…you can see it here. Be warned, this version is a little blocky.
46 comments on “If you haven’t seen Spider-Man in the theater”
Tee hee…I saw that yesterday. Pretty fun animation, and the music is a good approximation of the movie.
My only complaint is they didn’t have the Lego Spidey yank his mask off at some point.
I thought the mild mannered reporter next to J. Jonah Jameson was a nice touch. 🙂 Looked very familiar, didn’t he?
It’s my Silly Site for tomorrow, even though I’ve seen it referred to on about a half dozen comics blogs today. 🙂
A propos of nothing, Glenn (pun unintended), could you please fix Kath’s blog so I can post comments to it? There’s a sign-in/registration link on here and on Peter’s, but nothing on Kath’s, so I can’t post any comments there at the moment…
Posted by Kathy at July 8, 2004 03:34 PM
I thought the mild mannered reporter next to J. Jonah Jameson was a nice touch. 🙂 Looked very familiar, didn’t he?
I thought the same thing, but then I couldn’t decide if that was actually the good Mr. Kent, or Ted Raimi’s character.
I’m with HankGiantYellowAntJacketPymMan here — I figured that was Ted Raimi’s character (Hoffman?), not Clark. Either works, of course.
Regardless, VERY cool animation!
TWL
very nice
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Too cute, and too funny.
Loved it. I especially liked the bit with the elephant.
Wow, that was great! really nice stop motion and I’m guessing the blurring was done in After Effects…I’d like to try this.
HAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Took a long time to download, but ’twas well worth it.
SOmehow [spoiler warning] the part with the fishing pole reminded me of the fairly recent bizarre action figure where Spidey had a fishing pole — and hat?
I got a kick out of all the smiles regardless of the danger, with the inevitable exceptions of Doc Ock and Jameson. Come to think of it, I didn’t notice MJ and Aunt May. Oh well. Another triumphant waste of time.
It’s one of the best stop-motion films I’ve seen, right up there with the “Wallace & Gromit” films. I am going to have to get me one of those Leggo Doc Ock’s now.
If you haven’t yet, go to the maker’s website “www.spiteyourface.com”. They have a link to another Leggo movie they did with the Star Wars figures that is almost as fun as this.
StS
PS: Has anyone else thought that the number of posts has dropped since the registration thing? Still, it’s worth it to not have to deal with nit-wits.
“Has anyone else thought that the number of posts has dropped since the registration thing? Still, it’s worth it to not have to deal with nit-wits.”
Maybe PAD should post something like “I’m switching my support to Bush” just to see if we get the predicted amount of responses. Also, it would do wonders for the nation’s cardiology industry.
Okay, I can’t think of anywhere else to ask this question that I might actually get an answer and I probably won’t be lucky enough to get an answer from the guy who wrote the novelization but here goes:
I’ve now seen “Spider-Man 2” twice. I understand that celluloid is expensive. Not just as a material but in the sense that every second of screen time has to count. I have no criticism of the movie (well, some, but not now…) but one thing I didn’t understand.
The scene where Peter Parker eats chocolate cake with his landlord’s daughter. It took a significant amount of time (In comparison to, say, the Stan Lee cameo.) and I just didn’t understand the poing of it. It didn’t seem to advance the story or tell us anything about Peter Parker. Maybe it tells us that the girl had a crush on Peter but since that isn’t really addressed, why spend time on it?
Again, I’m not criticizing, just trying to understand what the point of that scene. Any thoughts?
Of course, in addition to not understanding the “poing” of the scene, I didn’t understand the “point” of it either. If I get any comments, I hope they’ll stick to the point as I think we can all agree that poing is something ineffable and highly personal to us all.
I’m assuming that they lingered because it was the one moment where Pete caught a break and had a nice, fiarly normal interaction with a fellow human being. All throughout the rest of the film, people treat him like crap, he can’t get a bite to eat or a drink at the party, people are dropping buildings on him…
My question on the [real (sort of)] film is … May Parker … does she, or doesn’t she?
Know, that is?
Because that speech she makes during moving day … I’m really not sure who she’s REALLY directing it to and I believe there ARE grounds for thinking either way.
