|
|
Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
"For all those who think that a super-hero film cannot have three- dimensional characters and an engrossing story at the same time; here's the proof." --from the review ------------- Sidebar :: ------------- DVD Hidden Features. As in most reviews where we've spotted a hidden feature or two, we like to list them in the "sidebar." On this DVD, there are three! The first is a simple "see Doc-Ock (Alfred Molina) relax after a scene," viewed (on disc 2) by clicking an invisible spider in the "gallery" (Special Features) menu, just above the proceed button. Second is a practical joke against Molina, seen by highlighting the option to see the "Making..." documentary, then on the next screen, click on another invisible spider, just above the "play all" button. The third hidden video is on disc one itself. Go to the "special features" section, select "commentaries" and on the next screen, click on the invisible spider, just to the RIGHT and then UP from the "Technical Commentaries: OFF" button. This will show you Sam Raimi's Japan promo for the film. One Last Thing: How About That Cool Memories-of-Dad Scene...? One of those moments I felt like mentioning special in a "sidebar" when first seeing the film in theaters: one little details that always seemed to hurt Superman 2 is how, for whatever reason, they were unable to have Marlon Brando in a cameo, as Superman's dad; either when discussing in his Fortress of Solitude about possibly giving up his super powers, or in the prologue, of how General Zod was first imprisoned. Yet there are at least two cameos in this film from the prior movie which must've cost the film that added dollar, yet gives the entire film that much more depth. In a dream sequence, Peter Parker has a discussion with his late Uncle Ben, about how with great power comes great responsibility but...does that mean he ----------------- Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted! ------------------
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Spider-Man 2
A Techtite ReviewAs Always, a review of The Film and The DVD (extras)! The Film: Spider-Man 2 is an answer to every stuffy-shirt critic who ever cut-and-pasted the mantra "What about the agnostic viewer?" in their superhero-movie reviews. Indeed; more often such films have very little intrigue for those who have not read the comics the film is based on, with such films presuming that three-dimensionality and character growth was already "explained" in the comic books. Such isn't the case for Spider-Man 2, however, so if you were about to cut-and-paste another "what about the agnostic viewer?" comment, keep those fingers off the control-V buttons. This isn't just a great superhero movie; it's the best summer action film anyone could hope for, period. The story picks up where the prior film left off. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is just now getting accustomed to being a college student by day and a super-hero at night, with mixed results. It seems like no matter what he does as Spider-Man, his real life suffers. Much like the classic super-hero film, Superman 2, this leads to him wondering if forgetting his role as a super-hero is a better idea. Not only does he lose his job, and nearly his apartment, but his estranged girlfriend Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) gets tired of his absences, and begins dating another guy...who proposes! This leads to Parker making the ultimate decision: his costume is going in the dumpster. He is Spider-Man no more. As you'd expect, this decision comes at a bad time. After all: no superhero film is complete without a super villain, who in this case is Doctor Octavius, otherwise known as Doctor Octopus; a brilliant scientist who, in a freak lab accident, has four robotic tentacles grafted to his skin, giving him super strength. However, unlike Spider-Man, he sees this strength as the best way to complete his experiments --by any means necessary-- so he uses these powers only for evil. As a kid, Doc Ock (his common nickname) was my favorite Spider-villain, largely because he's so fanciful. Making this character look even slightly plausible on the big screen was no easy feat. But what makes me love his cinematic version even more, is how he's a three-dimensional character all around. Octavius is a far more "real" character here, whose motives are a lot more complex. Yeah, I know; the subplot of Spider-man quitting his super-hero job is, in a very real sense, taken somewhat from Superman 2. However, there is far more character development here than that 1970's film ever attempted. In Superman 2, Clark Kent gave up his super-powers just so he could be with Lois Lane, only to quickly want them back again, around the time he gets beaten up for the first time. Peter's decisions --both to give up his super-role, and later, to want them back-- are a lot more layered. He does not give up his Spider-life for any one reason, but a barrage of reasons. Similarly; he does not simply want them back because he is now a mere man, since that is precisely what he wants in the first place! He wants to become Spider-Man again because...well, just go see the movie. Don't get me wrong; I loved Superman 2. It's just that there are some elements of that film that we've learned to love to hate, no matter how much we love the movie. For one thing; Lois Lane learns of Clark Kent's identity, only to get a kiss from Superman, and suddenly forget what she