Spiderman Movies Part I

Now, in 1962, after his massive success with the Fantastic Four, Marvel comics writer Stan Lee was searching for new superhero ideas. He decided he'd come up with one on his own. he was thinking of some sort of insect-themed superhero. He couldn't think of anything that was more than just a one-shot character. He turned to arachnids, and came up witht he simple idea of a kid bitten by a spider that contained some weird disease that would give the kid the abilitied to crawl up walls, shoot webs (well, actually he had to build web devices), and get the agility and strength of a giant spider. He called the character "Spider-Man".  His editor though, hated the idea. he told Stan it would bomb, that it was a waste of time, as people hated spiders, and thought they were nasty, weird creatures. So Stan had to scrap the cool idea and start from scratch. But, the magazine Amazing Adult Fantasy, (Which was not a reference to sexual fantasies, but meant the magzine was for more mature readers, like 12 and up.) was being cancelled after just 14 issues, because the sci-fi/horror comics fad was fading. Stan was given the chance to do whatever he wanted for the final issue, #15. He decided the editor wouldn't care if he snuck his new idea in to the final issue of a failed comic book. He did just that, and the sales of Amazing Adult Fantasy (re-named Amazing Fantasy for the Spider-Man issue) sky-rocketed, and suddenly, Stan's editor suddenly found his idea revolutionary, and very interesting. In 1963, Spider-Man starred in his own comic book, The Amazing Spider-Man, the first issue featuring an appearance by teh Fantastic Four, and the intro to one of Spidey's best villains, The Chameleon. He became incredibly popular, with a nostalgia-inducing animated series in the 60's, several appearances on the educational kid's show The Electric Company, a spanning rogues' gallery, and a 90's animated series. But, the wall-crawler had yet to be adapted to film, because the special effects were not evolved enough to faithfully adapt Spidey to the silver screen. The idea had been tossed to numerous big action directors like James Cameron, who wrote a full script. But, in summer 2001, a trailer was released. It shows some thieves robbing a bank, they get in a chopper and disembark. They fly about, and get caught in a web between the twin towers. Suddenly, we see the reflection in Spidey's eye, and he swings around. Sam Raimi was announced as director, and popular young actor Tobey Maguire was cast as Peter Parker. Supporting actors were announced: J.K. Simmons and Rosemary Harris (who were in Raimi's 2000 supernatural thriller The Gift), Willem Dafoe, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, and Kirsten Dunst. In summer 2002, Raimi followed in the footsteps of Peter Jackson, who, like Raimi did cult horror films in the 80's and 90's (Brainded, Bad Taste), but broke through with major blockbusters (Jackson did Lord of the Rings), when Spider-Man became one of the highest grossing films of all time.