“I’m assuming that they lingered because it was the one moment where Pete caught a break and had a nice, fiarly normal interaction with a fellow human being. All throughout the rest of the film, people treat him like crap, he can’t get a bite to eat or a drink at the party, people are dropping buildings on him…”
Well, not really. Betty Brant gave him the little chin up speech. And even Harry and MJ give him a lot of slack considering they don’t know he’s Spider-Man, they just know that he does nothing but blow them off and bail on whatever plans they do make.
But even so, so what? The scene following where Peter learns that Spider-Man is Aunt May’s neighbor kid’s hero advances the story and the character by beginning to poke holes in Peter’s decision to give up being Spider-Man. But what does the interaction with the neighbor girl do? Maybe they’re the Kravinoffs and this is the start of a wacky, Osbornes-inspired sitcom?
But seriously, in a movie, like in a novel or a comic book, there are characters who we understand have many moments of their lives. Most of these moments are not shared with the audience like going to the bathroom or checking the items they’ve bid for on E-Bay or watching infomercials. I think it’s Storytelling 101 that the creators want to show us only the parts that advance the story or our understanding of the characters. What does this scene tell us? That Peter’s a nice guy? Well, he pulled a toddler from a fire so that seems like overkill. That he likes chocolate cake?
After seeing S2 for the second time, I got caught up by that same scene. One of the few negative crtiques I read of the film before viewing was that there was some “fluff” in the movie that could have been trimmed, and not hurt the pacing/story, etc. My first take was that all the cake and milk scene does for the story was give Peter a reason to be visiting May on moving day. Which could have just as effectively (and less time-consumingly) been communicated by Peter saying “hey, Aunt May, my landlord’s daughter gave me a message that you were moving..”
So, knowing that couldn’t be the primary purpose of the scene, I think I have to agree with James M. Gill: it’s the first time since the start of S2 that Peter gets a break. Someone totally unexpected comes along and makes a really nice, unselfish gesture. Oh, and delivers a message setting up the next scene, where Peter gets his Hero Inspiration pep-talk.
As to whether May knows or not, I’d say she knows. Between rescuing her at the bank, and finally telling her the truth about the night of Ben’s death, she put it all together. Besides, the looks she gives Peter during that scene are more direct than the look Conner gave Angel a few eps. before the end.
On Ursula:
I haven’t read the novelization (yet! yet!), but my take based just on the film is that she’s there to give Peter a little human kindness, just as others have written here. I don’t really think it’s a fluff piece or something that breaks the pace of the film; rather, it’s just a nice break from the relentless life-truly-sucking moments he’s usually running into all film long. I quite liked it.
On “does May know”: I don’t know. I agree with Kingbobb that she certainly could (and heaven knows she’s being written as far more on the ball and together in the film than the comic version was for ages), but I could easily see this going either way. If she’s unaware in SM3, that works for me; if she knows it and Peter gets blindsided by that fact, that works too. 🙂
On another note: one thing I haven’t seen anyone mention is Harry. Y’know, I watched “Freaks and Geeks” when it aired and enjoyed it considerably, but James Franco never really stood out for me very much there. He really pulled off Harry’s arc this film, I thought — the climactic unmasking moment absolutely could have been overwrought and dreadful, and he made it real for me.
TWL
That scene has lingered in my mind more than I would have expected. Not sure why. Maybe it was included to show us (and Peter) that he was a good and likeable guy over and above anything having to do with spider-man.
So we have Peter thinking that Spider-man, the hero, is taking over his life, that Peter Parker is ceasing to exist as a person. Over the course of the movie we see Peter perform a selfless act of heroism in saving the child from the fire and with the cake scene we see that he has attractive qualities even to someone who has only seen him at his Peter Parker, Super Loser persona (if I had known that haing trouble making rent payments would get me the attention of skinny mmigrant waifs, my twenties could have been a lot more fun).
Anyway, I thought that one of the points of the movie was to show that Peter was wrong in treating himself and Spider-man as different entities–they are the same person.
“That scene has lingered in my mind more than I would have expected. Not sure why. Maybe it was included to show us (and Peter) that he was a good and likeable guy over and above anything having to do with spider-man.
So we have Peter thinking that Spider-man, the hero, is taking over his life, that Peter Parker is ceasing to exist as a person. Over the course of the movie we see Peter perform a selfless act of heroism in saving the child from the fire and with the cake scene we see that he has attractive qualities even to someone who has only seen him at his Peter Parker, Super Loser persona (if I had known that haing trouble making rent payments would get me the attention of skinny mmigrant waifs, my twenties could have been a lot more fun).”
Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s having trouble making rent payments that gets the attention of skinny immigrant waifs, it’s being *Tobey Maguire* having trouble making rent payments. (It’s kinda like the “But I think of us as friends” speech. Do you think Brad Pitt or Tom Welling have any friends that think of them as such good pals they just couldn’t *imagine* being anything more…?)
Anyway, you bring up some good points. I’m still not sure I see it. As I said, Betty Brant shows Peter kindness and Mary Jane follows him around like a puppy so Peter would have to be denser than I am not to see himself as *somewhat* likeable. And unlike the scene where he finds out he’s the kid’s hero, Ursula’s kindness doesn’t really seem to register. (Or maybe that’s just me because Ursula barely registers. Although looking back, she could easily be seen as a female Peter Parker… shy, a little awkward but with a good heart. Maybe they’re setting up a triangle for the next movie..? I even thought she could be the film version of Felicia Hardy.)
Also, let me repeat, I’m not complaining or criticizing but I’m really fascinated by the storytelling process. I’m a geek for the commentary track on DVDs. I wasn’t saying the scene was bad or should be removed, I was just wondering if others got something more out of it than I did.
if I had known that haing trouble making rent payments would get me the attention of skinny mmigrant waifs, my twenties could have been a lot more fun
Actually it did. They just didn’t have the nerve to tell you. Then, in a fit of disappointment over not being noticed, they turned to Tobey Maguire.
Sucks, don’t it?
TWL
By the way, does it strike anyone else as amusing that the thread with Spidey-2 spoilers all over it is the one titled “if you HAVEN’T seen Spider-Man in the theater”?
TWL
“By the way, does it strike anyone else as amusing that the thread with Spidey-2 spoilers all over it is the one titled “if you HAVEN’T seen Spider-Man in the theater”?
TWL”
Spoilers? Oh, I’m sorry did I take the shock out of the groundbreaking “Peter eats a piece of chocolate cake” scene? Is there somebody here who’s reading this and saying, “Chocolate cake? When I thought it might be peach cobbler? Forget it, I might as well not see it now!” Besides it’s not like I mentioned the scene where Peter finds out that Norman Osborn is really his father … oops… 🙂
Not a criticism at all, Pack — I wasn’t thinking so much of the “chocolate cake” scene so much as a couple of others which have been brought up (at least one by me). Believe me, no offense meant towards anyone — just a note of irony, that’s all.
TWL
Hooray, it let me sign in for a change…it’s been sort of hit-and-miss for me.
My thoughts on the “chocolate cake” scene, because I know you’re all dying to know them:
I agree with the couple of posters who have said the scene is there to give Peter some kindness in an otherwise unforgiving movie. I saw the film twice, but they were both on opening day so I’m a little fuzzy on the exact sequence of events, but the cake scene comes at a point in the movie where nothing is going right for the lad. Mary Jane is constantly mad at him, Betty hasn’t been spotted since that early scene, and I’m not positive but this might be after his big confession to Aunt May. I do agree, though, that it feels like there might be another scene or two that were cut.
Then again, I was just pleased to see the skinny geek girl from Joan of Arcadia appear in a Spider-Man movie. 🙂
“Then again, I was just pleased to see the skinny geek girl from Joan of Arcadia appear in a Spider-Man movie. :)”
And I thought I was weird because I was excited to see the Asian guy from “Angel.” (And extra geek points for instantly thinking, “Oh no! Wolfram and Hart is sabotaging Ocativius’ experiment!”
And Tim Lynch, no offense taken. I was just making a bad joke. (Not as lame as the “found the rubber band that goes around the 20s” joke but still pretty bad…”
And I thought I was weird because I was excited to see the Asian guy from “Angel.”
Don’t forget, Daniel Dae Kim (the W&H guy) also played the ship’s telepath on the short-lived B5 spinoff, “Crusade.” I admit I was quite happy to see him as well.
Also, in recent months I’ve developed the tendency to shout out, “Ted Raimi!” whenever he appears on-screen. I blame the fact that Space, the Canadian equivalent of the Sci-Fi Channel, has started playing reruns of Seaquest: DSV. I managed to refrain during Spidey 2 though, as Ted’s presence wasn’t a huge shock.
And I thought I was weird because I was excited to see the Asian guy from “Angel.”
