Spider-Man Trilogy Review

Hello and welcome to the 12th episode of the

M -Wire Movie Weekend Review. Today, we are going

to be discussing the Spider -Man film franchise

in our Marvel Spotlight. I am TF2 and Mike, and,

uh, yeah, we threw Steve under the bus. Uh, tonight

I am joined by the Birdman, Mike the Birdman

Dodd, from This Week in Geek. Hello. Hey guys,

what's going down? Uh, not much. It's been a

very, very frustrating couple of days. Yes, I

completely hear you on that end. Uh, this is

not a headshot episode. This is MR, so I'm going

to keep the negativity. negativity to a minimum,

I'm about to put a nuclear bomb on that Chinese

food place. I tried ordering from them again

tonight, which I probably should know better

now, which I will never order from this place

ever again. I called them at 5 .56pm. I ordered

what I have been ordering the last three times

that I called them, that I've ordered from the

place. The little girl said, okay, well, it'll

be 30 to 40 minutes. 701 rolls around. Still

haven't gotten my food. Call the restaurant.

It's a Friday night. We are very, very busy.

Well, if... Then don't offer a fucking delivery

service if you're gonna get... Anyway. Did they

have any sort of a time guarantee? She said,

well, not really a time guarantee, but what she

told me on the phone was it'll be about 30 to

40 minutes, which, you know, normally like pop,

you know, when I order from Papa John's or Pizza

Hut or Domino's, they'll say, hey, it'll be 30,

40 minutes. Sometimes I'll call and say it'll

be like an hour, which is fine. But if you tell

me 30, 40 minutes, you know, I can understand

like maybe five or 10 minutes. But if you're,

you know, almost over an hour and a half, it's

like, what the hell? And then when the guy gets

here, I open the door, hand him the money. We

are very, very busy. I don't have time to be

running out here. I'm like, you dumb. I didn't

say this to his face, but after I shut my door,

I'm like, you dumb fuck. Why the hell would you

offer a delivery service and then complain about

getting an... I don't know. People are stupid.

Yes, very much so. To the positive, I did go

DVD hunting today. I got the Volume 3 and 4 sets

of the X -Men 1992 cartoon. I've been watching

that. I'm actually about, I think I'm on the

second to last episode of Volume 3. These volumes

are very cool. Unlike the first two volumes,

they actually come with slipcovers. over the

actual DVDs, which the art is embossed on it.

It's almost shiny. It's really, really cool.

I got those. I got Superman Batman 2 -Disc Edition

with exclusive Batman figure from Best Buy from

UPS. What else did I get? That's about it. Oh,

yeah, Mickey's Christmas Carol on DVD, but whatever.

That's a childhood thing. So what's been going

on with you? Today, it's actually been kind of

a slow day. I took the day off to do some homework

and some cleaning. I was finishing up some of

my PDFs in my professional life as a public relations

person. I also hired my first agent today, which

is very cool to represent myself and my interests.

So that's kind of cool. I'm working on some pretty

big stuff for a client of mine. hoping to get

them on Attack of the Show or interviewed in

some other publications. So that's really, really,

really what's going on right now. Also, I just

scheduled some interviews with Billy West from

Futurama and all sorts of other cool things that

he's done. The voice of the new spectacular Spider

-Man, I think his name is Josh Keaton. Yep. And

who else did I schedule today? Some people from

Babylon 5, like Patricia Tallman, which is very

cool. And, yeah, I've been pretty busy over the

last couple hours, actually. I also went to go

see Zombieland tonight with some of the Twig

crew. Cool, cool. It was surprisingly good, actually.

It was a lot better than I thought it was going

to be. Yeah, yeah. So I would totally recommend

everybody go out and see it just because of Bill

fucking Murray. Yes, we are going to be talking

about the Spider -Man movies today, and I, before

we get into the actual movie discussion, have

to bring up the fact of a certain Bruce Campbell

fan completely ignored him at FanX. I didn't

recognize him not covered in blood with the chainsaw

in his hand. Or a cowboy hat. Or a cowboy hat.

My mistake. Let's go, Cowdy Jr. Why don't you

actually tell people what... I mean, I don't

think our... I don't know if our listeners know

what the actual story was. He commented on, was

it your hat or a shirt or something? Yeah, I'm

walking past Bruce Campbell. I'm doing an ENG

for ScrewAttack .com. And I'm walking past Bruce

Campbell. I've got my camera out. I'm just recording

B -roll. And I walk right past him, pretty much

right into him. He's like, nice hat. And I just

kind of looked at him and just kept walking.

I didn't realize who it was until much later

looking back at the footage. Like, I'm like,

holy shit, I just totally dissed Bruce Campbell.

Shit. But then again, he's one of those guys

I know I'm never going to get a chance to interview

in my career because he's been asked the same

ten questions his entire career, and he's at

the point where he's so big he doesn't have to

talk to people like me. So I'm just going to

quietly be a fan from the sidelines. Well, I

mean, you know, he is in that. moronic show on

usa burn notice so you never know i guess that

is a possibility i'm trying to think if i know

the pr rep for that show no it's just one of

those things or you know if i get a chance to

talk to i don't want to ask the really boring

questions like i'm really looking forward to

doing uh the billy west interview just so we

can ask him why did he leave the howard stern

show Because I know that's a sore point of contention

from what I have been gathering. So it'll be

interesting to see what happens. Don't forget

to mention the fact that he was in Space Jam.

Oh, of course. I'll be asking him about many

things, and there'll be many, many really cool

promos coming up on Twig in the next couple weeks.

Actually, this month is tremendously busy for

us, actually. I've got all these interviews.

Actually, I might be talking to one of the Ninja

Turtles people, like we talked about on MWire

a little while ago. Or, sorry, ToonCast, rather.

I might be interviewing Kevin Eastman, so that'll

be cool. Oh, that'd be really cool. Heck yeah.

I am definitely hoping for that. I work with

the PR rep for that person, so we're going to

see what happens. All right. I think we're going

to get right into the discussion. We'll be right

back after the trailer for the first movie. Not

everyone is meant to make a difference, but for

me, the choice to live an ordinary life is no

longer an option. are back and as I said before

we are going to be discussing all three Spider

-Man films today just as a quick side note to

it when this film first came out I was probably

in the only long -term relationship I've ever

had and we had gotten into a fight and it was

like the night before this movie was supposed

to come out and I was still pissed and she was

still pissed the night the day it came out she

went to work and of course No one in Mississippi

at the time where I was living would hire me

for some odd reason, whatever. So I had, like,

an extra five or six bucks, went to the matinee,

paid for one Spider -Man ticket, saw it once

for the money, the other five times I saw it

for free. I theater -hopped. Wow, you tool. Yeah,

I saw Spider -Man six times in one day. You know,

Mike, there's a word for how sad you are, but

I don't know what it is, but I'm sure this word

exists. Shut the hell up. What fight to be so

bad you avoid your girlfriend for like eight

to nine hours? I'm sure now it's probably pretty

trivial, but back then it probably meant a lot.

I don't know. I honestly don't know. Alright,

moving on. Moving on. Spider -Man is a 2002 American

superhero film based on the fictional Marvel

Comics character. As opposed to the real one

that is running around in Texas. Would that be

Mickey? Yes! God. Does he actually have a Spider

-Man costume? Probably. It wouldn't surprise

me. The first installment of the Spider -Man

series, the film directed by Sam Raby and written

by David Koepp, stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten

Dunst, and James Franklin and Willem Dafoe. Getting

into the plot. Okay, well, what were your initial

thoughts of the first film before we get into

the plot? See, I was really worried when this

film was initially pitched. I mean, this movie

sat in, like, basically development hell for,

like, 25 years because no studio could agree

on how it was supposed to be filmed. I mean,

this bounced around by the people who were supposed

to do the Terminator movies, Carlico, or I think

that was the name, and James Cameron was attached

at one point. I was skeptical going in. I saw

some of the test footage. I'm thinking, all right,

this looks really neat. This looks kind of cool.

I started watching stuff on Entertainment Tonight.

I'm thinking, all right, I'm getting a little

more excited. Saw the costume. Wow, they actually

got it right. How are they going to do his eyepieces?

And I was really worried about that. But saw

the movie. I remember actually going to a...

to a near IMAX theater for this. I saw it on

a really, really, really big screen. Me and my

fiancé at the time saw this, and I think my friend

Adam came along with me on this particular journey.

And I was seriously impressed. Ultimately, one

of the best superhero movies to ever come out.

And I think X -Men came out before this one,

right? Yes, X -Men was 2000, this was 2002. Yeah,

so everyone was thinking, oh my god, comic book

movies, can they be taken seriously? And this

is the movie that proved that yes, it could be.

Because they treated the source material seriously.

So I was tremendously impressed. Yeah, I was

very, very looking forward to this film. I thought

that the costume was pretty much spot on. And

again... Majority of the Marvel stuff that we

cover on MWire, my basis for it is going to be

coming from whatever cartoon it was in. So the

X -Men films, my basis, of course, was the X

-Men cartoon. This, in turn, my basis for plots

and whatever else is the Spider -Man 94 cartoon.

I thought they did a magnificent job on the eyepieces.

That was just awesome, especially the way that

they had the mirror. Oh, yeah, totally. I mean,

I think those are basically like Oakley sunglasses.

I think they actually did the lenses for them.

Oh, cool. So getting into the plot, Peter Parker

and his best friend Harry Osborn, or Peter Parker,

his best friend Harry Osborn, and Peter's secret

crush Mary Jane Watson visit a genetics laboratory

at Columbia University with their high school

class. While taking photos in the laboratory,

Peter is bitten on the hand by a genetically

engineered super spider. Feeling unwell, he passes

out shortly after his arrival home. The next

morning, Peter awakes to find his visions now

naturally clear and that he has physically metamorphosized

to become more muscular. At school later, he

emits web strings from his wrists and has quick

enough reflexes to avoid being injured in a fight

with bully Flash Thompson. Peter infers that

the spider's bite has given him... spider -like

abilities he escapes school for buildings elsewhere

where he develops his new skills quickly learning

to scale walls and jump to jump long between

building rooftops and to swing the web um what

were your initial thoughts in the opening of

the film I thought it was tremendously well done.

I mean, just the fact that you had the tone set

by the Danny Elfman score, I kind of felt, okay,

you know what? This movie's actually really going

to take itself seriously. And I thought the changes

to the origin story, all things considered, were

remarkably... I mean, it adapts to the screen.

