“You do too much. You’re not Superman, you know.”

DnaError’s rating: Spider-Man Astounds Reviewer, Film at 11

DnaError’s review: This is one of the most crowded theaters I’ve ever been in, which usually isn’t a good thing. Means expectations are high and unreachable. Comic-book adaptations have been doing well recently (Ghost World, X-Men, etc.). Then again, Spider-Man is much beloved and very easy to screw up.

Relax, it doesn’t suck.

Our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is rendered exactly the way you’d expect the director of Evil Dead to do it. Some drama, some thrills, and an unusual amount of laughs. This is one funny movie. Possibly the most comic book like of the recent wave of adaptations, it’s full of bright colors and sight gags and a gaggle of supervillain conventions. Rather then be bogged down with an attempt to over-dramatize or make the movie more “adult,” Raimi keeps the movie in its comic book universe, infusing it with a cartoonish energy and infectious sense of fun than most movies.

Tobey Maguire is perfectly cast as the bug-eyed photolog Peter Parker, our hero who must learn to deal with his newfound responsibility and place in the world. Kristin Dunst’s Mary Jane plays the redheaded damsel to a hilt, wounded and beautiful and constantly in distress. The barking J.J Jameson is a hoot. And Willem Dafoe turns in a powerful performance as the tortured Norman Osborn and supervillain to Toby’s superhero, following the other trend in comic-book adaptations, well-played villains. (Magneto anyone?)

The movie’s earnest characters and comedy zip it along its long running time, with the camera taking you swooping and guiding between and over the Manhattan skyline. The audience cheered along side Spidey with every victory, wept with him over every loss of innocence, and was wide-eyed and beaming by the end.

Spider-Man is very best kind of Summer Spectacle movies, one that makes the audience happier coming out then when they came in.

Kyle’s rating: My life is validated, in a way! Kinda!

Kyle’s review: I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels Spider-Man has been a special friend to them through the years. More than any other superhero, Spider-Man has been put through the wringer countless times yet all the while he does the right thing, saves lives, and teaches us all important and easily digestible lessons about life. Am I the only one who still tears up when Spider-Man has to lift all that machinery off his back just to get the life-saving antidote to Aunt May? I think not! And there are hundreds of other examples of how Spider-Man’s comics have been some of the most intriguing and creative stories from the last 50 years.

So you can imagine, with the legions of Spidey fans out there, that although we have always wanted to see our hero in a big screen adventure we weren’t going to settle for anything less than excellence. And any rumors of Leonardo DiCaprio as Spider-Man were clearly just lies spread by our enemies, and we would have none of it!

I guess we waited just long enough, because Marvel Comics is back on top in the comic world (Grant Morrison rules!) and not only are they finally making Marvel movies, but they’re making good Marvel movies! Great talent, including actual actors and visionary directors, is not mocking comic book films, it’s lining up to jump on the bandwagon! Plus comic book films = movie tie-in action figures! Can I get an “Amen”?

People, do I even have to tell you about Spider-Man? I don’t think the name needs a hyphen, but what do I know? A radioactive spider bites Peter Parker, he gets spider powers, and he learns the hard way that with great power comes great responsibility. Oh, and he fights the most incredible villains and he loves the most beautiful women while he goes. The movie adaptation takes these basic elements, and quite a few straight-from-the-comic plot points, and weaves them into a wonderfully engaging tapestry.

If you’re barely familiar with Spider-Man (having lived on Pluto till now), the movie is accessible enough that you will never feel lost, only entertained. If you are steeped in Spider-Man lore and you often boast, “Yeah, I could write Spider-Man comics, but I have to deliver these pizzas for a little while longer,” you will be amazed (like me!) at how the film manages to drop all these fanboy bits and threads for sequels in for us fanatics to enjoy while somehow telling a great story everyone can dig. Don’t fear dense references for comic freaks! You (as in, any of our infinite readership) will enjoy this. Give it a try!

Ten hours after seeing the first showing in my area, I’m still flabbergasted at how great this film was. Quality was evident in every aspect. It’s light enough, it’s dark enough, it’s gentle enough, it’s violent enough. Tobey Maguire is perfect! Kirsten Dunst looks great with red hair! Willem Dafoe is scary! The special effects are fabulous, the costumes are tremendous.

Man, I could go on and on, but believe me: I love this film. I wouldn’t change a thing! The best part is that this origin film sets things up so well that once the sequel hits, the action can rev up right from the start! But till then we have this wonderful, wonderful film. You think I’m exaggerating things? Go see it for yourself and you will know for yourself!