You weren’t the only one, though I too thought “Crusade” rather than “Angel” when he showed up. I suppose I’m lucky my MST-whenever-possible neuron didn’t come up with “by now my lungs were aching for air” during a particularly climactic moment towards the end.
TWL
Kim also showed up on a Voyager or two this past season as one of their Marine contingent. He was also on 24 for a number of eps as a random counter-terrorist SWAT team type, and had a similar to his Spider-Man 2 role in the Hulk movie. I’m starting to think the man is a serious sf geek type who’s applying for roles on sf/comics movies and tv series out of the coolness factor for being in them. 🙂
I didnt get the chocolate cake scene at all but okay, i liked the movie anyway.I do kinda think Aunt May knows what is going with her nephew and his secret identity.Did any 24 fans notice that the actress who worked with Mary jane at the play was Claudia from this season???Dont know her name but she is a mega hottie.Oh and why is
Mary Jane all wet again?I mean Kirsten Dunst in a wet top is just …..NICE!!!!!:)
“Kim also showed up on a Voyager or two this past season as one of their Marine contingent. He was also on 24 for a number of eps as a random counter-terrorist SWAT team type, and had a similar to his Spider-Man 2 role in the Hulk movie. I’m starting to think the man is a serious sf geek type who’s applying for roles on sf/comics movies and tv series out of the coolness factor for being in them. :-)”
Well his future earnings from convention appearances is guaranteed… 🙂
As for whether Aunt May knows, I buy that more than the “Leia is your twin sister – Yeah, yeah, I *knew* it” like bit in the movie where one character (I won’t spoil it) says they think they “always knew.”
Mad Magazine handled that “twin sister Leia” moment beautifully back when the film first came out.
“Leia’s my sister!”
“Your insight serves you well.”
“Well … that and she’s the only female character in this whole freakin’ series.”
Of course, I also remember when the special editions came out a few years ago. The audience in LA was, shall we say, rather less than reverent towards the source material. When Vader first tells the Emperor of Luke’s presence and says “I have felt him, my master”, about two people in the front right corner of the theater burst out in guffaws. The laugh then proceeded to ripple through the theater so nicely that you could probably have used it to measure the propagation speed of humor.
For the rest of the film, whenever anyone “felt” anything (which is surprisingly often in that movie), nobody ever heard the next line or two. 🙂
TWL
I was tormenting my friend who hadn’t seen it yet from the moment I got back from the theatre.
“Oh, and when Spider-Man dies, CRAP I mean die-ets! When Spider-Man diets…
Geez. Why would Spider-Man die? At the hands of his clone, even? That was stupid. I MEAN that WOULD BE stupid!”
He was ready to throttle me, before he saw it three days later…
A little late but . . .
I like the scene with the skinny girl and yet, I’m also a bit puzzled by what it means. What I came up with on my second viewing of the movie was that it was meant to show Peter (not Spider-man) as the source of inspiration for other people. Basically, even without the costume, Peter can’t help but be a hero, and not just in the flashy “rescue the girl from the fire” kind of way, but also in the quiet, “make this girl’s day by having a snack with her” kind of way. I mean, it’s obvious she’s very much in awe of him. I might be reading too much into it, but didn’t it seem like Peter Parker was one of the few good things in that girl’s daily routine?
And I like what someone else said about the scene also helping Peter see people liking HIM, not just Spider-man. Yes, it’s something proved by other characters, but the point’s stronger when made by a complete stranger, I think.
Either way . . . In the end, it shows Peter as a cool guy. Someone that girl wants to hang out with. Not someone who would let a guy be mugged.
I’m sleepy.
Ovnio
Does whatever a LEGO can…
If you see just one movie made entirely of LEGO blocks this summer, see Spider-Man: The Peril of Doc Ock. Amazing stuff…
Who needs a reason to show off delicious, delicious chocolate cake?
Mmmmmm…cake.
About the Lego film: I loved it. A great spoof.
About the real movie: the cake scene was one of many that made my overall impression of the film less than glowing. I felt like Peter was simultaneously sometihng of a loser, and yet too cool and handsome to be a loser. A very mixed message, delivered with no subtlety at all. There were to many scenes like this, and the overall effect was a film that was clunky and overwrought.
