I’m not done yet! »

Prior to The Quiet Earth, Geoff Murphy made a handful a good films (Wild Man, Goodbye Pork Pie, UTU) in his native New Zealand. Shortly thereafter he helmed an unfortunate number of Hollywood films (Young Guns 2, Freejack, Under Siege 2, Fortress 2) that may be considered guilty pleasures at best. He was also called upon by fellow Kiwi director Peter Jackson to head up the second unit on all three Lord of the Rings films. So what is the point of this little history lesson? Hollywood kills good directors (John Woo and Sam Raimi, prime examples).

But, I digress. Despite the a lackluster couple of decades, Geoff Murphy does have a grand if only marginally well known legacy in The Quiet Earth. Science fiction and horror fans will recognize and appreciate the premise; Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) wakes up one day, goes through the motions like any and every other day, and slowly realizes that he is, inexplicably, the last person on earth. The scenario plays out basically as is expected but it is the manner of the presentation and plotting that make it remarkable.

The film ultimately has only three characters, whose dynamic, touches on Alfred Hitchcock and Shakespeare without any pretense. Zac’s subtle and deliberate decline into the reality of his new position in the world leads to him swinging from disbelief to depression to mania to megalomania to acceptance and back to disbelief. The storytelling and character interaction allow for empathy without distraction and the science fiction elements are beautifully woven into the fabric of the drama so that the one doesn’t overshadow the other.

There are several mysteries involved in the story that are revealed with wonderful precision by the director through a series of well placed flashbacks and the subtlety of mood and movement, but you’ll have to find the film and watch it to understand the full glory.

This is not a flashy film. It is however a master stroke. It is unfortunate that this film has all but vanished into obscurity, along with its director but they both still exist and there’s always a second wind. Always. Good Luck.

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I have nothing against Blake. I think he’s very cool and a great performer. He’s innovative and is one of the most unique contestants ever on the show. But he isn’t half the singer that Melinda is. No way, no how. His vocals are weak. I knew that Blake had a lot of fans, but I never thought that they could take down Melinda.

I thought that perhaps it would be a Blake/Melinda finale. I had figured that with LaKisha’s exit last week, her votes would transfer to Melinda, and maybe a few would trickle to Jordin. It appears that most transferred to the latter.

I suppose I can look at this in a positive manner. Melinda won’t be forced to sing the inevitably crappy Finale song and produce the inevitably bland debut album. She’ll still be tied to the soul-sucking Idol machine, but not as much if she had won. And many non-winners have done rather well. I’d say that Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry, and Clay Aiken aren’t complaining about their lives, and not even Elliott Yamin, who came in third place last year.

Speaking of Elliott, that’s one hell of a transformation eh? With the long, curly hair and capped teeth? He almost looks like Josh Groban now. His great performance last night reminded me of how weak Blake’s vocals are.

The rest of the episode was boring as usual. In my previous post I was complimenting the episode on how it was nearly filler-free, but I forgot that most of the filler occurs during the results shows. Yep, they had the Homecoming footage after all, not to mention a plug for the upcoming Idol tour and some new reality show about a band. Yawn. I almost fell asleep during Maroon 5’s performance.

I honestly have no idea what next week will be like. It really is a battle of the fans now, and if Blake has more fans (or more rabid fans), then he will win. Sadly, I will be missing next week’s Finale and Results episodes due to some previous engagements, which means that I won’t be able to write about them either. Yes I know, it’s very sad. Now now, dry your eyes folks. It’ll be okay. Do try to go one without me.

And with that, I’d like to say thanks for reading my American Idol recaps. Although I’ll be taking a much-needed break from them, rest assured that I’ll be back in January when Season 7 starts.

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Judges’ Choice

Ya know, I’ve always wondered how the judges decide on which contestant to offer their song choices. Do they draw straws? Rock paper scissors? Eeny meeny miney moe? Guess we’ll never know. Anywho, the contestants received their song assignment via a fax sent to the mayor or governor of their hometown (whichever politician they meet).

B

Paula chose the Police’s “Roxanne” for Blake, which I thought was interesting since Blake’s face always reminded me of Sting. Mercifully he played it straight and didn’t beatbox, but I wasn’t crazy about his vocals. Randy and Paula liked it, but Simon couldn’t help but compare it to the Police, and naturally the original artists were better.

