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Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
2021 | Action, Adventure
This movie really amazed and surprised me at how much I love this movie. It does a great job at balancing the humor and the seriousness throughout the film. Definitely fan service, but it’s used in a way where it’s in service of the plot and helps drive it forward.

It also made me like Tom Holland’s Peter/SM a whole lot more compared to the other two solo films he did. Peter has to actually face the consequences of his actions. This is easily Tom’s best performance as Peter Parker by far. And the villains were great (specifically Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Electro). I thought they did a good job at balancing the screen time for them and it didn’t feel like a cluster of a mess with too many characters. As a big Spider-Man fan, this really feels like a love letter to the character and it’s everything that I would want from a Spider-Man movie.
  
Then Play On by Fleetwood Mac
Then Play On by Fleetwood Mac
1990 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I was introduced to this in 2009 by a friend of mine who is into super-heavy music and it’s one of his favourite guitar records. I’d never heard early era Fleetwood Mac and I still don’t know many people who talk about it. “It’s from Then Play On, I think it was the last one they did with Peter Green and Danny Kirwan, there was always a rotating cast of characters in that band, people coming in, freaking out and losing their minds. “I chose this because in the process of discovering Peter Green’s early music the touch he had as a guitar player was just like magic. I feel as a singer and a guitar player he’s become one of my favourite ever players, there’s certain kinds of tricks he did, especially on this song, that I’ve definitely ripped off, not the blues playing but this incredible soulfulness on guitar. “I’m not in love with guitar playing, even when I was really into jazz I never liked guitar players, I didn’t care about it that much really. I’ve always wanted to approach the guitar from a perspective outside of just playing the guitar and trying to make it do things that the guitar can’t really do or pretending it’s something else. “But Peter Green was one of these straight-up, incredible, super-expressive guitar players. He’s not the first name a lot of people talk about because it wasn’t always the most original music, but this song in particular is so specific to what they were trying to do at the time. They were starting to leave pure blues, it has this strange composition going on and the way it progresses isn’t super-standard, it wasn’t psychedelic exactly, it was edging into a world of music that was happening outside of blues at the time. “Peter Green is such a soulful player, he has a unique quality I’ve never heard anywhere else."

Source
  
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Alex Kapranos recommended track Oh Well by Fleetwood Mac in Then Play On by Fleetwood Mac in Music (curated)

 
Then Play On by Fleetwood Mac
Then Play On by Fleetwood Mac
1990 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

Oh Well by Fleetwood Mac

(0 Ratings)

Track

"I wanted to write songs before I wanted to be in a band, and first started when I was 14 with my friend Andrew. We were both into Fleetwood Mac at a time when they were the most unfashionable band around. This Peter Green song is great. It’s got an amazing riff and the lyrics are: “I can’t help about the shape I’m in/ I can’t sing/, I ain’t pretty and my legs are thin’ – I thought, ‘Wow that’s me! If he can do that, I can do that!"

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Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man (2002)
2002 | Action, Sci-Fi
Well-crafter origin story (0 more)
Green Goblin costume (0 more)
"Remember, Peter: with great power comes great responsibility"
2002.

So that's back before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a thing (Iron Man was '08).

It's also not long after the twin Towers disaster, which - I believe - had to be edited out of this film.

This was also the first big-screen take on Spider-Man, with a mainly 20 something cast all playing characters in their late teens, headlined by Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and by Kirsten Dunst's redhead Mary-Jane Watson.

The early portions of this movie basically retells Spider-Mans origins story (although, here, Parker is bitten by a Genetically modified Spider instead of a Radioactive one and does not need web-shooters: they come out of his actual wrists), complete with the death of Uncle Ben who gets to utter the immortal lines to Parker that 'with great power comes great responsibility'.

Yes, Stan Lee makes a 'blink and you'll miss it' cameo.

Yes, the soundtrack owes a fair deal to that of 1989s 'Batman'

Yes, the Green Goblin costume does look a bit like a Power Rangers reject.

Yes, the film still holds up nearly 20 year later: there's a reason that 'upside-down' kiss is now iconic!

(Oh, and TK Simmons J Jonah Jameson? *Chef's Kiss*.)
  
The Exorcist
The Exorcist
William Peter Blatty | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.7 (19 Ratings)
Book Rating
William Peter Blatty created an iconic novel that focuses on Regan, the eleven-year-old daughter of a movie actress residing in Washington, D.C. A small group of overwhelmed yet determined individuals must rescue Regan from her unspeakable fate, and the drama that ensues is gripping and unfailingly terrifying.

