JoeViturbo Blog

Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer Vs. Spiderman 3

JoeViturbo — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 21:25:00 GMT

I'm going to tell you right at the start: Fantastic 4 wins this battle.

Why? well, sit back and I will explain it to you.

My biggest mistake was having expectations. I love Sam Raimi and have been a fan of his since I first saw Army of Darkness (aka Bruce Campbell Vs. The Army Of Darkness, a far better title if you ask me). I enjoyed his frenetic camera moves and the use of alternate angles to create a uncomfortable, stalking feeling. The bike mounted camera chases of all the Evil Dead movies is hard to top in my book. Spiderman 1 was the most powerful of the series story wise it had Spiderman's origin as well as the death of his uncle. The scenes where he is learning to use his new powers easily captures the imagination with many of the movies viewers. In my opinion, looking at Spiderman 1 you can tell it is well-made and that the director knew his stuff but, it doesn't have very many of Raimi's trademarks, you know, the things that make a Sam Raimi movi a Sam Raimi movie. I felt that while Spiderman 2 was weaker story wise it showed a greater amount of Raimi-ness. That scene where Doctor Octopus' arms attack the medical crew brought me back to the nostalgis days of the Evil Deal trilogy. To me it seemed that Raimi was a little careful with Spiderman 1 and then let himself go with the second film and filmed it with more of his characteristic style. Both movies met my high set expectations

With the first Fantastic Four movie I was warned beforhand that this movie had a lot of problems. I went in with low expectations andcame away happy because it delivered all it had promised I'd be hard-pressed to name the director of the first Fantastic Four movie and even more hard-pressed to name another film that he had done. Special effects were the main character in this movie with the characters taking a backseat to the action heavy story.

By now you've probably given up on reading this or if you are still here you are asking yourself: "Why is he writing about the first two Spiderman movies when he is supposed to be detailing an epic battle between two comicbook movies. The answer my friend is all about origins.

I feel that to properly rate these two titles you need to look at what came before. The first two Spiderman movies set an awfully high bar, if the third movie needs to reach it or surpass it then it is going to have to be made very well indeed.

What I'm saying is that while I can't honestly say that Fantastic 4: Rise Of The Silver Surfer was a better movie than Spiderman 3, I enjoyed Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer more because I went in with less expectations.

FF: RotSS had moments that made me groan and cringe with their ham-fisted attempts at humor and schmaltz. Some of the special effects were horrible (see: Mr. Fantastic, danceclub scene) and others were absolutly amazing (see: Silver Surfer). There were also some times when I felt hit over the head with the Dodge marketing hammer. But all in all it was fun and more evenly paced than Spiderman 3 which seemed to move along at a snails pace for two and a half hours before wrapping-up everything in a nice package with a pretty bow in the last 30 minutes.

Sam Raimi has never let me down before but I guess there is a first time for everything. I hope he doesn't join the likes of Tim Burton where you never know if his movie is going to be an enduring masterpiece (Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow) or just plain unwatchable (Planet of the Apes, which I feel was one of the greatest travesties perpetrated on cinema...ever).

For Lovers Of Mike Mignola And/Or H.P. Lovecraft

JoeViturbo — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:16:22 GMT

This was aired on "The SciFi Channel" but not picked-up after the lackluster response from viewers. I found it absolutly hilarious and fantastic. With the voice talents of Paul giamatti, Patton Oswalt, David Hyde Pierce, and Molly Shannon, it is clear the cast was well-picked and talented. This one episode features robots (well, robotic bodies), cannibals, lycanthropes, vampires, mummies, zombies, demi-gods, Hyboreans, and intelligent apes. Wow, it's got everything. It works well although with only 20 minutes of actual show footage some people might come away feeling like they didn't get what they paid for. I didn't feel this way for a minute and the extras on the DVD make up for the lack of actual show length. I also found it for a competitive price of 10 dollars

Amazing Precursor To Blockbuster Films

JoeViturbo — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:04:00 GMT

I was impressed by this movie. The story centers around two men visiting a futuristic amusement park that allows them to live out their wild west fantasies to the minutest detail. Gunfights and quick-draw shootouts are made possible by robot antagonists, that is, until the robots decide they don't like being the ones shot all the time. The main villainous robot is portrayed by Academy Award winning Yul Brynner. He plays a robot version of the character he portrayed in "The Magnificent Seven". This is one of the few movies that Michael Crichton directed although "The Great Train Robbery" is probably more well liked. "Westworld" reminds me of "Terminator", and "Jurassic Park" and it is quite possible it influenced both. I found it engaging and fascinatingand hopefully you will to. Be sure to chek out the sequel "Futureworld", again with Yul Brynner as a psychotic robot, and look out for the upcoming remake "Westworld" slated for a 2009 release