Spiderman the Movie

What are everybody's expectations of this film?

Will you be disappointed with it if it turns out more like X-Men than Batman?

They've already started the preliminary work of Spiderman 2. It looks as if the ol' web head will be battling The Lizard and Doc Oc.



Well believe me, I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid . . . and I went ahead anyway.

I liked X-Men. Alot more than the last 2 incarnations of the Batman movies. Aftr Micheal Keaton left they became cartoons aimed at 10 year olds rather than the Dark Knight versions like the first two.

I expect alot from the Spidreman movie(s). And judging from the trailers it seems I won't be disapointed. I expect action, more than a little comedy, some more action, a (hopefully) decent interaction between Petey and MJ, butt loads of more action, a cool villain via William Defoe a.k.a Green Goblin and finally enough action to set people's pacemakers working double time and make my left arm start to feel numb. I just wish I could go see it today.

It will only fail in my eyes if it a)takes itself too seriously and fails or even worse b) it doesn't take itself serious enough and is just one long wink at the audience. X-Men was good in that the only wink is when Cyclops ask Logan if he wants Yellow Spandex. Enough to acknowledge the wink but not insulting the intelligence of the audience by making it a corny wink-fest ala Batman & Robin.



DG X(

Marvel > DC

I am going opening night and am already telling myself that it is in some ways a "What If?" and that just because it will not be 100% true to the book that I should not allow that to make me wary.

SDI

I am not even going to delude myself into thinking that it will reflect either cartoons or the comics. I am going purly for the special effects. Hopefully the story line will be decent. If it is then hey I will have a great time.

I will also try to gain some inspiration for my own game.

Hopefully in Gold Class if I can manage some free tickets.



Fangs
>>| |-- ::!o --||<<
"Yes it the Game has bugs"
"I like mine squished"
"Bon Appetite!"

I think that the thing that will dull the movie will be two things.

1. It was a radioactive spider, not "genetically enhanced" like the movie portrays.

2. (And I'm not sure of this) But in the movie, it appears that the ol web head generates his own webbing, not relying on wrist canisters.

It should be entertaining (keep our fingers crossed everybody). I just dislike the Toby McGuire casting. Not anything specific, but he's so damn dull! It would be kinda like Anna Kournakova being cast as Black Cat. Sure she'd look good, but can she act?



Well believe me, I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid . . . and I went ahead anyway.

Well I was a little dissapointed in the Toby McGuire angle, but then the lightning bolt struck when I was talkin to my cousin back in Vermont. We were discussing what has made Spider-Man so popular from day one up until now. And I made the comment (not earth shattering and nothing somebody hasn't said in the past but...) that what makes him so indentifiable to everyday people is the fact that he is an everyday person first and a super hero second. The books have been as much about Peter Parker and his dealing with life than the villians and villany and all that jazz.

If your going to cast an actor for the role of your favorite neighborhood super hero I think Peter Parker comes first and who better to play a nerdy, bookworm that doesn't have many friends than Mr. McGuire? My problem was never with him playing Peter Parker, as I never thought of it that way until a couple of weeks ago, all I could think about was him as Spidey. And the more I see of the trailers the more I realize that when it comes to the costume aspect it wouldn't really matter who was in the suit with all the CG.



DG X(

Marvel > DC

I think if we watch the battle scenes with a Game Judges eye we will be AMAZED just how many attacks/actions ol' Webhead can get off in a 6-second segment of time.

As far as McGuire goes, I saw him in Pleasantville with Reese Witherspoon and he was terrific. I'll reserve any critiques until after seeing the movie, but I got a feeling that we should be quite pleased with Toby.

Secret (Sneakin' In At The Movies) Defender

I just saw the movie. GO SEE IT. It is not the greatest movie ever made, but the performances are flawless and the webslinging is superb.

I hate to admit this but, it makes perfect sense that Spidey could produce his own web fluid. I was certain that I would roll my eyes and sigh heavily when the web-shooters were traded in for genetic mutation. But gang, I am telling you, through a combination of excellent directing and acting on the part of Mr. McGuire, it really, really works and you actually do not care that he doesn't have to rely upon an impossible device and an equally impossible webfluid made from a chemistry set by a teenager who is not a genius level inventor.

