Comic Book Movies

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, after carefully considering it, here are my rankings of all eight Spider-Man movies so far:

8. The Amazing Spider-Man 2- I should make it clear that I don't actually hate any Spider-Man movie that has been produced so far. That includes this movie, which is bad, but far from unwatchable. I don't see a point in dwelling on it though since it's clearly obvious why it's bad, and while it suffers from similar problems to Spider-Man 3, it also lacks a lot of the heart of that movie which elevated it a bit. As it stands, it has a few really well-acted and emotional moments in it, keeping it from feeling like a complete waste, but it doesn't really have anything else to offer besides.

7. The Amazing Spider-Man- This doesn't have as many issues as it's sequel, but it does still suffer from being overly safe and conventional to the point of being kind of boring. I do like the casting of this movie and feel as though Andrew Garfield makes for a decent Spider-Man, and it's a shame that he didn't get better material to work with, but overall this movie feels inoffensive but also kind of hollow and lacking in personality.

6. Spider-Man 3- I do still defend this movie to an extent. It has a lot of clear issues, but even so, it still works for me on an emotional level for the big character moments as well as on a comedic level when you just learn to accept Raimi's trademark campiness for what it is.

5. Spider-Man: Far From Home- This is the most recent one yet and, overall, I really enjoyed it. That said the plot does feel like a mess, and I do feel like it wastes a lot of good opportunities to capitalize on some big character moments. The film-making here also feels a tad plain like with the ASM movies. It's a fun movie for sure, but aside from a few scenes, not the most memorable.

4. Spider-Man- This one was pretty much tied with Far From Home for a while, but I gave it the clear edge after a re-watch. While it does have some issues and dated elements to it, the overall package is undeniably entertaining, and the actual film-making here is well-crafted and makes Raimi's personality shine through. Also, Danny Elfman's score is second to none.

3. Spider-Man: Homecoming - This is just a really good high-school film, first and foremost. Far From Home was trying to do the same but kind of lost track of that somewhere in the mix, but Homecoming successfully takes the Peter Parker character and interprets him through the lens of something like a John Hughes film. The end result is something really different for the character but no less appealing, and while the film-making is still a little safe and unspectacular, the performances and tone really make up for it, IMO.

2. Spider-Man 2: Still the best live-action Spider-Man movie, and I feel like a complete moron for ever turning on it. This movie single-handedly captures both the greatness and tragedy of a character like Spider-Man better than any of the other movies to date, while also capitalizing on everything Raimi did well in the first movie except even better here.

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse- Yeah, I know we have at least one person here who hates Lord and Miller ; but having their influence as producers (and one of them being a co-writer) on this film aside, this movie more than any other really encapsulated the Spider-Man mythos of how anyone, no matter how common or from any walk of life, has the potential to be a hero. And the creative use of animation in combination with the unique but inspired story-telling style of this movie that can only come about from this medium really elevates the whole experience for me. I just watched it for the fourth time last night, and it gets better with every viewing. And on top of all of that, it not only successfully introduces the character of Miles Morales to the mainstream, but also gives me perhaps my favorite on-screen interpretation of Peter Parker to date in a movie (The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series still takes the top spot for me, though).

[Foggle]

Spider-Verse is the best superhero movie of all time IMO, and discounting the MCU films (which I haven't seen), I'd say my list would be exactly the same as yours, though I might actually swap SM 1 and 2 depending on my mood.

[Daikun]

Announced for Phase 4:

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Wonder what Wesley Snipes thinks of this.

Anyways, most excited for Thor: Love and Thunder, and was genuinely surprised to hear that Natalie Portman is back and that they will be doing a version of Jane Foster Thor.

I'm really hoping that the Loki mini-series will be drawing heavily from the Journey into Mystery and Agent of Asgard runs.

Happy to hear that the Black Widow movie is very similar in style and tone to The Winter Soldier. Speaking of which, while I like both characters, I'm a bit cautious about The Falcon and Winter Soldier mini-series because I'm not really convinced of either of them as leads, yet.

Doctor Strange 2 and WandaVision were both things that I was kind of "eh" about but admittedly my interest was piqued at finding out that they would be heavily connected projects and that while WandaVision will go for a weird and surreal feel to it, Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness will aim to be a straight up horror movie. Granted, the insistence on sticking to PG-13 kind of botches that intention for me, but I am at least curious.

[Foggle]

They should have called it Thour.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

They should have called it Thour.

[Avaitor]

These were a pretty good set of announcements. I'm surprised at how excited I am for the new Doctor Strange, but like EK, the title is too cool to ignore, as is the idea of a horror take on the character. The first movie didn't do much for me aside from the odd bits of surrealism, especially at the end, which I'm really hoping this one has much more of.

I wonder if we'll hear more about the future of Black Panther, Guardians, and Spider-Man at D23, as well as more about their Fantastic Four and X-Men plans. I'd personally like to see the former as a Disney+ series, and could wait until Phase 5 for the latter.

Oh, and I finally got around to seeing Far From Home last week. I enjoyed it, about as much as Homecoming, although I don't think that all of the humor worked as well as it did in the former film. But I really did like Mysterio, especially his own surrealistic moments. And while I'm generally not a big fan of Tony stealing Peter's thunder in these movies, I do like the ties to previous Iron Man films. It was also nice to spend more time with Fury and Hill, since besides their brief parts in the last Avengers movies, we haven't really seen either of them in years.

Also, that cameo at the end.

[Daikun]

Wonder what Wesley Snipes thinks of this.

He made a statement.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Jack Saint tries to tackle the universal themes of the MCU and the often self-defeating ideologies within Tony's character.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Andy Serkis has been confirmed to direct the Venom sequel. Interesting choice, I suppose.

[Daikun]

Spider-Man could be leaving the MCU

[Foggle]

Some people are pissed off about this. Others are ecstatic. I'm just here for the drama. I want to see Disney and Sony have a metaphorical slap fight with each other protracted over several years that ends in both parties burning shittons of money and good will.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Some people are pissed off about this. Others are ecstatic. I'm just here for the drama. I want to see Disney and Sony have a metaphorical slap fight with each other protracted over several years that ends in both parties burning shittons of money and good will.

A slap fight would only either cost or complicate the jobs of people in both companies, and lead to an arms race that could further amplify a monopoly. I don't see that benefiting anyone involved.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

To be honest I feel like the MCU had a pretty fantastic finale in Endgame. It was a strong run and we can always say we had the Infinity Saga. So I'm frankly not that interested in continuity anymore but would rather see them do more experimental, trippy films based on more outlandish properties in Marvel's backlog. Like, to para-phrase Star Lord from GotG 2: Make some weird shit, Marvel. Like, I'd prefer a Moon Knight movie that stylistically adapts the run started by Warren Ellis in 2013 than the next X-Men movie, if I'm being honest (granted I'd still watch the latter, of course).

While it honestly doesn't bother me that much if we don't get another Spider-Man MCU movie, I will admit that it's going to be super awkward to see how they manage to skirt around THAT wallop of a cliffhanger that they left off on in Far From Home. It's going to be kind of hard to pretend like it just never happened.

[Avaitor]

I'm honestly kind of indifferent towards the news. Holland and Watts are still contracted to keep their roles, so that'll be good (although I can take or leave Watts as the director), but they just won't be tying into Marvel's films. If this means that we'll get an actual Spider-Man film from them, and not another appendix towards the MCU, I'm curious. But Sony also hasn't shown that they really know what to do with the character, Spiderverse aside, so I don't have a lot of faith.