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If you wish to skip the adventures leading up to my review, I suggest jumping to the bottom of the page.



Thursday 7:00PM I'm geeked up and ready to trek over to the IMAX Theater in Manhattan on 68th and Broadway. I walked to the store got my "yum yums" and proceeded to walk up the block ... I thought "ooh damn I just missed the bus." I don't want to wait 25 minutes for the next cross town bus... "its a beautiful day let me just walk."

7:45PM Midway through Central Park Its dark, "all of these hills, valleys and discontinuous paths are confusing me, where the heck am I." Its taking me 30 minutes longer than I expected. "DAGNABBIT!!!" I thought "i forgot my allergy medication," as I'm sneezeN, wheezeN and gaspN the entire way. Oh did I mention the weight of my mono-pod and camera equipment inside... I was set to podcast the pre and post movie goer responses... I have been planning this for about 3 months now.

8:30PM I arrive at the theater great no lines no people downstairs ... I go get my fandango ticket out of the machine... I go upstairs ... "WOW the line is already forming and its about 30 to 40 people deep... not bad not bad" I just get a spot.

8:45PM I assembled my video camera and went to various people in line and asked them questions like "what their expectations were for the film" and "what time they got there" I got about 8 people on camera. then go to the front of the line... two cuties are sitting in front. I ask them how long they were there ..."since 7PM." Asked them if they wouldn't mind going on camera saying that ... they declined.

9:00PM The manager of the Theater comes out and says "Please leave the building... No cameras in the building." I said "I'll just put it away..." He says "NO Please leave the building..." I'm like "but I paid for this ticket 2 weeks ago I won't have time to go home and drop the camera off and come back and I'm here early in line..." Basically I had to take my camera somewhere other than the theater because he said that they could not hold it and could not be held responsible for it. I went to pack my camera up and left... lets just say I worked something out and came back upstairs to get back in line.

9:20PM One of the group of guys in the front of the line that I was interviewing, invited me to cut the line and hang out with them. I thought it beat the alternative of having to go to the back of the line, which was now 100+ people deep. They were cool kats we had jokes and fun and I was hangN tough with them like we were old time buddies

10:00PM They let us in the theater to sit down. The group I was with was able to secure about 15 seats in the back row, the best seats in the house. All but 2 seats were taken in our row. People kept coming around asking if they were taken and my guys were just shooing them away.

10:30PM Because the IMAX theater is so huge the movie attendant makes an announcement via megaphone... "anyone in the theater holding seats needed to release them and move closer to the middle." Some people moved but my boys continued to hold their seats. Some {{Knuckle-Head}} actually forced his way into one of the seats and insisted he was entitled to the seat. The guys who made me part of their crew were like "YO my boyz are getting popcorn..." after much grumbling the {{Knuckle-Head}} got up and left.

By 11:00PM It was a crazy scene, some people were literally getting booed by some of the seated ticket holders, all because they pleaded and begged various people to move over JUST ONE seat when they found an unoccupied seat. I have never heard of people getting booed by a theater crowd before. Though funny the first time it got old after the 2nd and 3rd and 4th and 5th time(s)...

11:30PM In between all the booing and cheering at random crowd activity there was another announcement that movie attendants would be coming through the rows to identify IMAX ticket holders... they said "if you didn't have an IMAX ticket you would be asked to leave." I thought this was highly irregular. In all my movie going years I have never had anyone come to verify tickets once I occupied a seat in the theater. As they were going through the rows... "MY boyz" the same ones that held down 14 seats ... just up and ran out... it was a total scandal. I couldn't believe they got in in the first place and had the nerve to hold down all those seats LOL.

11:55PM All these people jump in the newly vacated seats and the {{Knuckle-Head}} from before comes back and practically pushed this girl out of the way and jumped in the last two seats... The girl was absolutely pissed - not because he jumped in front of her but because the {{Knuckle-Head}} avoided having someone check his ticket. This fool was orbiting the seating area from above when the attendant was coming through... and when she left and the seats opened up he took his chance to jump right in just a few seats away from me. Anyway the girl brings a movie attendant and her boyfriend back with her ... the {{Knuckle-Head}} and his friend protest and get up because NEITHER of them have a ticket. The {{Knuckle-Head}} insults the girl - the boyfriend gets pissed - fight almost breaks out... The boyfriend was huge too and madd as hell and the {{Knuckle-Head}} was a scrawny kat and the friend was a lil on the slobby side. I"m not one for drama and certainly not so close to me. People are shouting ... ITS ONLY A MOVIE... luckily the fight didn't break out. By this point

12:05AM everyone is seated and watching the movie ...

2:30AM I was the third person to escape the theater. It was a shame because I had planned many months ago to get the post Spidy reviews and podcast them, but by that time the whole Pre-Spidy 3 experience and all the excitement and thrill of the opening had left me quite agitated. As my allergies continued to flare up.

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SPIDERMAN 3 REVIEW


Let me first warn the Spidy Comic Book fans and those who dug the first two movies... if you want to really enjoy the movie please lower your expectations. It's not the greatest movie of all time like many of us expect. As far as "American Cinema" goes: in my opinion the original Matrix is the best action hero movie of all time - Spidy 2 is distant second. OH yeah... go see this at the IMAX Theater.

Not as good as Spidy 2 but on par with Spidy 1. I fault the studios for taking short cuts and trying to get as much bang for their merchandizing buck. All in all I feel the actors all gave solid performances considering it was a typical hollywood script. Warning some of the scenes are so hokey and so overtly dramatic it comes off as comedic sloppiness instead of its intended sentiment. The dynamic between Peter Parker and Mary Jane are off target from the last two films. Aunt Mae is a cross between a seasoned Catherine Hepburn and Yoda. Jay Joanna Jameson is wickedly funny as always. There are way too many high caliber bad guys for Spidy to be handling in one movie. The story feels very rushed and lacking character development in many parts.

That Said... Although rushed I will say that it is easy to follow and a few scenes had me geekN out. Without giving away too much; I will say that I absolutely dug the back-story of Sandman and how they established the character. I also really liked the evolution of Harry Osborn as the second Goblin. I personally think he was much more interesting than the first Goblin in Spidy 1. The black costume on Spidy really should have been the black costume from the comics. The execution of the costume was not as developed as it should have been... should have been a second movie. The CGI is evident in many places, but 'WHO THE HELL CARES!!!!" Some scenes are truly monumental and memorable in their own right. Overall a fun and entertaining piece, some of the action is just mouthwatering, for that alone its worth a viewing. I am going to take another trip to the IMAX to see it again.


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Bendrix is the founder and Digital Media Strategist for Codedsignal; a portable media network featuring; 1. Beneath the Beat: Hip Hop, 2. Beneath the Beat: Electronica, 3. Digital Media Tips N Tricks.

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Posted by bendrix in Podcasts at 13:44