(Of course, I also felt that every Peter/MJ scene where he was unreliable or uncommunciative and she was self-involved echoed Smallville waaaay too much. Everyone wants to give credit to Michael Chabon, but it seems to me that the guiding lights for the story were clearly Millar and Gough, rehashing old ideas from Smallville. And I can only say that if after seeing the final product, they continue to rehash all those lousy Clark and Lana moments, i may throw up.)
The scene where Peter Parker eats chocolate cake with his landlord’s daughter. It took a significant amount of time (In comparison to, say, the Stan Lee cameo.) and I just didn’t understand the poing of it.
I had the same “hmmm?” moment in the film..later talking with my sister we kind of surmised that it was a Red Herring to give some tension to the situation between Peter and MJ…in other words giving Peter a possible other love interest..
On the “landlord’s daughter” thing; we did all notice that the landlord’s name was Ditkovitch, didn’t we?
(Is anyone other than me bothered by the fact that the top two jerks at Disney are named Eisner and Iger?)
FINALLY IN!!! (Glenn, what was up for the last day or two? One time I signed in, was redirected to TypeKey to sign in, got returned here only to find out that I wasn’t signed in. After that, couldn’t even sign in at all.)
Oh well, on to the Spider-flick.
Overall, it was pretty good, though I didn’t like it quite as much as the first film. The computer effects *were* much cleaner this go-round, though it seemed that Spidey was shooting webs into thin air at times. Dr Octopus’s arms were incredibly well done (surprisingly, they looked much better in the film than I’d seen in the trailers). While the comic fan in me liked the “Spider-Man No More” shot, the real-world me was just thinking how stupid the whole bit is (the guy who found the suit and only gets $100 from Jameson, but comments he could get more from Ebay–excuse me, but wouldn’t a real person have just told Jameson what he could do with the $100 and taken the suit to another paper or just sold it on Ebay?).
Biggest gripe–all through the film, I kept thinking that Alfred Molina’s hair looked too much like a bad toup
Spidey question …In the first movie was the arachnid that bit Peter the only one to escape ??Somehow I remember there being more than one spider missing.I could be wrong,just want an answer either way. Thanks
Deano,
Yep, it was just the one. If I remember the scene correctly, the tour guide talks about “15 genetically engineered super-spiders”, and MJ corrects her with “14. One’s missing.”
I may have the numbers wrong, but it’s definitely just the one that went missing.
(No, my memory’s not that good — we watched the film last week before we went to the second one. 🙂
TWL
I’m looking forward to the IMAX version coming out in two weeks so I can watch the chocolate cake scene again, six storeys high. I just wish we got to see more of the glass of milk before Pete drained it.
This has almost as much personality as the movie
Spiderman 2, LEGO-style. Courtesy of Peter David….
• 
Tee hee…I saw that yesterday. Pretty fun animation, and the music is a good approximation of the movie.
My only complaint is they didn’t have the Lego Spidey yank his mask off at some point.
I thought the mild mannered reporter next to J. Jonah Jameson was a nice touch. 🙂 Looked very familiar, didn’t he?
It’s my Silly Site for tomorrow, even though I’ve seen it referred to on about a half dozen comics blogs today. 🙂
A propos of nothing, Glenn (pun unintended), could you please fix Kath’s blog so I can post comments to it? There’s a sign-in/registration link on here and on Peter’s, but nothing on Kath’s, so I can’t post any comments there at the moment…
Posted by Kathy at July 8, 2004 03:34 PM
I thought the mild mannered reporter next to J. Jonah Jameson was a nice touch. 🙂 Looked very familiar, didn’t he?
I thought the same thing, but then I couldn’t decide if that was actually the good Mr. Kent, or Ted Raimi’s character.
I’m with HankGiantYellowAntJacketPymMan here — I figured that was Ted Raimi’s character (Hoffman?), not Clark. Either works, of course.
Regardless, VERY cool animation!
TWL
very nice
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Too cute, and too funny.
Loved it. I especially liked the bit with the elephant.
Wow, that was great! really nice stop motion and I’m guessing the blurring was done in After Effects…I’d like to try this.
HAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Took a long time to download, but ’twas well worth it.
SOmehow [spoiler warning] the part with the fishing pole reminded me of the fairly recent bizarre action figure where Spidey had a fishing pole — and hat?
I got a kick out of all the smiles regardless of the danger, with the inevitable exceptions of Doc Ock and Jameson. Come to think of it, I didn’t notice MJ and Aunt May. Oh well. Another triumphant waste of time.