Been years since I first read this book! Still scared the life out of me. A few times I've done a Joey and put it in the freezer. I keep expecting to find my 6 year old with a spinning head and vomitting green crap. I love the writing it's a true classic horror story.
Recommended



⭐⭐⭐⭐
  
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
Great alternative perspective on the marvel universe. (4 more)
Great casting. Love the racial diversity and equality of characters.
Amazing references to the original films and the MCU.
Tom Holland's performance and presence is incredible.
Air-gasping plot twists.
The aspect ratio of the smartphone-video diary doesn't make sense. (1 more)
A few minor logic flaws.
Spider-teen
Contains spoilers, click to show
Spiderman, a superhero that has been the go-to Halloween costume for the past 15 years and rightly so. With this being the 6th Spiderman movie, most would expect a drained and exhausted movie. I try to go into the cinema with an unbiased opinion on any movie, but even I expected it. However, it was a replenishing surprise to see a cinematic and equally entertaining Marvel film.
I loved seeing an alternative, somewhat more realistic, perspective on the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Hearing the 'voice of the people' and what students think of the avengers was a quirky amusement.

As a filmmaker, it was incredulous to see a specific inter-textual reference within one of the scenes. Night draws and the Vulture is driving the car with Peter Parker in the back. Things are getting tense as he realises that Peter Parker is Spiderman. The car is stationary at a set of traffic lights. The light turns green, cut to a close up of the Vulutre's face as he replicates the Green Goblin's expression and speaks the exact same words to Spiderman that the Green Goblin did in the very fist movie.


It's hard to believe that Tom Holland (Peter Parker) was born and raised in London as his American accent is spot on! This was complimented by his excellent and energetic performance.
The casting for this film was noteworthy. The racial diversity and equality of characters was great.


There were a few logic flaws within the film, but they're not worth enough value to even discuss them as the story and value of the film overall was excellent. I'm content with giving this film an almost perfect 9/10 as there were a few parts of the story where I felt like it was getting repetitive and the plot was starting to feel a bit 'back-and-forth'.
  
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Rick Nielsen recommended Then Play On by Fleetwood Mac in Music (curated)

 
Then Play On by Fleetwood Mac
Then Play On by Fleetwood Mac
1990 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"With blues records, it's hard to know which song is on which album, but the era of Fleetwood Mac when they did 'Fighting For Madge' and 'The Green Manalishi With The Two-Pronged Crown' is the ultimate band. They were so tight: Danny Kirwan, Jeremy Spencer, Peter Green - wow. This was unbelievable. The way they played together was something else - the original Fleetwood Mac, before the females got involved, that was the stuff. I'm glad for you that you like Rumours. [He turns deeply sarcastic]. I'm thrilled for you. It makes me happy. I've never been more happy. The very first tour with Nicks and Buckingham, we played a show with them in Wisconsin. After our show, we said: "Thanks for letting us play. Here are some shirts for you guys." And John McVie threw us out of the dressing room: "Are you calling my wife a cheap trick?" My manager and I wanted him to apologise to us. It had nothing to do with calling his wife a cheap trick. Give me a break. How drunk was he? Years later he apologised."

Source
  
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
2007 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
The black Spider-man suit (0 more)
Emo Peter Parker (0 more)
Too many cooks doth spoil the broth.

Or, in comic-book film terms, too many villains.

Which is the biggest problem with this, the last of the three Tobey Maguire starring Spider-man films: here, we have Sandman, Venom (apparently by studio mandate) and a younger Green Goblin (Hobgoblin?) all competing for screen-time, with the result that none of the character arcs really feel all that complete.

As the movie starts, things are going well for Peter Parker/Spider-man. Not so much for his love interest MJ Watson.

He fails to notice; too caught up in his own success.

Of course, his obliviousness soon drives a wedge between them, a wedge that coincides with the appearance of both the Sandman (pretty well realised) and of the symbiote from outer space that bonds with his suit and eventually with Parker's photographic rival Eddie Brock, becoming Venom (a character that, by the by, is eventually better realised by the movie of the same name than in here)
  
Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man (2002)
2002 | Action, Sci-Fi
MCU
The first modern day Spider Man movie. Of all of the spider man movies this one to me seems to follow the comic on really how he bacme the famous super hero. We see the nerdy love struck Peter Parker get bit by a genetically enhanced spider and get multiple talents of the spider. Once he has learned of his powers we see the typical MCU plot of a family member gets killed and he vows revenge to make it right but, by doing so he learns that revenge isn't always important but helping others from suffering the same fate is more important. We see him square off against the Green Goblin who is today still one of my favorite villains in all of the MCU
  
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
2007 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
The most anticipated film of the summer, Spider-Man 3 has arrived to the delight of moviegoers the world over. It has been roughly a little more than a year since Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire), defeated Dr. Octopus and saved the city from certain doom.