Justin’s rating: Question: why doesn’t he shoot out webbing from the area where most spiders shoot it out?

Justin’s review: The morning that Spider-Man was released in theaters, you would find me at work trying in vain to sing the Spider-Man theme song. Up and down the halls: “Spider-man, Spider-man, doin’ whatever a spider can! Spinning webs, catching flies, something something something something!”

And as with any song that you’re singing and really don’t know all the lyrics, you just start over. “Spider-man! Spider-man! Doin’ whatever a spider can!”

I was PUMPED.

I mean, we got one of the coolest superheroes ever and it’s directed by Sam Raimi (Evil Dead 2). I caught a matinee, and was just a small part of a large throng that came to see the web-slinger’s big screen debut. Despite one of the fullest bladders I’ve ever experienced in my life (don’t trust those “large” cherry icees), I waddled out of the theater feeling my lust for superhero action sated.

For its two full hours, Spider-Man crams in an entire origin story (which can usually be quite lengthy in superhero flicks) as the first act, then follows it up with the escalating battle between Spidey (Tobey Maguire) and his new nemesis, the Green Goblin (William Dafoe). I was delighted to see traditional Raimi trademarks make a return, such as the cut-n-paste montage, over-the-top acting, and even a spot by brother Ted Raimi. Sam knows how to take a larger than life figure and make him simultaneously overblown and down-to-earth.

Peter Parker is just a kid, and a rather geeky one at that. But that all changes one day, as a new genetically enhanced spider gives him a bite, and he ends up at the morgue. Or at least would, if comic books had anything to do with reality. Instead, he gains all sorts of fun spider powers, including strength, agility, speed, precognition, and the ability to shoot and swing from webbing that comes out of his wrists. Of course, he doesn’t gain ALL the features of a spider (see rating above), which might have had him turned into an eight-legged freak who ate flies and had a fragile exoskeleton. But such are the licenses that creator Stan Lee took.

Two things struck me as very noteworthy about how this new Spidey venture was handled. The first is the sheer amount of backstory from the comic books that was faithfully recreated here. We’ve got Parker’s spider bite, his long-standing attraction to Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst, looking fine and dandy as a redhead), his infamous wrestling match as “The Human Spider” that gave him ideas for the costume, his uncle’s death that propelled him to fight crime, his relationship with foster parent Aunt May, and his new job as photographer at the Daily Bugle. And this isn’t even getting to the whole Green Goblin origin/conflict storyline!

Some die-hard Spidey fans may quibble that little details here and there weren’t adhered to, but I’ve gotta say that this is the single most faithful adaption of a superhero from pages to screen. Batman and X-Men both took liberties with updating and modernizing their superhero image, but Spider-Man’s got the same suit that we’ve known for years — and he’s still the slightly geeky and quippy man of the hour that has appealed to readers for decades.

The other thing to note is how director Sam Raimi makes this film “feel” like a comic book, giving it a unique flavor. I’m sure it would have been fairly easy to go the traditional $100 million movie route and just try to make everything appeal to all audiences without rocking the boat of security in a sea of ingenuity, but Raimi really wanted to do justice to the style of the comic book world.

Scenes are translated into brief episodes that might as well had captions and bubble speech around them — we get inner monologue, clipped dialogue, and some nice jumps in the timeline. At certain points in the film, the characters talk in almost a hokey fashion. When you look at it from a movie standpoint, it might be offputting. But from a comic book view, it’s all about getting the last word in, about reaction shots that say more than a follow-up scene, about posing and wowing us with cool actions. It was especially cool to have Spidey and the Green Goblin clash physically a number of times before the film’s final battle, since this is a trademark staple of comic book lore.

When it came to scene-stealers, I must interject, the Daily Bugle’s Jonah Jameson (Oz’s J.K. Simmons) stole the show as a cigar-chomping, fast-talking crankpot. The scenes with him blitzed in a frantic jumble of classic lines and reactions, and had me cracking up. We need to see more of him in the sequel.

To be honest, Spider-Man did not wow me with its special effects (which range from acceptable to “rubbery CGI”), nor did it have me dying for the DVD like Fellowship of the Ring did. It simply made me like it for what it is, a story about a kid who gets all the sorts of powers that we wish we could have, and how he has to deal with the new responsibilities that come with it. Although I myself have a crippling fear of heights, so I’m sure that I would be doing all of my web slinging from about two feet above the ground.