It’s one of the best stop-motion films I’ve seen, right up there with the “Wallace & Gromit” films. I am going to have to get me one of those Leggo Doc Ock’s now.
If you haven’t yet, go to the maker’s website “www.spiteyourface.com”. They have a link to another Leggo movie they did with the Star Wars figures that is almost as fun as this.
StS
PS: Has anyone else thought that the number of posts has dropped since the registration thing? Still, it’s worth it to not have to deal with nit-wits.
“Has anyone else thought that the number of posts has dropped since the registration thing? Still, it’s worth it to not have to deal with nit-wits.”
Maybe PAD should post something like “I’m switching my support to Bush” just to see if we get the predicted amount of responses. Also, it would do wonders for the nation’s cardiology industry.
Okay, I can’t think of anywhere else to ask this question that I might actually get an answer and I probably won’t be lucky enough to get an answer from the guy who wrote the novelization but here goes:
I’ve now seen “Spider-Man 2” twice. I understand that celluloid is expensive. Not just as a material but in the sense that every second of screen time has to count. I have no criticism of the movie (well, some, but not now…) but one thing I didn’t understand.
The scene where Peter Parker eats chocolate cake with his landlord’s daughter. It took a significant amount of time (In comparison to, say, the Stan Lee cameo.) and I just didn’t understand the poing of it. It didn’t seem to advance the story or tell us anything about Peter Parker. Maybe it tells us that the girl had a crush on Peter but since that isn’t really addressed, why spend time on it?
Again, I’m not criticizing, just trying to understand what the point of that scene. Any thoughts?
Of course, in addition to not understanding the “poing” of the scene, I didn’t understand the “point” of it either. If I get any comments, I hope they’ll stick to the point as I think we can all agree that poing is something ineffable and highly personal to us all.
I’m assuming that they lingered because it was the one moment where Pete caught a break and had a nice, fiarly normal interaction with a fellow human being. All throughout the rest of the film, people treat him like crap, he can’t get a bite to eat or a drink at the party, people are dropping buildings on him…
My question on the [real (sort of)] film is … May Parker … does she, or doesn’t she?
Know, that is?
Because that speech she makes during moving day … I’m really not sure who she’s REALLY directing it to and I believe there ARE grounds for thinking either way.
“I’m assuming that they lingered because it was the one moment where Pete caught a break and had a nice, fiarly normal interaction with a fellow human being. All throughout the rest of the film, people treat him like crap, he can’t get a bite to eat or a drink at the party, people are dropping buildings on him…”
Well, not really. Betty Brant gave him the little chin up speech. And even Harry and MJ give him a lot of slack considering they don’t know he’s Spider-Man, they just know that he does nothing but blow them off and bail on whatever plans they do make.
But even so, so what? The scene following where Peter learns that Spider-Man is Aunt May’s neighbor kid’s hero advances the story and the character by beginning to poke holes in Peter’s decision to give up being Spider-Man. But what does the interaction with the neighbor girl do? Maybe they’re the Kravinoffs and this is the start of a wacky, Osbornes-inspired sitcom?
But seriously, in a movie, like in a novel or a comic book, there are characters who we understand have many moments of their lives. Most of these moments are not shared with the audience like going to the bathroom or checking the items they’ve bid for on E-Bay or watching infomercials. I think it’s Storytelling 101 that the creators want to show us only the parts that advance the story or our understanding of the characters. What does this scene tell us? That Peter’s a nice guy? Well, he pulled a toddler from a fire so that seems like overkill. That he likes chocolate cake?
After seeing S2 for the second time, I got caught up by that same scene. One of the few negative crtiques I read of the film before viewing was that there was some “fluff” in the movie that could have been trimmed, and not hurt the pacing/story, etc. My first take was that all the cake and milk scene does for the story was give Peter a reason to be visiting May on moving day. Which could have just as effectively (and less time-consumingly) been communicated by Peter saying “hey, Aunt May, my landlord’s daughter gave me a message that you were moving..”
So, knowing that couldn’t be the primary purpose of the scene, I think I have to agree with James M. Gill: it’s the first time since the start of S2 that Peter gets a break. Someone totally unexpected comes along and makes a really nice, unselfish gesture. Oh, and delivers a message setting up the next scene, where Peter gets his Hero Inspiration pep-talk.
