Movies This Week (5/11)

Most of my time (nights included) was spent getting Fan Picks done for Fanpop, but I did manage to catch the opening of Spider-Man 3 (3/5). Here's my analysis:

Spider-Man 3 (Theater) - This third installment of the record-breaking (in terms of sales) franchise helmed by Sam Raimi falls short of the intelligence and character development of Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. It's really a shame - the special effects are well done (although, I still feel like Spider-Man looks like he's CG while swinging around the city - there's something too smooth about his movements), the villains are interesting, and the plot has a lot going for it. Unfortunately, the execution almost felt lackadaisical with characters feeling a bit forced, a little too much comic relief (although Bruce Campbell as a French Maitre d'Hotel was a stroke of genius), moments where the actors seemed to "phone it in", and an editing style that felt like the movie was even longer than its 2 hour and 15 minute length. On the whole, it's a pretty decent movie and definitely worth the money to see in the theater, but it doesn't live up to it's predecessors. Maybe they did all the character development that they wanted to do already and didn't know how to continue with that or maybe there's too much going on in the film with the new Goblin, Sandman, and Venom to deal with as well as Mary Jane's depression and Gwen Stacy complicating Peter's relationship. Even so, after the movie ended, I was eagerly awaiting Spider-Man 4 (rumored to be scheduled for release in 2009). 3/5