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Author
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Topic: Spider-Man: Homecoming
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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.
Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004
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posted 07-10-2017 09:35 PM
CINEMA: Cinemark Altoona and XD, Altoona, IA
AUDITORIUM: 6, SEAT: E7
PRESENTATION: Cinemark Recline-O-Vision, Barco Digital (but you should really upgrade your experience to XD because of the super awesome technology and unicorns)
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Flat trailers pillarboxed, lack of masking PAINFULLY evident throughout the feature, needs more subwoofer
RATING: Two stars (out of four)
Cinemark seriously has a new "Why You Should Upgrade to XD" trailer that suggests the key reason is unicorns. NOT kidding.
You get the impression Cinemark is intentionally cutting the volume and clip of the subwoofers in their standard auditoriums to make the sound in the XD artificially impressive?
THE PLOT: A dumb kid does dumb things. Wackiness ensues.
This isn't really a Spider-Man movie so much as it's a half-ass continuation of the Avengers amidst the backdrop of a syndicated high school drama. Michael Keaton plays a contractor cleaning up New York after the Avengers trashed it. Suddenly he finds his pet project taken over by spooks. He keeps what he has gotten so far and uses it to make nasty sci-fi weapons and get rich. Spidey, despite Tony Stark's half-ass efforts, is on the case.
The acting is mediocre...Keaton out-acts the shit out of everyone to the point of distraction...the effects are atrocious, and it runs about seventeen acts too long. The post-credit scene isn't worth the bother, though it pretty well summed up my feelings about the movie.
Those calling this the best Spider-Man movie ever really need to revisit Tobey Maguire's first two movies, still two of the best Marvel movies ever made.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 07-11-2017 12:04 AM
Cinema: AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, Oklahoma City
Screen: 23, Dolby Cinema @ AMC (Seats E7 & E8 for me & my girlfriend)
Format: 2K blown up to Dual 4K RGB 6P Laser Dolby Vision (do I add "SPL" here too?).
Presentation Problems: The movie started late due to some kind of technical problem with the trailer pack. And the red lights were off in the right row of ceiling surround speakers (they do turn off all those red speaker lights at show time). They ended up showing just one movie trailer and a couple AMC-branded Dolby Cinema snipes before jumping into the movie. There were no presentation quality issues with the movie itself.
Rating: 3 stars out 4
Spiderman: Homecoming wasn't quite as good as its 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes would suggest. But it did have enough good moments in it for me to easily like it far more than the two Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies (that I all but forgot were even made) and the terrible Spider-Man 3 movie that killed the Tobey Maguire version of the Spider-Man franchise.
Wonder Woman is still the best super hero movie of this year.
Despite generally having a good time watching the movie, I was bothered by some of the sheer stupidity of many characters and even some really stupid details cooked into the plot. That really went for Peter Parker's "secret" identity at Spider-Man.
Spoiler Alert - Click to Toggle
But then I got a hell of a laugh when Michael Keaton's character (Adrian Toomes/Vulture) figured out Parker's identity as Spider-Man in just a couple minutes of a car ride. Unintentionally hilarious.
I can get past stupid characters and stupidly forced plot choices if there is a good enough dramatic pay-off to make the stupidity worth it. This movie worked for the most part. That Alien: Covenant movie? Shit, now there's some really bad character/plot stupidity going on with that one.
I was hoping for a more involved Atmos mix. I thought the Vulture's stunts and other aerial action would have offered plenty of opportunity to play with the ceiling surrounds. This is yet another somewhat conservative surround mix, despite both the Atmos and Auro brands being spammed in the end credits.
Lots of people stayed around til the very end.
Spoiler Alert - Click to Toggle
Then Captain America shamed us for doing so.
quote: Sam Graham
You get the impression Cinemark is intentionally cutting the volume and clip of the subwoofers in their standard auditoriums to make the sound in the XD artificially impressive?
I think theaters everywhere are doing this, regardless of the theater chain. You get TV speakers volume and wimpy dynamics on all the standard priced auditoriums. You might get some loudness and even a decent amount of sub-bass in the premium priced houses.
In the past I thought the low volume was all about appeasing customers who hated dynamic surround sound, as well as cutting maintenance costs on theater sound systems. Now I think good surround sound is now considered a deliberate exclusive for premium theaters (and another excuse for more people to just watch the freaking movie at home for TV speakers volume there or good surround sound if they have it).
quote: Sam Graham
Those calling this the best Spider-Man movie ever really need to revisit Tobey Maguire's first two movies, still two of the best Marvel movies ever made.
The first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie was unintentionally goofy in a few spots (IMHO a fault of Sam Raimi's directing style). The second one was outstanding, except for the Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head montage. The bit late in the movie where Aunt May tells Peter Parker how everyone loves a hero was unexpectedly powerful (and very well delivered by Rosemary Harris). At least it hit me that way.
quote: Spider-Man 2 Script
Henry Jackson: Hi, Peter!
Peter Parker: Hey, Henry! You've grown tall.
May Parker: You'll never guess who he wants to be... Spider-Man!
Peter Parker: Why?
May Parker: He knows a hero when he sees one. Too few characters out there, flying around like that, saving old girls like me. And Lord knows, kids like Henry need a hero. Courageous, self-sacrificing people. Setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero. People line up for them, cheer them, scream their names. And years later, they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them how to hold on a second longer. I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams.
Cue the Nickleback ballad in the background.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 07-11-2017 05:18 AM
It's hard to believe, but this is the third Spider-Man franchise in less than 16 years. So, in less than 16 years it needed two reboots to finally join the collective Marvel universe.
It's also the first Spider-Man movie I've watched, since Spider-Man 3 (2007) by Sam Raimi, as I opted to skip the Sony/Columbia Pictures cash-grab trilogy that went in between.
Let's hope we're done with the reboots right now, it's getting highly confusing with all those disconnected franchises screaming for attention.
In my opinion, modern day Marvel movies are more or less "false advertising", this movie was just another Avengers movie, with Spider-Man as the main focus. So, "The Avengers: The Spider-Man" would be a more descriptive title of what to expect.
While it wasn't bad, it also wasn't something worth remembering all too long. It essentially was the Spider-Man origin story, all over again, but now with a lot of Tony Stark mixed right in. Apparently, they didn't trust Tom Holland to be able to carry the movie on his own, he literally needed a strong hand to show him the way.
It's clear the Disney Marvel train just keeps on producing those superhero movies at breakneck pace. Unfortunately, most of them never seem to break out of their "Save the Cat" narrative. It was true for Wonder Women (yeah, DC Comics, different studios, same shit, different day) and is undoubtedly also true for this movie. You know, I really like cats, but someone really needs to break through this viciously furry cycle. Will somebody please stand up and just Nuke the Cat?
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