As to whether May knows or not, I’d say she knows. Between rescuing her at the bank, and finally telling her the truth about the night of Ben’s death, she put it all together. Besides, the looks she gives Peter during that scene are more direct than the look Conner gave Angel a few eps. before the end.
On Ursula:
I haven’t read the novelization (yet! yet!), but my take based just on the film is that she’s there to give Peter a little human kindness, just as others have written here. I don’t really think it’s a fluff piece or something that breaks the pace of the film; rather, it’s just a nice break from the relentless life-truly-sucking moments he’s usually running into all film long. I quite liked it.
On “does May know”: I don’t know. I agree with Kingbobb that she certainly could (and heaven knows she’s being written as far more on the ball and together in the film than the comic version was for ages), but I could easily see this going either way. If she’s unaware in SM3, that works for me; if she knows it and Peter gets blindsided by that fact, that works too. 🙂
On another note: one thing I haven’t seen anyone mention is Harry. Y’know, I watched “Freaks and Geeks” when it aired and enjoyed it considerably, but James Franco never really stood out for me very much there. He really pulled off Harry’s arc this film, I thought — the climactic unmasking moment absolutely could have been overwrought and dreadful, and he made it real for me.
TWL
That scene has lingered in my mind more than I would have expected. Not sure why. Maybe it was included to show us (and Peter) that he was a good and likeable guy over and above anything having to do with spider-man.
So we have Peter thinking that Spider-man, the hero, is taking over his life, that Peter Parker is ceasing to exist as a person. Over the course of the movie we see Peter perform a selfless act of heroism in saving the child from the fire and with the cake scene we see that he has attractive qualities even to someone who has only seen him at his Peter Parker, Super Loser persona (if I had known that haing trouble making rent payments would get me the attention of skinny mmigrant waifs, my twenties could have been a lot more fun).
Anyway, I thought that one of the points of the movie was to show that Peter was wrong in treating himself and Spider-man as different entities–they are the same person.
“That scene has lingered in my mind more than I would have expected. Not sure why. Maybe it was included to show us (and Peter) that he was a good and likeable guy over and above anything having to do with spider-man.
So we have Peter thinking that Spider-man, the hero, is taking over his life, that Peter Parker is ceasing to exist as a person. Over the course of the movie we see Peter perform a selfless act of heroism in saving the child from the fire and with the cake scene we see that he has attractive qualities even to someone who has only seen him at his Peter Parker, Super Loser persona (if I had known that haing trouble making rent payments would get me the attention of skinny mmigrant waifs, my twenties could have been a lot more fun).”
Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s having trouble making rent payments that gets the attention of skinny immigrant waifs, it’s being *Tobey Maguire* having trouble making rent payments. (It’s kinda like the “But I think of us as friends” speech. Do you think Brad Pitt or Tom Welling have any friends that think of them as such good pals they just couldn’t *imagine* being anything more…?)
Anyway, you bring up some good points. I’m still not sure I see it. As I said, Betty Brant shows Peter kindness and Mary Jane follows him around like a puppy so Peter would have to be denser than I am not to see himself as *somewhat* likeable. And unlike the scene where he finds out he’s the kid’s hero, Ursula’s kindness doesn’t really seem to register. (Or maybe that’s just me because Ursula barely registers. Although looking back, she could easily be seen as a female Peter Parker… shy, a little awkward but with a good heart. Maybe they’re setting up a triangle for the next movie..? I even thought she could be the film version of Felicia Hardy.)
Also, let me repeat, I’m not complaining or criticizing but I’m really fascinated by the storytelling process. I’m a geek for the commentary track on DVDs. I wasn’t saying the scene was bad or should be removed, I was just wondering if others got something more out of it than I did.
if I had known that haing trouble making rent payments would get me the attention of skinny mmigrant waifs, my twenties could have been a lot more fun
Actually it did. They just didn’t have the nerve to tell you. Then, in a fit of disappointment over not being noticed, they turned to Tobey Maguire.
Sucks, don’t it?
TWL
By the way, does it strike anyone else as amusing that the thread with Spidey-2 spoilers all over it is the one titled “if you HAVEN’T seen Spider-Man in the theater”?
TWL
“By the way, does it strike anyone else as amusing that the thread with Spidey-2 spoilers all over it is the one titled “if you HAVEN’T seen Spider-Man in the theater”?
