Amherst Lane

Michael and I wanted to watch a guilty pleasure movie because we were bored. I have to say that we rolled snake eyes on this animated pile of #$$#@. Don’t get me wrong. The animation itself is amazing. My hat is off to the animators. Those guys must have been pulling their hair out after sitting in front of a monitor with the worst script ever written. Even Sigourney Weaver’s voice acting couldn’t bring this thing to life. It was boring, predictable, and not even funny in the slightest sense. The only way to make this movie enjoyable is to turn the volume off and replace it with either Russian overdubbing, or Death Metal.

What can I say, Spiderman 3 wasn’t quite what I expected. After the first two this sequel was kind of a let down. I can sum up exactly what’s wrong with this movie in one phrase, too many characters.

Spiderman 3 was a chance to show the darker side of Spiderman and more importantly the concepts of redemption and forgiveness. In this movie everything is finally going right for Peter parker. Everyone loves Spiderman, and he is going to ask Mary Jane to marry him. And as always things start to fall apart, starting with the introduction of three villains.

This movie is a crowwwwwded house. Having three villains in Spiderman 3 (get it…3) and two love interests, was probably the first mistake they made. I won’t blame this one on the director Sam Raimi. He’s done an awesome job with the last two, and probably had less to say about this than the producers did. Having three antagonists made this movie feel rushed. Two of the villains had to be introduced, which took a lot away from the character development. It also made the movie feel rushed in places. Although I think Raimi did his best with all three, I think two should have been the limit on this one. Also, I think adding Gwen Stacy was a nice touch, but once again, too many people.

Also, this movie could have done without the “buddy” scene at the end. Harry Osbourne and Spiderman team up to battle the sandman and Venom. It’s directed like some cheesy 80’s movie, complete with lots of buddy banter. There is even a sequence where Spiderman is riding Harry’s Goblin board with him. This just became too over the top at the end.

I will have to say that visually, Spiderman 3 was an amazing movie. I know a lot of people didn’t like the use of the Venom character in this movie, but I loved it. The CG effects were tastefully done and not overused. The best part is early in the movie when Venom is introduced. He lands on Earth in a meteorite and attaches itself to Peter’s bike. The symbiote creeps around like a gooey spider that is very convincing. Also, the scene in the bell tower is nicely done.

Overall it wasn’t a bad movie, but not what I was expecting. Don’t waste your money at the theatre, wait for it to hit video.

So, my new woman is “forcing” me to watch a whole bunch of horror movies I haven’t seen yet. Needless to say, I’m getting a kick out of it. We watched Wolf Creek the other day. Now, it’s not the best movie I’ve ever seen, but it is definitely worth watching.

Wolf Creek is about three friends in Australia who go on a road trip. they end up getting stranded at Wolf Creek. They are “saved” by an old Aussie named Mick Taylor. Afer Mick tows them back to his garage, madness ensues a la Texas Chainsaw Massacre style. The three friends find themselves being tortured and brutalized by the sadistic Aussie.

As far as horror films go, I’ve seen more inventive storys. But, with that said, the real draw to Wolf Creek is it’s realism. The concept of the film is based on trying to decide what it would really be like to be in the middle of nowhere, in the hands of a psychopath. The script is gritty, and the acting superb. Definitely watch this one if you don’t have anything better to do.
I give this one a “Check your backseat at night, and don’t let strangers tow you anywhere….mate.” -Tony

Ok, so I’m a nerd. I love anything that has to do with super powers and comic books…except this movie. Zoom is a movie about a jaded ex-superhero who is hired by the government to train a group of super-powered kids. It sounds like a great idea on paper. (Hell, I loved Sky High), but the problem with this movie is cheese. I guess maybe I went into this one expecting something that everyone could like. I mean Peter Dewitt did “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey”. Unfortunately, this movie is targeted only at kids. Zoom is definitely for the Nickelodeon crowd. Don’t get me wrong, There were some decent performances by Tim Allen (aka Zoom), Courtney Cox, and if you can believe it, Chevy Chase, but they don’t help the movie that much. It’s funny that they chose Chevy to play the government scientist in this movie. The entire feel of the movie was that of a National Lampoon film. In fact, there is even one scene where the kids lock Chevy in a room that simulates weather. They spend several minutes of the movie torturing him Lampoon style. This felt like a guilty pleasure for the director and made for one of the most pointless scenes . The special effects were ok, and the acting was fair, which didn’t make this movie a total bust. But, the character development was predictable and one-dimensional. Of course, this is a kids movie after all. I give this movie a definite “Don’t waste your time unless you’re baby-sitting your eight year old brother.”- Tony

The Amherst Lane crew is at it again with another podcast investigating the history of the comic book movie. Relive the memories as we dissect the success and failures of these two colliding monolithic genres.

length: 10 min. 14 sec.