During this time, Spider-man has become New York City’s celebrated hero, and his day to day alter ego, Peter Parker, delights in his fame, while dating the love of his life, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst).

As the film opens, Peter has decided to ask Mary Jane to be his wife, and plans to surprise her with a ring during dinner at a fancy restaurant. Mary Jane is starring in a Broadway play, and despite harsh reviews, she is living her dream and madly in love with Peter.

Things take an unexpected twist for Peter when he is attacked one night by his best friend Harry (James Franco), who blames him for the death of his father at the conclusion of the first film. Enhanced by his father’s Goblin serum, Harry is a deadly adversary for Peter who is able to fend off the attack eventually, and put into motion a series of events that will forever change his life.

When a career criminal named Flint Marko (Thomas Hayden Church), is accidentally caught in an experiment while fleeing the authorities, he becomes a living mass of sand, which enables him to start a string of robberies as “The Sandman”, and provides Spider-man with his most unusual opponent yet.

As if this was not enough, Peter must contend with a new hotshot photographer named Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), who is after a staff position at the Daily Bugle. The fact that Peter has more seniority at the paper is of little interest to Eddie, and he will stop at nothing to get the better of Peter.

At this point one would think that Peter has more than enough on his plate, but fate is about to drop an unexpected player into his life, a space based symbiote that bonds

with Peter’s costume and creates a dark black look for Spider-Man as well as an increase in his powers.

Peter becomes obsessed with his new powers, and there is a dramatic change in his persona, which does not sit well with Mary Jane. When new information is given to Peter about the death of his Uncle Ben, Peter is more than willing to use his new found abilities to exact the revenge that he craves.

Peter also has another area of interest as Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), the daughter of the local Chief of Police has caught his eye, much to the chagrin of both Mary Jane and Gwen’s current boyfriend Eddie Brock.

This tangled web of characters soon forces Peter to take stock of his life and the choices he makes, in order to determine what truly matters to him, the love and respect of his friends, or giving into his darker side and pursing power and unending praise and adulation.

The film starts out well, and the early conflict between Peter and Harry is a brilliantly staged spectacle of sight, sound, and motion. There are also some great moments between the lead characters and Church, Howard and Grace do well with their characters, yet something about Spider-Man 3 did not click for me the way the previous two films in the series have.

Having the luxury of time from the press screener to the opening, I was able to look back at the film the past week and a half to try to determine what did not work for me, and I kept coming back to the same conclusions.

First, the film wants very much to be much darker and edgier than the other films, yet just when you think you are going to see Peter fully cross the line, the film pulls back into campy mode, and we are given scenes of Peter hamming it up as a ladies’ man, and I kid you not, doing an impromptu dance number.

While this works for comedic effect, I am supposed to believe that the darker side of Peter’s soul is being exposed, and I had a hard time thinking that his inner demons include “Saturday Night Fever” style strut down the sidewalk, and a floor show.

The second thing that bothered me was the villains, as aside from Harry as the New Goblin, both the Sandman and Venom were sadly lacking. Neither The Sandman nor Venom had over the top plots to rule the world, kill or enslave the masses, or endanger huge parts of the city as was the case with the original Green Goblin and Dr Octopus.

Rather we have one who is content to steal to fund a noble cause, and wishes only to complete this cause and have Spider-Man out of his way. The second simply wants revenge for being slighted, and does not elude the menace nor danger that the character warrants.

effects wise the film is solid and there are some great moments in the film, but to many times I thought I had seen the same sand effects years early in the “Mummy” series which lead to many cases of “been there, seen that” for me. With a budget that many claim to be the most expensive film ever made when based on current dollar values, I had expected more from the film, especially given the talented and dynamic cast, and the ample backing of the studio.

Director and series Guru Sam Raimi seems to be coasting here as one has to wonder if he used up many of his great ideas in the last two films, and was trying so hard not to repeat himself, that he lost that magic spark that made the last two films such classics.

As it stands, “Spider-Man 3” is a good film, but you can’t help but feel it could have been a better one.