It should make you laugh. It might even make you clap (like our audience did when Peter won his first fight in school). And I think that the big effects aside, it’s the little things you’ll notice most — such as how spider-sense is portrayed. From your friendly neighborhood mu-tants, here’s a guy saying that everyone should give Spider-Man a shot.

PoolMan’s rating: PoolMan and Spider-Man… a crime-fighting team for the ages!

PoolMan’s review: Let me tell you something. I have always wanted to be Spider-Man. That may sound strange to some people, coming from a big guy in his mid-twenties with a relatively active social life, but it’s the truth. As kids, we all played as super heroes, but I always liked the webslinger best.

Sure, you could be Superman, with his bulletproof chest and a new power (or new way to use his old powers) every week. Or maybe you preferred the Dark Knight, Batman. There’s another hero to be respected… dark past, cool toys, interesting costume… but the whole “millionaire playboy” thing tends to shallow out his character a bit to me. And while the X-Men are cool, short of taping umbrella spines to my hands, it’s a little tough emulating Wolverine. So Spidey it is.

Pretending to swing from building to building while spraying the other kids with invisible webbing that I insisted held them in place was lots of fun. Plus I got to crack wise about the size of somebody’s butt while the kid who played Superman had to say something virtuous and noble, like “Now Spider-Man, don’t pick on The Blob, he’s of a different genetic disposition than you and I!” And to this day, I’m a sucker for pointing my wrists at lamp posts and going “thwip”. I continue to pray that one day I’ll actually shoot web.

What made Spider-Man special and unique to me is the same thing that made him stand out at the time of his creation: He was just so different, and so cool because of it. Forget Superman’s perfect jawline and Batman’s bottomless coffers, Peter Parker is the spitting image of our inner neurotic selves. He’s a nerd so despised even the other nerds don’t want to be near him, constantly harassed and beaten back into his shell. In short, he’s so vulnerable that you *want* him to become a hero, and when he does, we all cheer.

This is what the movie is built on. Wisely sidestepping concentrating on the suit, director Sam Raimi puts his focus on who’s inside it. For the opening half, the origin story of Peter becoming Spidey is funny, touching, and perfectly in context with both the action aspect of the movie and the classic characters involved. The second half tends to drop into action mode, and while it makes sense (it’d be a downer to inherit all the cool spider powers and only have him use them to take out the trash or get a job cleaning windows), when the focus shifts towards the battles with the Green Goblin, some of the personality of the flick (just a little) drops away. It’s good action, and the CGI didn’t irk me the way I hear it has for some folks, but it becomes reminiscent of other superhero flicks a little too quickly.

Still, there’s a lot of laughs to be had here, whether you’re a Spider-fan or not. The movie’s been made incredibly accessible to the newbie and the veteran alike. True, you’ll get more out of it if you know the Spider-Man story already, and even more than that if you recognize such faces as Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, and Lucy Lawless. However, those in-jokes aside, there’s nothing in the movie that requires you ever having even READ the comic book before, let alone be an expert.

But back to the meaty stuff: this is really an actor’s movie, and Tobey Maguire has surprised me. Not that I thought he’d do a bad job, but I wasn’t expecting as strong a performance as we got from him. Maguire’s Peter is made up of equal parts strength and fragility, as is Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane. And Willem Dafoe steals the show as the certifiably insane Green Goblin. For a scene as simple as his conversation with himself in the mirror, it was remarkably effective.

JK Simmons as J Jonah Jameson was an all-too-brief riot, and we all hope to hear more of his advice to his wife in the inevitable sequels to come. And binding it all together from the other side of the camera is Mutant Reviewers-friend Sam Raimi, using comic-book colours and styling for his live action approach. Frankly, looking at crap like Batman and Robin illustrates how easy it is to go down the wrong path with this approach, so I’m glad Raimi’s nailed it. I hope he can keep it up.

Since I saw Spider-Man, I’ve been wrestling with trying to find a way to express how it made my feel in the simplest way possible. Truthfully, it made me feel like a kid without feeling childish. Where X-Men traded a bit of its soul in return for flash, and Batman traded a LOT of its soul for baffling, inneffective style, Spider-Man retains everything it needs to be a surprisingly deep action movie, and is destined for new geek greatness. For the first time in ages (outside of Lord of the Rings), a franchise has finally guaranteed itself sequels, and no one is at all disappointed with the news.

