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Spider-Man (Limited Edition Collector's Gift Set)

Spider-Man (Limited Edition Collector's Gift Set)

List Price: $49.95
Your Price: $37.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: excellent film! a truly great on screen adaptation
Review: Is there any wonder why this film made $400 million at the box office this year?? Great story line, great chemistry with characters...funny, it's formulaic but who cares! It's Spiderman! And of course, the success of the first brings about 2 sequels to make to look forward to now. Just a wonderful movie that really the whole family will enjoy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better Than I Thought It Would Be
Review: Having never gotten the chance to see this film in its theatrical release, I was a little weary about popping the DVD into the machine. I feared it would be heavy on special effects, short on plot, and about as entertaining as watching computerized graphics. Happily, I was wrong. This film was actually very engaging, and close enough to the comic book origin to please fans of the Marvel character.

Each of the actors is well-cast, though I always thought Aunt Mae was supposed to be much more frail than this. Still, probably the most enjoyable comic book movie since the 1989 "Batman," and probably the best overall story since the 1978 "Superman" film. Special effects actually enhance the story rather than get in the way. And Dafoe plays the Green Goblin convincingly.

The DVD extras are so-so. I guess for archival purposes, it's nice to have so many of the TV commercials for the movie. But the history of "Spider-Man" segments are a little unfulfilling at times, especially the one that allows you to look at the character in each of its decades. Not all covers are included, and for whatever reason, the entire new costume fiasco of the early 90s isn't even addressed. And the Activision games are really only demos, and I can't get them to work on my computer at all.
If it were just the movie, I'd give this five-stars. The unfulfilling special features knock it down a star.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A superhero done right (on a good DVD)
Review: "Spiderman"- a film eighteen years in arriving according to the director's commentary - is worth waiting for. Rather than give a long-winded, hard to follow review, I'll keep to the highlights -

Just perfect:

1) The movie itself. Director Sam Raimi (of "Evil Dead", "A Simple Plan", "Darkman", "Xena", and "Hercules" fame) nails the film dead-on. The look and feel of the settings, the choices of shots, the comic book feel, and editing are top notch. He manages to draw out the best in the characters and the actors who play them. As is noted several times in the commentary tracks, Raimi chose characterizations over action, and I believe that is what separates "Spiderman" from so many other films in the Action genre. The characters are real and people you can identify with.

2) Casting and acting. Fans groaned at some of the casting choices, but the actors were perfect. Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker is magnificent, capturing the difficult inner conflicts of the character. The final scene in which his inner dialog plays out perfectly matches the subtle expression changes on his face. Kirsten Dunst was a concern for me as Mary Jane, but brought a lively interpretation to the role. Willem Dafoe looks like a villain, even without a mask, but still was warm when his character was meant to be sympathetic. J.K. Simmons was born to be J. Jonah Jameson, the gruff newspaper head. And Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris were spot on perfect as Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Simply wonderful casting.

3) The DVD. It's crisp and lively with a host of additional features. In particular were pop-up balloons that would give info during the film, two commentary tracks - one from the directing team and one from the visual effects team, background on the Spiderman comic book (villains, loves, etc.), and some outtakes and screen tests. My only disappointment in the screen tests was the lack of tests that featured actors who didn't get the parts. That you never see this anyway - must be a contractual thing - on other discs doesn't make this lack unusual, only missed.

4) Sound. The DVD's sound options were pleasantly distinct. The dialog boost option worked wonderfully, much better than on some other DVDs I've seen.

5) Faithfulness to the source. Best of all, the movie itself is true to the comic. They felt little need to mess around with the history of Spiderman. There are a few modifications, but they are unobtrusive and make sense. Thank you for not screwing Spiderman fans!

Mixed:

1) Spotty visual effects. Some of the CG effects looked like CG effects. The run across the rooftops was stilted. Others were brilliant. Case in point, the battle scene in the burning apartment. The commentary by the visual effects team noted that the CG of Spiderman avoiding weapons thrown by the Green Goblin fooled everyone, even other effects team members. Additionally, the commentary noted hundreds of spots where CG work was used that went completely unnoticed by me and certainly other viewers. That these were so seamless speaks well of the effects crew. Now if other parts can only be fixed up for the next film....

2) Deleted scenes. The visual effects team made note of hundreds of effects and scenes that were left on the cutting room floor. However, the DVD lacks a set of deleted scenes. In particular it was noted that the final confrontation was cut down considerably. It would have been nice to see those scenes. I guess they are being held for a box set once the series has run its course.

Poor:

1) DVD navigation. It's remarkably poor. Tiny glowing lights highlighted sections of the navigation. On some TVs they might be impossible to see. Too subtle to be helpful. You might think you got stuck in a section of features, but the system is working. Several people told me they had problems with the subtle changes in the navigation, too.

All in all, one of the best superhero movies (and accompanying DVDs) to hit the market since "Superman II". Definitely worth the cost to buy if you are a fan of action and superheroes.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Spiderman
Review: I always liked the Spider-Man comics. Spider-Man (& his alter ego, Peter Parker) is portrayed as an ordinary guy struggling to balance superheroics with the real world. This is in contrast with D.C.'s Batman comics where Bruce Wayne, as a millionaire, has no financial concerns, and Superman, where his job as a mild mannered reporter helps put him where he is most needed. But I always had reservations about some parts of the Spider-man origin story. In the comic book, after Peter Parker acquires his Spider powers, he becomes a professional wrestler (like in the film), but he garners some fame and fortune and when the robber runs past he doesn't stop the crook simply because he didn't feel it was his job. The movie pointedly gave Peter Parker a motive for letting the robber go. Later in the comic that very same robber breaks into Peter's house and murders his Uncle Ben. This struck me as a severe plot contrivance which was lessened in the film by having this villain kill Uncle Ben in a carjacking.