More later, after some of you have seen it too.

By the way, DO NOT pay attention to any negative reviews. Those critics would never in a million years know what it takes to be a serious superhero with honor. But we players and game judges of the game do.

Secret Defender Incorporated

I hate you. ;) I was going to wait a couple of weeks after the hupla dies down some, but I don't think I will be able to wait. I think I'll go tomorrow night if, I can get in that is.



DG X(

Marvel > DC

OK, OK

I was first in line to see it on the Friday. I even spent 40 minutes out in the cold before they opened the theatre. I went in expecting it to be terrible, but it wasn't. The best review I can give it is: "Good, but Ultimately Forgettable."

The pace was a bit uneven, which I can forgive. The movie didn't follow all of the rules it set in motion. (One moment, Spidey's Spider-Sense works, and when they need something to go wrong, it doesn't.) The ending (not the final conflict) took nearly twice as long as the final conflict. At the ending I was practically screaming "END THE FREAKING MOVIE! YOU'RE GOING TO RUIN IT!" And I'm sad to say that Spider-man's movie grade went from a solid B to a C at that point.

Special effects were pretty cool, and Spiderman moved like I thought he would. Tobey McGuire was a good selection, although his cardboard acting style needs to have some range. When a character can be described at beige, it's ok. When he's pouring out his heart to the girl he loves, the same color shouldn't be beige.

So the movie was good popcorn fodder, but not anything that would live on cinematically. Sadly, Tim Burton's "Batman" will be the standard by which all super-hero movies will be measured. Batman revolutionized what we thought about the genre, and we are still waiting for another super hero movie to break the mold.



Well believe me, I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid . . . and I went ahead anyway.

Meltdown,

I saw the movie again last night and this time I took my wife who is not a roleplayer like we are but has apprecitation for good films regardless of their genre.
However, she is familiar with Spiderman via the comics and the animated series.

So upon my enthusiasm she went with me. Happily,she loved it too. It is interesting to get a female perspective on the MJ & Peter Parker scenes, particularly the Aunt May hospital room and the long but absolutely neccessary final scene. Remember, Meltdown, Spiderman II is already in production. It can be argued that Spidey #1 is perhaps a little heavy on character development but not everyone who goes to see this movie has as much knowledge about webhead like you and I have. All they will ever know is what they see in the Spidey movies.

They need to know that Peter Parker's character is basically "oatmeal" and MJ is sensuous but sweet.

The reason that McGuire's performance is flawless is because HE is Peter Parker from the moment he catches up to the school bus in the first scene to walking away from Mary Jane in the last. If another actor who is reknown for his emotional range had played Parker he would have taken away the power of who he became whenever he put on the mask. The contrast between the friendly, funny, and flamboyant Spiderman and the personification of perfectly plain Peter Parker (I love illiteration!)could only be so subtley portrayed by an actor as accomplished as Toby McGuire.

He is cheerful and playful with the mask on but he does not have to go "over the top" to convey that to the audience. Peter Parker is a shy boy genius (read: NERD) hoplelessly in love with a woman he has had a crush on since they were both 6 years old.

Many of us Marvel fans need not be so impatient with the pace of the movie or its purpose to have a much broader appeal to the action/love-story going public. Instead look at it as a vehicle to bring the masses "up to speed" so that ultimately more and more superhero movies will be produced wherein the audience not only gets great action and special effects but they actually care about the hero's character and the personalities that surround him.


Meltdown, I admire any one who declares what they like and are proud enough to share it with their comrades and others.

But, Hell will freeze over before you or anyone could ever persuade me that Burton's "Batman" is the standard for which all other superhero movies must be weighed against.

Was it a good movie? Yes. But, personally if I had a choice amoung seeing it again and "X-Men" or "Spider-Man" (for a third time), then Burton's "Batman" comes in third place every time.

SDI

Sorry SDI, but you're wrong. Batman is the standard until a hero movie comes along and beats it. (Sorry.)