Till next time, true believers…

Andie’s rating: He flies through the air with the greatest of ease, daring young man on the flying trapeze

Andie’s review: Well, since all the Boy Mutants have weighed in on Spider-Man and they all gave it rave reviews, I just had to go see it and give a girl’s perspective on the movie. I was a bit wary of Spider-Man because (A) I don’t read comic books. I never have. They interest me only slightly more than trimming the lawn with fingernail clippers and (B) I haven’t ever been a huge fan of superhero movies.

I didn’t like Superman, I thought it was kinda lame. I wasn’t a huge fan of Batman and I’m apparently the Village Whore because I like Batman Forever as the best of the four Batman movies. So I was kind of reluctant to take in a viewing of Spider-Man. BUT: I like Tobey Maguire, he’s a good actor and totally adorable, Kirsten Dunst doesn’t annoy me too much, Willem Dafoe is just plain amazing (Shadow of the Vampire, anyone?) and any movie directed by the man who plays the Maintenance Boy in Indian Summer has to be good, right?

Well, I was definitely not disappointed. In fact, Spider-Man surpassed my expectations on all accounts — I really enjoyed it! I was completely taken aback by how funny it was. I was expecting lots of lame jokes and jokes-only-comic-book-people-will-understand-thereby-making-me-feel-stupid, but instead I was laughing out loud a lot.

I also enjoyed Dafoe as the Green Goblin immensely. He was so scary! I mean, really. Especially when his Good Self is arguing with his Evil Self, that was rather disturbing for me. And the special effects were fantastic. Generally, I’m not a fan of special effects. I’d rather watch a movie that is scary the way M is scary (if you’ve seen that movie, you’re awesome because not many people have. Email me and we’ll chat about it) or if M is too old for you, Jaws then.

Those movies could not rely on special effects and had to evoke emotions in a different way. It’s a lot harder than making the computer do all the work, which is such a copout. HOWEVER, I thought the effects in Spider-Man were totally appropriate because they gave it a Comic Booky feel (or at least what a non-comic-book-chick perceives to be a Comic Booky feel). I’m so glad I went to see this on the big screen because it was actually kind of a rush to be swooping along with Spider-Man as he flies from building to building. (Side note: the Spider-Man ride at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure is one of the best rides I’ve ever been on, you should definitely check it out if you’re ever there).

Now what I really loved about the movie is the way they developed Peter Parker. I mean, we all knew going into the movie that he was Spider-Man. But we got to see how it happened and then (I thought this was absolutely fantastic) we got to see Peter discover his hidden talents and practice using them. That was so great, such a nice narrative instead of just having Peter get bit by the spider and then all of a sudden, WHOOSH! he’s this amazing Superhero swinging from buildings and saving babies and getting loads of chicks and stuff superheroes do. The fact that we got to see cute, geeky boy start to develop muscles and flex in front of the mirror and discover he can leap from rooftop to rooftop and act just like a little kid with a new toy was great. It made me care about the character that much more. Plus the scene in the lunch room just about made me lose it, I was laughing so hard.

Finally, I really liked the way (and maybe this is from the original story from the comics, I don’t know) that Peter was friends with his enemy’s son. That was an interesting twist and I love the door they left open for a sequel. There’s a whole lot of unresolved anger to deal with and there’s a certain thing that I thought for sure would happen with a certain red-head (whose boobs have never looked that large before, what’s the deal Britney?) that didn’t happen and I was disappointed at first, but realized that it’s okay because they have a whole sequel to get it all worked out.

So anyway… Spider-Man. Good stuff. I really can’t say a single thing about it disappointed me, definitely go check this one out on the big screen.

Clare’s rating: I’m sorry. Did you just say that Sam Raimi has directed a huge, big-budget, summer blockbuster extravaganza about one of the coolest superheroes ever created AND that he cast JK Simmons, one of my all time favorite “you know, that guys!” to play J. J. Jameson, the fast-talking editor-in-chief of the local tabloid? Because that’s what it sounded like you said. And if that’s true, then I’m pretty sure I can just stay in bed for the rest of my life because it won’t get any better than that.

Clare’s review: I saw Spider-Man the day after I saw Star Wars: Send in the Clones, a movie that left me feeling disappointed to say the least and thirsty for something that I could actually classify as “entertaining” to say the most. I knew I’d found what I was looking for within the first 30 seconds of the start of Spider-Man. You know a movie’s going to be good if the opening credits get you amped.