B+

Simon chose Jordin’s song, which was “Wishing on a Star”. I thought it was pretty good, but it didn’t make me sit up and take notice. Randy thought it was a very good vocal and was Beyonce-like, but ironically Simon didn’t like it, particularly the jazz arrangement.

Oddly enough, Randy chose Whitney Houston’s “I Believe in You and Me” for Melinda, breaking the cardinal, unwritten AI rule that no one should sing a Whitney song except for Whitney. Naturally, Randy had to remind everyone that he worked with Whitney in the studio. Seriously - can his head be any bigger? I had to laugh when the governor’s (or is it mayor’s?) wife called him “Randy Johnson”. I thought it was pretty boring, but all three judges loved it. Simon awarded Round 1 to Melinda.

Producers’ Choice

As I mentioned, in the past these songs were chosen by Clive Davis. However, this year he left the task to the producers. I guess the old man preferred to stay in his sarcophagus and count his money. To be honest though, I feel that their song choices were better than the judges’.

B+

Jordin sang Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for the Money” which was better than the first performance but still wasn’t that great. It’s an upbeat song, but she didn’t really move around much on stage. Randy enjoyed it, but once again Simon didn’t care for the arrangement.

A-

I thought it was odd at first for the producers to choose a rock song for Melinda, until I found out later that it was a Tina Turner song. She sang “Nut Bush City Limits” and vocally was wonderful as usual. Simon said that he loved that side of her.

A

When Ryan announced that Blake was singing Maroon 5’s “This Love”, I knew immediately that it was the perfect song choice for him. It has his name written all over it. Not only was it infinitely better than the first performance, but he looked more comfortable on stage. Paula said, “This is a good night for you,” while Simon said that it wasn’t a copycat performance. In the end, Simon awarded Round 2 to Blake and Melinda.

Singers’ Choice

The ladies chose songs that they previously sang in the show. I’m not sure what to think. On one hand, I feel it’s a cop-out since they had sang them before and weren’t challenging themselves. On the other hand, it’s clever since they picked songs from their strongest performances that were sure to please the judges and the audience.

A

Jordin sang “I, Who Have Nothing” and it was as terrific as the first time she performed this piece. Randy said it was her best song of the night, while Simon grumbled that it was a very old-fashioned song and performance.

Blake sang Robin Thicke’s “When I Get You Alone” and once again it was the right song choice for him. Not quite as good as “This Love”, but it still suited him well. Like me, Randy preferred his earlier performance, but Simon said, “I actually really liked that”.

Melinda closed the show with “I’m a Woman”, which she performed perfectly in the past and performed perfectly last night. Randy was pleased that he’s seeing different ranges of Melinda’s vocal abilities and is convinced she can sing anything. Simon said that if he were to reward someone a place in the finals, it would be someone who has been consistently good throughout the competition, meaning Melinda.

My thoughts: Unless all of Melinda’s fans developed carpal tunnel and couldn’t use a phone, I think it’s pretty safe to say that she’s going to be in next week’s finale. As for the other two, I’m hesitant to take a guess. On one hand, Jordin deserves to be in the Top Two, as she’s vocally superior to Blake. However, I think that Blake has more fans and is the better entertainer. I would buy Jordin’s CD, but I would watch Blake in concert. I really can’t guess who is going home tonight, but I’m going to say Jordin because Blake may have the upper hand in terms of fans.

Who will be going home: Jordin

Who should be going home: no one

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Don’t get me wrong - I overall liked Dreamgirls. The music is catchy and great to sing along, and the costumes and set are fabulous. Jamie Foxx is terrific as the Dreams’ calculating manager Curtis. It’s amazing to see him start off being so likeable and ending up a soulless jerk. In general, the story flowed nicely. However, there are rocky parts. First of all, it’s strange that the film abruptly transitions from just having musical performances to the actors suddenly breaking out in song. Yes it’s a musical, but it should have been more consistent. Don’t change the format halfway through the movie.

Second, I wasn’t impressed with Hudson and Murphy’s acting. Hudson is a singer who plays a singer. Wow, that’s a stretch. Besides, the angry black diva role has been done before. As for Murphy, it’s not that hard to imitate James Brown and Jackie Wilson. Black comedians have been doing that for ages. I just figured that people were shocked that for once Murphy wasn’t the voice of a cartoon character, or not appearing in some brainless family comedy. That being said, I did prefer Murphy during the second half of the film, in which he portrays an older, somber, and haggard Jimmy.

