Spiderman, spiderman.. does whatever a spider can

41

Because of bean counters, we’ve lost many refinements to our civilization in ill-advised attempts to shave a few pennies here, a buck there…

The average guy doesn’t see an increase in his wages because of these cost-cutting measures. All the money saved goes to upper management, while the rest of us suffer along with our downsized, degraded, dumbed-down culture.

The loss of ushers is one example. Also, when I was a wee one, they actually had soundproof “crying rooms” in some of the theatres where moms could take their bawling babes, watch the movie, and not disturb the rest of the movie audience.

I actually think some people are just insensitive to noise. It doesn’t bother them and they think therefore that their noise doesn’t bother anyone else. Whether or not that is stupidity I cannot say, but surely it is ignorance, at the very least.

A lot of our problems in society and life today are due to the automobile and our dependence on oil. Before the decline of the inner cities, most cities, even medium sized ones, had several large downtown movie palaces with a staff of ushers, crying rooms, and other refinements, to cite just one example of a more elegant but bygone era.

Of course, after WWII, the decision was made to gut the existing public transportation infrastructure (which was based on electricity) and sell everybody a car, or two. This helped accelerate the rush to the suburbs and the decline and eventual death of city centers, and the big movie houses with them. Of course, TV didn’t help.

WWII was all about oil, in case anybody hasn’t figured it out yet.

When movie theatres rebounded in the 80’s with the multiplexes, what we got were sterile little crackerboxes

Even the prohibition on weed, believe it or not, is directly related to the influence of the petrochemical cartels. They’re the people running the world today, and they don’t want any competition. Go back and look at the lurid yellow journalism of WR Hearst to demonize the weed. Look a little deeper and you’ll find out that he was in cahoots with the Nazis, along with a whole raft of American industrial icons. True story. Sad, but true.

But I kinda like Alanis Morisette, although I don’t know much about her. Her video “Hands Clean” is excellent, imo. Great songwriting, great video production. True artistry.

EOR

:cool:
sp

42

This is a rollicking good movie and among the very best of its genre - an instant classic. Among the superhero movies, only the first two Batman flicks surpass Spiderman, and then not by a wide margin.

Many viewers didn’t like the dark, moody ambience of director Tim Burton’s renderings of Batman in his two efforts with the title, but I thought they were outstanding and on my short list of all-time faves. Yes, both of them. C’mon, Michelle Pfieffer’s Catwoman was spectacular, and Batman Returns was the equal of the original, if not better.

Spiderman suffers, by comparison, in its lack of a memorable theme, although the soundtrack is still very good.

Beyond that, it’s hard to find fault. This movie is extremely well paced, the dialogue is just right, and there is a healthy measure of wild action balanced by adequate character development and a bittersweet romantic angle with a surprise twist. Hollywood didn’t get its classic ending here, and I give extra credit for this bold move, which of course leaves the door wide open for sequels. And I for one, can’t wait.

Norman looks like a character drawn by Stan Lee, and I think the Green Goblin makes an excellent super-villain and evil menace. There are spectacular action sequences framed against breathtaking NYC aerial footage which might make some viewers just a little uneasy less than a year removed from Black Tuesday.

All of this adds up to loads of fun and great entertainment - highly recommended.

I give it a solid 9 on a scale of ten, or 4.5 stars, pending a second viewing.

:cool:
sp

$5 at the local downtown multiplex plus $4 for the big popcorn. The added bonus was a realtively sparse crowd, and no tall guy sat down in front of me. Nobody was talking either. A couple sat down near me and I was worried about them. They laughed everytime the guy in the preview got hit in the face with the tennis ball, but kept quiet during the movie.

43

nice review… if only we could get the ****able critics to write up a review like that.

I disagree about it being not as good as batman… but that’s just me. I would like them to do Batman today, with Maya for the action sequences. The fluidity of the character movement I suppose is what thrills me. In batman they had to bulk up the character with the costume, hence in all the fight scenes it really looked like Keaton was straining against the suit to move.

I too loved the dark aspect of the first two batman movies, and personaly, I think that’s what ruined the next one. NEON??? that’s not batman. Batman is a disturbed madman vigilante… he’s not a caped crusader, he’s the Dark Knight.

Anyway… nice words from you sir… I think your review is probably more accurate than mine… and certainly sounded very reasonable from an average American perspective.