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Spider-Man 2002 vs. Spider-Man 1992 275
Surly Robot writes "Do you like your Spider-Man CG or non-CG? Here's an article that I wrote for the Baltimore City Paper about the guy who made his own Spidey flick ten years ago, and what he thinks of the new movie." Another submitter sent in a link to view Green Goblin's Last Stand (Microsoft format unfortunately, but it works with Codeweavers).
CG (Score:1)
the older spidey is sexier too (Score:3, Funny)
CG is great (Score:5, Interesting)
Fantastic stories and imagination should not be contrained by mere reality, computers let creative truly push the envelope.
Re:CG is great (Score:1)
Re:CG is great (Score:1)
I don't like how many of these movies have the great cg effects with a poor plot and bad acting. I would compare it to the advances in video game graphics. Back in the day, you had to make a playable game cause the graphics sucked. Now, I see way too often games that are great eye candy, but the game sucks.
I think in the same way that the playability of video games can suffer because the programmers aren't as worried about it because of the cool graphics could be analagous to a filmmaker not as worried about the plot/acting because of the great effects.
Re:CG is great (Score:1)
Re:CG is great (Score:5, Interesting)
I am.
Technology is letting filmakers realize dreams that could only be slightly approximated back in tha day.
Well...maybe. But then again, maybe not. These new CG thingies date really fast. Have you ever looked at some of the old games you used to worship, and think "huh?". Doom is a great example - stunning in its day, still playable today, but the graphics are now considered poor. That was only six or seven years ago.
You see, I'm of a school that still prefers models for special effects. Take the geek's bible of a film, Star Wars, as a great example. The rehashed Special Edition nonsense already had 'CG' leaping out at you from every turn, and it's so blindingly obvious when it appears. The original, apart from one bad 'airfix' moment when Luke skims over the Death Star, has barely dated. The models and machines look better than the easily-spottable CG bits.
There are other examples. Last Starfighter anyone? Fantastic graphics for the day, awful for today. Babylon 5? Same thing (plot rescues it, but look at the obvious animated texture mapping particularly in the pilot). Terminator 2's reflective surface morphing? Lost its shine a bit, hasn't it? Titanic? Hmm...an awfully straight ship, wasn't it? Those railings must have been aligned with laser sights.
Entirely self-contained CG films, like Toy Story or Shrek, have a much better chance of long-term survival in my opion because there's no point of reference to the real world. However, for me real world+CG dates faster than real world+model.
Cheers,
Ian
Re:CG is great (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:CG is great (Score:2)
Re:CG is great (Score:4, Interesting)
Everything gets old and passe, this shouldn't be a surprise. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't support innovation just because it won't stay top-of-the-line forever. Nothing does.
I really don't understand the aversion to CG when models and puppets are used as a "timeless FX" defence. Something which lacks the dynamics of a living being, such as a mere puppet, gets old quicker than current CG, IMO.
Life is change, we have to cope with that.
Puppets (Score:2)
I think Jim Henson's Creature Shop is an amazing outfit. They combine CG, animatronics and traditional (as it is) puppetry, and it usually ends up in a show or movie with actual plots.
Re:CG is great (Score:4, Insightful)
Good effects are never going to make a movie with poor storytelling good. And no matter what technique is used for the effects, if they're used properly to complement a good story, you'll probably end up with a good film.
-B
Farscape (Score:2)
On the other hand, I'm still a huge fan of a good CG scene now and then, though. In order to save posts, shame on whoever posted and commented on entirely CG movies and didn't mention Final Fantasy. If we all can try not to slam it for a second, I still think it was a spectacular use of the software available and all in all did come very close in places to looking real.
Re:CG is great (Score:2)
As far as dated things do we really want to go back to the days with strobing stop motion, noticeable matte lines, or static a few seconds matte paintings. What about when you have miniature water or fire, it's very extremely apparent even to the least sophisticated audience.
Big VFX houses choose and pick between different alternatives. Now you can have matte paintings that combiene live action elements and have better camera moves. No strobing in CG characaters. You can film now big fire elements and composite them on miniatures or simulate water on the big scale. The list goes one.
