Radio Lady Discusses: I've Seen A Preview of Spider-Man 3. Ask me anything.

[Radio_Lady]

My official review is embargoed until Thursday, May 3rd. However, if you have any quick questions, I'm sure I won't be spilling the beans (or the black licorice...you'll understand if and when you see this film).

The movie opens wide on Friday, May 4th.

[Esra Star]

1. Did the butler do it?

[Radio_Lady]

5. No, the butler was very supportive of the Green Goblin's offspring in all of his

various "good-bad" personas.

Or, simply, the butler did not do it.

[LostinVA]

2. How was Topher Grace? He looked like he's great from the trailers I've seen

A very underrated actor, I think.

I can't WAIT to see this movie!!!

[Radio_Lady]

6. Loved Topher Grace -- his hair is bleached up and spiked up.

Of course, he's one of the "good-bad" people.

[mainegreen]

3. Was it sweet?

[Radio_Lady]

7. This is a very simply a romantic action movie -- with lots of retro music and

action interspersed.

I was looking for Bryce Dallas Howard (who was in "The Village" and "Lady in the Water" throughout the movie, and didn't realize until the end -- who she was. Beautiful! (Hair color changed got me...)

[AllegroRondo]

4. Did they stick with the Venom storyline from the comics?

or change it?

[Radio_Lady]

9. Let's just say that Venom is in the movie, but there are additional characters introduced --

and the movie exposes a darker side of Spiderman. The movie spins a romantic, campy web that might actually work with couples, but the youngest of the younger generation might find the kissing and canoodling "yucky." The director even gets a reaction shot from a child "extra" to that effect.

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

8. Are there any major casualties?

Don't tell me who, just whether there are.

[Radio_Lady]

10. Yes. At least they just appear dead. (Unless they are resurrected in Spidey 4!)

In summer sequels, that is practically a rule of thumb. (See also: Pirates of the Caribbean for stories where the dead return.)

[NewJeffCT]

11. I am so jealous of you

I've loved Spider-Man since I was in elementary school way back in the 1970s!!

But, on to my question. How would you compare it to the first two movies?

(don't spoil this below for me, it's just my comment)
I'm interested to see how they handle Spidey's obtaining the venom costume - In the comic book, Spider-Man/Peter Parker got the Venom costume when he (and other super heroes & villains) went to an alternate Earth (or universe) to fight the so-called Secret Wars. It's been ages, so I'm very sketchy on any details beyond that, but just his acquiring of the costume is worthy of a movie by itself... so, hopefully they handle that well, because I know they can't do all that and also have Sandman and also do the whole shmear with Spidey getting the costume, ridding himself of it and then the costume going onto another person and spidey fighting them.

[Radio_Lady]

14. How do I compare this movie to the first two?

Positive comparison. Fighting and action and only one shock cut. The question is will my young grandson and others of his ilk think it's too "smoochy" while they're working out the boy-saves-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl details.

You're way ahead of me on the comic book details. The last time I actually bought a comic book, it probably cost 10 cents. This movie is quite a bit more geared to a younger age group, but the romantic retro details and reminders of New York City (where I used to live) make it a positive experience for me. It might have been a little shorter, but the whole movie was lots of fun.

Last Memorial Day weekend, we actually saw them doing some second unit shooting at West 54th Street and Sixth Avenue in June 2006! They took over the whole block next door to the Hilton Manhattan where we were staying. They were there filming a "destruction scene" from Friday to Monday and the detoured traffic was terrible. It was a very hot weekend in the 80s, and the people working as extras had to wear heavy winter clothing for the sake of the scene.

[Sanity Claws]

12. Could you see the product placements?

I absolutely hate product placements. It's one of the reasons I hardly go to movies anymore. Why should I have to pay $10 for the movie and then have to see commercials in it?

[Radio_Lady]

15. I'm not the most sensitive person to ask that. Other reviewers bring it up constantly but I really

didn't notice any. But I am sensitive to continuity errors, unmatched shots, anachronisms, and other "wrong" things. Those sometimes play havoc with my enjoyment of a film.

What I did notice is that scenes involving either real or computer generated shots of the big city, they had to work to not use real names of companies, plays, performers, and they even may have obliterated names or altered telephone numbers (some of which were in the 212 area code). Scenes in Times Square, the theater district, and other streets and alley ways using cars and trucks especially had some identifiers. I'm assuming they were not real places or items.

I must admit a lot of the action movie goes by so fast -- it's hard to absorb everything in detail.

Thanks for your post.

[wildhorses]

13. is it worthy of the big screen or should i wait for the video?

:popcorn:

[Radio_Lady]

16. Thumbs up -- this one is amazing in a movie theater. Go for it!

Had we missed the preview, I was determined to get to see it in a movie theater before we leave for Europe -- 5/4/07 -- and would have paid for it.

We sat about ten rows from the front in the middle. This was a press screening and possibly not a final print (and we may have seen it with digital projection -- not even sure of the terminology these days). There was some brief framing and focus problem during the film -- as well as audio trouble near the end of the film. I assume they will fix all that by the time you go!

[wildhorses]

17. thanks -- would boys ages 7 and 10 like it?

i am thinking yes...even with all the 'heavy petting'

[Radio_Lady]

20. Well, if they run out of popcorn or drinks... or have to go to the bathroom...

there would be time during the "romancy and kissy" parts to take care of those important functions.

There's nothing sexual or seductive in the film. It's a pretty interesting mix of action and romance. Not every kiddo's cup of tea.

I'm going to check the MPAA ratings and a couple of other "EARLY" reviewers and see what they have to say.

My grandchildren -- girl age 9 and boy age 6 -- are ruled with the iron hand of their mother (my daughter).