Dreamgirls was recently released on HD DVD, under the title “2-Disc Showstopper Edition”. The film quality itself didn’t look that great to me, compared to say, Superman Returns in HD. I was hoping for some colors jumping out at me, especially considering Jimmy Early’s colorful outfits. Then again, considering that other reviews have praised the film quality, maybe it’s just my TV. The sound was crisp however, which is crucial for a film musical.

This 2-disc set is chock-full of special features, but they aren’t that different from the DVD Showstopper Edition, except that they’re in crystal clear HD. Disc 1 contains the film, Knowles’ music video for the underrated “Listen”, 12 extended scenes and musical numbers such as full length versions of “I am Changing”, “Steppin’ to the Bad Side”, and “Heavy”. I’m glad that they didn’t just weave the extended scenes in the film, because I didn’t really care for some of the music not sung by the main characters. The extra footage notably includes a Hudson musical performance of “Effie, Sing My Song,” which was not seen in the theatrical release.

Disc 2 is where the meat really is. There’s a two hour documentary called Building the Dream, which is a very detailed account of everything that went into creating the film, from the film’s Broadway roots to the actors that brought those beloved characters on the big screen. There’s also little features that focus on costume design and lighting, but what was especially cool were the previsualization sequences. Various scenes are shown via a combination of storyboards and rehearsals by the actors’ choreographers. Another feature I liked were the audition and screen test footage. The Knowles screen test featured her in full makeup and costume singing “Dreamgirls” with a piano accompanient. That scene demonstrated that the woman can actually sing, just differently from Hudson. There’s also a choreography audition of the “Steppin’ to the Bad Side” musical sequence, but while Keith Robinson (who played Effie’s brother C.C.) was present, other dancers performed in place of the actors (Foxx, Murphy, etc.)

If you’re a Dreamgirls fan, this is the ultimate version of the film for you.

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Oh look, we finally get the Pink performance that was promised to us like, three weeks ago, during Idol Gives Back. Apparently that bloated, waste of an episode ran out of time, so they had to scrap footage of her performance and stuff it in this week’s results show. Hey, I’ve got an idea on how to prevent that from happening again: dump out some of the filler! Yeesh. I mean, they could have trimmed the Ben Stiller segment to fit her in.

Oh yay, Fantastic Four 2 preview. Sure, the special effects look cool, but you know damn well that it’s going to suck far worse than the disaster that was Spider-Man 3. I’ll still watch it since I have no life, but I expect nothing of substance to come from it. I’m surprised though that the whole starring cast was in the AI audience though. How cute of Ryan to pretend that he’s straight by hinting that he thinks Jessica Alba is hot. Come on now buddy, we know that your turn ons are cranky, incredibly tanned, old British guys who wear tight black T-shirts.

At least the group song wasn’t bad this time. The smaller the group, the less cheesy, show choir-like the performance. I thought that the girls harmonized well in their Destiny’s Child version of “Emotions”. Yeah, like they sang the Bee Gees version.

Speaking of the Bee Gees, Barry’s performance of “To Love Somebody” was horrible. When he first started to sing, he seemed to get startled, as if he didn’t expect the mic to be turned up so high. As he continued, I realized that it was just his style of singing. What the hell was that? Why was he singing in such a clipped manner? It was like he was speak-singing the words.

As for the results. Ok so I was wrong, and Blake didn’t go home. It seems that everyone, even LaKisha, knew that she was going home this week. Go figure *shrug*

Anywho, let’s think about how this affects the rest of the contestants. LaKisha’s votes will now go to Melinda. Next week, Blake will most likely get knocked off. His votes will most likely go to Jordin. I’m guessing that Blake and Jordin’s combined votes will outweigh LaKisha and Melinda’s combined votes, leaving Jordin as the winner. On the other hand, if by some twist of fate Jordin leaves next week, her votes may split. Some will go to Melinda, others will go to Blake. This means that Melinda will win.

What do you guys think? Who is going to win?