Spider-Man:
When mild-mannered geek Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically engineered spider during a field trip, he gains the abilities nad agility of a giant spider. (One of the things changed from the comics was that Peter gains the ability to shoot webs from his wrists, as opposed to building web-shooters, an idea taken from James Cameron's scrapped script. An idea I found cooler and better.) The general plot follows that Peter gets his owers, tries to impress his crush Mary Jane Watson, tries to get fame, but, becuase of his selfishness and negligence, his Uncle Ben is killed by a mugger he let go, and eventually learns that "with great power comes great responsibility". He then becomes a humorous, colorful vigilante named "Spider-Man", who must face the schizophrenic super-villain, the Green Goblin. He also gets freelance work taking pictures of himself in-costume, fighting crime, at the Daily Bugle newspaper. (The original idea was to have Spidey face Doctor Octopus, an idea saved for the sequel.) The action in the film is fantastic. Although Peter doesn't become Spidey until half-way through the movie, there is a short, but cool fight scene with Pete's bully, Flash Thompson. Also, Spidey has a cool fight scene with the brutal wrestler Bonesaw McGraw in an amatuer wrestling competition. (This scene is very cartoonish, as if you look closely, there's a female medic dressed like a 1940's nurse, and some of the moves and things in this wrestling competition are obviously illegal, like using a firepoker to beat your enemies.) Pete also has cool chase scenes swinging around the city, chasing after the mugger who killed his Uncle Ben. When he becomes Spider-Man, Peter swings around the city, fights the Green Goblin at an Oscorp-funded World Peace festival, encounters Goblin in a huge building fire, and encounters the Goblin at the Daily Bugle when delivering Spider-Man photos. The final battle on the bridge is short, and the higlight is when the Goblin drags Spidey to an abandoned military fort or something and kicks his ass, before causing Spidey to go into an ass-kicking rage, where he defeats the Goblin. The special effects are a bit dated, but were ground-breaking at the time. I remember seeing the final scene where Spidey swings about New York, poses on the American flag and swings at the screen. Sure, it seems a little cheesy now to have Spidey on the flag, but to my 4-year-old mind, that was an epic final shot. The casting is impeccable. Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris are convincing and lovable as Peter's doting, loving, caring Aunt May and Uncle Ben. You feel genuinely sad when Uncle Ben is found dying on the street by Peter and a crowd of cops and press. Tobey Maguire is convincing and fantastic as Peter Parker. From geeky, awkward nobody, to the funny, smart-ass Spider-Man. Kirsten Dunst is great as the beautiful, smart, and constantly screaming Mary Jane Watson. James Franco is great as the smart, funny, and loyal friend Harry Osborne. He is loved by his father , but also somewhat under-appreciated by him, which leaves conflicting emotions of proving himself worthy of the name Osborne. Willem Dafoe is perfectly cast as Norman Osborne, aka The Green Goblin. He is a good father, good businessman, and above all, creepy as hell. The friendly guy is a cover for his subconscious demons, which are brought out and manifested in an alternate personality known as "The Goblin". They need to get him back for the new Spidey series, or get someone very close to him to play Norman. The one cast member who absolutley can't be replaced is J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, editor of the Daily Bugle. He is an over-the-top, obnoxious, hilarious comic book character brought to reality. He has the funniest lines and funniest moments in the series. Bruce Campbell (Raimi's childhood friend and star of his previous film series The Evil Dead.) makes a cameo as the announcer for the amatuer wrestling match. Stan Lee makes a cameo during the Goblin's attack on the Oscorp festival, grabbing a little girl before she's crushed by falling debris. Sam Raimi is a great choice for director, able to do funny and violent, showcased in the horror classic The Evil Dead and it's sequels, and being a huge fan of Spidey since childhood. He employs groundbreaking cinematography (like in Evil Dead), like in the web-slingling scenes, and in the scene when Peter thinks of costume ideas, it looks exactly like a comic-book, and is layed out like one, too. If you haven't seen Spider-Man, get a life and see it. You won't regret it, it will bring you nostalgic memories every time you see it. 5/5 stars. Notes: Some other things the film changes from the comics are: The spider that bites Peter in the comics is just "radioactive", while in the movie it explains this spider is in a series of mutated "super-spiders", which are pieced together from multiple DNA strands, giving them all the abilities of every major spider species, which explains why it gives Peter so many powers. Also, in the comics and cartoons, Norman is turned into the Goblin during a laboratory accident. In the movie, however, the Oscorp science division is building tech and creating super-serums for the miliary. Norman is pressured into human testing, told that his serum must have a successful human test date in the next two weeks, or the military will cut his funding. So he uses the serum on himself, even though it failed in one rodent test, causing schizophrenia and aggression. He is turned into a crazy, super-strong man with multiple personality disorder, and he kills the military general as the Goblin. When the board members of the company attempt to sell Oscorp to rival company Quest, he kills them as the Goblin. When he sees Spider-Man as a threat, he attempts to persuade him to do evil, when he refuses, the Goblin attacks him personally. This changes Norman's motives and his origina story slightly.

Spider-Man 2:
This movie was released in 2004, to critical praise, saying that it's a great comic book moie, it's better than the first, etc. I must disagree, I do agree that it's a great movie, but it's not better, but equal to the first, for it's own reasons. First of all, it's a lot darker than the first. Not saying that the first movie didn't have it's dark moments, but it was still bright and colorful, this film even darkens Spidey's costume colors, and has darker subject matter. The plot follows the introduction of a new, more dangerous villain, Doctor Octopus, who Spidey must face, while coping with relationship issues, and the loss of his powers, which might have been only temporary, and that maybe the spider venom has worked it's way out of his system. The original cast are great. Peter is getting to be a darker character, coping with not being able to see his beloved MJ, dealing with friendship issues with Harry (now head of Oscorp), and coping with the loss of his powers, and the possibility that he was the cause of of Uncle Ben'sdeath, and going back to his normal life. He's also fired from pizza delivering and the Bugle. MJ is successful on Broadway, and is engaged to J. Jonah Jameson's son, John, but feels empty. Harry's company is failing, he's depressed after his dad's loss, he's angry at Peter for being friends with Spidey (whom Harry believes killed his dad, the Green Goblin, in the last movie), and is an alcoholic. He invests his money in Alfred Molina's Otto Octavius, who fucks up a solar experiment involving robotic tentacles, nearly destroying the city, killing Otto's wife, and melding the claws to his body. The claws begin to control his mind, gaining artificial intelligence. Molina is a great choice for the intelligent Doc Ock, who is a depressed villain who wants to avenge his wife and his work by rebuilding his solar machine, which would destroy the city. He must rob banks for research cahs and beat up Spider-Man to accomplish this. Rosemary Harris is back as the lovable Aunt May, who is losing her house in Queens, because at the beginning of the first movie, Ben was laid off from his job as a plumber, so she has no money. This is shown in the scene with Peter on his birthday, trying to refuse money from May, who pleads him to take it, and not leave it there. He then discovers when she falls asleep that she is being evicted. This establishes this conflict which will be a subplot in the film. Bruce Campbell makes a cameo as an asshole doorman who won't let Peter into a theater MJ's play is in because he's about 10 minutes late. Stan Lee makes a cameo briefly in a scene where Doc Ock is climbing up a building and he blocks a woman from falling debris, again. Which brings me to the action and effects. The special effects in this film are amazing, now looking very realistic. The fight scenes are amazing. The fight at the bank when Pete's powers keep failing, the fight on the skyscraper, the clock-tower/train fight, these scenes are filled with awesome action and tension. The chase scene in the beginning when Peter's powers first start failing is very cool. The effetc son Doc Ock are incredible. I'm glad they saved him for the sequel, if they did him in the first movie, the tentacles would have looked cheap and silly. Spider-Man 2 is a great comic book movie, it's got dark subject matter but never abandons it's fun, comic book roots. Check it out! 5/5 stars.