I mean, it's been noted before that Spider -Man

would be one of the harder properties, because

basically you have this scientific genius in

high school inventing web shooters and webbing

cement and all this crap. Having the organic

web shooters, I thought, was a tremendously bold

move, but it actually worked out in the end.

And I thought the casting for everybody was near

perfect, because Tobey Maguire... He is Peter

Parker. He will forever be Spider -Man and Seabiscuit

because he embodies that role. He embodies what

everyone, I think, for the last 20 years has

imagined what Spider -Man would be like. I mean,

I can't picture anybody else in this role except

him. Yeah, I am completely there with you. I've

been very skeptical about comic book movies as

far as when I hear who's acting in them until

obviously I see the film. Like tomorrow when

we record Daredevil, when I first heard the fact

that Ben Affleck was cast to be Matt Murdock

in Daredevil, I was like, that was pretty much

a what -the -fuck moment for me. See, I thought

that was good casting. I mean, I honestly liked

Affleck in that movie, but I digress. I mean,

we'll get to that tomorrow, but once I saw him

in it, I can't see anybody else playing that

role. Same thing here with Tobey Maguire. People

can disagree with me all they want, but I'm sorry.

Once you're in a long -time role like that or

a flagship role like that and you're the first

person to do it, replacing you is almost a sin

in my idea. It's kind of like replacing Luke

Skywalker at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.

Yes, exactly. It's just not a good idea. No,

not at all. Meanwhile, scientist and owner of

Oscorp, Norman Osborn, Harry's father, is attempting

to preserve his company's military contract,

knowing that losing it will bankrupt his business.

He experiments on himself with his company's

new, if unstable, performance -enhancing chemical,

vapor, which increases his speed, strength, and

stamina. The vapor having also made him insane,

he easily murders his assistant, Mendel Strom.

A few days later, Norman kills several scientists,

among them General Slocum. who threatened to

drive Norman out of business. I've got to say,

Willem Dafoe was the perfect person to play live

-action Norman Osborn. Yeah, you really couldn't

have got anybody else. And this is one piece

of casting I was seriously worried about, simply

because I'd just seen Boondock Saints, where

he was a cross -dressing FBI agent, and the crazy

guy from Platoon. I'm thinking, I don't know

about this, but Willem Dafoe has this certain

charisma about him, and he flows between being

charming and being the guy you want to do big

business with to being a complete creepy psychic

lunatic. Oh, yes. Basically, the way I view it

is they – and I know they didn't do this, but

the way I see it is they basically took the Norman

Osborn animated character from the Spidey 94

show and basically – brought him to life with

Willem Dafoe. Now, I will have very serious negative

opinions about the Green Goblin costume later

once we get to that, but as far as playing Norman

Osborn, there's nobody else that could have done

it as good as he did it. Let's see here. Thumbing

through the local classifieds, Peter sees a wrestling

tournament ad offering $3 ,000 to any participant

who survives the ring for three minutes. Figuring

the purse to be enough for a car that will impress

Mary Jane, Peter enters the tournament. Unbeknownst

to his aunt and uncle driving him on tournament

day, Uncle Ben expresses concern for Peter, advising

with great power, come to great responsibility.

Peter lashes out in frustration and leaves. Ah,

the wrestling scene. That was so funny. Oh, yeah,

I thought that was a surprising little bit of

camp in there. You have a Randy Macho Man Savage

in a Spider -Man film. It doesn't get any better

than that. I don't think they had to offer him

much to get him into that role. No, considering

it's basically making fun of the entire wrestling

profession, if you can call it a profession.

Well, I mean, I'm not trying to sound negative

about it, but, I mean, you know. We all know

certain parts are scripted. So what do you think

of this whole him, Peter basically, you know,

denying everything and just doing what he wants?

I... I think he reacted how a good chunk of us

would. I mean, especially when the world's been,

you know, kind of punching you in the face for

X amount of years. And he's like, yeah, I don't

have to do this. And then, you know, when the

whole great power comes great responsibility

thing and his actions more or less lead directly

to his uncle getting greased, you know. Yes,

yes. For the fight, Peter has chosen the nom

de guerre, the human spider, but the ring announcer,

who I believe now. I have picked out Bruce Campbell

in the other two films. I believe he was the

ring announcer, wasn't he, in this? Oh, God,

totally. Okay, I just had to make sure. I remember

watching it, and the only time I really remember

recognizing him was when he was not on the mic,

when he was whispering to Peter, hey, kid, what's

your name? And, you know, Peter says the human

spider, but the ring announcer doesn't like it,

opting to announce him as the amazing Spider

-Man instead. Peter defeats his opponent, Bonesaw

McGraw. Wow, didn't take but two seconds to come

up with that name. Pretty much. Bonesaw McGraw.

But the man in charge only gives him $100 in

prize money, using the excuse that he won in

two minutes, despite the ad's explicit claim

of three minutes. See, I think Peter should have

beat the shit out of him, like, give me my money

or I will hurt you. But that's me speaking. That's

not Peter Parker's nature, though. Maybe if that

happened in Spider -Man 3 with the Venom suit,

that could have happened. That's true. When Peter

turns around to go, a thief comes into the office,

but Peter, in retaliation for the promoter's

deception, does nothing to stop the burglar from

escaping with the promoter's gate money. Not

long after, Peter finds his uncle on the sidewalk

shot by a carjacker. Ben dies in his arms. Peter

tracks down the carjacker. only to find out that

it is the same thief that he earlier allowed

to escape. The murderer then threatens to shoot

Peter, but he breaks his wrist before he can

pull the trigger and falls out a window to his

death. What did you think of the whole, well,

first of all, the wrestling scene part, and then

the after part with the manager? It basically

played out like I thought it was going to. You

see this guy being a complete scumbag. Anyone

who's dealt with anybody in the promoting business

should know this. Yeah, you better fulfill your

contractual obligations so that they can find

a way to shirk out of it. They definitely will.

And I don't know. I thought the burglar looked

a little bit stupid. I mean, that's his name

from the comic books. They call him the burglar.

And he's running past Peter and all that. I don't

know. He looked too goofy. to be threatening

to me, but I think that was part of the, part

of the point of the scene, to have him be disarmingly

goofy, then when he kills Uncle Ben, you know,

now you're an evil prick. But I don't know. I

thought that scene was all right. I mean, I think

it's after this scene – yeah, it's just after

these couple scenes coming up here where the

movie really starts to pick up steam. Oh, yes.

See, I thought what made him goofy was the whole

thanks thing. It says the elevator door closed.

Yeah, that – it's his face. You don't look threatening.

You look like you should be working in McDonald's.

He looks like – The bastard son of Bobcat Goldwaith.

Yeah. Well, you know, stick a clown nose on him,

he'd be a second for Ronald McDonald. I got a

question. The security guard, police officer,

whatever, that said, what are you doing? You

let him go. I've watched that particular part

of the scene so many times because I know that

actor from somewhere. I've seen him in something

else because I remember that accent of voice.

But I don't remember who or... I mean, he almost

sounds like Chief O 'Hara from the friggin' Batman

1966 show. I don't know who that guy is. Probably

just some random character actor. Probably. Upon

graduating from high school, Peter decides to

use his abilities to fight injustice. He dons

both a new costume and a new persona, Spider

-Man. when he arrives in a newspaper editor J.

Jonah Jameson's office with the only clear images

of Spider -Man he has hired as a freelance photographer.

Norman, upon finding out that Oscorp's board

members plan to sell the company, attacks and

murders them at the World Unity Fair, but Spider

-Man arrives to drive him off before he can do

any more harm. Jameson quickly dubs Norman's

persona the Green Goblin, The Goblin later kidnaps

Spider -Man to offer him a place at his side,

but Spider -Man refuses, knowing that it is the

right thing to do. At Osborn's and Parker's Thanksgiving

dinner, Norman figures out, unbeknownst to Peter,

Spider -Man's true identity. That night, the

Green Goblin attacks Aunt May. You're right,

this is where the film pretty much picks up.

Yeah, and it just... Pretty much doesn't give

you much of a chance to breathe, but this is,

I think, a really great example, at least in

terms of editing and pacing, how a superhero

movie can go, because it just goes, goes, goes,

and you're never really bored. Yeah, I think

the only time I actually caught a breath was

when the kid was standing still, and then Spidey

was like, come on, kid, move, and then, of course,

he swings in and saves him, but, like, right...

Right when Spider -Man is saying that, I'm like,

okay, I can breathe just for half a second, and

then, you know, whatever happens, happens. As

Aunt May recovers in the hospital, oh, the, wait

a minute, the scene right before Goblin kidnaps

him, when the Goblin shows up at Jameson's at

the Daily Bugle, and then Spider -Man shows up,

I laugh all the time. When Spider -Man webs Jameson's

mouth shut, quiet, Mom and Dad have to talk.

I laugh at that all the time. As Aunt May recovers

in the hospital, Mary Jane admits to Peter a

crush on Spider -Man, her frequent rescuer. She

inquires. Whether Spider -Man ever asks about

her, Peter reflects on his own feelings, at which

point Harry enters feeling betrayed by both his

girlfriend and his best friend. Harry tells his

father, of whom Peter loves the most, unknowingly

revealing to the Green Goblin Spider -Man's biggest

weakness. Um, what did you think of the whole

hospital scene? That was a little long to me,

I thought. It was good, though, I mean, because

you really got the emotional depth and the connection

between Aunt May and Peter. I thought it was

good for what it needed to accomplish. And then,

of course, it always, you know, it has the ever

-present DC quip, you know, you're not Superman,

you know, from Aunt May. That was funny. So the

Goblin takes Mary Jane and... and a Roosevelt

Island tramway car full of children hostage on

the Queensborough Bridge, and Spider -Man arrives

just as Goblin. As planned, the Goblin forces

him to choose whom to save, dropping both Mary

Jane and the tramway car simultaneously, but

Spider -Man manages to save them all. The two

fight for a bit, but the Goblin overpowers Spider

-Man and brings him to an abandoned, dilapidated

building. He kicks and punches Spider -Man nearly

to death with his bare hands and feet. This is

where I have to talk about the Green Goblin costume.

The Green Goblin costume is an insult to the

Green Goblin. I think it looks really cool, all

things considered, although it looks kind of

like a Power Ranger bad guy. Actually, did you

know that the mask of the Green Goblin is from

the movie Maximum Overdrive? Well, it needed

to stay in Maximum Overdrive. I'm sorry. He would

have looked goofy with a fucking purple hat.