When I read about the talent behind this movie I was excited. Sam Raimi has impressed me ever since Evil Dead 1, Tobey Maguire & Kirsten Dunst were also perfectly cast. And when I watched the movie they did not disapoint. The romance between them is the most stirring part of the movie.

This movie possesses a spirit similar to Superman: The Movie, even if it lacks that film's epic quality. There are parrellels to Superman. Both are mild-mannered in their alter egos, both work for a newspaper -- Clark Kent as a reporter, Peter Parker as a freelance photographer, both have loudmouthed editors, although Perry White is a supporter of Superman, while J. Jonah Jameson loathes Spider-Man (J.K. Simmons in a terrific performance). But the plot of Superman is grander, beginning on Krypton, going to Smallville, Metropolis and for the climax all over the U.S. while Spider-Man keeps itself firmly in New York and is divided into 2 distinct acts; pre-graduation, and post-graduation.

This film has some great acting and humorous, stylish direction with a few visual cues lifted from the Batman & Superman movies which feel more like homages than rip-offs.

The plot is a basic origin/first adventure narrative. We are introduced to Peter Parker, shy high school senior, on his way to a field trip where he gets bitten by a geneticly enhanced spider giving him super powers, which he at first wants to use for profit, but then, after tragedy strikes, he uses it to do ggod deeds.

Simultaneous to Peter's transformation, his best friend's father, Norman Osborn, is conducting tests on himself to turn himself into a super soldier. These experiments cause him to go insane and become the Green Goblin.

Naturally it is only a matter of time before super hero and super villain meet.

Another refreshing elemnt of this movie is that the origins are kept seperate, unlike so many other super hero movies where the villains and the heroes are involved in creating each other. Spider-Man has no direct involvement in the creation of the Green Goblin, and the Green Goblin is not involved in Spider-Man's development.

The only liablilty this movie has is in the visual effects. When Superman was released it came with the tag line "You will belive a man can fly." They spent that much time on the special effects to make certain the the flying scenes looked realistic. In Spider-Man, though, the web-swinging moments are obviously computer animated, resembling a computer game more than a feature film, as though Sam Raimi didn't care much about the effects either.

Thankfully the human element of the movie saves the day, keeping it compelling to allow me to suspend my disbelief through these more awkward special effects sequences.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Entertaining and well-done!
Review: When I saw this movie the first day it came out, I thought it was really great. The acting is good, the storyline is good. Its one of the best superhero movies I have ever seen. Beats out Superman and Batman. The DVD has many unique features, including cast interviews, "spidey" factoids, and trailers. It also has specials that were on Tv of spider-man. Also, the loves of peter parker and drawings of spider-man. It also includes an interview with the creator, Stan Lee. Bloopers from filming are also included. Truly, its a great DVD for spider-man lovers and fans. You can spend hours just going through all the special features in it. A great gift for the Spider-Man lover.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Been there, done that...
Review: It is simply amazing to me that this film has been as successful as it has. It is entirely unoriginal and very derivative of two previous "super-hero" films, namely "Superman" and "Batman," and is not nearly as convincing. The script is poorly written with ham-fisted dialogue and Tobey Maguire's flippant portrayal of Spider-Man is irritating. Basically this is a Hollywood rehash cloaked behind hype and special effects.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Just so so
Review: Yesterday i bought Spiderman and The sum of all fears and Ice age and Jason x and windtalker and enough's DVD .When i've never seen these DVD , I thought that Spider man's DvD must best DVD in these DVD , But when i have seen these DVD ,I realize Spider man's DVD is worst Dvd in these DVD . ( Just only 2 MTVS is ok .
Sum41 and saliva are cool . Of course slayer's King are awesome .) Anyway i REALLY think Spider man'S DEBUT ISN'T PERFECT MOVIE .I will waiting for Spiderman's episode 2 :)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great movie!
Review: I thought Spider-Man was great but when I bought the DVD version for Widescreen and went home quick to watch it on my DVD player it only played Fullscreen and I couldn't get it to change because I got Pioneer. I went to a friend's house and watched it and it played Widescreen. I don't understand with DVD Player's these days because I mean I really want to watch a Widescreen version and I can't get the stupid remote to change it. It's dumb because in Fullscreen you cannot see anything but in Widescreen you can see everything. I love Widescreen the best and the DVD cover to Spider-Man of Widescreen is extremely cool. It's the way it meant to be because the cover is red just like the color of Spider-Man and that's why I bought the Widescreen version. Stick with the Widescreen.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Spidey-rific
Review: This was a pretty good movie. I never really got into the comic book scene and I wasn't interested at all in seeing Spiderman. I'm pretty happy that I did see it though. The movie was great. The acting and storyline were especially good. This movie is full of suspense, action and even a bit of romance. Even if you're not a Spiderman fan, I'm sure you like this movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Super Movie
Review: Spider Man is a great movie because it tells that he can jump from a tower to another and showes you how strong his web is.And it also showes you that he do not stop when the green goblin attacks him.


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