The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Spider-Man 3



SPIDER-MAN 3 IN 1. A freewheeling, free-for-all clusterfuck. Sykes, you said you don't like MJ in these movies. Christ, did they turn her into a bitch in this one. She's the asshole, not Peter. At least in Act 1. She suddenly hates him out of nowhere because she got a bad review.

I'm not even going to say anymore. Except that this is like a movie made by someone who writes on their cell walls. But isn't Sisko.

MARVEL
1. SPIDER-MAN 2
2. SPIDER-MAN
3. SPIDER-MAN 3

Yeah, the bit where the 'symbiote' has made Peter go 'emo' almost had me crawling under my cinema seat out of embarrassment for all concerned.

I know it was generally regarded as too soon for a reboot, but it reminds me of the Batman And Robin/Batman Begins situation ... the previous movie was so godawful, there was a perceived need to 'clear the decks' and start over again.

Having just watched IRON MAN 3, I actually enjoyed it a lot more than the first two. I suppose I can see the little twist in the third act being a huge deal for those more versed in the comics. I am totally unfamiliar with the source material, so I just took the film as it was. But I suppose I can understand, like how the J.J. Abrams script for SUPERMAN had Lex Luthor as a CIA agent mid-way revealed to be Kryptonian all along.

Also, it was kinda nice to see this installment work as a standalone without trying to build up some grand scheme that will be unraveled in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to AVENGERS 2. If there was anything it must have been minor. Overall it felt like the opposite of IRON MAN 2 which had tons of AVENGER stuff thrown in the mix (I still enjoyed the film a lot, probably more than most despite the wonky script).

I'm about 40 minutes into THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Not sure what to think yet. I think Garfield himself is very good as an actor, but I don't care for the hipster spin on this.

Peter's crush, Gwen, is working with the scientist who worked with his father? What is this, Star Wars?

I've always been a square, button-down type. Seeing this punk skateboard around, I just want him to die. Not really. It's just that it seems forced to me. Writing-wise.

And Ben dies because Peter was upset over chocolate milk. They should have just started the flick without the origin aspect, as that is now wasted because they cut out an entire subplot about his parents.

The Amazing Spider-Man

What a shame. I like the cast and the style very much, but the script is a dud. I don't like the Lucasian nature of everyone being connected... like a web. I don't care for the first act origin deal at all. I also don't like Peter early on. I get what they were trying to do, but I didn't like him so "troubled".

Performance-wise, I think Garfield is fantastic. He packs in the angst very well, and I actually like him fairly well as the movie goes on. The chemistry between him and Stone is great. I like Sheen. I like Field, and I like that the relationship between Peter and May is a bit strained. I wish that have been explored more. Leary is perfect.

MARVEL

1. SPIDER-MAN 2
2. SPIDER-MAN
3. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
4. SPIDER-MAN 3

With a better script this could have easily taken out SM1, and even SM2. I like the film more than not, but the story (origin and villain) isn't working, and I don't like the hipster angle early on. This is a movie that soooo could have been. The talent was right there. And there are some scenes and sequences that I REALLY liked. To me, when the movie worked, it worked enormously well. In the end I wouldn't call it awful, just so-so. But it also so-so could have been.

But at least it doens't have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGJTa_P0eU8#t=16s

Seriously, what the shit was Raimi thinking on that movie?

Pretty much sums up my feelings about TASM. I would hope that with the origin being done once again that maybe the second film that's coming out will improve greatly, but it's written by Orci and Kurtzman. https://youtu.be/umDr0mPuyQc?t=3s

The White Tuxedo wrote:

But at least it doens't have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGJTa_P0eU8#t=16s

Seriously, what the shit was Raimi thinking on that movie?

I always think of the Rifftrax guys saying "did a reel from THE BIG CHILL somehow get spliced into our superhero movie?".

TASM2 written by O&K?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s

Python wrote:

Pretty much sums up my feelings about TASM. I would hope that with the origin being done once again that maybe the second film that's coming out will improve greatly, but it's written by Orci and Kurtzman. https://youtu.be/umDr0mPuyQc?t=3s

The White Tuxedo wrote:

But at least it doens't have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGJTa_P0eU8#t=16s

Seriously, what the shit was Raimi thinking on that movie?

I always think of the Rifftrax guys saying "did a reel from THE BIG CHILL somehow get spliced into our superhero movie?".

I think Raimi was overwhelmed during the production of Spiderman 2, certainly Danny Elfman cites how much it changed him (so much so they fell out and he missed the scoring of the third entry). Spiderman 3 arrives in the wake of a creative breakdown of sorts - its not so much bad as simply lost at sea, there is such a jumble of ideas/characters/moods many of which had already been dealt with yet Raimi won't leave them behind.......he's like Marley's ghost shackled by his past, weighted down wherever he goes.