I'm just saying, they could have figured out

a way to mold around Dafoe's face. To actually

have a mask on him, not just something where

you can look inside. He looks like a fucking

clown from a Ringmaster restaurant out in California

or something that has a giant head with a mouth

inside of it. That's what it looks like. I don't

know if I'd go that far. I mean, I thought all

things considered to keep this movie in the real

world. I mean, quote -unquote, they did an all

right job. I mean, I'm not saying power armor

should look like this. I thought the costume

itself, but yeah, the mask maybe did need a little

work. I mean, I saw no reason for the eyes to

randomly have their things retract for no visible

reason, yet the mouth is completely exposed.

Well, see, that's the whole point. I mean, I

have no issues with the actual costume. It's

just the whole head that I have an issue with.

The point of... of wearing a mask for supervillain

superhero is for people not to know who you are.

How can you not know who Green Goblin really

is when his eyelids on the mask retract and you

can see his eyes and you can pretty much see

his whole mouth line? I mean, I could tell that

that was Willem Dafoe right then and there. I

don't know. I wish they had done a different

version of the mask, a better way to hide the

identity. But, eh, you know, what's done is done.

Okay, and then you had the whole fight scene.

Now, I know for a fact that a lot of the Spider

-Man stuff on the webs and stuff and swinging

was digitally done. Those are a lot of cool moves,

though. It still looked really goddamn cool.

I mean, it looked awesome without really taking

you out of the movie. However, I thought him

swinging onto the American flag was a little

much. At the end? Yeah, I'm thinking, Jesus,

why don't you just play the national anthem and,

you know, hand everybody an apple pie at the

end of the movie? Because it was basically, I

don't know, it was just so ridiculously, yay,

American. It's not that I'm dissing America.

It just seemed really out of place with everything

else. See, I thought – see, I didn't think that

at the very end when he swing – I didn't think

that was a flagpole, but I don't know. Maybe

I'm mistaken. I don't know. It's been a couple

of weeks since I've actually watched the DVDs

because we were supposed to record this a couple

of weeks ago, whatever. But, I mean, overall,

I don't know. So the Goblin boasts of how he

will later kill Mary Jane, but the turn as –

An enraged Spider -Man dominates him and forces

him to unmask as Norman contritely begs for forgiveness.

His alter ego slyly, via remote control, positions

his glider to go through Spider -Man. The superhero

avoids the attack, leading the glider to go through

Norman instead. The latter uses his last breath

to state merely, Peter, don't tell Harry. One

thing it doesn't, and this is the reason why

I hate wiki sometimes. I'm thinking maybe I should

write up my own synopsis every time instead of

just copying it from wiki. They pretty much skip

over some matrices. Yeah, I know. I know, but

I figured it was an easy way to get all the information,

to get it not really done quick, but done in

an efficient way because I have been to do run

-on sentence. One of the coolest parts about

the Spidey -Goblin fight was when those blade

things come out and Spider -Man is, like, doing

backflips to avoid them. Oh, yeah, where they're

in the burning building and he's throwing the

kind of razor bats at them. Yep, that was so

awesome. I thought that scene was pretty cool.

However, to talk about the fight scene where

Norman Osborn dies, there's just one cut, and

I can't stand this cut, where he tries to force

the Goblin Glider through Spider -Man, and Spider

-Man dodges it, and just randomly, it just cuts

to him to foe. Oh. I hate that. There's just

something about that. I mean, Raimi, I appreciate

you interjecting your own humor, but I think

that kind of kills the emotional weight of the

scene. Well, I think it was kind of like an oh

shit moment, even though he didn't say oh shit.

Well, yeah, but I'm just thinking, you're supposed

to be the Green Goblin. You should be cursing

him as he goes, you know, he just killed you.

You just were defeated. You should say something

more epic. I mean, don't tell Harry makes sense

to me, because he died as Norman Osborn as opposed

to the Green Goblin, but still. Oh, I can't see

the Green Goblin just being surprised. It's basically

like him saying, oh, fiddle -dee -dee, this will

require a tetanus shot. You know what I mean?

It was just so out of character. Spider -Man

brings a now -dead Norman to Harry's apartment

just as he has laid the body down. Harry arrives

stunned and angered, but the darkness prevents

Peter's reveal. Harry turns to pull a gun from

a drawer, but Spider -Man is already gone by

the time he has turned back. Upon the conclusion

of Norman's funeral before leaving, Harry vows

to Peter that he will kill Spider -Man as vengeance

for his own father's death. Peter is all he has

left now. He says, then Mary Jane confesses her

love to Peter and kisses him. But Peter hides

the true feelings, feeling that he must protect

her from Spider -Man's enemy's attention. Walking

away from a now distraught MJ, he recalls Uncle

Ben's famous words, with great power comes great

responsibility, and accepts his new life as Spider

-Man. Just that whole funeral scene, I thought

that was really good. That was a nice way to

end the movie, outside of the later swinging

through the city. See, yeah, that's where the

movie should have ended. Him walking away. Yeah,

but, you know, they spent all that money on the

budget on the digital Spider -Man, so they, yeah.

I don't know. Overall, how would you... We have

a rating scale for MWire. It's basically 1 to

10, 1 being the worst, 10 being the best. But

sometimes I kind of use it as an iffy thing.

How would you rate this on a scale from 1 to

10? I'd say definitely a solid 8 or 9. Yeah,

I would agree with you. I think the story was

well done. I think the action was completely

awesome. I'm going to give a shout -out to our

listeners here. In the trailer that you heard,

there is a musical beat behind the actual talking

and stuff. There is a musical theme from that

first trailer. I want that. I have not been able

to find that. It is like this... I can't even

fake musically describe it to you. I'll email

you the audio for it. I... If it's what I think

it is, I think it's... It's like hard tech. Yeah,

that's leave you far behind by the prodigy. Not

sure. Yeah, going into the cast of characters,

obviously, as we said before, you have Tobey

Maguire as Peter Parker in Spider -Man. Tobey

does a really good job. I mean, he makes you

believe that he can be both of the characters.

Yeah, totally. He just totally suits it. And

he pulls off the sarcasm that I know from the

94 cartoon well. It doesn't get forced. Yeah,

exactly. It definitely suits the thing. And while

I can't picture Tobey Maguire's character being

all that, you know. chatty so to speak it definitely

suits it when he's in the spider -man persona

now mike just while i'm thinking about it i just

want you to take a look in the chat window here

while we record and tell me if this is the song

that you are indeed thinking about but yeah so

while while you check that out i'll keep talking

so with the with all yeah sorry got kind of tongue

-tied there but yeah you're right like toby mcguire

totally captured the essence of spider -man he

captured the wits he captured the way that he

moves and fights i mean basically this was the

best spider -man I think we possibly could have

asked for. I mean, like basically this was the

1994 version. This was the Todd McFarlane version

that we'd envisioned him doing all the really

weird poses, but moving really cool and looking

awesome while, while like doing it. And I can

only imagine what Stanley's reaction was when

he saw the first cut of this film, seeing his

creation come to life, a character that was basically

a throwaway. Cause when Spider -Man was created,

the, the then editor of Marvel, Said no. Who's

going to read about a bug? Yeah, who's going

to read about a guy in a bug costume? It's never

going to fly, but you know what? I'm canceling

this anyway, so just give it a shot. And then

it turned out to be amazingly awesome, pretty

much, and people just loved it. While we're talking

about Toby, one thing I did forget to bring up

when he is learning how to do his powers, the...

All the hand signals and the go web go and all

that. That was so hilarious. I don't know if

that was scripted or if that was him improv -ing

that, but that was so cool. When he's on the

rooftop trying to get his web shooters to work.

Oh, yeah. I thought that was a go web. Yeah.

Shazam and all this crap. I thought that was

pretty awesome. The studio had expressed interest

in actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Freddie

Prinze Jr., Chris Klein, Wes Bentley, and Heath

Ledger for the role before DiCaprio had been

considered by James Cameron for the role in 1995,

while Raimi joked of Prinze Jr. that he won't

even be allowed to buy a ticket to see the film.

In addition, actors Scott Speedman, Jay Roden,

and James Franco were involved in screen tests

for the lead role. Now, I knew about James Franco

from the DVD special features. I did not know

about a lot of these other ones. I think it would

have been a very, very different film if you

had the Joker in there as Spider -Man. Obviously,

we didn't know at this time that Heath Ledger

would go on to play the Joker as one of his last

roles before he passed away. But just seeing

some of these names in this information is very,

very weird to me. Yes, and then we have Willem

Dafoe as Norman Osborn slash Green Goblin. As

we said before, Willem Dafoe did an awesome job

as Osborn. I think he is best outside of the

Goblin costume when he's talking to himself,

between Norman's voice and the Goblin's voice.

Yeah, totally. And I think they just filmed that

– I can't remember. I know there was something

funny how they filmed that scene. Like I think

they just – he just performed to nobody there,

and then he just did each thing separately, which

I think was amazingly cool. Another surprising

little bit of casting I thought was really well

done, despite him not really being there all

that long, was the kid that played Flash Thompson.

Right, yeah. They pretty much ruined Flash in

this movie. What? No fucking way. No, no, no,

no. I mean, just not giving him enough. Yeah,

like, yeah, that's totally true. Like, this guy

is... I'm actually interviewing him in a couple

weeks. He's on How I Met Your Mother and some

other stuff. But Joe, his name is Joe, and I

can't pronounce his last name right off the top

right now. But I thought he – I don't know. He's

such a small character in the Spider -Man universe,

all things considered. But I like how they even

put him in the movie. I think that really added

to the depth of how seriously they were taking

this movie to have little things like that. Oh,

yes. And then you have Kirsten Dunst as Mary

Jane Watson. Now, a lot of people that I've talked

to hate her. I thought she did an all right job.

As MJ. One guy I talked to on Twitter says that

he cannot stand the fact that they got her to

do MJ. She actually had to dye her hair because

her hair is naturally, her hair is normally,

she has blonde hair. She actually dyed her hair

red for the role. No, I thought she did an excellent

job, but just, I don't know, some people just

don't like Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane. And you

gotta think, though, with all the comics and

cartoon continuity and everything else, Mary

Jane, I've read some Spider -Man comics, she

can be a bitch when she wants to be. Yeah, I

mean, she leaves Spider -Man a few times during

the comics, saying, I can't deal with this, and

blah, blah, blah. But then again, when you're

a... The wife of a superhero, you have to expect

some bad shit to happen. Yes, exactly. And then

you had James Franco as Harry Osborn, which I

thought was a – he grows on me as the movies

progress. I hated his performance in Spider -Man

3 simply because of one line. We'll get there.

