Spi-didly Numero Trois - - - [Minor Spoiler Warning]

Hail kiddies!

It's been a while since I set pen to paper (figuratively speaking of course) and there is no real reason - what?! I have to give you an excuse! pft! :P

After an early trip to the meadows for my morning training, I decided to waste away the morning in the cave-like recesses of Cineworld. There are a few movies demanding my attention of late, however given that it was release day, I thought I would endulge in some superhero action with Spiderman. I remember that sentence being far less gay in my head.

Anyway!!

The man of spideryness is back, and I was keen to see how well they would do with this one. In my opinion, Spiderman was an excellent movie, which followed a familiar, but well established formula, and it delivered. Unfortunately Spiderman 2's maths had not been quite up to scratch and whilst it delivered in places, it was, on the whole, many fractions out.

Perhaps had it shown it's 'working' a little more, I might have appreciated it more.

Spiderman 3 has clearly been swatting up on its long division, however it didn't read some of the questions thoroughly enough. It really isn't a bad movie at all - in fact, I rather enjoyed it - but I was a little disappointed in a few things.

Firstly, the storyline. Whilst it was sufficient to guide you through the 138 minutes of the movie, it was a bit of a rehash of Spidey 2, and seemed to cover many of the same principles (our spidey being a principled kinda guy an' all). This meant that there were points in the movie I thought I had already seen, only to realise that feeling was brought to me courtesy of a few moments in the movie's predecessor.

Secondly, Venom. I was quite looking forward to the portayal of Venom in this movie (since I like the darker side of the moon), and I was also keen to see how Topher Grace would fare in his first major movie part of any significance. Now, before I mislead you, I am not about to bash to portrayal of Venom - far from it in fact - I am however about to highlight something which, in my opinion was a grave mistake Mr Raimi.

Venom was just not in this movie enough!

Topher's presence on screen was surprising given his human characters' relatively forgettable part to play in the grand scheme, however when he finally become Venom...well what a show! The marvellous effects used once our pretty boy. Eddie Brock. finally comes face to face with the 'black stuff', coupled with some fantastically dark portrayal, made me check the certificate awarded! It's just a shame it took until three quarters of the way into the movie before we got to see it! Watch out kiddies, that nasty venom is kinda scary!

Aside from the relatively forgettable base storyline, and the lack of venom in the movie, I was very pleased with other elements.

Firstly, the effects. The effects for all the movies were impressive, but the special effects Gurus working on S3 did fantastically, in both the effects for Venom, and for the monster that is Sandman! I was delighted to see some very clever methods put into place to help these characters grow on-screen.

Secondly, the humour. The Spiderman series has always been one to make peeps laugh, and this movie has it in spades. From the return of everyone's favourite abusive tabloid editor J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) to Bruce Campbell's hilarious performance as the Maître d’; From the ever expected cameo by the Marvel wonder Stan Lee to the S2-esq 6 minute musical scene with Mr Parker (Toby Maguire) himself, you'll not be short of a laugh or two.

Thirdly, the Goblin. I won't say much on this front, but I kinda liked what they did!

So all in all, not a bad film in the slightest. Still not as satisfying or as impressive as S1, but a hell of a lot better than S2.

B-Man says: 3.5 Stars.

Casting Musings

Whilst bored the other day there, I went trawling the net for a number of things that had occured to me to check and I had never gotten round to.

One of which, was to take a look for another update on the possibility of a Drizzt movie. "What's a Drizzt?", I hear you ask (which is a question often asked my the unitiated in the books). Take a look here to clarify your understanding.

It had been rumoured prior to the release of "The Rings Trilogy" that a Drizzt movie was on the horizon, pending the success of the former trilogy, however since that success has very much come and gone, I thought I would check the rumour mills to see what was going on. Not a lot.

It's clear there is still some idle chatter out there about the possibility of a Drizzt movie being made, more than likely in the form of a novel conversation from The Crystal Shard, however nothing substantial.

There does seem to be some fairly idle speculation on who might be cast as Drizzt, along with some personal recommendations. There are two that seem to be coming up regularly.

Wesley Snipes
Orlando Bloom.

People, people, people! What are you thinking?! Whilst I am a fan of the Snipes, and fully believe he has the martials arts prowess to convey that side of Drizzt (being a student of Escrima amongst other arts), however he is entirely too big in size, and has the wrong kind of charisma about him to properly deliver on the part of Drizzt. On the Orlando Bloom front, the build is fine, but I am not convinced his prowess in the arts is sufficient, and the fact that he has the charisma of a dry sponge doesn't help much either.

However, at this point allow me to state, that whilst I am having a pop at some people's recommendations for the part, I can offer none myself. I have considered who I would cast, and I am coming up a blank. It's not just for Drizzt either - I am having some difficulty pinpointing people I would cast in the place of Bruenor, Cattie-Brie, Wulfgar, Jarlaxle,Artemis Entreri, Matron Beanre, Matron Malice...and the list goes on.

Secondly, I came across a poll on the net, which listed the possible parts in the movie and multiple actors you could possibly cast in that role. I nearly sobbed. I mean, come on - Jason Isaacs as Drizzt Do'Urden - what was it, the nearly white hair in Harry Potter that did it!?! Then we have Tom Hanks as Bruenor Battlehammer - again an actor I have the greatest respect for, but as Bruenor - OH-DEAR-GODS!!!

It goes on and on, so instead of ranting at each choice, I'll simply let you make up your mind. Check it out here.

I think the only good suggestion I seen on this page was that Ridley Scott would direct...thats not a terrible idea I admit....

As for the rest, I think my eyes actually bled....