There is good material in SPIDER-MAN 3. Honestly, you could easily edit it down to a watchable movie as the various subplots have nothing to do with each other. Though the final battle would be hard to work around if you cut out Brock/Venom.

I'm sure someone has tried this.

I saw IRON MAN 3 over the weekend and while I thought it was stronger than IRON MAN 2, albeit not by much, I think both paled in comparison to the first one.

I have a lot of issue with Stark whooping almost no ass throughout the entire film. Call me shallow, but I go to see an IRON MAN film to watch Iron Man kick ass, not get his ass kicked.

Still a really good film, and I enjoy all of them in this series, but doesn't stack up to the first one which I really loved.

I did think there needed to be more actual Iron Man action in the finale.

What's the best watching order? By release date?

I would go by release date, but I think Sykes made his own chronological order list a few pages back, more detailed that the original post IIRC.

Yeah it gets pretty detailed if you wanna go full chronological.

IRON MAN 2, THOR, and THE INCREDIBLE HULK all actually occur almost simultaneously. I did a chronological edit of them before AVENGERS came out that actually turned out pretty well.

I think the best viewing order, however, would be CAPTAIN AMERICA, HULK (I include it), IRON MAN, IRON MAN 2, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, THOR, THE AVENGERS.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Yeah it gets pretty detailed if you wanna go full chronological.

IRON MAN 2, THOR, and THE INCREDIBLE HULK all actually occur almost simultaneously. I did a chronological edit of them before AVENGERS came out that actually turned out pretty well.

I think the best viewing order, however, would be CAPTAIN AMERICA, HULK (I include it), IRON MAN, IRON MAN 2, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, THOR, THE AVENGERS.

I'm already almost done watching IRON MAN.

I'll just do release order this time 'round. Maybe next year I'll see 'em again in a different order.

How did THE INCREDIBLE IRON THOR fit together?

Iron Man

I like it a lot. Stane feels a little flimsy as a villain. His motives and actions don't totally gel to me, especially as he turns psycho in the later part of the movie. It's like he's trying to be a villain, instead of having a goal that makes him a villain if that makes sense.

RDJ really makes this work. It would be a much lesser movie without him.

MARVEL

1. IRON MAN
2. SPIDER-MAN 2
3. SPIDER-MAN
4. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
5. SPIDER-MAN 3

I'll probably see IM3 when it hits the bargain theater in town.

Frankly I thought it was trash, and a hypocritical fetishisation of the military-industrial complex to boot, while at the same time trying to be CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR for kids.

As for the direction, Jon Favreau should give up on cinema.

Most recent watch for me was when I saw this airing on TV with my dad a week ago, just the last couple of minutes before we started MAD MEN, and he remarked how much RDJ used to be the Lindsay Lohan during the 90s and early 2000s. It is kind of weird looking back on that, as he couldn't be further away from that these days. Pretty inspirational, seeing how one can ascend from the gutter like that.

I like the male fantasy element of IRON MAN.

Doesn't that apply to most superheroes?

I think there's a sorta red-blooded quality to the IRON MAN movies.

Python wrote:

Pretty inspirational, seeing how one can ascend from the gutter like that.

Less inspirational was the fact he actually 'chose' to descend there in the first place, when Hollywood and the world was really his oyster. All in all I feel those who face temptation and resist are ironically less well known yet deservedly more inspirational.

Some of us are more predisposed to give in than others. There's such thing as an addictive personality. Take Denis Hopper. Started off by sniffing gasoline from his father's truck as a kid.

The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2

I actually liked both a lot. Neither did it for me when I saw them for the first time last year, but they really clicked tonight. TIH I liked as a sorta B-action movie. I didn't connect the dots on the director having done films for Luc Besson. That won it some points. And I liked how the film was orchestrated so to speak. For me it worked tremendously well as comic book fun. I really liked Norton in it. Physically he seems so much more right to me than Bana or Ruffalo as the other two are bigger guys and the contrast is greater with Norton. I'd cast a really scrawny actor for Banner.

Last year I thought TIH was just MARVEL making a Hulk movie to tick off that box before THE AVENGERS. Maybe it is, but the movie works well for me. It does what it says on the tin. Of course, Bill Hurt's moustache and Liv Tyler can't match moustache's Sam Elliott and Jennifer Connelly.

IM2 didn't seem scattershot this time. I was totally entertained the whole way through. It didn't seem as slavish to THE AVENGERS to me as it did last year. And Rockwell rocks well.

MARVEL

1. IRON MAN 2
2. THE INCREDIBLE HULK
3. IRON MAN
4. SPIDER-MAN 2
5. SPIDER-MAN
6. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
7. SPIDER-MAN 3

It may seem odd to put TIH over IM1, but I enjoyed it more consistently.