So good. I hate that. We'll get there. We'll

get there. However, speaking of James Franco,

he actually just got added to the cast of General

Hospital. Oh, really? Wow. Yeah, who the hell

would have guessed the Green Goblin, sorry, the

New Goblin is going to be hanging out with all

the doctors on General Hospital and over -dramatizing

lines. Wow. Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben, that

was the perfect live -action casting for Uncle

Ben. Oh, yeah. I mean, like, you really couldn't

have done much better. No. Ernest Borgnine. No.

No, I don't think so. And then you had Rosemary

Harris as Aunt May. Again, you know, taking off

of the cartoon, there are some things I believe

she curses a couple of times. I don't think in

this one, but in the other ones I think she maybe

does once or twice. I don't remember if she does

or not. And that's not something I remember the

May in the cartoon doing. But overall, great,

great performance. J .K. Simmons. J. Jonah Jameson.

Oh, my God. Perfect. This was perfect. You could

not. Nobody else will ever do this role. In fact,

they've even spoofed him on The Simpsons. I know.

I know. Well, what doesn't The Simpsons spoof

these days? But anyway, yeah, especially since

I have the Spider -Man 2 .1 cut and I didn't

even know. that in the extended 2 .1 kind of

Spider -Man 2, they have him in the Spidey suit,

which is hilarious. And then you have Flash Thompson,

which, as I said before, is pretty much a...

They treat him as a throwaway character in this

one. You have Bill Nunn as Joseph Robbie Robertson.

I don't know if I... He grows on me, but I don't

know if I liked him in the role for Robbie. He

doesn't have enough to do. No, he doesn't. Because

normally he is, well, in the cartoon anyway,

he is a huge supporter of Spider -Man, and he's

friends with Peter, and here he's just like,

oh, well, just give the kid a chance. And that's

pretty much it. And then Elizabeth Banks as Betty

Brandt, which I don't think... Once again, didn't

get enough to do in this. Yeah, pretty much.

Bruce Campbell, a long -time colleague of director

Sam Raimi, cameoed as the announcer at the wrestling

ring. Yep, that Peter takes part in. Raimi himself

appeared off -screen throwing popcorn at Peter

as he enters the arena to wrestle. I'm not going

to go... I mean, this is kind of running long

on the first film, so I'm not going to go through

any of the production stuff because there's way

too much information. I'm going to skip right

down to the critical reception. Critical reaction

to the film was well -received by critics. Film

review site Rotten Tomatoes calculated a 90 %

overall approval based on 207 reviews, and it

scored 85 % cream -of -the -crop rating from

major news outlets. The casting, mainly Tobey

Maguire, is often cited as one of the high points

of the film. I'm just trying to think. Where

is... It's been a running gag on NYR where we

make fun of Ebert. just because he has pretty

much hated almost every movie we've reviewed.

Not all of the criticism was good, as LA Weekly's...

Yeah, I can't pronounce that. It isn't that Spider

-Man is inherently unsuited for a live -action

translation, it's just that it's not particularly

interesting or well -animated. Okay, these people

are snolking stuff. That guy's an asshole, I'm

sorry. Yeah, that guy's an asshole. The film

has won several awards, ranging from Teen Choice

Awards to the Saturn Awards, and was even nominated

for two Academy Awards, Best Visual Effects and

Best Sound. While only Danny Elfman brought home

a Saturn Award, Rami McGuire and Dunst were all

nominated for their respective positions. It

also took home the People's Choice Award for

Favorite Motion Picture. Now, I'm sorry. These

stuck -up assholes at the Academy Awards don't

know what the hell that they're... that they're

doing. I'm sorry. That's why I don't watch award

shows anymore, because half the movies that are

there, I don't even know. This last Academy Awards,

I think the only two that I even recognized was

WALL -E and The Dark Knight. Well, they're basically

all these obscure things that premiere at Sundance

or TIFF, and they're basically... Do you want

to know how to predict who's going to win the

Oscars, Mike? Watch Oprah. That's how you predict

Oscars, the Golden Globes. If Oprah likes it,

it'll win, guaranteed. There was a Spider -Man

2002 video game. A video game based on the movie

was released in 2002. I believe it was released

on the original Xbox, PS2, and GameCube. And

that was done by Treyarch Studios, and these

are the guys that are behind Call of Duty Modern

Warfare. Sorry, not Mario 4. That's Infinity

Ward. Now, these guys did Call of Duty World

at War. These guys are a really, really solid

team of developers. The first game I didn't feel

was as good as the second one, which was developed.

I'm not precisely sure, but we'll get to that

in a second. However, I did like how they introduced

villains from the Spider -Man universe, like

Vulture and the Rhino. to give the Spider -Man

universe, the film universe, a feel like the

comic book. I mean, if you notice in the first

movie, they even mention mutants briefly. Yes.

Oh, yes, they do, actually. Oh, the other thing

we need to mention, I believe the Spider -Man

movie is where the, basically the Where's Waldo

appearances of Stan Lee start to happen. I don't

think he was in any of the X films. Oh, yeah.

Was he? Yeah, he's the hot dog vendor. Okay,

I'm going to have to go back and watch those

because I don't ever remember seeing Stan Lee

in any of the X films. I thought he started doing

that in these, but that's fine. Before we go

on to the second film, I actually have the deluxe

edition version of Spider -Man, which is the

two -disc widescreen edition plus a bonus deluxe

edition all -new special features disc. Disc

3 has... All new looks behind the scenes of Spider

-Man, including costume design, designing the

world of Spider -Man, the spider wrangler. It's

just got a whole bunch of stuff on it. And I

thought that was a really, really cool addition

to have, so I got that. So we are going to –

oh, yes, we also need to mention the fact that

two of my favorite bands have songs on the soundtrack

for this. Nickelback – well, actually, it's not

Nickelback. It's technically Chad Kroger from

Nickelback and Josie Scott from Saliva have Hero.

which is an awesome, awesome song. I thought

it fit the film very well. See, actually, I'm

very glad that you actually mentioned that. This

is one of the strongest movie tie -in songs I

think has ever been produced, and I would say

recent memory. And I know that's a tall order,

but think about how many movies have songs recently

that are really that catchy or memorable. I can

think of a few more of the Marvel movies that

do, but we'll get to that once we get to those

movies. But think about it. I mean, this was

the best song on radio for like three months.

Yeah. And it sold so many singles. I remember

this song being in heavy rotation on Much Music

and MTV and countless other outlets across the

world. The video was nothing really special.

I mean it's just like any movie tie -in video

with the exception of Limp Bizkit from Mission

Impossible 2, which was really awesome with Take

a Look Around. But this video – or this song

is one of the best representations of what Spider

-Man could have been. Yet when you look at the

song that was attached for Spider -Man 2, you

didn't give a shit. Yeah, Dashboard Conventional

sucks. I like them, but they weren't a powerful

enough name to be attached to this property.

Nickelback was at the right time in its career

to be attached. And if anything, even if they

disappear tomorrow, this will be one of the things

they will be remembered for. Now, if that happens,

I'm going to get my fat ass on a bus and hunt

your ass down. I guess, I'm sorry, Nickelback

peaked after Silver Side Up. Whatever. Anyway,

well, that's a whole other show for us to debate

over. And the other song I wanted to mention

off this was Theory of a Dead Man's hit single,

Invisible Man. If you look at the hero video.

The lead singer of that is actually playing the

guitar in the background. Tyler Connolly is playing

the guitar, one of the background guitarists,

in the Hero video. These guys are awesome. People

say they sound exactly like Nickelback. I completely

disagree. They are similar, but they do have

their own sound. Mike? Mike, no. Shut up. Shut

up, Mike. I'm in professional radio, and I can

tell you, these guys are so similar, you can

take the lyrics out of a Nickelback song, put

them against a theory of a dead man beat, and

you'd have a completely new song. And you wouldn't

notice. Just shut up. Just shut up. We're moving

on to Spider -Man 2, people. This is funny. I'm

not sure where to begin. Do you love me or not?

Alright. Kiss you. I need to know something.

Just one kiss. Fasten your seat belts. Up next

is Spider -Man 2, which is a 2004 American superhero

film directed, again, by Sam Raimi, written by

Alvin Sargent, and developed by Alfred Goff and

Miles Miller. Wow, the Smallville guys. Holy

crap. And Michael Chabon. Wow, I butchered that

name. It is the second film in the Spider -Man

film franchise based on the fictional Marvel

Comics character, Spider -Man. It saw the return

of Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, Kirsten Dunst

as Mary Jane Watson, and James Franco as Harry

Osborn. Set two years after the original film,

focuses on Peter Parker struggling to manage

both his personal life and duties as Spider -Man.

What did you think of the overall beginning when

you first heard about this or when you first

saw it? What are your thoughts on it? This is

my favorite Spider -Man movie. In fact, this

may actually be my favorite superhero movie ever,

and that's Topping the Dark Knight. simply because

this movie took everything that Spider -Man 1

did right and kept building on it. This is, I

think, one of the finest examples of a superhero

movie. Great pacing, great characters, great

dialogue. Oh, my God, the dialogue in this movie

is awesome. Oh, yes, very much so. Like, this

is one of those movies, I think, that needs to

be preserved in your American Film Institute

or whatever because this is a culturally important

movie. Because it did everything that the superhero

genre was and people made fun of and made it

better. Like, seriously, this can stand next

to The Dark Knight with no problems, in my opinion.

Oh, I completely agree. The only part about this

movie that I did not like was that stupid daughter

of the Russian guy. I hated that character. Yeah,

she was unnecessary, that'll tell you. Is she

from anything? Is she a reference to any part

of Spidey's comic history? Not that I'm aware

of. I mean, I don't know. I mean, she was just

kind of there. Yeah, and it was kind of dumb.

Peter Parker, so getting into the plot here,

Peter Parker is finding his double, oh, and I

did not see this film six times like the first

one. Peter is finding his double life increasingly

difficult, precariously struggling to balance

his crime -fighting duties with the demands of

his normal life. Peter often finds his personal

life taking a back seat. He loses a job, faces

financial difficulties, and struggles to maintain

physics studies at Columbia University. Moreover,

he has become estranged from both his love interest

Mary Jane and best friend Harry Osborn, and Aunt

May is threatened with foreclosure. This film

opens really well. I don't know who the guy was

that was running the pizza place that fired him,

but that scene... Okay, Spidey delivering pizzas.

Yeah. I want Spidey delivering my pizza, damn

it. Well, at least you get it within 40 minutes.

See, this is a scene... I think it was goofy.

It's definitely Sam Raimi's brand of humor. And

it worked. Oh, yes. Very, very much so. Especially...

