Saturday, September 20, 2014

Why I Want Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 To Be Completely Forgotten Already


How long must we wait for a properly-handled black-suited Spider-Man movie that doesn't involve Tobey Maguire-Peter Parker's poorly-delivered "wisecracking" lines, cheesy musical dance moments, pointless retcons like Sandman being the true (though accidental) killer of Uncle Ben Parker in the 1st Spider-Man when it could've been the comic book burglar-like carjacker, potentially loose ends like Peter proposing to M.J. for marriage that never got resolved in the next following permanently shelved sequel(s), and a wimpy, miscast Topher Grace-Eddie Brock who became a less intimidating Venom and quickly die in the end without putting up a huge fight? Ever since The Amazing Spider-Man 2 came out at the start of this May before it instead opened to a disappointing worldwide gross of $708 million and surprisingly mixed reviews, I am shocked to learn how much of a huge debacle it was since then! And as the YouTube comment would say that "it makes Spider-Man 3 'a lot better'"! Are the YouTube reviewers saying that they "loved" Spider-Man 3 and that no matter how bad it was, they'll still see it like it were really real and keep calling it a Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy instead of DUOLOGY and say that it is "better" than the Amazing Spider-Man films (even though they have Andrew Garfield the best Spider-Man ever)!? Uh-uh! No way am I ever gonna see Spider-Man 3 as "canon" after I watch the 1st two which I liked! The Raimi films will NEVER be better than the Amazing Spider-Man movies for me if we view the most anti-climatic and WORST Spider-Man film ever made which upsettingly put an axe on the franchise without even a proper happy ending before the reboot happened! Don't care about the Harry Osborn-Goblin setup in Spider-Man 2 which makes Spider-Man 3 "necessary to watch"! That's what happened with the Jean Grey-Phoenix hint in X2 before next thing we know, it wasn't handled well in X-Men 3! The "New Goblin" subplot was greatly overshadowed by other subplots, anyway. And I DISAGREE about Peter (not dressed as Spider-Man!)'s fights with Harry the Goblin being one of the "greatest fights ever" (music felt out of place and not epic-y enough like Danny Elfman's, u know!)! Dane DeHaan, in MY view, is way better than James Franco's so-called Green Goblin! He looked like an actual goblin (almost as Willem Dafoe's cheap Goblin-like mask) and accomplishes things successfully unlike that whiny jerk! So it is most wise that we should SKIP Spider-Man 3 regardless of any resolution to Harry's vendetta on Spidey for Norman's death, which he does not shut up on! The Spider-Man 2 final swing closed the curtains on the Sam Raimi Spider-Man series (NOT "trilogy"! Yeah, I said it!) for me. I am glad that director Sam Raimi admitted that he was "very unhappy" with the way Spider-Man 3 had turned out. That I agree and he was right. Spider-Man 3 became very bad starting in the disrespectful "Who Killed Uncle Ben?" revelation part. And how dare he!? Robert Denerstein of the Rocky Mountain News says that Spider-Man 3 is a "satisfying conclusion"!!?? It most certainly is NOT! The Peter and Mary Jane sad dancing part is TOO DEPRESSING to close the entire Raimi trilogy! This movie completely LACKED all of the fun the 1st two had! Just like X-Men: The Last Stand and Blade: Trinity, both abysmal Marvel movie threequels that nearly hurt the 1st 2 fan-favorite ones! The only difference between this & Blade 3 and X-Men 3? Is that X3 was finally able to continue the story with The Wolverine and X-Men: Days of Future Past, with the latter erasing the so-called Dark Phoenix moment in The Last Stand which (spoiler alert) brought back Jean Grey and TRUE X-Men leader Cyclops from the dead! I truly wish that there was a DIRECT Spider-Man 4 that will redeem the 3rd one's mistakes and tie up loose ends so that we'll be completely behind it! But if Spider-Man 4 is never made because of "story issues," then we should best of all NOT mention or see Spider-Man 3 ever again! Doesn't matter if many video stores will keep selling Spider-Man 3 or include it in the "Spider-Man Trilogy" Blu-ray collection, neither of us will ever consider watching Spidey 3 if bought already! For it will always be a HUGE THORN to the well-acclaimed 2 chapters! Precisely why I decided to give away my Spider-Man 3 DVD and Blu-ray to the Richard & McKay's store! If X-Men: Days of Future Past was able to wipe out events that included X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, then that should have happened to Spider-Man 3! After all, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Terminator 3 and Salvation, RoboCop 3, TMNT III, Jaws 2-4, and Superman 3 & 4 are awfully-bad sequels that are best forgotten like they NEVER happened! Spider-Man 3 being the highest-grossing Spider-Man film (due to its $890 million worldwide gross (*shudders*) and its massive $151 million opening) is like saying that it is a "good movie" and should be fully-recognized and not forgotten! God help us all. It needs to be DISCARDED from the top 50 highest-grossing films list like Indiana Jones 4 (earning the most money with over $786 million than the previous 3!) needs to be! I wish it was actually the 1st Spider-Man movie ($403 million domestically; $821 million globally) that is the #1 Spider-Man movie of all time! And that the #1 2007 movie in America should have been either Transformers ($319 million) or Shrek the Third ($322 million). You Sam Raimi Spider-Man lovers shouldn't keep acknowledging  Spider-Man 3 like you still "loved it" when I, for one, think that The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2 are a lot better than the INFERIOR Spidey threequel that does not deserve all of the recognition to the entire public when it has a lot of bothersome parts that we can't handle even if it had some oh-so-amazing highlighted moments! If we are to really erase Spider-Man 3 from existence, we should always remember the old Spidey flicks as TWO MOVIES, not as 3 movies! Just as we remember the classic Christopher Reeve Superman films as two instead of four. Besides, we shouldn't keep hating The Amazing Spider-Man; especially the latest Amazing Spider-Man 2! At least they all gave us the correctly-portrayed Spider-Man where Tobey Maguire failed to deliver by being way too serious, act so overemotional (crying for no reason since the bridge scene!), hardly mention anything "funny" when dressed as Spider-Man, and spend too much time as Peter Parker! As well as giving us a much more believable chemistry for both Peter and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone all the way! Bryce Dallas Howard… boo!) before he would date Mary Jane Watson (who though after the uninteresting Kirsten Dunst?)! Andrew Garfield will always be my favorite Spider-Man despite how "flawed" the ASM movies really were!