Re:CG is great (Score:2)
(*impale*)
get out
(*shove*)
Re:CG is great (Score:2)
Re:CG is great (Score:2)
I guess the point is, in SW episode one, and the remakes of the originals, Lucas was doing a lot of the CG stuff from a "Gee-whiz, look what I can do" Where as in Terminator 2 and Titanic, the CG was used to supplement other methods of trickery, and whose purpose was to advance the story, not to show off ILM.
Re:CG is great (Score:2)
Now as far as the story that is something else. You could say that that seuqnce showed Anakin's piloting skills through the nascent Force. It kind of advances the story. Now wherever if those story points appealed to anyone thats a personal taste.
Besides by definition a sci-fi story has to have tons of FX for the most part, it's the only way to set the environment and tell a story. It's an unfortunate fact that many genre pictures have poor scripts approved by the studio bean counters.
Re:CG is great (Score:2)
Good CG: Monsters, Inc
Bad CG: Armageddon
Good CG: Jurrasic Park 1
Bad CG: Jurrasic Park 2
The Special Effects in Star Wars: Episode 4 were a lot better and more realistic than Episode 1.
Computer Graphics are good if used well. But without a good artistic eye for reality (or cartoon reality, depending on what you're aiming for with the movie) it's going to look lame.
Heck, Who Framed Roger Rabbit had better special effects than Episode 1.
The Comaparison (Score:1)
Mechanical webshooters versus organic...
Green Goblin costume versus Green Goblin armor...
No CGI versus CGI...
...I think 1992 looks like a better movie, actually. I mean, it sounds so much more in-tune with the comic books.
Sadly, I work off of dial-up, so I can't download it...damn hillbilly town.
If anyone wants to say how it is, drop me a line.
server errors already - read here: (Score:4, Informative)
By Maurice Martin
Unless you've spent the last six months in an al Qaeda cave, you already know that the first blockbuster film of the blockbuster season is Spider-Man, opening May 3. This comic-book adaptation features Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, the high-school geek who gains superpowers from a radioactive spider bite, and Willem Dafoe as the villainous Green Goblin. The trailers promise an over-the-top super-slugfest, the two foes wielding fantastic weapons thanks to computer-generated special effects. Rumor says Sony Pictures dropped nearly $140 million on the film before marketing, but it's practically money in the bank: Spider-Man has a fanatical, worldwide fan base.
One Baltimore Spider-fan is not impressed, though. "There's no excuse for that stupid raised webbing--it looks like cake frosting," Dan Poole says, referring to a detail of Maguire's costume that departs from the comic-book version. And don't get him started on those "organic web shooters"--another departure made by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi. In the comic, Spidey shoots webs from two mechanical devices of his own invention. In the movie, webs come out of his body. "It makes me want to hang somebody," Poole says.
Poole isn't alone--Spider-Man fans tend to be purists. At www.no-organic-webshooters.com, more than 5,500 fans signed an online petition trying to get Raimi to stick more closely to the comic. But Poole speaks with authority--he's not only a fan, he made his own Spider-Man movie.
In 1992, Poole played Spider-Man in The Green Goblin's Last Stand, a 50-minute video that he also wrote, produced, and directed. He even did his own stunts. For one eye-popping shot, he and his cameraperson trespassed on an abandoned high-rise at the corner of Calvert and Water streets, where Poole swung on a rope four stories off the ground, Spider-style, with no net to catch him if he fell. Poole shot his movie in and around Baltimore, using local performers and tapping friends and relatives for help with costumes, equipment, and camera-work. He estimates his total cash expenditure at less than $400.
Bad dialogue, pre-CGI special effects, and irregular production values clearly mark GGLS as an amateur effort. But the stunts make it a must-see--Poole swings, leaps along high building ledges, rides atop a speeding car, and throws himself into every sort of obstacle. GGLS also benefits from a classic plot borrowed from two 1973 issues of Amazing Spider-Man. These featured the murder of Spidey's girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, at the hands of the Green Goblin--an unusually serious topic for a mainstream comic.
Poole's adventures have earned him the respect of two communities: Spider-Man fans and independent moviemakers. The former made GGLS an underground classic. The latter honored him with two awards at this year's Nodance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, which is dedicated to first-time and digital filmmakers. In addition, Poole has been interviewed for the Independent Film Channel, FilmThreat.com and Inside magazine.