saw! In case you were wondering; no, Superman cannot erase memories with a kiss. Spoilers kept intact, there are moments in Spider-man 2 that are teased at in the trailers, which are all the more shocking in the film because...they really happen. Yet Peter Parker/Spider-man does not solve these problems by simply coming up with a super-power he's never had before, just for the purpose of tying up all lose ends in time for the final credit roll. There are serious, pivotal moments in this film that can only lead to even more developed sequels. Sorry if this is too cryptic but they do happen at a point in the film where the spoiler-hunters would be upset if I revealed them. You know what I mean? Overall, this is a story that should appeal to one and all. However, there's no denying that fans of the comic will have the most fun, especially with all the amusing little details scattered within the story. Peter Parker's professor in college is Dr. Conners; a character who would be later known in the comics as Spider-man's frequent Jekyll-and-Hyde villain, The Lizard. Mary Jane's would-be-fiancée is John Jameson; the astronaut son of Parker's boss, who led to a lot of interesting plot developments that the message boards are abuzz about. It's little details like that which show that the script writers and director actually took the time to read the comics (unlike, say, Catwoman, but that's a sadder story whose review will come later...). It's so much fun to see a second installment of a film that not only meets expectations, and not only exceeds them, but offers a superior level of storytelling which you never thought possible. Forget second-sequel bombs like Robocop 2 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for now. Spider-man is back...and the summer blockbuster season is all the better for it.
The DVD: How cool are some of the modern day "gift sets" that actually fit on a DVD shelf? I'm just saying; this DVD's gift set has everything that Spider-Man gift set from the first film had, only resized so it can fit right next to all other DVDs. Cool.
Let's first cover what the gift set offers. One, there's the DVD itself, which is basically the exact same thing as buying the Widescreen edition two-disc DVD (which we'll review next), only it now fits neatly in this gift set box (added bonus: it's still in its original DVD case packaging, not a cheap cardboard inset, like most DVD box sets I can mention). Then there's a soft cover mini portfolio (shown in the book as the red booklet at lower right), where over 25 artists both old and new to Spider-Man lore have drawn special artwork exclusive to this gift set. There's also a concept-to-screen portfolio of images from major moments in the film, as they looked on the storyboards, initial effects shots, and the final film. Then there's a foldout of five postcards (yes; the back of these postcards have even been formatted for mailing), each highlighting one of the many teaser posters for this film. Topping the list of extras is a full color (yet miniaturized) reproduction of The Amazing Spider-Man #50, when Spider-Man decided to quit being a super-hero, much like in this film. Overall, this is one of the best Gift Sets there is. For those who don't buy the gift set, here's what is on the actual two-disc DVD. On disc one there is of course the film, which in an interesting move, even includes optional audio tracks in alternate languages. More often these languages are only offered in subtitles, but both French and Spanish are available as audio as well. Of course, there is English by default, which is even offered in either Dolby Digital 2.1 Surround, or 5.1, if you bought one of those really cool speaker sets. Subtitles of all the above three languages are also offered, making for an interesting pairing. A high school teenager trying to learn Spanish, for example, can choose Spanish audio with English subtitles. However; I digress. Let's get on with extras... Commentary tracks are either by the technical staff of the film, or by four of the lead cast and crew members: Tobey Maguire, Producer Avi Arad, coproducer Grant Curtis and director Sam Raimi. An optional "comment track" option, of sorts, is in the form of a pop-up trivia option that has little baloons of text appear on screen about key moments of the film, and how they relate to either how the film was made, what inspired that scene from the comics, and so forth. A blooper reel, a Train music video ("Ordinary") and four video featurettes from the film's official web site are also preserved on this first disc, seemingly implying that this disc will be offered as a single disc on a later date (otherwise, why not simply have most of this extra video on disc two...?). As for the second disc, As a parting thought; I am not too worried about whether one should buy the widescreen edition or the full screen. I've whined a bit about this, I admit, but look at the side-by-side comparison of the various versions of Spider-Man, then look at, say, the true blue widescreen of the special edition for Disney's Sleeping Beauty. I'm just saying; if you're going to give widescreen don't simply crop the already cropped full screen image. That's silly. As we upgrade the movie and DVD sections, we're a bit behind on reviews of DVDs that came out pre-holidays. There were just so many of them! We'll review this one next week, presuming you haven't bought that cool "gift set" already...
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
Crater
Deep
Impact