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Title: Harsh Times
Year: 2005
Director: David Ayer
Starring: Christin Bale, Freddy Rodriguez, Eva Longoria
Rated: R

NoFace for Film rating: 3 out of 7

Writer/Director David Ayer has had a relatively short career to date with several successful films in his wake, as a writer (U-571, The Fast and the Furious, Training Day, Dark Blue, S.W.A.T.). Harsh Times marks his debut as a director and as has been proven time and time again, good writers do not necessarily make good directors (watch Blade Trinity for a sobering example).

Christin Bale plays Jim Luther Davis, an honorably discharged Ranger struggling to adjust to civilian life and the turmoil he creates trying to enter law enforcement, all the while occupying himself with the destructive vices that led him astray in the past.

The performances are very decent and the plot is well scripted (by David Ayer himself), but the writer’s direction flattens everything out. His style is a weak derivation of Tony Scott and ends up being a distraction. The characters, though dynamic, are a bit too despicable and are frequently difficult to watch.

It is not a bad movie at all, just a trying movie. David Ayer writes the cop drama very well and hopefully he will find his own vision for his next project. Until then check out a few decent cop (or cop-type) films: Training Day, Running Scared, Narc, and L.A. Confidential.

Title: Color of the Cross
Year: 2006
Director: Jean-Claude La Marre
Starring: Jean-Claude La Marre, Johann John Jean, Jacinto Tarras Riddick, Ananda Lewis
Rated: PG-13

NoFace for Film rating: 2 out of 7

The story of Jesus Christ has been told by Hollywood a hundred different times, in a hundred different ways, no two telling the same story in whole and all being mired in controversy. Now, Color of the Cross joins this illustrious fraternity and shows that it has more in common with its predecessors than is expected.

In this retelling, the story begins just before the last supper and concludes with the crucifixion. In between, it is the standard Jesus related activity: sneaking around the hills outside town, setting right the misguided tidings of his disciples, looking pious, quoting various nuggets of wisdom. The main difference, and the source of controversy with this version, is that Jesus is depicted as a black man and that his persecution and murder were racially motivated.

Though the point of the film is obvious and made without question, the manner of its telling is a hair below sub-par at best. The acting is extraordinarily not good, the scenery was apparently an afterthought, the dialog and direction are sluggish, and the actors appear to be wearing Halloween costumes. The only good things about this film are the idea behind it and the DVD cover art; the two things that cannot save a bad film.

Title: Until Death
Year: 2007
Director: Simon Fellows
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Stephen Rea, Selina Giles
Rated: R

NoFace for Film rating: 1 out of 7

Like you, I am waiting with bated breath for the triumphant and phoenix-like rebirth of Jean-Claude Van Damme. For the past decade JCVD has been absent from our beloved silver screen and American cinema has suffered because of it. Seriously. No joke. I have had many a moment of hopeful anticipation at the sighting of a new JCVD film at my local video rental haunt dashed when upon watching the film, the idea of his rising from the ashes draws further and further away. Unfortunately, with Until Death, nothing has changed.

The film’s first fatal flaw (forgive the alliteration) is that the description on the reverse of the DVD case repeatedly refers to JCVD’s character as Anthony Lowe, when the character’s name is Anthony Stowe. The second and ultimate fatal flaw is that the film is a stunning and frightening amalgam of Mel Gibson’s Payback and Harrison Ford’s Regarding Henry. Confused? Well, actually watching the film is no help. Trust me. Please.

The plot in inconsequential, to the point where the actors and the director don’t really care what happens, so why should you. If you haven’t figured it out by now, this film is just plain wrong. To be fair (barely) I can see why JCVD wanted to do this film, and he does stretch his boundaries a bit, but alas, it is all for naught. Here’s hoping for the future, for all our sakes’.

Title: Deja Vu
Year: 2006
Director: Tony Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, Adam Goldberg, Paula Patton, Jim Caviezel, Bruce Greenwood
Rated: PG-13

NoFace for Film rating: 4 out of 7

Of all the films reviewed in this edition of Condensed Analysis, Deja Vu is the unrivaled champion. The blinding glow from Deja Vu’s brilliance can only be seen as a pinprick of light by the other films. Hold your applause though, there’s more to this fairy tale. Despite the kudos, this film is far from great.

