Spiderman 3

I went to 50 cent movie night last night and we saw Spiderman 3. I was expecting it to be horrible, as bad as Ghost Rider or something. But I ended up liking it. Sure it had some problems. Sure the musical numbers were a little weird; but it had a very interesing tension between camp and angst. I laughed a lot more than I usually do in superhero movies. A lot of the best scenes were throwaways: the J.J. buzzer desk scene had fabulous comic timing, but wasn't particularly important to the plot. Ditto for Bruce Campbell's cameo as a French waiter. ("Peter Pecker.") In fact, part of what made the movie so funny is that the characters inside it couldn't seem to see how hilarious it was. Comic irony, I guess.

As for Spidy's sleazy transformation, I kind of appreciated the representation of shadow as being kind of cheap and petty. I know from my own experience that my dark side isn't merely rage or revenge, but the part of me that talks smack about others, that worries about having the right clothes to wear to an event, the part that gets bunchy over ettiquette, the part that stands aside observing and judging instead of engaging and participating. My darkside is part spinster school teacher and part Eddie from Ab Fab.

( Excelsior! )

Also: the hot water heater is not working again. Boo!