Poole, 33, loves to bust on the new movie, though he's yet to see it (he bases his comments on stills, trailers, and interviews). But GGLS actually owes its existence to it--or, more specifically, to the new film's extraordinarily long development time. Because of legal issues surrounding the film rights to the title character, Spider-Man has been in development for more than 15 years. During the early 1990s, Terminator director James Cameron took on the project. When Poole heard this, he became obsessed with doing something to capture Cameron's attention and land himself a role in the film. GGLS was that something.
To Poole's disappointment, Cameron's production company refused to screen GGLS. (Cameron eventually left the Spider-Man project.) However, others did watch it. Poole made copies and distributed them to friends and to a magazine called Hero Illustrated. People started to make copies of his copies, and GGLS spread dub-by-dub among Spider-lovers throughout the '90s.
Chris Mason, Los Angeles-based co-founder of the fan site www.spidermanhype.com (now a part of www.superherohype.com), says his readers "have nothing but good things to say [about GGLS]. People are impressed by how insane Dan is. I mean, you can see him hanging by a rope from the side of a building. You know he's busting his balls to make a really cool Spider-Man."
In September 2000, in response to fan interest, Poole converted GGLS to streaming video and posted it on the Web at www.localorigination.com. In December 2000, when the number of GGLS downloads reached 100,000, Poole decided to make a documentary called The Real Spider-Man: The Making of The Green Goblin's Last Stand. By the time he finished it around April 2001, 1 million viewers had downloaded GGLS.
Marvel comics owns the characters, so Poole can't legally sell copies of GGLS. But he can sell a documentary about his own moviemaking efforts. Given the volume of questions about GGLS that have come his way, he hopes that the documentary will finally earn him some money. So far, the video version hasn't sold well. But in April, Poole released the DVD version of The Real Spider-Man, which includes GGLS as a free bonus track. He's hoping this will bump up sales.
The Real Spider-Man won the Best Documentary award from the Nodance Festival this January. "It's a real crowd pleaser," says Jim Boyd, Nodance founder and festival director. "It's got a vibe everybody can get behind--small film does good." Poole picked up a second Nodance award for Guerrilla Marketing, which he earned by trudging through the Park City snow in a Spider-Man vest, putting up posters for his movie.
People always remember the stunts in GGLS, and The Real Spider-Man shows just how much pain went into them, literally. Outtakes reveal Poole falling on his back and his head. He drops from the rafters of a warehouse onto a small stack of mats. He launches himself into a stack of barrels again and again and again. Like every moviemaker, Poole obsesses over getting the perfect shot. Unlike most moviemakers, he courts spinal trauma to get it. When a flip or a landing goes bad, you can hear Poole howl and curse--either from pain or artistic frustration. Or both.
The documentary also introduces some of the people who helped Poole make his movie, including friends from his home neighborhood of Hamilton and former classmates from Parkville Senior High. Eric Supensky created the Goblin mask, its hideously exaggerated, malevolent grin a faithful interpretation of the comic. Matt Holder helped with the script and later did some of the Goblin stunts. Poole's cousin Ray Schueler did a little of everything, including MacGyver-like repairs when equipment failed. Poole's mother made one of the Spider-Man costumes (though she doesn't appear in The Real Spider-Man). And he did look outside the 'hood for acting talent, casting local stage regular Jimi Kinstle as the Green Goblin and Allison Adams, at the time a Towson University student, as Gwen Stacy. (Poole says Adams was the first blond he talked to about the part who took it and the film seriously.)
Poole gives credit to his troops but claims the vision as his own. He's got strong opinions about how Spider-Man should look onscreen.
"Four colors drive the reader's eye in comic books," Poole says. In his mind, Raimi's film fails to retain that look. "Everything is just so shadowed," he says. "Spidey's face looks creepy. It's like bizarro-world Spider-Man."
GGLS has its faults, but Poole's battle royal between the red-and-blue hero and the green-and-purple villain is reverential to its source material. Berserk over Gwen's murder, Spidey gives the Goblin a savage beating. For this scene, Poole wore a torn Spidey mask. With one eye exposed, he looks like a flailing, demented cyclops. Behind the Goblin mask, you can see Kinstle's face awash in blood as he goads Spider-Man toward ultimate vengeance. Can Spider-Man kill? If he does, is he still a hero? The comic challenged readers with this question, and so does GGLS.
