It's been six months since I last updated my original blog, "Ramblings," which all of you have read from time to time over the last two or three years. It's been a busy six months, between teaching, being in school, and spending time with Ali and Ava.
It should come as no surprise that what brings me back to Ramblings is what I created the blog for to begin with: coverage of new comic book and sci-fi films.
In particular, it's the long-awaited second sequel to the original Spider-Man film, Spider-Man 3, which opens next nationwide Friday, May 4th.
I've had some conversations over the last six months with a few folks about Ramblings, and the consensus seems to be that sometimes, these entries run long, especially when the movie being covered is a lengthy one.
That has indeed been the case, and while it's my blog after all, I don't want to overpower the readership.
Thus, my coverage of Spider-Man 3, which will be extensive and educational for those of you who know nothing about the film so far, will begin with this entry and span at least four more. The final entry will be my review of the film.
So let's begin. Spider-Man 3. Long have we comic fans waited for it's coming. Until director Sam Raimi made the first Spider-Man film, the only other truly accurate comic book films that managed to perfectly capture the heart of a character were the Richard Donner Superman films of the seventies and eighties. The Tim Burton Batman films managed to at least make The Batman dark again, if not giving us a faithful look at the character.
So when Spider-Man debuted back in 2002, it was a mega-event milestone for comic book films in a lot of ways, which I won't get into here. It was faithful to the character of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and his unique status as the everyman superhero, a regular guy who struggles to make ends meet while also struggling to land a fist on the jaw of the latest supervillain.
2004's Spider-Man 2 took things to the next level and was an even better film than the first. The fights between Spidey and Doc Ock dropped a lot of jaws, and the story was well-written. Characters actually evolved and were clearly moving from where they'd started in the first film to a clear end point, which is of course, Spider-Man 3.
So to say I'm excited about this flick is like saying Rosie O'Donnell is excited about being obnoxious and inappropriate.
Last week, I purchased tickets to the film. Helping me show them to you are the stars of Spider-Man 3, Spider-Man in his original costume, and Spider-Man in his new black costume.
Not the best picture, I admit. Note that there are two tickets. This indeed means that my blushing bride will be accompanying me to see the first showing of Spider-Man 3 on Friday. There is a geek midnight showing, but I won't be attending that one. There will be a lot of parents taking their kids and letting them stay up late to watch the film and there will be a lot of geeks and freaks. Which I'm not opposed to, as I fall squarely in the middle of both categories. It's just that some of those people will be waiting for the midnight showing longer than even I would. The point is, it's going to "off the hizzy," as the kids say today. I get anxious enough as it is to deal with people more zealous than me. My Superman Returns experience taught me that lesson.
So instead of running the "geek gauntlet again," I've opted to go when there will be a less stressful crowd on opening day itself. I'll be getting to the theater at least two hours before the film as usual, and Ali will be coming to meet me about a half-hour before the film starts.
Alright, that's about all for now. A few folks who don't know a whole lot about Spider-Man from the comics have asked me a lot of questions about all the villains in the film, and why does Spider-Man have this new black costume? I'm going to address the black costume in an entry devoted to its origins in the comics, and then I'll offer another two entries on the villains of the piece. And yes, there are indeed three bad guys in the film.
It's good to be back! Thanks for reading and feel free to post any questions about the film in the comments section.
Chris
