Spider-Man 3

First of all, I was worried when I got out of the movie that my mom back in Illinois would already be in bed and I wouldn't have talked to her on Mother's Day. But not to worry. Great talk. I'm not the best about talking to my family with great frequency, but I'm trying.

Anyway, Spider-Man 3 is a decent addition to the saga. The effects are top-notch; performers who hadn't been that good before got better, like James Franco (and Rosemary Harris as Aunt May wasn't as cliched as she had been in the past), and both Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace were very good and had some dimension to them. People make a big deal about respecting continuity and all that, but giving the Sandman even this flimsy motivation made him better than he ever was in comics, and having a weaselly little suckup as Eddie Brock made a lot more sense than the big lug he was in comics. Bryce Dallas Howard did a pretty good job as Gwen Stacy, and I give her credit for being pretty believable in that phony hair.

I haven't read any reviews, but I suspect many people found fault with the scenes of Peter when he's under the influence of the symbiote. Indeed, combing your hair down and adding eye shadow to depict the change is archaic--I think Lon Chaney, Sr. would be embarrassed. That said, it did lead to some very funny, if broad, scenes like Peter strutting around and pointing at chicks like some evil spawn of John Travolta and the Night at the Roxbury brothers.

Realizing that this is a comicbook movie, I still think the direction and script were excessively dumbed down at times. The beginning, with all of NYC lovin' them some Spidey, hits it too hard so that even the numerous eight-year-olds who shouldn't have been in the theater probably knew Peter was headed for a fall. On the other hand, the scenes where Peter was insensitive to Mary Jane were done very well--his actions were understandable and human rather than going the obvious route of him getting a big head. Mary Jane immediately going to her ex, Harry, was less understandable, as was Sandman's motivation for teaming with Venom to kill Spider-Man if he was basically an okay person.

There were some holes--I don't think Venom or anyone knows about Peter's "spider sense," and boy, how is it Peter can whip off his mask on the rooftop of buildings shorter than every building around them and no one has snapped a picture of him yet? Still, I tend to shrug most of that stuff off. Tobey continues to be good, though at times I smiled at his blubbering, and though she doesn't get much to do for long stretches, Kirsten is still right as Mary Jane. Stan Lee's cameo is tedious.

BTW, the trailer for FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer looks like a stinker. My theater had a full-size Surfer replica in the lobby but it just doesn't look that cool. It's apparent from the trailer that the CGI Surfer doesn't come within a mile of a human persona, so that may be a problem, as will the gimmick of the Torch and Thing exchanging powers. Across the Universe, the Julie Taymor-directed flick with the '60s and Vietnam as the backdrop for a story inspired and scored by Beatles songs, looks like it could be interesting or a misfire. I'm curious, though.