There’s too much to praise about Spider-Man to get it all together in a space that won’t put our kind readers to sleep. So in an effort to be expeditious, try this instead. Think of something about a movie that would be necessary for you to think it’s good. An engrossing story line? Well rounded characters whose stories you are invested in? Great acting? Excellent special effects? Cool fight scenes? Comic relief at all the right moments? Neat cameos? Wicked sweet costumes? A stellar soundtrack? This movie has all those things and then some.

Of particular note, I must say that I found Willem Dafoe to be spot-on, dead-set perfect in his portrayal of Norman Osborn and The Green Goblin, as a man sinking quite quickly into the bowels of insanity and a monster who exemplifies what it is to be a villain. Plus, the casting of James Franco (a Freaks and Geeks alum!), as his son Harry, was eerily right. They both have these immensely expressive, wrinkled, hollow faces that are impossible to look away from.

I was nervous that Tobey Maguire, who I’ve kind of half-liked in other things, wouldn’t be able to pull off a part like Peter Parker, much less a part like your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Now that I’ve seen this movie (twice), I can’t imagine anyone but him in this role. Also, Kirsten Dunst, whose performance grew on me a little upon repeated viewing, is pretty in a palpable, “girl-next-door”, kind of way. She looks like a real person. A real person with unwholesomely fantastic breasts, but a real person nonetheless.

Additionally, unlike Star Wars, the use of CGI effects in Spider-Man made sense, were used judiciously and seemed screamingly evident only occasionally. They were always used to propel and enhance the story, as opposed to the effects in Star Wars that just stood around hoping you wouldn’t notice that there was no story to propel. George Lucas should quit his job, move in to Sam Raimi’s house and become his eager-to-please manservant.

Rich’s rating: Don’t get mad, OK?

Rich’s review: Some people -– picky, overly critical people –- might say that a 7th review of this film would be about as welcome as a Battlefield Earth sequel. After all, six people before me have weighed in with their opinions; what could I possibly have to say on the subject? Though the temptation to review this film just so that Justin has to update the page again is one that has been hard to resist…

Despite all this, this review was inspired, as some in the past have been, by a real life conversation with my friends. You see, whenever a film like Spider-Man comes out, with the big hype and the cult director and the existing fanbase, for every 10 people who go see the film and come out satisfied and excited and all the other feelings you get from seeing exactly what you wanted from a movie brought to life in front of you, there’s always one guy from your group who, in the middle of your traditional post-mortem discussion of the film, tells you that they absolutely hated it.

When we went to see Spider-Man, I was that guy.

So, since that time, I’ve learned that telling people I didn’t like Spider-Man is a great way to get people to ask me whether I’m blind or stupid or both. Everyone, it seems, loves this film, apart from me; and no-one more than my friend D (he of The Pit infamy), who is a big comic fan and Spidey fan in particular. So, while having random conversation a few weeks ago, the topic of Spider-Man 2 comes up, which inevitably leads to the discussion as to why I hated the first one. Now, I’d only seen it once at the cinema the week it had come out, and I knew my housemate had bought it on DVD, so I grabbed his copy and decided to give it another chance.

And yes, I still don’t like it. Stop looking at me like that. I really don’t like it.

If you want a synopsis of plot or whatever, I’m sure one of the six reviews above this one will have me covered. Instead, I’m going to use my column inches to try and explain to everyone out there who is wondering about my qualifications to even step into a cinema again (never mind actually reviewing movies) exactly what it is about Spider-Man I disliked. I’ve narrowed it down to a few things.

Let’s start with Tobey Maguire. I don’t know exactly what it is about him that irritates me so much, but every time he’s on screen I can’t help but wonder if there’s some way I could get away with just slapping him across the face repeatedly until he stops with the puppy dog eyes and the goofy smile and the utterly characterless expressions that fill me with a rage like a supernova. He’s just the blandest, most cookie sheet Hollywood Pretty Boy with his “Aw Shucks” attitude and he’s got absolutely no edge to him at all. I think he was all wrong for the role and detracted from the overall quality of the film.

Second on my list is the complete CGI overload. Now, I’m normally pretty good at picking out CGI in films, and a lot of the time the transition between live action and computer animation can be jarring enough to take me out of the film for a second; but at least most films try to hide it and blend it in with the live action as best they can. Spider-Man practically has a special logo flash up on screen and a fanfare play every time there’s a CGI sequence, which after the first reel is roughly once every 45 seconds. Now, I recognise that it would have been long and complicated and expensive and lots of other things had they not used computers – but seriously, the CGI is overused and far too obvious to me for me to maintain any kind of interest in what is meant to be happening. If I want to watch a computer game being played, I can do it without expending good money for the privilege.