When he gets to the building and he's like, what

is he, five minutes, eight minutes late or something

or other? Not even. Okay, well. Like seconds

late. Okay, something like that. He gets in the

elevator, and who should pop in the elevator

next to him? But, you know, everybody's favorite

VH1 personality for the I Love series, Hal Sparks.

And in the 2 .1 cut, that version is extended.

It's completely different from the theatrical

version. And it was just really, really awesome.

Because in the theatrical version, it was like,

oh, cool costume. Eh, ditches. It was like a

two -second scene. In this one, Hal's snapping

his fingers, giving him marketing ideas. Not

a market himself. So Harry, now head of Oscorp

Research Division, has invested in the research

of brilliant scientist Otto Octavius, Peter's

idol, to perform a sustained fusion experiment.

Octavius has developed a set of artificially

intelligent mechanical arms, which are impervious

to heat and magnetism. Though the experiment

overloads and becomes unstable, Dr. Octavius

refuses to halt it. With devastating results,

his wife is killed. The neural inhibitor chip

which enabled him to control the arms is destroyed,

and the arms are fused to his spine. Unconscious,

he is taken to the hospital to have his tentacles

removed, but the tentacles kill the surgeons,

and he escapes. Uncontrolled, the tentacles begin

to influence Octavius's mind, playing on his

vanity and ego. He decides that the most complete

his experiment, and he costs J. Jonah Jameson,

names him Dr. Octopus, or Doc Ock. Doc Ock attempts

to rob a bank where Peter Parker and his Aunt

May happen to be prisoned for a loan. After a

short glitch in his powers, Spider -Man manages

to recover shortly after that and soon the two

take their fight outside to the bank. But Doc

Ock takes Aunt May as a hostage. When Spider

-Man rescues her, she revises her former opinion

of him and realizes that he is a hero. What did

you think of... of these scenes just the whole

I mean that's a very long opening plot but I

mean the last scene where Aunt May is talking

about Peter being a hero every time I cry that

is some of the best dialogue written in a superhero

movie hands down oh yeah I completely agree I

like in the fight scene in the bank When Ock

is throwing the money at him, he goes, here's

your change. I thought that was really, really

funny. Now, another thing that I liked was how

Raimi had little nods to Evil Dead, where he

has the little chainsaw in the operating room,

and the tentacles are freaking out very similar

to the trees in Evil Dead 1 and Evil Dead 2.

I thought that was a nice little nod to it. And

it works. When Raimi can work in his trademark

humor appropriately, it's great. When it doesn't

flow so well like in Spider -Man 3, we'll get

to that. But I think those are the two scenes

I'm going to remember the most. Oh, yeah, very,

very much so. And while we're on the subject

of Dr. Octopus or Doc Ock, what do you think

of Alfred Molina? I mean, we'll talk about him

more later, but, I mean, just initial impressions

on him in the role. I thought that was fantastic

casting as well. I mean, I didn't think anybody

could pull off such a goofy -sounding character,

but Molina gave it a nobility. He really made

it his own. I mean, I thought just the way that

he interacted with, like, Tobey Maguire was great,

the fact that you could see he was crazy, but

he was driven, and there's a bit of a difference

there. And I just thought that he did a fantastic

job with this character. He really pushed to

what could be accomplished with it. During a

party, Peter learns that MJ is planning to marry

J. Jonah Jameson's son, John Jameson. I'm actually

glad that they found a way to work that in because

I remember the Spider -Man Unlimited series where

John Jameson ended up on an alternate Earth.

And I'm very glad that they somehow worked that

character into the film universe. He also gets

into a physical altercation with Harry, who is

under the influence over his loyalty to Spider

-Man shortly after he loses his powers while

web -slinging across the town. Meanwhile, Doc

Ock rebuilds his experimental reactor. Peter

questions if he could ever have what he needs

as a life. A Life as Peter Parker, which involves

a vision of Uncle Ben and resolves to give up

being Spider -Man. Back home, after visiting

Uncle Ben's grave, Aunt May is distressed by

Peter's confession that he was somewhat responsible

for his Uncle Ben's death. Aunt May and Peter

reconcile, and she tells Peter of the hope that

Spider -Man brings to others in spite of what

dreams he may have to sacrifice. That scene I

thought was more powerful. than the one before

it. At the end of that, when he rescues her,

I thought this scene when they reconcile was

more powerful. Wait, is that the scene at the

garage sale? Yeah. Yeah, that's the scene that

I meant. Oh, the scene that I had mentioned earlier

was when he saves her and Doc Ock is retreating

and Spider -Man goes, well, we sure showed him.

We did? Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, you suck. I didn't

do it, you did it. You are terrible at describing.

But no, like, this scene at the garage sale,

yeah, this is what I meant to say previously.

This scene, one of the best in, basically, comic

book movies ever. In fact, one of the greatest

scenes in the last, like, in my mind, in all

the movies I've seen, like, ever. Like, this

is probably one of, this is in my top five. Peter

attempts to reconnect with Mary Jane, but she

informs him that it's too late. In the meantime,

Doc Ock has completed rebuilding his reactor

and needs one final item, the tritium, which

fuels the reactor. He goes to Harry Osborn for

it, dangling him over the edge of the Osborn

Mansion balcony. When he refuses, Harry agrees

to give Ock what he needs in exchange for capturing

Spider -Man. Mary Jane meets Peter in a coffee

shop to ask if he still loves her, but Peter

tells her that he does not. Doc Ock, having been

told by Harry to look for Peter Parker if he

wants Spider -Man, tries to attack Peter Parker

by throwing a car at him, which that was in the

trailer. That was an awesome, awesome scene.

Peter regains his spider sense for a split second,

grabs Mary Jane, and dodges the car, but Doc

Ock abducts Mary Jane. In a plot to lure Spider

-Man into a trap, Peter's powers fully return

and he dons his costume and engages Doc Ock in

a battle which starts off at the top of the bell

tower and then on top of the subway train. During

the battle, Doc Ock manages to destroy the brakes

to the train, forcing Spider -Man to rescue the

runaway train. Yeah, the whole car scene was

really awesome. The train scene was great, even

though a majority of it was digitally mastered.

What was that, sorry? The train scene. Yes. Majority

of the train scene was digitally done. Yeah,

and yet it worked. I mean, I thought a chunk

of that was actually practical, but that's another

really good scene where you get more of the emotional

depth of the Spider -Man character when he's

being treated by the New Yorkers. I don't know,

that's another one of my favorite scenes from

Spider -Man 2. Yes, and if you look at that scene,

which I did not originally, but I saw a picture

online, if you look in that scene, Phil Lamarr

is in Spider -Man 2. So, yay, the voice of Vamp

from Metal Gear Solid and Green Mad TV, which

is sad. Well, Green Lantern from Justice League,

come on. Who was it? He was Jon Stewart? Yeah.

Well, holy shit. Yeah. He went a higher octave

than his normal voice to do that voice in Justice

League. I think it was really good the way they

worked in the New Yorkers on the train, though.

The simple fact that it's okay. We won't tell.

That was a good way to do that. And I like the

one guy that said, wow, he's not that much older

than my son. Yeah, I thought that was a nice

little piece of audio that was dropped in there.

However, in real life, this wouldn't happen,

because some asshole would have a friggin' iPhone,

and it'd be out on Twitter in seconds. Oh, yes.

Well, thank God. I don't think Spider -Man knows

what Twitter is yet, so thank God for that. Spider

-Man manages to stop the train before it can

plunge over the end of the track, but at a great

physical exertion, he nearly falls. But the people

in the train save him and see him without his

mask on. They agree to keep his identity a secret

and try to protect him from Doc Ock, but fail,

weaken his condition captured by Dr. Octopus

and delivered to Harry Osborn. Harry unmasks

Spider -Man and is stunned to discover that his

sworn enemy is his best friend. Peter awakens

and convinces Harry. to reveal Octavius' whereabouts

so he can rescue Mary Jane. I've got to stop

for a second. What did you think of the reveal?

I think it was a little anticlimactic. Like,

holy shit, you're Spider -Man? It wasn't what

I expected. Now, I'm trying to remember how Harry

found it. Did Harry ever find out in the cartoon?

That Peter was Spider -Man. I know Norman knew

at some point in the cartoon. Not that I can

remember, but it wouldn't surprise me. Did he

ever find out in the comics? I mean, was there

ever a storyline somewhere saying that because

of Norman knowing and him passing, you know,

I don't know. Off the top of my head, I'm not

100 % sure, so I really, really couldn't tell

you. Yes. So, across town, Harry has visions

of his... Crap, I lost my place. Damn it! Anyway,

basically, to pretty much wrap this up, I guess,

for Spider -Man 2, Harry agrees to help Peter

save Mary Jane. We go to the reactor site. Doc

Ock finds... Peter actually gets him to make

him control the arms, which I thought that was

really cool without the inhibitor chip, obviously.

And then he basically self -sacrifices... He

basically does an act of self -sacrifice, saying

that he is not a monster, he's not the villain,

or some line that Doc Ock says. And then, of

course, Mary Jane finds out that Peter Parker

is Spider -Man. And isn't this... Yeah, this

is the movie where she... Yeah, it ends by her

running down the street in her wedding dress.

And then realizing, oh my god, I love him! Yeah.

And, of course, she persuades Peter to finally

let her in while accepting the need of his vows

by letting him respond to a sudden call for help.

She looks on in uncertainty as Spider -Man swings

away, and before he actually swings away, she

says, go get him, Tiger, which I like that they

worked that into her character. Yeah, I thought

that was a nice little bit of a nod there. Yes,

very, very much so. Again, great casting as far

as Maguire, Dunst, just the regulars that were

in the first film. Dylan Baker as Dr. Kirk Connors.

I thought that was great casting. See, this is

a plot thread. I really wish they had actually

developed a little bit more across the three

movies that he's going to become the lizard.

Yes. Actually, was he in the first film? I think

so. Actually, I don't think so. Off the top of

my head, it's been so long since I've seen the

first one. When I was watching the second one,

when I first watched it, I never, I mean, obviously

I know who Kirk Connors, Dr. Kirk Connors is,

and he becomes Lizard. I didn't notice that he

had his arm already chopped off. Yeah, I thought

that was kind of cool, how they kept that consistency.

Right. And then, of course, you have, as we said

before, Alfred Molina as Dr. Otto Octavius, which,

again, great casting for a villain. He didn't

really need a mask, thank God, outside of those

bright orange goggles, which obviously he needed

for the radiation. He usually just had glasses

in the cartoon, didn't he? He never really had

a... Well, he had stupid -looking goggles, but...

Yeah. And at least here, his costume looked a

little bit more believable, as opposed to...