Ten years after finishing his movie, Poole contemplates some of the props that have been stored in his mother's garage for a decade. He holds up Spidey's shirt, its reds and blues still vibrant. He tries on Spidey's belt. "It still fits," he says. "It's just a little tighter."
Poole now works as a freelance videographer, editor, and producer. He sells The Real Spider-Man through his company's Web site, www.alphadogproductions.net. He's also working on a movie script with all-original characters--something with a superhero theme.
And he's still got the daredevil spirit. With no prompting, he climbs aboard the Goblin's flying machine as though preparing for another stunt. Another friend, Don Koch, built it to Poole's specifications using the comic as reference. It consists of a simple tube, two wings, and, when complete, a bat-shaped face. Even with a decade of grime, it retains its iconic power, like a childhood memory made real.
By contrast, the Goblin flier in the new movie is a complex, multijointed thing bristling with mysterious machinery. It looks so high-tech that Wired highlighted it in the magazine's May 2002 issue. Still, Poole will have none of it. Pointing to his flier, he says, "Don did what nobody in Hollywood will do. They're not capable of just doing this. They've got to put spikes and shit on it."
Could his harsh opinion of the film be a case of sour grapes? "I would get behind them if I thought it was good. Believe me," Poole says. "I would be bitter either way that I wasn't part of it, but I don't want it to suck." But, sight unseen, he contends the Hollywood version lacks the integrity true Spidey fans want to see on the big screen.
"It's all CGI," he laments. "It's got no heart."
Re:server errors already - read here: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:server errors already - read here: (Score:2)
He's a guy who has paid his dues, and constantly relies on tough actors, models, and whatever tech is available. Evil Dead 1/2/3 had no CGI at all. Hercules and Xena did, most of it awful :)
Raimi's a director who seems to always have tounge firmly in cheek while still trying to make good entertainment. Lucas used to be like that, 30 some years ago.
I look forward to seeing a spiderman movie that has a really geeky (non-musclebound!) Peter Parker, a good selection of random effects that I can laugh at later, and some really cheesy dialog.
Sheesh. Just remember that Spiderman is really a very silly concept. Who the heck heard of a radioactive spider giving you special powers? Have you people actually read the lousy dialog? Spiderman is for kids. It shouldn't be taken seriously, and I hope that Raimi won't.
-WS
Works fine with MPlayer too (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Works fine with MPlayer too (Score:2)
Sadly, the bandwidth is so hogged, that the download is going ar dialup speeds, even on a decent DSL line (3.5kb! Doh! it just dropped to 2.2kb)
Staying true to original? (Score:4, Insightful)
Just my opinion.
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:1)
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:1)
I'm sure we'd argue about anything, though.
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:2, Interesting)
I much prefer the new films handling of it (even though I haven't seen it yet).
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:3, Funny)
I agree, but shouldn't it also come out his ass instead of his wrists?
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:2)
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:2)
What it might do, though, is to save the time and attention-span of (even briefly) showing the origin of the device to the audience, which given the length of a movie, is a reasonable tradeoff. It's probably much faster to roll in the web-shooting exposition with the initial showing-off of the other Spidey-features... Whatever that scene may be; I haven't even seen a trailer so I'm commenting in blissful ignorance.
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:2)
organic webshooter?? (Score:1)
The costume just shot out a little bit of itself and grew back the rest really quickly.
So there is precedent for the organic webshooter.
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:1)
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:1)
ok, so the movie doesn't show the device
Why isn't Spidey shooting webs from his mouth [or 'other']?
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:3, Interesting)
Ok, you do know that Spiderman often wore his Web shooters under his street clothes (and also often the whole costume except the mask.)
The "organic Web shooters" thing is implausable too. How come the Web shooters are conveniently located in his wrists? In those Spider-Goats they created [slashdot.org], the spider silk protein is only produced by their genetically engineered mammary glands when they lactate. (Note, they are female spider-goats.) I mean this is a still the story of a young photographer who gets bitten by a radioactive spider, right? It isn't even remotely plausable that he would get "spider powers" from that. So, why are we worrying about "plausibility?"