Next time I'll be reviewing Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man, Brave, and (possibly) Moonrise Kingdom, Magic Mike, or Savages.

Prometheus

Now time to look at Ridley Scott's new film: Prometheus, a semi-prequel to Alien. If you haven't seen Alien or it's sequels Aliens and Alien 3, do so. Skip Alien:Resurrection and AVP at all costs! (Minor SPOILERS ahead.)

Prometheus:
In the year 2089, some scientists discover markings at several ancient ruins. In the year 2093, after a two-year journey in cryogenic sleep, the scientists, played by Noomi Rapace and Logan-Marshall Green, arrive with a crew of other scientists, an android named David, and the cold overseer of the mission, Meredith Vickers. They were sent by an aging trillionaire named Peter Weyland to find some aliens who might have engineered us. Of course, being a prequel to Alien, things don't go right. The film is full of spectacular sets and special effects, with gruesome creatures, and strange alien temples, and a high-tech spaceship. The look of the film is slick and clean, ignoring the surrealist, Gothic look of the original film (which was brilliantly designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger). The story leaves a lot of big questions open, looking for a sequel. Also, the film has many references to Alien, but strays a bit away from it, but does reveal the origin of the "space-jockeys" from the original film's alien ship, and (SPOILERS) teasing you at the end with the primitive version of the alien creature. The writers revealed if they get a sequel, they'll stray further from Alien. I love the CG and the visuals. Instead of the very claustrophobic ship in the original, the ship is massive, and the crew leaves the ship frequently, showing off the vast, desolate landscape of the alien planet. The music is haunting and eerie, with a techno-sounding trailer theme song. The aliens are very unoriginal, and some of the characters are extremely naive. (Noomi won't let a guy bring a gun to the planet, claiming this is a "scientific expedition", she just assumes the aliens are friendly.) The scientists are okay characters. Charlize Theron is sort of pushed aside, and plays as a sort of villain as Vickers. Michael Fassbender, who has credits in such films as 300, Fish Tank, Inglorious Basterds, Shame, A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, and X-Men: First Class (where he played a strangely sympathetic and threatening Magneto), here plays a sympathetic but also creepy and mysterious android David, who fashions himself after Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia. Guy Pearce spent five hours in make-up as Peter Weyland, a small role that lasts about two minutes. The crew in the film are pretty okay, not building too much character. The horror scenes in the film are reminiscent of "body horror" (types of horror films popularized by the films of David Cronenberg) and are disturbing and disgusting. There isn't much gore, but there are some unpleasant and grueling scenes that make you want to squirm in your seat or puke into your popcorn bowl. The film is a mystery, leaving the audience confused and in question, in a good way, making you want more: more answers, more action, more aliens. Although the visuals, some of the acting (especially by Theron and Fassbender), and special effects are great, Prometheus is somewhat of a disappointment, and being just sort of a movie begging for a sequel, like it's trying to re-start the Alien franchise. It doesn't live up to it's massive hype. If you like horror films, gross-out horror, sci-fi, Ridley Scott, or Alien, see the film. (Also see it if you admire good CG, special effects, and amazing visuals.) 3/5 stars.