Denzel Washington plays ATF agent Doug Carlin assigned to investigate a terrorist bombing in New Orleans when some forensic inconsistencies lead him to FBI agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) and a unique surveillance unit that utilizes a spacefold anomaly to view events 4 days and 6 hours in the past, which is then used to exhaustion to solve the case (whew). That being said, this is not a sci-fi film.

Director Tony Scott’s fast and visceral visual style makes for great watching…usually. With Deja Vu, he seemed to have missed the mark a tad. There are moments where the plot’s pace matches the hectic vision of the film but in general there exists a notion of mismatch. At its heart, Deja Vu is a murder-mystery-thriller with a touch of science fiction thrown in for flavor, almost an afterthought. Such science heavy subjects as time travel and/or time alteration as a secondary plot device in large scope films is perilous at best and always disappointing (see also Richard Donner’s Timeline).

Misconceptions aside, the film is entertaining and that’s all anyone can ask for, really. But, the subject matter suffers from Tony Scott’s hard-edged style, or is it the other way ’round? Anyway, it’s worth a gander but the script would have been better suited for Tony’s brother Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner).

Good Luck.

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Most of the contestants crashed and burned during the first half of the show, some more than others. Let’s take a look.

Performance I

C

I like Blake. I really do. I think it’s great that he often puts his own spin on a song, making it his own. However, sometimes he overdoes it. Blake took “You Should Be Dancing” and beatboxed the living hell out of it. I thought he murdered Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name” last week, and he did it again with this song. I wish that Blake would quit picking classic songs and drastically altering them beyond recognition. None of the judges liked it. Paula said that he was off pitch, while Simon said that it was horrible.

B-

How odd for LaKisha to take what’s arguably the ultimate disco song and R & B-ify it. I applaud her for taking a risk, but this was a bit much. Indeed, contrary to what he normally says, Randy didn’t like that she made it her own. Paula thought that taking the tempo down brought the audience’s mood down.

B

Yes, even Melinda doesn’t get a good grade this time. Vocally it was stellar as usual, but I thought that the performance was meh, and the song didn’t really work for her. The judges pretty much said the same thing - great vocals, but weren’t really wowed.

A

Out of the four first performances, only Jordin’s really stood out. She sang “To Love Somebody”, which I thought was excellent. The girl is on her way to the finale. All three judges said it was the best vocal and best performance so far.

Performance II

Thankfully, most of the contestants upped their game during the second half of the show. However, two were still relatively weak.

B-

Blake sang some obscure Bee Gees song called “This is Where I Came In.” Even Barry was surprised that he picked this song and admitted that it was never a hit. You know things are bad when someone doesn’t like his own song. Although it was better than the first performance, it still wasn’t good enough. Randy said what I’m sure most people in the audience were thinking: Blake, you don’t have to beatbox at every song. I forsee Blake leaving tonight.

Like Blake, LaKisha’s second song was an improvement, but not a big one. She sang, “Run to Me” and the first half actually wasn’t bad. However, it got screechy halfway, and in fact she pretty much croaked out the last note. Yowch. Simon said that he feels she and Blake are the most vulnerable contestants this week, and I agree with him.

B+

Thank goodness that Melinda’s second song was infinitely better than the first. She sang “How Do You Mend a Broken Heart” and it was great, especially the second half of the song. In fact, Simon said that the second half may have put her in the finale. No, it’s the fact that she’s been consistently excellent during the whole competition.

A-

Jordin received a very high compliment from Barry when he heard her rehearse “Woman in Love”. He said that he’s heard about a hundred versions of the song (including Barbra Streisand’s), but he said that Jordin’s was the best ever. Wow. I thought she sounded great, but the judges weren’t as impressed. Randy said it was pitchy and Paula said it wasn’t her best. Simon said she sounded old-fashioned and the performance was “pageanty”, down to the ultra formal dress.

My thoughts:

I’m pretty damn sure that Blake is leaving tonight. He’s had a good run and is definitely one of the most unique Idol contestants ever, but the beat boxing got old really fast. Even Randy got fed up with it.

Who should be leaving: Blake

Who will be leaving: Blake

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Before I begin, let me leave a brief message to the fanboys: I was really looking forward to this film, as was my boyfriend, who is a Spider-Man fanboy himself. We enjoyed the first two films, especially the second, so we had high hopes for this one. We had a lot of trust that director Sam Raimi was going to continue his magic. Alas, it seems that Raimi has finally gone Hollywood.