So, if it doesn't bother me that it isn't plausible, why does it bother me? Because it was pretty cool that Parker could come up with cool technology when he needed to. [spiderfan.org] What about the spider tracers that he could track via his spider sense? How are they going to explain those? More convenient organic tech? Raimi has boxed himself into a version of Spider-Man that has to become more and more divergent from canon. [dictionary.com]
Now, despite my disappointment with certain details of the plot, I'm not saying it is a bad movie. Sam Raimi has done pretty well with other stories. It'll be "his" Spider Man (as opposed to "the" Spider Man), but I worry that the evil suits had some influence on the film. I won't see it, of course, until one of my friends or family inevitably rents it (or worse, buys it). MPAA bad, Sony bad, after all.
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:2, Informative)
In Raimi's version, any schmuck could have been bitten by the spider, gotten built-in webs, and be Spider-Man. He lost sight of what made Peter Parker special.
Re:Staying true to original? (Score:5, Insightful)
Spider-man was written during the 60s; when teenagers interested in technology were even greater social outcasts than they are now; technology was associated with the Vietnam war, ROTC, and the military-industrial complex. The "cool kids" were all dropping acid and communing with nature.
Peter Parker was the first anti-establishment teenage super hero. Superman and the Fantastic Four were as straight as could be. Batman was an adult vigilante. But Spider-man was a groovy nerd; many early issues had him inventing chemical and electronic gadgets to solve crimes.
The movie spider-man is none of these; he's now a teenage heartthrob. Since all his powers are biological, he doesn't need to have any technical knowledge at all. Just get into one-ness with your inner spider, and Nature will rescue you. See, the 60s acid-heads were right all along! That is why I hate the biolgical web-shooters.
As for all the posters who will say "but how can a teenager invent what 3M can't"; because he's a technical genius, that's why! This is one of the most important themes from the comic book; that intelligence can be used to make things that help humanity instead of things like napalm.
It looks like the Green Goblin still has his hoverjet and gas bombs, gee I wonder why 3M isn't trying to get its hands on those. Let me guess why... because only villians use technology now.
Re:If Stan Lee doesn't object... (Score:2)
Re:If Stan Lee doesn't object... (Score:2)
People had similar complaints about Hugh Jackman being 6'2" vs Logans 5' something, Storms flight inside the elevator shaft and other nit picking stuff (read: anal retentive retards bickering about other peoples creative freedom).
Of course you're entitled to your complaints, but have you watched the movie? If so - does the bio-shooters ruin the plot? Is it more disturbing than watching 24 hours of Opera Special? Or are you simply crying out for attention and to help you forget your drab, wretched life?
organic webbing? (Score:2, Funny)
if he's like a spider, isn't the webbing supposed to come out his poop shoot?
so..can he poop from his wrists too?
Re:organic webbing? (Score:1)
I know you think you're funny, but (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I know you think you're funny, but (Score:2)
This being a geek site, we should know better. Spider silk comes out through spinneret spigots, not through the anus.
Aha, that explains the difference between poop shoot and poop chute. Thanks.
Spidey 2099 (Score:2)
spidey (Score:2, Interesting)
either way... (Score:1)
See the film now, before it gets shut down. (Score:1, Funny)
Steve Ballmer's supporting affidavit reads, in part: "Web, net. Same thing. Please see $100,000 in cash, attached hereto as Exhibit 1."
Spidey 2099 (Score:1)
Re:Spidey 2099 (Score:2)
Re:Spidey 2099 (Score:2)
Re:Spidey 2099 (Score:2)
The first 10 or so issue Doom 2099 (don't know how far it got) was the best comic I had read in years. I had a letter published, in issue #15, I think. The one with this [2099comics.com] cover.
In any case, I dig spiderman, and don't mind his organic webshooters in 2099 or today.
Re:Spidey 2099 (Score:2)
Please (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure, you can always tell what is CG and what is not, but this movie has been what I have been dreaming of since I was a kid, I'll take a little "fakeness" to the CGI if it remains true to the comic . . . Spiderman doing crazy ass stuff swinging all around the city. You just can't do Spiderman without some insane special effects without being true to the comic, it will just come off looking like the mess that was the TV show.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but from the previews it looks like they have done an amazing job with the portrayal of Spiderman. This movie is going to be HUGE.
Re:Please (Score:2)
I saw the show when I was a little kid, so I don't remember it very well. But a couple of years ago, I found the pilot VHS tape on a video rental store, and I bought it for about 3 bucks or so (guess people weren't renting it at all
So I gladly called some friends to watch it and have some laughs. That movie was so bad that it was kind of funny. And I'm not talking about CG (or lack of) only. Even the plot sucked (there is a scene when Spidey destroy the antenna that was causing the ninjas to be bad, and then he hug them and says they are good again - or something like it).