I have no real complaints about "Spiderman" other than the points I raised in my post. The pace was a bit uneven (which I even said was ok). The movie didn't follow the rules they set up (a boo-boo, but nothing too severe). And the ending was waaaay to long.

To further make my point, you talked about Spiderman2. Many of those issues they raised in the final half an act could have been put into the NEXT movie as a developing character arc. (But that would be silly wouldn't it; making it so that you HAD to next movie.)

Oh well, I still stand by my grade, but your passionate persuasion pleading the pathetic pathos of plain Peter Parker raises the grade from C to a C+.



Well believe me, I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid . . . and I went ahead anyway.

Meltdown,

That's ok. Remember, love is never having to say that you are sorry. Hey man, there ain't no good guys, there ain't no bad guys. There's only you and me, and man, we just disagree.

I am curious as to the thoughts of the rest of our brotherhood. Perhaps they will chime in over the next few days. I understand many of us not going to see Lord of the Rings right away, but come on guys! It's Spider-Man! By the way there was a HUlK movie promo prior to the Spidey movie starting at the theatre I was at. I hope for the movie they will at least call him Dr. Bruce Banner and not David.

By the way, I heard that the reason that David was used in lieu of Bruce for the 1970's t.v. show was because the "suits" at CBS thought that the name "Bruce" was not a manly enough name for a leading male character. Hollywood can really piss you off sometimes, huh fellas?

SDI

Was the Hulk trailer good?



Well believe me, I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid . . . and I went ahead anyway.

It was a teaser. You see a shirtless man standing in front of his bathroom mirror with his hands on the sink. He is looking himself in the eyes. As he is doing this, you hear his thoughts as a voice over says how much he is never sure when the change will be upon him, but then the camera zooms in on his left eye and as he basically says "but I like it when it happens", The color of the eye changes slightly but the flesh of his forehead and eye-area turn emerald green.

Next shot is the exterior wall of the house where the bathroom is. The wall explodes from the force of "something" inside the bathroom. Next is the HULK logo. Then "Coming Summer 2003".

SDI

I downloaded it a movie-trailers dot com. Ang Lee is doing the film so it should be great. His last film was a real sleeper called "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". As for me, I can't wait till they make the sequel "Crouching Tigger, Hidden Pooh."



Well believe me, I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid . . . and I went ahead anyway.

Meltdown,

If you haven't already done so, pick up a copy of the Tao of Pooh and have a great read.


Seclet Defendel Incolpolated

I think I'll have to disagree with you both about which superhero movie is the standard by which others are measured. How aboout Superman with Christopher Reeves. That is the origin of Superman told in an epic fashion. Whenever I go see a superhero movie I use that one to gauge the quality.

Vul-kar

I think waht made the original Batman movies as good as they were, was mostly due to the technology of the suits at the time. What made the first one cool was the Dark Knight, lurking in the shadows, never really being able to see what he was doing even during the fight scenes aspect. I think this was because the suit was so massive and bulky you couldn't show Bruce doing to much as it was more like Full Plate than spandex. AS the movies progressed so did the tech and by the last 2 you had nipples for pete's sake.

And I agree with Vul-Kar, until I see Spiderman I'll use Superman1 as my benchmark for superhero movie supremecy. Batman 1 and 2 are good (3 and 4 are too cartoon to be taken seriously) but Superman 1 was the Star Wars of spandex crime-fighting movies IMHO.



DG X(

Marvel > DC

I think waht made the original Batman movies as good as they were, was mostly due to the technology of the suits at the time. What made the first one cool was the Dark Knight, lurking in the shadows, never really being able to see what he was doing even during the fight scenes aspect. I think this was because the suit was so massive and bulky you couldn't show Bruce doing to much as it was more like Full Plate than spandex. AS the movies progressed so did the tech and by the last 2 you had nipples for pete's sake.

And I agree with Vul-Kar, until I see Spiderman I'll use Superman1 as my benchmark for superhero movie supremecy. Batman 1 and 2 are good (3 and 4 are too cartoon to be taken seriously) but Superman 1 was the Star Wars of spandex crime-fighting movies IMHO.



DG X(

Marvel > DC