another problem Peter faced was Eddie Brock, a photographer who is out to get Peter's job. Also, an alien symbiote from outer space attaches to Spider-Man turning his suit black, and making him evil, adding to his rage. Now he is equally-matched to Sandman, defeating him once and for all, or so Peter thinks. And also Mary Jane, gets bad reviews from critics about her new Broadway and is upset about it, but Peter has to worry about other things. Then, Harry regains his memory and forces Mary Jane to tell Peter that she does not love him anymore. Then, Peter goes out with Gwen Stacy, trying to make Mary Jane jealous. He causes a mess at the club where Mary Jane sings and ends up throwing her on the floor. Realizing that the symbiote that was controlling his life caused this, he hurries to take it off. When Peter strips the black suit off, Eddie Brock (who Peter recently had fired) is standing below and inherits the black suit and becomes Venom. Venom and Sandman team up to defeat Peter, holding Mary Jane hostage. The ending is intense and you just won't believe it. But I saw the ending, and I believed it.
Whew! That was long. I guess this brings my review to an end. If you afford this package, just settle for the individual DVDs then. They also have the trilogy in Blu-Ray, for those who wanna advance. Well then, good-bye from the Movie Review KId...and try to follow my weight loss tips.
P.S. It is not the end of the Spider-Man film series. On May 6, 2011, Spider-Man 4 will be released. No lie.
Rating: -
This movies look and sound amazing on Blu-ray. If you want a good movie to show off your system any of these 3 are the best ones to use.
Rating: -
"Spider-Man" was arguably the first modern super-hero comic book. It demonstrated how a fundamentally idiotic idea (attaining super powers from the bite of a radioactive spider has been mercilessly parodied) could work, if the story resonated with the readers. Lee and Ditko had the sense to make the hero a geeky teenager who has super powers thrust on him, without the experience or wisdom to know what to do. The parallel with the transition from puberty to maturity is obvious, but it works. "Spider-Man" was probably the biggest single influence in moving comic books away from melodrama and toward drama.
Sam Raimi, a director notorious for over-the-top silliness, would seem the least-likely choice for such material, but he handles it perfectly. The focus is firmly on Peter's relationships with his family and Mary-Jane, even in the third film (which has too many villains, and too many plot lines to tie up). It's underplayed, with Maguire's performance convincingly shy without being sappy. He might be a geek, but he's no dork. Rosemary Harris is especially fine as everyone's idea of the perfect nuturing aunt. Her performance is much better than it has to be.
The only unbelievable character is J Jonah Jameson, but then, he was over-the-top in the comics, too; no Perry White, he. J K Simmons (perhaps best-known as the bisexual Nazi murderer-rapist in HBO's "Oz") shows he's just as good at comedy, nailing the character. (No jokes, please.)
If the Spider-Man films have a problem, it's that there's a limited number of feats a super hero can perform, and only so many emotional conflicts a human being can experience. Not surprisingly, their situations and story arcs are uncomfortably like those in the first three Superman films: Peter swings up to catch Mary Jane as she falls (he later repeats the act with his aunt). He abandons his super-identify because it interferes with what he most wants out of life. People "on the street" aid him when he's in trouble. He even loses and regains his super powers. And in the third film, Gwen Stacy's inevitable fall from a building is so close to Lois Lane's helicopter fall (with the mic cable replaced by a telephone cord) that it verges on plagiarism. Not to mention that, as in S3, a drastic change in the hero's personality is a central plot element. Whether or not this is conscious copying, it does give an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu, which is why I've awarded these well-done and entertaining films only four stars.
I can't resist pointing out that, as with most super-hero films, there is an utter disregard for the laws of physics. Worse, the animators don't understand one of the most-basic: F = ma. Objects and people move almost instantly from rest to motion (or back), which is not only unrealisitc, but impossible. (Disney had a good grasp of this 70 years ago. Digital animators don't seem to have caught it. Note, for example, how Shrek moves as if his body is massless.) S-M3 also overlooks e = mv^2/2 -- there's no way a swinging crane could crack a building's girders.
The Blu-ray transfers are of the high quality one expects. (They /ought/ to be -- Sony owns Columbia.) The second film includes the extended "2.1" version. I don't believe there's any supplemental material that hasn't already appeared on the DVDs.
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