Anyway, I'll probably watch it again after I see the new movie...
This lifetime Spidey fan loved it (Score:3, Interesting)
I watched the movie this afternoon. I had some little nits to pick here and there, but overall as a whole, the movie was way better than I expected.
They did so many things right. The bit with "the burglar that changed his life" was done perfectly, and that's what I most expected them to do poorly. That whole section of the movie, as he was figuring out who he was and what he could do, was very well done. There were some scenes you could tell were computer-generated, but the for the most part, the excitement of the movie made it easier to tolerate. And the movie would have been worse without those scenes, or if they had tried to do them physically with stuntmen.
The main characterization I felt was missing was that it would have been nice to have seen more background of the relation between Spidey and his Uncle Ben. Although I guess even in the original comics, we never really got that (although we heard about it plenty over the years).
Anyway, I loved it. I can't wait for the DVD. I'll probably bring my dad to watch it this weekend, since he used to be a bit of a Spidey fan too.
As much as purists hate this stuff (Score:1)
On one hand, I side with the purists. But they have to admit that exposure like this swells their ranks. And, in this case, it likely makes the creators boatloads of moneys, which also indirectly benefits them.
At least (Score:2, Insightful)
Sour grapes ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Since Poole makes his comments without having seen the newest version, I tend to disqualify his commentary as having any validity.
What about the 1970's live action series? (Score:4, Interesting)
But hey, I was a fifth grader. I caught every episode.
Re:What about the 1970's live action series? (Score:1)
LOL! (Score:1)
"stunk", as in "my typing stunk". :-)
Re:What about the 1970's live action series? (Score:2)
Looking at some online pics, the boxes are not nearly as big as I remember. (http://www.spidermantvseries.com/Multimedia/Spid
Re:What about the 1970's live action series? (Score:2)
How about the really old spiderman movies? (Score:5, Interesting)
Comic books are rather like books: they can be timeless. Movies have a much harder time with that because your imagination can't fill in details that make the characters seem to fit in your present time - things like how they walk, what their clothing would look like if they where real, how they sound, etc.
Have you seen any spidey movies from the seventies? They are...VERY 70's. You almost expect Shaft to bust in and help Spidey out with the bad guys.
One final note: Organic web shooters? Raimi's on crack. Spiderman was Marvel's answer to Batman: a character who used his mind to figure out how to defeat his enemies. Nowhere is there a better reminder of that than in the fact that the webshooters where an invention.
Plus, I could totally see that going awry: Peter gets all hot 'n bothered by MJ, and, completely distracted, he shoots webbing all over the place, random-like. Of course, I've always thought that Wolverine would have similar problems with his lovers, except instead of accidentally getting everything sticky, he'd probably destroy everything. Comics creators and movie directors just don't think much about those kinds of things...
Spider Power not Neccessary for "Accidents" (Score:1)
Uh, why would some nerdy geek need the ability to shoot webbing to accidently get everything sticky when getting it on with a chick like Mary Jane?
I suspect that happens to most Slashdotters now...
Re:How about the really old spiderman movies? (Score:3, Funny)
Kind of like Amereican Pie?
Re:How about the really old spiderman movies? (Score:2)
Correction: nice comics creators don't think much about those kinds of things. Pat Mills & Kev O'Neill's fine book "Crime & Punishment: Marshal Law Takes Manhattan," OTOH, includes exactly what you're after:
hmm, my video rental place would sell this. (Score:2)
Seems to me like this guy wants his $400 back + some in 2002.
Re:hmm, my video rental place would sell this. (Score:2)
Re:hmm, my video rental place would sell this. (Score:2)
Re:hmm, my video rental place would sell this. (Score:2)
Physics are off on New Spiderman (Score:2, Interesting)
The way he moved did not correlate to reality in the least. It was just really off. I think they were shooting to have him move like a spider- but I've got to be honest I wish they had not got him moving so fast.
I'm sure I'll like the film - I'm not super picky about movies. But it was interesting watching that fight and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that the spiderman character was completely computer generated. No person could move like that.