Spider-Man 3 starts off on a different note than its predecessor. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is finally living the good life. He’s at the top of his class at college, he and his girlfriend, Broadway actress Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) are madly in love and doing well, and best of all, the whole city loves Spider-Man.

However, Peter’s rose-colored glasses prevent him from seeing the number of warning signs ahead of him. His ex-best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) still blames Peter/Spider-Man for his father’s (Willem Dafoe) death and plots revenge. Mary Jane isn’t that successful an actress and also somewhat resents the attention Spider-Man receives. Meanwhile, more trouble comes his way, in the form of escaped convict Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), annoying rival photojournalist Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), and an alien symbiote. Sounds like a lot for Peter to handle, isn’t it? Well, it’s a lot to handle for the audience as well.

First, the positives. The special effects were terrific. If you’re wondering how they spent $250 million, I’m guessing that a good chunk of it went into the sand-related effects. They were admittedly amazing. The fights were also very cool. Although it was short and too near the beginning of the film, I liked Peter and Harry’s alley fight. It was fast and brutal, especially when you consider that the two characters used to be best friends.

But most of all, I liked Church’s portrayal of Flint, who, because of a freak accident with a particle accelerator machine, becomes the Sandman. Flint isn’t a bad guy but rather has made some really bad decisions in his life because he desperately needs money for his sick daughter. When he encounters Spider-Man for the first time, the first thing he says is, “I don’t want to hurt you.” Church does a great job by saying little and letting his facial expressions do all the work. For example, you see pain, guilt, and love written all over his face when he watches his little girl sleep, and you can’t help but feel sorry for him.

And now, the negatives. The acting was horrible, as was the script. So many lines were pure cheese. It’s disappointing that Dunst hasn’t acted well in anything since Interview With the Vampire, when she was only 11 years old. Meanwhile, Maguire’s version of “emo Peter” was just ridiculous. Oooh, Peter has jet-black hair, combed his bangs over his face, has dark circles under his eyes, and is wearing all black. That means that something is wrong with him.

There were too many dragged out or unnecessary scenes. Yes, the “emo Peter” scenes were kind of necessary since they paralleled the “happy-go-lucky Peter” scenes in Spider-Man 2, but it dragged for far too long. We certainly did not need to see Mary Jane and Harry do the twist while they made dinner, and we absolutely did not need to see Mary Jane singing.

As cool as it must have sounded on paper, Spider-Man 3 did not need three villains. Perhaps two might not have been so bad, but three was just ridiculous. Some of the villains conveniently vanish for a good chunk of the film, and others (like the much-hyped Venom) are introduced way too late in the film, therefore not having enough screen time. It would have been best if Venom was saved for a sequel.

It didn’t make any sense to introduce Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard). As any Spider-Man fan knows, Gwen -not Mary Jane- was Peter’s actual first girlfriend back in high school, and she died when Peter tried to save her from the Green Goblin. Now, Gwen is Peter’s lab partner at college. Yes, comic book movies can bend and twist stories to suit its purpose, but since Gwen was taken out of the picture very early on, why introduce her character at all?

Finally, there were too many convenient coincidences. Using coincidences too often in a film indicates weak or lazy script writing. The writers couldn’t think of a better way to introduce a character or tie two story elements together, so they rely on coincidence. For example, it was such a coincidence that the meteor that carried the alien symbiote crash landed not too far from Peter’s location. But the coincidence that really bugged me was when Raimi decided to alter the history of the first film to make Flint the real killer of Peter’s beloved Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson). How absurd is that?

I’m disappointed in Raimi. A few months ago, I heard rumors that he was interested in directing The Hobbit, since New Line Cinema refuses to ever work again with Peter Jackson. At the time I figured that he would do a relatively okay job. But after seeing Spider-Man 3, I now think that the New Line execs should keep Raimi far, far away from Middle-Earth.

Spider-Man 3 is no doubt the weakest film in the trilogy, while Spider-Man 2 is the best film among the three. Of course, people will still watch it and I know that it’s already made a ton of money in the few days it’s been out, but that’s just because everyone was waiting for this film and needed to see it. Overall it’s still a fun film to watch, but don’t expect a lot out of it.

Then again, I’m sure that it’s still a whole lot better than the upcoming Fantastic Four sequel.

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