Saturday Matinee #15

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven
Presents Saturday Matinee

-----Movie Review #1-----

Title: Spider-man
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Willem Dafoe
Narrator: Miles Neth
Running time: 121 minutes
Released in: 2002
Genre: comic heroes
Filed in: Movie reviews

High school science nerd Peter Parker is bitten by a spider and begins to display some unusual and amazing abilities. Remembering his Uncle Ben’s words, “With great power comes great responsibility,” Peter decides to use his spider-like powers to help people.
Wealthy inventor Norman Osborne is in danger of losing a lucrative government contract because one of his latest inventions is coming along too slowly. He decides to hurry it along by testing it on himself. It works, sort of. Osborne develops some amazing abilities of his own, but he also goes insane.
It’s up to Spider-man to stop the rampaging Osborne, now known as the Green Goblin. This becomes a bit more difficult when Osborne discovers Spider-man’s true identity. Oh, and the Green Goblin also happens to be the father of Peter’s best friend, Harry Osborne. Can you say “awkward?”
Super-hero movies get a bad rap sometimes, and with good reason: they’re usually pretty dumb. Not so with Spider-man. This was a good story with plenty of exciting action. Also, the casting and acting were very good. Maguire and Dafoe were good choices to play Spider-man and Green Goblin, and they played the parts well.

-----Movie Review #2-----

Title: Spider-man 2
Starring: Toby Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina
Narrator: James O’Hara
Running time: 128 minutes
Released in: 2004
Genre: comic heroes
Filed in: Movie reviews

It’s been several months since Spider-man saved New York from the Green Goblin, and Peter Parker’s personal life has become a real mess. He can’t hold a job: every time he goes out to deliver a pizza someone needs saving and the pizza’s end up late, His grades are slipping because he doesn’t have time to study, and he had to break up with Mary Jane because he didn’t want to put her in danger. On top of all that, it now seems that his spider powers are failing. It’s all too much for poor Peter, and he decides he’s not cut out to be a super-hero after all. Bad timing Pete.
Meanwhile, the brilliant scientist, Doctor Otto Octavius is about to test his new experiment in fusion power. Oops, that didn’t work out too well. Octavius ends up with four mechanical arms grafted onto his spine, and they seem to have a life of their own. The intelligent arms soon take over Otto’s mind and convince him that he needs to try his experiment again, this time on a large enough scale to destroy the city.
Can Spidey stop Dr. Octopus, get his grades up, patch things up with Mary Jane, and deliver the pizza on time? Only time will tell.
Okay, I made that sound a little bit silly, but it’s really not. I actually enjoyed this movie quite a bit. There are a lot of sub-plots going on here but they were all handled remarkably well, in a manner that was not confusing at all. Also it was interesting watching Peter Parker try to balance his personal life with his super-hero life. The story was well written and well acted.

-----Movie Review #3-----

Title: Spider-man 3
Starring: Toby Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church
Narrator: Alan Blyton
Running time: 139 minutes
Released in: 2007
Filed in: Movie reviews

Okay, Spidey saved New York from Dr. Octopus. We all knew he would, right? But Peter Parker’s troubles are far from over. An alien symbiote has attached itself to Peter in the form of a fancy new black Spider-man suit. That seems like a good thing at first because Spidey’s powers are stronger than ever. After a while, however, it becomes clear that the alien is slowly taking over Peter’s mind, making him more aggressive and less compassionate. Once again, this wreaks havoc with Peter’s life.
If that isn’t bad enough, there’s another new super-villain in town: the Sandman. Yeah, he got caught in some kind of freaky science experiment and now his body is made up of sand. He can change his shape and make sandstorms and all kinds of stuff, but what he enjoys most is robbing banks.
Well, Peter finally gets rid of the alien suit, but it finds someone else to graft onto. So the end of this movie is a pretty awesome finale involving a tremendous battle, Sandman and Venom on one side, Spider-man and Harry Osborn (who has taken up his father’s Goblin persona) on the other. Two of this battle’s participants die at the end, but I’m not telling you who.
Wow! Three Spider-man movies, and all three were excellent! I’m still waiting for a fourth movie. In all three of these films, Peter’s science teacher is Curt Connors whom comic book fans no doubt recognize as the man who became the Lizard, another Spider-man foe. He became a little more involved in each successive film, but they never got around to him. Maybe someday.

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Movie reviews by Steven Brandt.
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