This upcoming Venom spin-off helmed by TF/Star Trek/ASM 2 writer Alex Kurtzman is the reason why I want to pretend that the completely forced Venom in Spider-Man 3 is never real. But when I found out that it is possible that the Venom movie will be released BEFORE The Amazing Spider-Man 3 comes out in 2018, is Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker ever going to get a black suit before the arrival of Venom? Is Eddie Brock, this time NOT a wimpy and skinny comedy-related actor like Topher Grace, going to be bonded with the Symbiote to become a menacing Spider-Man knockoff anti-hero? If neither of them become a reality, then that would be a shame for me. How is it necessary for a Venom movie to come first prior to seeing the return of our favorite web-slinging hero in the next 4 years? Neither both The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Sinister Six showed any hint of Venom's appearance or the Alien Costume storyline. While Sony will probably not want to make a Spider-Man 3 rehash, even though I want a Spider-Man movie with the Alien Costume story done right, how are we ever going to see a black-suited Spider-Man on the big screen again (but with MORE screentime!) without getting crammed over by too much Peter Parker drama and unneeded "humorous" dance scenes that greatly ruined the excellent dark tone in the Symbiote subplot as the DECEITFUL teaser trailers have potentially depicted since 2006? And I know that there are others besides Eddie Brock who ever assumed the role of Venom with Flash Thompson being the example (popularly as "Agent Venom"), but I was hoping that the Eddie Brock character would be redeemed in the Amazing Spider-Man movie universe and make us forget about the Topher Grace fiasco since the controversial Deadpool-Weapon XI issue in the Wolverine Origins movie. If that won't be the case, then I may as well watch the well-handled Spider-Man: The Animated Series/Spectacular Spider-Man Venom episodes frequently to remain attached to the traditional Black Symbiote Spidey-Eddie Brock-Venom story. Sony had better reconsider that by releasing a Venom movie AFTER The Amazing Spider-Man 3 or 4!

Monday, September 1, 2014

My Favorite Summer Movies of 2014


My Top 10 favorite movies of Summer 2014:

1. Transformers: Age of Extinction - 18% (CinemaScore: A-)
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - 52% (CinemaScore: B+)
3. X-Men: Days of Future Past - 89% (CinemaScore: A)
4. Godzilla - 74% (CinemaScore: B+)
5. Guardians of the Galaxy - 91% (CinemaScore: A)
6. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - 90% (CinemaScore: A-)
7. How to Train Your Dragon 2 - 91% (CinemaScore: A)
8. The Fault in Our Stars - 80% (CinemaScore: A)
9. Maleficent - 50% (CinemaScore: A)
10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 22% (CinemaScore: B)


Note: These percentages indicate how positive the critical reviews are, according to rottentomatoes.com. To learn more about CinemaScore, enter http://www.cinemascore.com/.