They should of dressed up a martial arts guy and made it look like he had some mass and the laws of gravity etc. were still in effect.
.
Re:Physics are off on New Spiderman (Score:2)
Even if he is super strong and agile- and someone who knows will correct me if I'm wrong - shouldn't he still fall the same way he would fall regardless?
Sure he can jump higher and faster, but on the way down I would think not much would change.
Anyways - it just looked wrong or off.
Not a huge deal like I said, and I'm not complaining about the use of CGI itself as is being debated elsewhere. I'm just thinking there were some algorythns that should have been tweaked.
.
For those who watched spidey in 1992... (Score:2, Funny)
Old School (Score:2, Funny)
For those of you are hardcore non-cgi Spidey fans, there is always the 2 part movie [amazon.com] from 1977 starring Nicholas Hammond. Check out this pic [amazon.com] of the movie's cover art.
Yeah. Nice to see how far we've come in movies since then ;)
Re:Old School (Score:2, Funny)
This IS News!
You have to be realistic (Score:5, Insightful)
Today's world preoccupations have changed, and if you want those old stories to have an effect on people you need to adapt them to the present. This is something that Mr Raimi understands but Mr Poole seems oblivious to. X-men would have been a huge flop if they had spandex costumes and just took a plot line straight from the comic books with no adaptation.
So in the end you should just respect the artistical and technical choice of the film makers and try to enjoy the movie. It's not like they re-wrote the holy bible...
Re:You have to be realistic (Score:2, Informative)
Re:You have to be realistic (Score:2)
The few things that are different (the organic stuff) are small. The heart of Spidey is here, and a damned sight better than the TV show (believe me--I watched it first-run). I definitely agree on your comment about "X-Men." People aren't going to buy the use of the costumes of the comic books because they were too campy. Some costumes, like Superman's and Batman's, weren't changed that much from their comic book versions (which have changed a lot over the years, too). Spidey's costume is quite acceptable.
People have complained about how Spidey moves. For cryin' out loud--he's now a MUTANT. How slow do you think Spidey has to be so he won't get shot? In a comic book, you don't have a perception of speed but your own. This movie has Raimi's, and again, it's acceptable enough.
And to add on to this thread's note: Don't spend your money and you won't need to complain. The comic will live, with all its fanboys and its canon. Not even the WB animated series of heroes is perfect or canon, but it is enjoyable, and that is what it's all about.
I don't remember... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I don't remember... (Score:3, Funny)
3 CD's x $18 = $54 - $10 movie ticket = $45 they didn't get from you. That way you can still see the flick AND stick it to the man. Fight the power!
Misleading /. Lines (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyway, the article doesn't focus on the CG/non-CG aspects of it. It's more of an interview with a guy who made an, apparently, good and popular live action movie ten years ago.
It's not that he wouldn't support a good CG movie, it just that he doesn't think this movie will be all that good. It deviates from the standards set in the comic book. It focuses more on Poole as a purist, and someone who really honors and respects Spider-Man's long and impressive history.
As we've seen, however, this means nothing. Lots of superhero movies and TV shows go against their comic's grain. Superman was a much more serious comic (in the past 10-20 years) than the good-for-a-season Lois and Clark. X-Men didn't stick true to everything in the comic, but it was still a good movie, with memorable lines like "What else would we wear? Yellow spandex?" (Wolverine).
In fact, some of the better movies and series don't succeed. Same goes for comics. I, personally, thought that the Flash TV series was very good. It didn't deal with many very serious issues, but it was a dark and serious show, in many cases darker than the comic.
When you translate something from the little pages to the big screen, you have to expcet things to get changed or cut. It sucks that they do it, but they often don't have the time/resources/etc.. I don't like that they do it either. It doen't mean we can't enjoy the new story though.
Think about Lord of the Rings. Honestly, it was an amazing film (and Oscar Nominee), but a lot was left out from the books. Some of the things in were changed. Like, say, 17 years that instead take, what, a few weeks, months maybe in the movie? It doesn't hurt to hear what someone else thinks of a story.
Before any of you read the story, how many knew that Spidey, in the comic, made the web-shooters, and that they weren't standard with the spiderbite? I'd guess that it was about even. The only reason I knew is because they mentioned it in the old Spider-Man cartoon show.
Anyway, I'm done.
The_Shadows[LTH], out.