(Check out Mathew Buck's "Bad Movie Beatdown" review of this film, and the "How It Should Have Ended" video.)










Coming soon: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Ted, and (possibly) Brave.
Next month: The Amazing Spider-man, Savages, and The Dark Knight Rises.

Superman Movie

Before I see Ridley Scott's epic science fiction-horror film Prometheus (prequel to the Alien franchise), let's look at a friendly alien visitor. There's a lot to choose from: Klaatu, E.T., Starman, and the Close Encounters aliens. But the one I choose, fits with the comic-book movie themes of "Superhero Summer", the Man of Steel.

Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two scrawny, nerdy Jewish guys who decided to make a quick buck off a super-human hero for the new "comics" medium. They had the concept of a super-human alien visitor, who helps the citizens of the world with his super-strength, laser vision, and flight powers. Superman is a twist of the Jewish hero Moses, and was such a success, he spawned the creation of Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, and other iconic superheroes. For the 5 of you who don't know his origin, here's the jist of it: Kal-El is an infant of the planet of Krypton, which is a dying planet. His father, Jor-El sends him to Earth to be a protector. Our sun's rays had a strange affect on his alien body: it gave him super-human abilities. Raised by a farmer and his wife and taking the guise of bumbling Clark Kent, Kal-El becomes a news reporter, which is a front for his adventures as a flying superhero, protecting the citizens of Metropolis and the world from alien threats, dictators, criminals, and supervillains. Superman has one of the best rogues galleries (although not as good as Batman or Spiderman's rogues galleries), with the corrupt business man/scientist Lex Luthor, telepathic alien being Brainiac, creepy psychotic mechanics expert Toyman, alternate version of himself Bizarro, multi-dimensional being Mr. Mxyzptlk, energy-sucking Parasite, electrical woman Livewire, creepy cyborg Metallo, the beast who killed Superman: Doomsday, galactic ruler and dictator Darkseid, hero/villain alien bounty hunter Lobo, assassin and Batman villain Deathstroke, Kryptonian tyrant Zod, Zod's ally Faora, Zod's lover Ursa, and (I'm not joking) Bruno Mars, the gangster. Unfortunately, only a few of these villains were ever used in the films, but I'm not here to bash the films, so let's get to talking about them...

Superman The Movie:

Released in 1978, this is the definitive comic book film. It's fun, not too dark or too lighthearted, it's nearly perfect. Sure, some of these effects are out-dated, but these were big effects for 1978, especially the iconic image of Superman flying over Earth during a sunrise. This was the first big comic book movie, and the first taken seriously. After the Adam West Batman series and movie, people thought comics were just for kids, and were campy fodder. I love the show, but in a nostalgic way, and don't consider it a legitimate Batman show, and neither did comic book fans. But, in the comics, things were getting more adult: Batman was facing more realistic foes and dealing with death and misery, Green Arrow found out his sidekick Speedy was a junkie, and Spider-Man dealt with inner-city crime and drug addiction. So, producer Alexander Salkind and his son Ilya decided it was time for a serious comic book movie. They decided Superman was the place to start, being the first real superhero. They got Mario Puzo, writer of The Godfather to write a script (the first draft was heavily cut down, because it involved terrorists trying to kill the Pope, which upset the Salkinds, being too dark a story for Superman) and signed on Omen director Richard Donner to direct, in order to get a serious director on board, and this was before his big action films like Lethal Weapon, comedy films like The Toy and Scrooged, or his adventure film The Goonies. (Funny enough, The Toy star Richard Pryor was in Superman III) Christopher Reeve was cast as Superman, his definitive role, and Margot Kidder (who was in slasher film Black Christmas) as Lois Lane. These two little-known stars were chosen, so that people didn't just see big stars dressed as superheroes, but saw the comic book drawings come to life. The directors paid big money for mega-stars Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando as villain Lex Luthor and Superman's father Jor-El respectively. (The studio said the film needed a big star to be attached to the film.) The films was a massive success, being one of the first big blockbusters, along with Star Wars and Jaws, and became the first big superhero/comic book film. The performances are top-notch, Christopher Reeve is perfect as Superman, being charming, funny, heroic, and kind, and as Clark Kent is a bumbling, clumsy sissy. Lois Lane is sassy, independent, and annoyed by Clark Kent. Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor is hilarious, being over-the-top and villainous. Marlon Brando gets top billing as Jor-El, despite barely being in the movie, and doing absolutely nothing. The climax has a major plot-hole, but I won't spoil the movie. If you haven't seen Superman: The Movie, see it, if you have, watch it again. 4.5/5 stars.



Next: Superman II, Superman III, Superman IV: Quest for Peace, and Superman Returns