Grandma and Grandpa NOT EVER supposed to taken them to any "PG MOVIES".

Hey, why don't I have a daughter like you?

[NNadir]

18. Is there a torrid, sordid, gratuitious, leering, lecherous, lurid, lascivious

scene involving Toby McGuire and Kirsten Durst or is the whole thing still about a guy who thinks he's a bug?

[Radio_Lady]

21. Here's the thing... Spiderman has a split in his personality in this film.

You can figure this out from the posters.

Some of the "bad green" from the first movie rubs off and you get it in two ways -- through the Green Goblin's kid and through -- JUST PLAIN OLD JEALOUSY!! I'm sure you'll get what I mean when you see the film.

So Kirsten Dunst is not the lovey-dovey happy camper when she interacts with the dark side of Peter Parker or the dark Spiderman. People begin to seek companionship elsewhere quite innocently, as it turns out.

It's not just the suit, either. It's also Peter Parker in campy-as-hell make-up (very tasteful black mascara and blackened hair) that makes him look like... in all honesty, could it be Adolf Hitler? I think so!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. I just got free tickets

for buying a bunch of brand-name groceries that were on sale! My almost-9 year old wants to see it.

What's the violence factor like? Any worse than the other two movies?

[Radio_Lady]

22. Oh, good for you. When are you going? Please add to this thread if you can!

I would have no problem taking a nine-year-old boy who is "brave" and has seen the other two movies without having any nightmares about Willem DaFoe's Green Goblin or Alfred Molina's Dr. Oct.

But, as I said upthread, I am restricted from taking our nine-year-old granddaughter and six-year-old son to any PG movies in theaters! For a couple of years, we had to "receive the blessing of their parents" before we could even screen PG movies at home on VHS or DVD.

However, my grandson has now seen both Spidey 1 and 2 on DVD with no ill effects. He's started a campaign with his mother to let him go with us to previews because he isn't a "wuss" like his older sister. Our granddaughter was very timid as a youngster and didn't like any costumed figures either stage or cinema, including clowns. She is terrified by Snow White and still won't watch that one, and think she does not like anything having to do with horror. She is only a little better now but still a bit edgy -- covering her ears when the conversation turns to anything she doesn't want to hear (!) and she does have nightmares, sorry to say.

Back to the movie. There is one "shock cut" -- my husband actually jumped a bit, but I saw a shadow in the previous camera angle and figured out from the music that SOMETHING was coming up.

[Radio_Lady]

23. Bridgeport Mall in Tualatin, Oregon is screening this film in IMAX at 11:59 PM on Thursday, May 3.

Official opening is Friday, May 4th.

Entertainment Magazine has a big write-up on Spider-Man 3 this week (plus a look ahead at other summer films coming up).
Very interesting background stories.

[Radio_Lady]

24. Are you planning to see this movie?

[Radio_Lady]

25. Only 2 more days to wait... Review coming soon!

[Radio_Lady]

26. Official Spider-Man 3 wide opening at --

One minute to midnight (Friday, May 4).

Here are some early reviewer comments from the bigger reviewers (No spoilers).

May 2, 2007

Movie Reviews: 'Spider-Man 3' (Pt. 1)

Several major U.S. newspapers have jumped the gun on publishing reviews of Spider-Man 3, presumably because of the early release of the movie abroad and its premiere earlier in the week at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

While all the reviews suggest that the movie is worth the price of admission, several suggest that, given its reported budget of an overwhelming $250 million, it ought to have been overwhelming in its own right. As Kenneth Turan puts it in today's (Wednesday) Los Angeles Times: "It is simultaneously encouraging that this Spider-Man actually attempts to bring some originality to the table and disheartening that those attempts are not enough."

One of Turan's complaints: "All that money also allowed spendthrift Spider-Man 3 to acquire too many villains" including an egomaniacal Spider-Man alter ego himself.

The Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips -- who puts the cost of the movie at $300 million -- says all that cash really doesn't show. "You want big wows with this sort of entertainment, and the wows here are medium. ... When 3 is over ... you mainly recall Spider-Man getting flung against girders over and over, in progressively less inventive fight scenes."

Richard Roeper's review in the Chicago Sun-Times is 1,144 words long and covers 47 paragraphs. He suggests that it takes that much copy to describe what the movie is about. "I don't think there were this many storylines in Crash," he writes.

Christy Lemire of the Associated Press calls it "a bloated, uneven behemoth." It's a complaint echoed by Lou Lumenick in the New York Post, who begins his review by writing, "Oh, what a tangled web does Spider-Man 3 weave. Overly long and complicated, it's packed with crowd-pleasing moments and satisfactorily wraps up the trilogy -- without quite capturing the magic of the first two installments." That's also the conclusion of Claudia Puig in USA Today, who writes that the movie "tries gamely, is solidly entertaining and possesses dazzling special effects, but it falls short of the near-perfection of" Spider-Man 2.

But Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News concludes that there is only one thing on which audiences will judge the movie: "I'll take a wild guess and say that Spidey fans come for the action and, on that count, they will not be disappointed."

Record Haul in Spidey's Overseas Web

Setting the stage for what almost certainly will be an auspicious bow in the U.S. on Friday, Spider-Man 3 debuted in about a dozen countries Tuesday and set opening-day records in virtually all of them. (Ticket sales in some countries were not immediately reported.) In Japan, the film took in $3.46 million, beating the previous record holder, Spider-Man 2, which opened with $3.42 million. Sony distribution chief Jeff Blake said that the movie also bested opening day records in Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. The film -- starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace and Bryce Dallas Howard -- is due to launch at 4,253 theaters on Friday, the widest domestic release ever.

MORE AT LINK: http://www.us.imdb.com/news/sb/2007-05-02/

(Radio Lady's review nearing completion...)