This is why lucas can't stop fan fiction (Score:2)
He has that contest that was noted on slashdot a day or two ago, where he is only allowing paradies or something like that. And everybody on slashdot was getting bent out of shape over lucas preventing proper fan fiction.
Well the fact of the matter is we don't need his permission to do fan fiction. He can control the contest, but if I want to write a story about starwars characters, and taking place in the starwars universe, nobody can stop me. It's called a "derivative" work.
Actually selling it gets on shady ground legally, but I am pretty sure it isn't illegal in all cases.
Slashdot has a enough jon katz bozo's walking around... it'd be nice if we had some actual lawyers wandering around slashdot--although I suppose their sigs would be some horribly long disclaimer.
--Scott
What in the world are you talking about ? (Score:2)
I think Lucas only had a problem with the so called "Phantom Edit" and I can understand why he wouldn't like people editing his film in such a manner.
Having seen Spiderman a couple of weeks ago... (Score:4, Informative)
I really liked it. I may not be a die-hard Spidey fan, but I thought the film was intelligent and well done.
My $.02.
What about Spiderman 1981? (Score:2)
Of course, none of these featured Kirstun Dunst's pert nipples.
Would you like some cheese to go with that whine? (Score:2)
His reaction is basically... (Score:2, Insightful)
What? CGI? (Score:2, Funny)
;)
Unforgivable miscasting. (Score:5, Funny)
Work with me here, because I'm suggesting that maybe Peter Parker doesn't have to caucasian. I myself am, and the comic book (and all the movies) have portrayed him as such. But the truth is, there is only one man capable of doing what Spiderman is capable of.
Jackie Chan.
Yes, that's right, Jackie Chan. So his accent is a little strong. Certainly they could afford some decent voice coaching. But other than that, what is wrong with him? That's right, nothing.
What's right with him? A man who can run up walls, without CG effects. His reaction speed is simply incredible. Gymnastics. And he's not even a bad actor, he has that whole comedic side to him. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked, if during the credits they'd show him swinging from 100 story buildings and having bloopers.
You could practically do away with the whole special effects budget.
So tell me, what, other than prejudice and Hollywood's predisposition to heap stinky garbage on us, kept this from happening?
Re:Unforgivable miscasting. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Unforgivable miscasting. (Score:2)
Age prejudice, instead of race prejudice, if you ask me.
Let the poor man rest! (Score:2)
But for the love of God, don't you think the guy deserves a break? I mean, he's not as young as he used to be you know. I remember an interview with him a few years ago where he was saying that he really didn't want to keep doing all the stunts, but since that's what his career was built on he really couldn't stop.
Re:Unforgivable miscasting. (Score:2)
As far as swapping him in as a costumed stunt double, that would be so unfair. If he deserves to play Spidey, he also deserves Peter Parker.
Green Goblin's Last Fanboy Cosplay (Score:2)
Which is why U.S. (the comic) is so great. Marvel's "Ultimates" series is a new "world" that reorigins some of their most popular characters --so that modern fans, like my twelve year old brother, don't have to buy and read through thousands of issues of backstory to get the low down on the characters and their relationships. They've made minor changes to the original stories as well as changed the pacing to more of a serialized "Dawson's Creek" soap opera with action and plot development. Updates such as making Peter Parker the DailyBugle.com's webmaster (and not a teenage photgrapher, which is silly) or making Thor a eco-warrior hippy are minor and do nothing to destroy the mood of characters. This is exactly what comics needs to draw in new readers -- a way to relate them to people of today, not a reminder of the silver age of rehashing pulp novels by dressing middleaged guys in spandex, giving them bad parted haircuts and calling them "teen-agers".
The Spider-man movie is a natural extension of this idea -- bring readers to the comics that are most like the film, and from there move them into the "harder stuff." Hey, it worked for me -- Tim Burton's Batman sold me hard on Frank Miller's Dark Knight stuff and I've had a sub ever since.
2002? 1992? Feh. Try 1967. (Score:2)
PS - If you really want to be True Believers, then the plot has to move slowly. [kingfeatures.com]
At that glacier rate, the movie would take,.... um.... about 27 years.
now I'm imagining a (Score:2)
Re:I'm becoming fed up with the movie industry (Score:2)
Although, anyone looking for realism in Charlie's Angels needs to seriously get a grip.