Point number three: Costumes. Green Goblin looked like a tool. No, he really did; especially the mask. And a major point that bugged me and I picked up on, especially on my second watch-through for this review, was not being able to see people’s mouth’s moving when they talked. If you look at Daredevil, or Batman, or X-Men, the costumes there allowed a degree of expression from the actors; in certain sequences in Spider-Man, particularly between Spidey in his hood and Goblin in his daft mask, the entire dialogue sounds like its been ADR’ed in later. It may seem stupid, but if I can’t see evidence that someone is speaking, their dialogue just seems wrong. Now, I’m not suggesting they should have changed the of the Spidey costume (imagine the uproar), but perhaps making Spidey’s mask less rigid, so its at least obvious that there is something moving under there when he talks, and completely changing Goblins so it doesn’t look like a rejected mould for an Alien hallowe’en mask and allowed us to see Willem Dafoe’s mouth move would have been so much better.

And speaking of dialogue, let’s move straight onto point number four. Now, it’s now widely accepted that the dialogue between Anakin and Amidala in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones is some of the worst “romantic” rubbish ever committed to film. But don’t look now, Spider-Man fans, because I think you might just be calling the kettle black there. Every scene featuring Old Puppydog Eyes and the cute as a button Kirsten Dunst is home to some of the most violently awful rubbish I have had the displeasure to witness. Anyone who disagrees should be forced to sit through the Hospital Room Scene until they can’t take it any more.

So those are my major complaints; Tobey Maguire, the Dialogue, the Costumes and the CGI; unfortunately, that essentially covers the entirety of the film, hence my lack of enjoyment. There were some things I didn’t hate –- Mr. Over-The-Top, Willem Dafoe is perfectly acceptable hamming it up to the max as Norman Osbourne; J Jonah Jameson was played wonderfully and in character. Kirsten Dunst is very pretty. Erm… Bruce Campbell and Randy Savage on my screen at the same time.

Yeah, that’s all the good things I can think of.

So there you have it. A devil’s advocate’s view from that guy who never likes the popular films; join me next week when I’ll be telling you why the Star Wars films are all over-rated, and how the Lord of the Ring’s films are just a rip-off of Hawk The Slayer.

Didja notice?

• That’s comic legend Stan Lee in the crowd as a hot dog vendor reacting to the Green Goblin’s first major public appearance.
• Bruce Campell (Ash!)as the Fight Annoucer
• In the comics, Peter Parker designed and made Spider-Man’s synthetic spider web and the mechanical wrist guns that fire it. In the movie he shoots the web from his own body. Director Sam Raimi answered the protests of comic book fans saying that it was more credible to have Peter shoot web this way than for a high school boy to be able to produce a wonder adhesive in his spare time that 3M could not make.
• Sam Raimi’s traditional yellow 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88, which has been in most of his movies (it’s called “The Classic” by Raimi and Campbell)
• Ted Raimi as J.J.’s assistant
• Lots of initials in the superhero universe tend to be the same: Peter Parker (PP), Jonah Jameson (JJ), Green Goblin (GG)
• Peter having fun testing out his web shooting powers in his room (and a bit of a Dr. Pepper product placement)
• Lots of set-up for a sequel, including MJ and Peter’s love affair, and Harry’s vow to get revenge on Spider-Man
• How cool Spider-Man looked at the end with half his mask torn off?
• Nice little crack at Batman… Peter emphatically dismisses the idea of a utility belt while designing his costume.
• Anybody else reminded of the first Batman movie when all the balloons are in the streets?
• Lucy “Xena” Lawless has a cameo as the punk rock girl who fantasizes about an eight-armed man.
  The really awesome transitions in this movie? My particular favorite is where the Green Goblin destroys the military guys and the schrapnel from the explosion turns into graduation hats being thrown in the air. That was beautiful.
• Here’s a question: why doesn’t Peter Parker get hat hair after being in his costume?
• Peter Parker’s bedroom wallpaper is an abstract spiderweb design.
• The myriad of shout-outs or parallels to Superman?
• During the World Unity parade, a billboard for Terminix can be seen
• In the Thanksgiving dinner scene, Peter Parker and Norman Osborn wear their enemy’s costume colors – Peter in a green shirt, and Norman in a blue shirt with a red tie.