The space suit, as I affectionately recall it

in the cartoon. Yeah. Again, Bruce Campbell cameos

as an obnoxious usher who denies Peter access

to Mary Jane's play. Now, I like his cameo in

this much better than the first film, only because

it is longer. Yeah, because you really get to

see Bruce Campbell just kind of playing with

him. Yes, very, very much so. Just go down here.

As far as the awards, Spider -Man 2 won the Academy

Award for Visual Effects and was nominated for

Sound and Sound Editing. The film won Saturn

Awards for Best Actor, Best Director, Best Fantasy

Film, Best Special Effects, and Best Writer.

Basically, it won a lot more awards than the

first film did. The second film is probably the

best in the franchise so far. Pretty much. And,

of course, it does have the DVD release. It does

have the original two -disc special editions

that include selections of trailers, 2003's VH1,

Go Inside Spider -Man. An extended cut of the

film with eight minutes of new footage was released

as Spider -Man 2 .1 on DVD April 17, 2007. In

addition to the new cut, the DVD also included

a new special feature not on the original release,

as well as a sneak preview of Spider -Man 3.

The film was released on Blu -ray High Def at

October 2007 as part of the Spider -Man The High

Definition Trilogy box set. I really don't care

about the soundtrack for this film at all outside

of... There was nothing memorable on this soundtrack

whatsoever. Okay, there's two tracks that I liked.

There was one by Maroon 5, Don't Ask Me Why.

I mean, I don't know. I think it was called Woman.

Don't Ask Me Why I Like That. Wow, you're like

gay. Shut the hell up. Shut the fuck up. The

other one was by Train called Ordinary, which

I thought that should have been the hero version.

of of spider -man 2 it should have been the the

main state track instead of that crappy dashboard

confessional song yep the soundtrack for this

movie was complete dog shit which is about the

only negative thing i can really say about spider

-man 2 actually the soundtrack for spider -man

3 was even more dog shit uh that soundtrack was

non -existent exactly that's yeah yes um Very,

very much so. Final thoughts for me on Spider

-Man 2, very, very well done. I would give it

a solid 8 or 9 out of 10. What about you? What

are your final thoughts on Spider -Man 2? 9 .5.

This is about as close to perfect for a superhero

movie outside of The Dark Knight that you can

possibly get, and I think this is Marvel Studios'

second best work. With Iron Man being its first,

right? Yes. Because the Hulk movies suck ass,

I'm sorry. Yes, well, hopefully Double D will

have a rant for us on that episode. Oh, probably.

So we are going to move on to Spider -Man 3.

I'm going to ask MJ to marry me. A man has to

put his wife before himself. Can you do that,

Peter? Yeah, I think I can. We have some new

information. This is your uncle's actual killer.

We lost his trail two days ago. This man killed

my uncle, and he's still out there. Everybody

needs help sometimes, Peter. Even Spider -Man.

Revenge is like a poison that can take us over.

And before you know it, it can turn you into

something ugly. The suit. Where'd this come from?

The power. It feels good. But you'll lose yourself

to it. Spidey, love the new outfit. Remember

Ben Parker? What does it matter to you anyway?

Everything. Do you want to push me away? Why

would I want to push you away? I love you. You

knew this was coming, Pete. I didn't kill your

father. We have to forgive each other or everything

we ever were will mean nothing. We need your

help. I have to stop it. This could be the end

of Spider -Man. Spider -Man 3 is a 2007 superhero

film written and directed by Sam Raimi. Wow,

he wrote this? Fuck you, Sam. With screenplay

by Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent. Oh, before I

go into any more of this crap, this technical

crap, I noticed something. I'm a big fan of Sequest's

DSV TV show. And his brother is in... All three

films. Ted Raimi is in all three of these films

as one of the newsboys of Jonah's. So, what are

your initial thoughts on Spider -Man 3? And be

gentle. We can save the harsh stuff for later.

This movie is as close to cinematic pain that

I have experienced since fucking Pootie Tag.

Wow. And I invite you to look that up on Google

and YouTube. Spider -Man 3 is crap. However,

that being said, it is entertaining crap up until

the last 20 minutes where you want to gouge your

eyeballs out with salad forks. And every time

Topher Grace is on screen, for every second he's

on screen, a kitten dies. Every time somebody

buys this DVD, you just put money into the hands

of drug dealers. And Grant. Yes. Someone has

the exact same opinion of you, and I had posted

my DVD collection on a forum somewhere. I don't

remember what it was. I believe it was the earth

-2 .net forums. Yes, shameless plug. But I had

listed the Spider -Man Deluxe Edition as Spider

-Man 3 -Disc Deluxe Edition. And then... In between

Spider -Man 2, or at the end when I was listing

Spider -Man 3, I listed Spider -Man 3 2 -disc

Special Edition. They actually thought I meant

I bought Spider -Man 3 twice, and they're like,

you poor soul, why the hell would you buy that

movie twice? I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

But anyway, getting into the plot of this one,

Peter Parker has begun to feel secure in his

life and plans to propose to Mary Jane. While

Peter and Mary Jane are on a date, a small meteorite

crashes nearby and an extraterrestrial symbiote

attaches itself to Peter's moped. Meanwhile,

escaped convict Flint Marco falls into a particle

accelerator that fuses his body with the surrounding

sand. The result allows him to shapeshift at

will, becoming the Sandman, Peter's best friend

Harry Osborn, who seeks vengeance for his father's

death. which he believes Peter caused, attacks

him during the scuffle. Harry suffers an injury

to his head, and he basically gets amnesia, making

him forget his vendetta. I didn't like the beginning

scenes of this film. Outside of the fact that

they're on a date, I didn't like the whole fight

with him and Harry, because he's not in fucking

costume. It was retarded. He's not infinitely

retarded. I don't remember ever, in any Spider

-Man comic book that I've ever picked up, or

the cartoon, him ever going web -swinging as

Peter Parker in a battle. It happens rarely.

But, see... Parts of that scene were cool. Parts

of it were so stupid. I don't know. The entire

opening for Spider -Man 3, this movie did not

need the black costume. Or if it was going to

have it, they should have left the Venom story

alone until the end. But just keep going because

I've got a double barrel shotgun full of fuck

on this, man. All right. We'll fire off a few

shots here in a few minutes. Later during a festival

honoring Spider -Man for saving Gwen Stacy's

life. Sandman attempts to rob an armored car

and overpowers Spider -Man. Gwen's father, police

officer Captain Stacy, later informs Peter and

Aunt May that Marco is the one who killed Ben

Parker. Retcon, stupid! I completely hate...

Yeah, I know it was retcon. I completely hate

the fact that they... had him upside down and

kissing her like what happened in, I believe

it was, was it the second? Was it the first movie?

Yeah, it was the first movie. That was complete

shit. That was just complete and utter bullshit.

I'm sorry. There was no point to having Gwen

Stacy in this movie. Yeah, pretty much. I mean,

I like Bryce Dallas Howard. I think she's hot

and she can act. But seriously, you did not need

to be. This was unnecessary. Like this movie

was unnecessary. Yes, yes. A vengeful Peter Parker

waits for Marco to strike again. The symbiote

bonds with his costume while he is asleep. Peter

discovers that not only has his costume changed,

but his powers have been enhanced as well. The

black suit brings out the more vengeful, insensitive,

and arrogant side of Peter's personality, exemplified

by a nearly full attack on Sandman during a battle.

Now, as much as you dislike the fact that the

whole Venom thing was brought in, I like black

suited Spidey. Yeah, see, it's fine. I think

the idea of introducing the black suit on some

level is okay, but the touch venom as a subplot

is complete bullshit. And, I don't know, like,

watching Spidey's cool and everything, I like

what they do, except when he does the emo flip

when he gets the suit, let me tell you, Mike,

a little piece of my soul died at that moment.

And I was in a theater, a theater in the middle

of bumfuck nowhere, when everybody saw that hair

flip thing, let me tell you, hilarity ensued.

You should not laugh at a serious moment for

a character. Yeah. Ugh! Fuck! You, Sam Raimi,

you stupid bastard. You fucked this up. Oh, boy.

Let's hope you don't ever get an interview with

him. I don't think you'll be able to control

yourself. I'm going to call him an asshole for

that, straight out. Oh, my God. The shift in

Peter's personality alienates Mary Jane, whose

career is floundering, and she finds solace with

Harry. Harry recovers from his amnesia and, urged

on by apparition of his dead father, forces Mary

Jane to break up with Peter. After Mary Jane

leaves Peter, stating that she is in love with

another man, Harry meets him at a restaurant

and claims to be the other... Later, Peter finds

him at the Osborne Mansion. With the help of

the black suit, Peter is victorious in a brutal

fight which leaves Harry's face disfigured. Influenced

by the suit, Peter exposes and humiliates Eddie

Brock, rival freelance photographer who has sold

fake pictures to the Daily Bugle, supposedly

showing Spider -Man to be a criminal. Meanwhile,

Sandman recovers from his injuries and swears

revenge on Spider -Man. Now, I do have to say

one thing about the whole Brock angle in this.

Going back to my reference of the cartoon, they

did get that right, though. What? Like, how he

got the costume? Well, no, as far as his whole

spiraling out, because I remember specifically

Hank Azaria as Eddie Brock in the cartoon saying,

basically blaming Spider -Man for everything

that had happened to him in his life. And they

got that right in this, where he goes off...

on, and, and he gets himself fired, and then

he, you know, loses, uh, what's -her -nots Stacy,

um, and, uh, all that stuff, um, and now as far

as the scene with the, um, as far, we'll get

to the scene where the whole, you know, Peter

gets the black suit off of himself, so, in an

eff, oh, what did you think of this whole thing

I just read through? Where do I start? First

off, Topher Grace, you should never be allowed

in your comic book movie again. Oh, boy. Second

of all, Betty Brock should, I don't know, just...

I wish they'd done a little bit more with it.

I mean, I liked how they kind of worked around

how Spider -Man did fuck up Eddie Brock's life,

though Eddie did bring it upon himself, because

in the comic books, Eddie gets the wrong story

and says this innocent guy is actually this serial

killer, whereas it's when he's actually not,

so the press convicts him instead. And I don't

know. There are just so many things. did wrong

with this character outside of you know when

the suit comes off of Parker that was awesome

oh yeah yeah well that's exactly how it should

have been done oh and even when the costume covers

Topher Grace I was okay with that that was okay

but keep going because I have an anti I've got

a Venom rant coming up okay In an effort to make

Mary Jane jealous, Peter brings Gwen to the nightclub

where Mary Jane works. He gets into a fight with

the club's bouncers and unintentionally shoves

Mary Jane into the floor. Actually, no, I think

he slaps her. No, he shoves her. No, I... He

doesn't punch her. He gives her enough force

to get her off. Wow, Mike. That could be construed

as a few other meanings. But anyway... No, I

could... I will have to go back and watch and

prove you wrong. I could have sworn he went to

backhand one of the bouncers and he actually

backhanded her. Actually, now that I think about

it, you're right. It wasn't like a closed fist,

I'm going to knock your ass out. It was very

much an accidental thing. Exactly. Peter realizes

the symbiote suit is changing him for the worse.

