C+ |
**½ |
+0|
Teens & Up
For all that, the new film bungles
who Spider-Man is, where he’s coming from. This isn’t the only problem (there are notable issues around the plot and the interpretation of Spider-Man’s reptilian foe, the Lizard), but for me it’s the most intractable, because it undermines the hero’s
moral center.
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In my
Avengers review I wrote, “If
The Avengers isn’t necessarily the
best superhero movie ever made, it is unquestionably the
most superhero movie ever made.“ That, of course, raises the question: What
is the best superhero movie ever made?
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All good things must come to an end, but “The Spectacular Spider-Man” ended too quickly, after only two seasons. In mid-April Marvel effectively pulled the plug on the acclaimed series, long on hiatus. A couple of weeks later, Sony released the eighth and final disc in the series, bringing the story to a satisfying yet not fully resolved conclusion.
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A- |
***½ |
+1|
Teens & Up
Spider‑Man 3 is a movie stuffed to bursting — with action, plotlines, characters, humor, energy, moods, spectacle and certainly inspiration. Like its web-headed hero careening crazily through the canyons of Manhattan at the end of a web-line, the film swings breathlessly and without warning from one thing to another, from breakneck excitement to outrageous silliness to comic-book morals about responsibility, sacrifice and now even vengeance and forgiveness.
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A |
**** |
+1|
Teens & Up
This is what a
Spider-Man movie should be — freewheeling, rip-roaring, hilarious, heartfelt, over the top.
Spider-Man 2 just might be the single greatest super-hero movie ever; it is unquestionably the wildest, most joyous, flat-out
comic-bookiest comic-book movie of all time.
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B+ |
*** |
+0|
Teens & Up*
From its breathless, cartoony title sequence, with the letters of cast members’ names stuck like flies in a vast spiderweb,
Spider-Man makes its intentions crystal clear: This is one wide-eyed comic-book movie that revels in its pulp origins.
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