i just figured it was Norman Osborn, although that would be considered the obvious choice.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/56771

well never mind.

going to see this tonight w/ new Sandler flic double bill @ http://drivein.ca/photos/index.php3

edit : cancelled : "it's raining like a bastard"

Haven't seen it yet, but two of my coworkers were raving about it today. The source of their long-winded praise: "It doesn't waste as much time on story as the other ones. It's just nonstop action."

Man, I hope not.

michael bay likes this.

That's not true. I felt more invested in the character of Peter Parker in this one than the first spider man with Tobey. There's definitely not just action.

i felt like there was something missing between peter and uncle ben. though implied, i really thought the with great power comes.... should have been more stated

yeah maybe. But the death scene was moving between them and I thought was well done. I think the great responsibility line was intentionally left out to separate themselves from the other films. I also think that they have an entire story arc planned out from the beginning for this for 3 films at least. Not 3 scripts written or anything, but a general idea of where they're going with this storyline. So I think they're putting some thought into the story of these, unlike taking it one film at a time, which I think made a huge difference.

what the hell did they watch?

Yeah, this just isn't true. The backstory is more nuanced and moving, I thought. He feels like a real (angry) teenager here.

That said, I loved this film; my expectations were low (as they always are with this kind of film) but it exceeded every one of them. My single (slight) disappointment was The Lizard, but I'm not surprised they didn't get their facts right on that.

I actually thought the scene where Uncle Ben tells Peter how important responsibility was to his dad, and then Peter goes apeshit, was much better. The idea that nothing nice was said between them before he died is a bit of a cliche, but I loved that he 'kept in touch' with his uncle's voice via messages on his phone.

the problem i have with it is that in the spiderman comic books it is ingrained that with great power.... that is what his uncle told him and what he has strived to live by. you cannot go by 2 comics of spiderman where this doesnt get mentioned. it is as prolific in the spider mythos as him shooting webs.

the phone message was a very nice touch.

what was your problem with the lizard?

Fair points, I don't read the comics and wasn't sure how prominent that phrase / concept was.

Well, my issues with The Lizard are stupid geeky ones. Good points: I liked how big he was compared to Spidey, and I liked how he moved. All of the setpieces where he smashed stuff up, and fought Spidey (especially that long sequence in the sewer) were amazing. So no problems character-wise, just the look of him mostly.

I'm a bit bothered that Dr. Curtis Connors introduced himself as 'the world's leading expert on herpetology' and then proceeded to tell us 'facts' like lizards are able to replace limbs. Well, technically I don't know a lizard who is able to replace legs, even though the replacement of tails is a famous trait (and I liked that touch, even if the second tail was perfect and in fact they never are, they always look like second tails). I know that amphibians can generate limbs during growth, but I'm not sure about regeneration; someone into amphibians would have to tell you. So anyway, that seemed like a widespread cliche that may well have been in the comic books (and of course serves the story) that I wish the writers had looked further into, possibly even debunked and twigged the story if they had to, especially if they're going to use words like 'herpetology'.

I'm a little confused why all the lizards running around had to be CGI ones of a completely different species than any we've seen. I like to think I know my lizard species, and I didn't recognise them; five-lined skinks almost, but not quite. Lastly, all of those isses add to the design of The Lizard himself. He is the stereotype lizard in the popular imagination: bright green, with long claws and slitted eyes like a snake's. In fact, I can't think of a single bright green lizard that is nocturnal (which, of course, it would have to be to have slitted eyes). And those eyes definitely belong to a snake, not a lizard. I wish he'd had a long snout and round eyes; if he had been green, he could have been an Emerald Tree Monitor hybrid or something. Basically, I wish they'd designed him after a real, recognisable lizard species.

But hey, that's all herpetological geekery that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the film overall. I just thought the attention to detail was so completely stellar that more attention to this stuff would have lifted the film even higher.

so it wasnt really Argentina?

Que?

burnhope knows the fuck out of some lizards

I was underwhelmed.

Can you ever just be whelmed?

Who, me?

You haven't seen 10 Things I Hate About You?