He runs out of the nightclub and goes to a church

bell tower to dispose of it. Initially, he is

unable to remove the suit, but the sound of the

church bell weakens the symbiote, enabling Peter

to break free. Like you said earlier, this is...

This is the way I remember that it was done in

the cartoon, and this is the way it should always

be done as far as him getting the suit off. And

this is how it was done in the comic books, too,

so this made complete sense. Exactly. And I like

the fact of when he's going against the bell

tower, it shows the Venom persona of the symbiote.

As he's trying to get it off, and when it's clanging

against, when it's separating from him, it shows

the venom part of the symbiote. And I'm sorry,

the scene before this where Topher is basically

begging God to kill Peter, that's where they

fucked Eddie Brock up right there. You cannot

redeem him. No one who is a redeemable character

goes into church and begs God to kill somebody

for you. Well, there was a scene in Howard Stern's

private parts where he begs to God to come down

and kill pig vomit, but that's not on the same

list. No, that's way different. That is extremely

different. Okay, the sound of the church bell

weakens the symbiote, enabling Peter to break

free. Eddie Brock is at the same charge, praying

for Peter's death, when the symbiote falls from

the tower and takes over his body. The newly

empowered Eddie finds Sandman and suggests joining

forces to destroy Spider -Man. Now, the only

part about this that I like is when the suit

is coming down, he is looking up and he sees

Peter. Because in the cartoon, Peter's spidey

sense never worked against Venom. Well, yeah,

because they were so linked. He's basically picking

up off of his, like, biorhythm or something.

Right, exactly. So I like the fact that in this,

they let... they let Eddie Brock see that Peter

Parker is Spider -Man, so he knows the identity

just like Norman found out the identity in the

first film. So what is your rant before I get

on to the next bit of plot here? Oh my fucking

God! Go for grace. Once again, you disgrace yourself

by even... Venom is not... I mean, I liked how

when he convinces Flint Marco to help him out,

I liked that scene as Venom. I thought that was

okay. I liked just there was enough there I was

satisfied. And I'm a huge Venom fan. Like, you

can't guess that. And just, oh, my God. It didn't

look as cool as it should. Venom should have

been a lot more vicious, not. fucking eric foreman

like i'm sorry he will forever be eric foreman

he i mean what what was the last movie you remember

him in honestly exactly oh no no no honestly

i do remember a movie that he was in and i'm

actually ashamed to say this which is 12 no uh

there was actually i remember two there was one

with uh in good company was with dennis uh quade

dennis quade and then uh Shit. Guess who with

Bernie Mac? So both staples of American cinema,

I'm sure. No, not at all. This is terrible. Topher

Grace, if he had played the role a little more

vicious and violent, I think it would have been

cool. I mean, had they set up Venom as the antagonist

from the beginning of the movie, I would have

been really cool with it. Because Venom deserves

his own movie. He does not deserve to be a character

dropped in the last 20 minutes. Well, he actually

is getting his own movie, apparently. Yeah, and

it's probably going to keep Raimi the fuck away

from it. But no, it was bad casting. Now, this

I will say, Topher Grace is a good Eddie Brock

for the Raimi -verse, right? But for what the

character should have been, Raimi's version of

Venom... was pussified, and I know he's supposed

to be Dark Spider -Man, and all that stuff, but,

like, I mean, for a guy who's supposed to hate

Spider -Man so much, he doesn't go out of his

way to really kill him, and he doesn't really

go out of his way to really make him suffer,

and it's just, it's shit what they did to him.

I mean, like I said, Venom deserved his own movie,

not this 20 -minute bad guy thing. And it would

have been nice had he spoke like, we are here

to destroy. I wish he'd spoken in plural. That

would have made me happy because that's the way

he talks in the comics, the way he talks in the

cartoon. It added depth to his character to realize

you're not dealing with Eddie Brock nor the symbiote.

You're dealing with two people that want your

head on a pike. Now, see, when I first saw this

and I saw the sign. we are waiting or come to

wherever they had had Mary Jane and said that

we are waiting. I didn't put two and two together

at the time that he and Sandman were working

together. I thought it was talking like what

you were just saying. I thought he was talking

in the plural through the sign, but he wasn't

doing that. Yeah, I really do agree with you.

The only thing that I like about the Venom character

in this film, I did like the way the costume

worked. It looked okay, but I wish they'd had

the white Venom logo on the front of it a little

more pronounced. At least the eyes were fairly

close to the cartoon version. Yeah, that part

was close enough. It's not the worst costume

in the Spider -Man films. That goes to Green

Goblin. Yeah, I will say. But the fact he didn't

look buff enough kind of bothered me too. So

to end the movie here, the pair put Mary Jane

in a taxi cab and hang it from a gigantic symbiote

web. Peter approaches Harry for help, but it

is turned down. However, Harry learns the truth

about his father's death from his butler, Bernard,

and arrives in time to rescue Peter. They form

an alliance against the two villains, and fight

progresses. Eddie attempts to impale Peter with

Harry's glider, but Harry jumps in the way and

is fatally wounded. Peter recalls how the church

bell's toll weakened the symbiote and frees Eddie

from it by clanging several metal pipes together.

to make some vibrations, or sonic vibrations,

I read that wrong. Peter throws a pumpkin bomb

at the symbiote just as Eddie attempts to rebound

with it, causing both to be destroyed and resulting

in an explosion. Now, I do have to talk about

this scene really quick. I did like the team

-up of the two. The only reason why I don't like

it character -wise, I like it the way that the

stunt played out, with them going up the building.

and them helping each other out going from, from

the sky surf thing to him, to Spider -Man swinging.

I liked the, the visual. I thought that was kind

of cool. I'll admit though, but, uh, you know,

I just realized we've barely talked about Sandman

in this whole conversation because, well, I'm

sorry. He's Lowell from wings anyway. Um, Moving

on. Yeah, like, I thought this was kind of a

cool fight sequence. I mean, it was neat. However,

the way that they killed Venom, he poofed. He

turned into a buff as well. I laughed so hard,

people were telling me to shut up in the theater.

Because it was so retarded. Like, poof. Before

I read the final plot paragraph, let's take some

time, just a couple of minutes to talk about

the Sandman character. First of all, Thomas Hayden

Church, perfect casting for this. Oh yeah, he

looks the part. Oh yeah, we'll get to that once

we get to the cast of characters for the new

people. The Sandman character, Flint Marco character,

I like how they, even though they retconned their

own movie, I like how it was interweaved to fit

within the plot of the first film. Yeah. As far

as him killing Uncle Ben, I like how they didn't

basically totally discard the carjacker guy.

And he's basically a guy just out to save his

daughter. That's what he's out for. I mean, he

specifically says he's not a bad guy, and of

course this accident happens to him, and he becomes

a bad guy, but he's doing it for reasons that

he thinks is right. Like, I think the Sandman

character was an interesting person to put into

this universe, like, to use as a bad guy. However,

though, I think he would have played off a different

villain better, like Electro or Hydro Man or

the Vulture. I think there just would have been

a better chemistry or Mysterio. In fact, him

and Venom working together made no sense to me.

Now, Sandman and Mysterio, I can see. I don't

know about Sandman and Hydro Man, considering

they could pretty much cancel each other's powers

out. You see, that's my point. It would have

been the subject of duality, and you could have

used that as an underlying theme for the movie.

Like, you have to accept light and dark sides

of yourself to become one. Hydro Man and Sand

Man would have worked perfectly together. I mean,

sure, it might have been beating you over the

head with the theme stick a little bit harshly,

but it would have worked. Yes. After the battle,

Marco recovers and tells Peter that he had no

intention of killing Ben Parker and that it was

an accident born out of a desperate attempt to

save his daughter's life. Peter forgives Marco,

who dissipates and floats away to his daughter.

Yeah, that was pretty stupid. I'm sorry. Yeah,

that was. Peter and Harry forgive each other

before Harry dies, with Mary Jane and Peter at

his side. After Harry's funeral, Peter and Mary

Jane begin to mend their relationship. I honestly

don't see where Spider -Man 4 can pick up. Did

not leave it on a cliffhanger enough. Okay, Spider

-Man 1, you got him basically denouncing Mary

Jane, denouncing the love, and walking away and

saying that, you know, this is his journey. Spider

-Man 2, you have him saying, you know, you have

the two of them basically hooking up and she's

telling him, go get him, tiger. This one... I

think this is going to be one of those film franchises

where it's going to be like, and I'm sorry, Mike,

don't yell at me, but I have to make a Star Wars

reference. It's going to be first three, next

three, and then whatever else comes out. It's

going to be like almost three separate film franchises

for Spider -Man because I don't see where Spider

-Man 4 can pick up from this ending. It depends

on what universe they want to take it in. I mean,

if they keep playing in Raimi's universe, yeah,

they're going to have some trouble. If they let

some of the conventions go from the Raimi -verse,

I mean, yeah, I could see him fighting Mysterio.

I mean, maybe someone frames Spider -Man for

murder. Or something like that. Or maybe pick

up a storyline like Maximum Carnage. Have another

symbiote and have it be Carnage. And have him

trying to stop a serial killer or something like

that. See, that would be okay. Right. But I don't

know. You're right, though. I mean, they didn't

leave a whole lot of room around here to move

around. They basically kicked themselves into

a corner with this film. It's not that I can't

see those villains being any of those villains

you just mentioned being in Spider -Man 4. It's

just how would Spider -Man 4 start other than

starting from fresh, other than doing what Marvel

has done with Punisher and Hulk, having the 2003

-2004 versions of those films and then 2008 -2009

versions of... I don't see how this current franchise

that we have of Spider -Man can coexist past

this film without being a reboot and doing something

completely different that has nothing to do with

this film. Yeah, you basically hit it right on

the head. I don't see how the hell they're going

to move forward. Yep, I don't either. Again,

Tobey Maguire, excellent as Spider -Man. Maybe

it's because I haven't watched it in a couple

of weeks, but I didn't really hear a whole lot

of quips from him in this film. There wasn't

like that whole him against Jonah or him against

the villain thing. It was basically Peter enraged,

and it wasn't the happy, friendly neighborhood

Spider -Man type of film to me. I think everybody

was getting tired of the character by this point.

