jürgen fauth’s muckworld

The hype machine is in high gear, but for once there’s truth in advertising. As far as megabudget superhero adaptations go, Spider-Man 3 delivers exactly what it promises: more of the same. If you liked the first two installments, this is great news. Unlike the self-important Batman Begins, the Spider-Man movies know exactly what they are and what they want to be.

Again, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco engage in cheeseball humor and soapy storylines illustrating bromides like “everybody needs help sometimes.” As before, Sam Raimi’s crisp direction makes elaborate three-dimensional action set pieces as transparent as a few well-chosen comics panels would. Again, the bright color scheme, the iconic NYC locations, the funny bit players (J.K. Simmons and Mageina Tovah as Ursula), the swooping score, and the gee-whiz wholesomeness that leaves no doubt that this poppy entertainment is squarely aimed at kids.

There are three new villains: Franco turns into the hoverboard-surfing New Goblin, Sideways‘ Thomas Hayden Church becomes the Sandman (who, by film’s end, looks like the Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock), and Topher Grace as Eddie Brock, who is covered with alien goo as Venom, the most wicked of the Spidey villains. Their tag-team battles are the most exciting of the series so far.

Peter Parker also undergoes some transformations. As a deft metaphor externalizing his anger and aggression, the alien symbiote colors Spidey’s costume black, and he ends up with a hipper haircut and a mean new attitude: the dweeb struts to a James Brown tune and turns into a sexual predator (or at least a dweeb’s idea of a sexual predator.) In mythic terms, the symbiote represents the Devil of the Tarot deck, but by the end of the movie, the Sun of forgiveness comes up over Manhattan. There’s room for plenty of sequels.

Spider-Man 3. Sam Raimi, 2007. ***

• Spider-Man 3 on Rotten Tomatoes
• In case you managed to miss it, the trailer:

Sofia Coppola, Kirsten Dunst, and Jason Schwartzman at the Marie Antoinette press conference on Friday.

• About.com
• The Reeler (I heartily agree with every word)
• GreenCine

New York Film Festival press screenings started today, so for the next four weeks, I’ll be at the Walter Reade. So far, not so good: Lincoln Center is under construction, the suave and soothing presence of Graham Leggat is painfully absent, the breakfast spread has been scaled back catastrophically, brand-new security guys kept asking me if I had checked in yet, and the first movie was a terrible disappointment. Off the top of my head, I can think of 50 reasons why Sofia Coppola’s poppy Versailles biopic doesn’t work, but for now, let’s just say that it’s every bit as decadent and clueless as its main character.

Update: my About.com review is now online.

Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola, 2006. *

[tags]1 star, film, nyff, sofia coppola, kirsten dunst, jason schwartzman, versailles, decadence, costumes, revolution, cake[/tags]

Talk about a fiasco of mythic proportions. And I like Cameron Crowe. There are some charming ideas here, the soundtrack’s not too shabby, and every now and then the dialogue twinkles… but holy shit is this movie tedious and neverending. Nothing’s earned, nothing’s believable, and every single scene goes on for way too long. OK, so it’s romantic if Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst have an all-night cell phone call… but did we have to witness it in real time?