And I don't know. You could have simply left

this franchise off at two movies, and it would

have been okay. Oh, yes, very, very much so.

I agree with that. Again, Kirsten Dunst, she

does good as Mary Jane. James Franco, this will

be the final film that he plays. Harry, obviously,

because Harry dies. He was an asshole in this

movie, and I couldn't stand James Franco in this.

Yeah, I don't like that route for Harry's character

at all. So good. I want to stab him in the face.

Again, Rosemary Harris as Mae Parker, and then

J .K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. You know what

I want to see? That's... I want to see J. Jonah

Jameson, Spider -Man, and Matt Gargan as Scorpion.

That would make an awesome threesome type, some

sort of story as one part of a Spider -Man movie.

That would be cool. I think having the Scorpion

would be an interesting character to bring in,

or maybe the Rhino or the Shocker. Yep. Maybe.

Like, I don't know. I mean... Like I said before,

I don't know where this film franchise is going

to go. I don't even see how you'd even begin

to cast some of these bigger roles without going

to bodybuilders. Yes. Well, maybe that guy who

was in Universal Soldier, that Bill Goldberg

guy, I don't think he'd make a bad Rhino or even

a Matt Gargan. Yep. I did like seeing James Cromwell

in this as Captain George Stacy. That was kind

of cool. That was random. I know, but I like

James Cromwell in a lot of stuff. Yeah, so do

I. I mean, you know, that'll do pig to Zephyrm

Cochran. It was unnecessarily high profile, but

I guess he did it because he was a fan, I guess.

Yeah, and then, of course, we said before Thomas

Hayden Church, which I actually remember him

most from a Dean Kuntz movie, Mr. Murder. I remember

him mostly from Wings. Wings, yeah. I've got

a quote in here from Thomas Hayden Church on

Sandman. Villains with a conscience have this

sad realization of who they are and the monster

they've become. There's a sense of regret, so

at the end of these movies, there is a dramatic

resonance that really stays with the audience.

I don't think you really kind of got that, though,

because Sandman didn't have enough time to really

develop. I mean, it's really left to the... the

viewer and unless they're really into the headspace

of these movies, I think a lot of people missed

it. Yes. Um, we're going to go into the music

really quick. Cause I found, uh, shit. I know,

I know, but hold on, hold on. I normally, I don't

read our scripts beforehand. I usually just go

through and let. and pretty much be surprised

at some stuff, and I was surprised at this. Originally,

Danny Elfman, the composer for the previous installments,

did not plan to return for the third installment

of Spider -Man because of difficulties with director

Sam Raimi. Elfman said that he had a, quote,

miserable experience working with Raimi on Spider

-Man 2 and could not comfortably adapt his music.

And then Christopher Young was then announced

to score Spider -Man 3. In Elfman's absence.

I'm sorry. Danny Elfman is a musical god. Yeah,

but all this stuff starts to sound the same after

a while. Yeah, probably. Go back and listen.

He starts to sound the same. I think he's another

guy. I think he needs to just take a break for

a while. Yeah. And go kick the crap out of Topher

Grace. Anyway. I'm coming for you, Eric Forbin.

Wow. Just saying. The FX channel signed a five

-year deal for television rights to Spider -Man

3, which they began airing in 2009. The prize

was based... Man, they can fucking have it. The

prize was based on the film's box office performance

with an option for three opportunities for Sony

to sell the rights to one or more other broadcast

networks. They could show this on the Food Network

and no one would fucking watch it. I know that

you aren't that big on The Shield and you probably

really don't know that much about it because

I mentioned Vic Mackey to you one time in the

question about who would win. Michael Chiklis

is awesome, that's all I'm saying. No, I know

he is, and very much so, but The Shield was an

awesome, awesome show. It was the very first

show that launched FX's original show idea thing.

I'm sorry, FX going from The Shield to having...

Five years of television rights for Spider -Man

3? That's just wrong. See, I'm surprised Spike

wouldn't pick this up. I mean, if they had Spider

-Man 1, 2, and 3, that's pretty cool. I mean,

if Spike had all the Marvel movies, they'd be

cornering the market for a cool movie channel.

I mean, they have all the Star Trek rights. They

got, like, friggin' Star Wars and all that shit

or whatever. They've got a pretty cool movie

lineup when they're not showing CSI reruns. But

I'm surprised another channel wouldn't pick that

up. I mean, FX should focus more on stuff like

Rescue Me and The Shield. Rescue Me is actually

ending, I believe. I think so, yeah. And then,

of course, we're stuck with It's Always Sunny

in Philadelphia and Sons of Anarchy. Anyway.

Spider -Man 3 was released on Region 4 DVD in

Australia. We don't care about that. Region 2,

Region 1. Actually, my copy, I don't remember

where I got this. It came with either a Spider

-Man or a Venom mask, which suggests to me I

got it at Best Buy. Actually, I saw these versions

in a store not too long ago, still on the shelf.

I thought that was cool. Now, the one thing that

kind of pissed me off, though, is finding the...

Either the three disc or the two disc edition

for this movie is fucking impossible. Like, it

was hard to find. I don't even own it. I have

the single disc, and man, did they skimp on special

features for this. single discs normally do nowadays

unless it's obviously blu -ray um i do have the

the two disc edition i have never heard of a

three disc edition for this film see i thought

there was there yeah i think it was the two disc

edition they wanted like 40 bucks for it see

my big thing is when i buy movies like this i

want the documentaries i want the commentaries

i want the featurettes Yeah, well, this has plenty

of them. It has Grains of Sand, Building Sandman,

Reimaging the Goblin, Covered in Black, Creating

Venom, On Location in New York and in Cleveland,

Inside the Editing Room and Science of Sound.

It has two stunt featurettes and many more. See,

I wanted the thing on Venom. I wanted to hear

what they thought. I mean, that's my big thing.

Well, I was going to rip the audio for the episode,

so I can do that anyway and just send it. I can

just send you the audio. That's okay. I'll eventually

buy this on Blu -ray anyway. They'll get more

of my money, the rotten bastards. Final thoughts

and scores on Spider -Man 3. Three out of ten.

Simply because I didn't like the direction this

movie took. I thought it was horribly paced.

This movie was boring at times. Yes, it is. I

was bored to shit. And emo Spidey? You've got

to be goddamn kidding me, man. I'd like to know

how the hell that made it past the studio executives.

Like, seriously. I think the editor is a Nazi

war criminal. He hates people because he left

that in the movie. Sam Raimi is a sadist. I know

this will never happen, but... Well, I don't

know if it'll happen now or not. Maybe you and

I should get together and talk about this Disney

-Marvel thing eventually one of these days. But

what I think should happen is either Sony should

sell the rights back to Marvel or Disney or whatever,

or Disney should just flat out buy the rights

and give them back to the Marvel Studios people.

Because Marvel Studios... Outside of the Punisher

Warzone or whatever the hell that thing was called

and the Incredible Hulk, they're doing amazing

things with Iron Man. I don't think the Incredible

Hulk was that bad, all things considered. I mean,

I had a lot of fun with it. I just think they

could have did more with it. And the Punisher

Warzone was stupid fun. I mean, it was – okay.

Have you seen it? No, and I won't. Oh, my God.

There is one point, Mike, it is the best part

in any movie ever committed to film. A guy jumps

to the air and gets killed by a rocket launcher.

It's worth it. One of my friends actually helped

write that movie. He's creating the character

Looney Bin Jim, and that was Nick Santora of

Prison Break. But then they took his script and...

But it's worth seeing, I think. I enjoyed it

more than Spider -Man 3. But that being said,

like I said, I do like aspects of Spider -Man

3. I think there were some decent moments in

it. But overall, it was a huge letdown. I mean,

I was expecting it to build on the success of

Spider -Man 2. I wanted this to be the Dark Knight

of the Spider -Man franchise. Oh, yeah. And it

seems to be big comic book movies peak at 2.

Look, and for example, X -Men 2 was better than

X -Men 1 and better than X -Men 3. Spider -Man

number two was the best. The second Hulk movie

is the best. The second Blade movie is the best.

And so on and so forth. The only reason why I

like Blade 3 was because of Jessica Biel. But

anyway, that's a whole other story. Ryan Reynolds!

Whatever. one thing, you know, for me, I would

give this, for this, see, I would have to give

this two scores because I like the stunts and

the action. I would give that an eight or a nine.

But for the overall story and the plot and how

the characters were used, I would give it a four.

Yeah, I'd have to agree with you. Yep. All right.

Well, we are going to go into the closing. We'll

be right back. Mike, do you have anything you

want to plug here on MWire? Well, it's going

to be an exciting month for This Week in Geek.

We have interviews coming up with Billy West.

You may recognize him as the voice of Dr. Zoigberg

Fry from Futurama, among many other pop culture

voices. We'll also be talking about the Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles celebrating their 25th anniversary

this year. That'll be our Season 4 premiere.

Also introducing our new news show, which does

not yet, as of this date, Have a name that will

be hosted by Stephan the Skunk Pelche doing the

nerd news from around the web. That will be our

new weekly show. Also talking about Call of Cthulhu,

H .P. Lovecraft, but also George A. Romero's

zombie films. And stay tuned in November for

a huge special on Neon Genesis Evangelion with

support from Funimation. That should be a fantastic

episode. So that's what's coming up. Other than

that, just listen to me on ScrewAttack .com,

TheGameHeroes .com. And, of course, on Clear

Channel Communications, 1150 AM WIMA. In Lima

Bumfuck, Ohio. Hey, I'm broadcast into five separate

markets, man. I'm not sitting against it, but,

yeah, until I heard you say that, I've never

heard of that town before. But anyway. It's like

50 ,000. Yeah. Okay. So thank you for joining

us here on Movie Week in Review. There are several

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That's right. We hope you enjoyed this episode

of MR and wish that you'll join Mike and I next

time when we will be reviewing, in the Marvel

spotlight, Daredevil, and we will slightly mention

Elektra, which sucked. For now, I am TFG1Mike

with... Mike the Birdman Dodd from This Week

in Geek saying, live free or die hard. Saying

the moral words of, oh, yeah, this is what I

was going to include if Steve was going to be

on the show. The moral words of Buck Russell,

Art Linkletter was right. Kids do say the goddamnedest

things. And thank you for listening. Until next

time. Yeah, I was going to say, insert abstruse

fart here. Yep. See you later, folks.