TWL”
Spoilers? Oh, I’m sorry did I take the shock out of the groundbreaking “Peter eats a piece of chocolate cake” scene? Is there somebody here who’s reading this and saying, “Chocolate cake? When I thought it might be peach cobbler? Forget it, I might as well not see it now!” Besides it’s not like I mentioned the scene where Peter finds out that Norman Osborn is really his father … oops… 🙂
Not a criticism at all, Pack — I wasn’t thinking so much of the “chocolate cake” scene so much as a couple of others which have been brought up (at least one by me). Believe me, no offense meant towards anyone — just a note of irony, that’s all.
TWL
Hooray, it let me sign in for a change…it’s been sort of hit-and-miss for me.
My thoughts on the “chocolate cake” scene, because I know you’re all dying to know them:
I agree with the couple of posters who have said the scene is there to give Peter some kindness in an otherwise unforgiving movie. I saw the film twice, but they were both on opening day so I’m a little fuzzy on the exact sequence of events, but the cake scene comes at a point in the movie where nothing is going right for the lad. Mary Jane is constantly mad at him, Betty hasn’t been spotted since that early scene, and I’m not positive but this might be after his big confession to Aunt May. I do agree, though, that it feels like there might be another scene or two that were cut.
Then again, I was just pleased to see the skinny geek girl from Joan of Arcadia appear in a Spider-Man movie. 🙂
“Then again, I was just pleased to see the skinny geek girl from Joan of Arcadia appear in a Spider-Man movie. :)”
And I thought I was weird because I was excited to see the Asian guy from “Angel.” (And extra geek points for instantly thinking, “Oh no! Wolfram and Hart is sabotaging Ocativius’ experiment!”
And Tim Lynch, no offense taken. I was just making a bad joke. (Not as lame as the “found the rubber band that goes around the 20s” joke but still pretty bad…”
And I thought I was weird because I was excited to see the Asian guy from “Angel.”
Don’t forget, Daniel Dae Kim (the W&H guy) also played the ship’s telepath on the short-lived B5 spinoff, “Crusade.” I admit I was quite happy to see him as well.
Also, in recent months I’ve developed the tendency to shout out, “Ted Raimi!” whenever he appears on-screen. I blame the fact that Space, the Canadian equivalent of the Sci-Fi Channel, has started playing reruns of Seaquest: DSV. I managed to refrain during Spidey 2 though, as Ted’s presence wasn’t a huge shock.
And I thought I was weird because I was excited to see the Asian guy from “Angel.”
You weren’t the only one, though I too thought “Crusade” rather than “Angel” when he showed up. I suppose I’m lucky my MST-whenever-possible neuron didn’t come up with “by now my lungs were aching for air” during a particularly climactic moment towards the end.
TWL
Kim also showed up on a Voyager or two this past season as one of their Marine contingent. He was also on 24 for a number of eps as a random counter-terrorist SWAT team type, and had a similar to his Spider-Man 2 role in the Hulk movie. I’m starting to think the man is a serious sf geek type who’s applying for roles on sf/comics movies and tv series out of the coolness factor for being in them. 🙂
I didnt get the chocolate cake scene at all but okay, i liked the movie anyway.I do kinda think Aunt May knows what is going with her nephew and his secret identity.Did any 24 fans notice that the actress who worked with Mary jane at the play was Claudia from this season???Dont know her name but she is a mega hottie.Oh and why is
Mary Jane all wet again?I mean Kirsten Dunst in a wet top is just …..NICE!!!!!:)
“Kim also showed up on a Voyager or two this past season as one of their Marine contingent. He was also on 24 for a number of eps as a random counter-terrorist SWAT team type, and had a similar to his Spider-Man 2 role in the Hulk movie. I’m starting to think the man is a serious sf geek type who’s applying for roles on sf/comics movies and tv series out of the coolness factor for being in them. :-)”
Well his future earnings from convention appearances is guaranteed… 🙂
As for whether Aunt May knows, I buy that more than the “Leia is your twin sister – Yeah, yeah, I *knew* it” like bit in the movie where one character (I won’t spoil it) says they think they “always knew.”
Mad Magazine handled that “twin sister Leia” moment beautifully back when the film first came out.
“Leia’s my sister!”
“Your insight serves you well.”
“Well … that and she’s the only female character in this whole freakin’ series.”
Of course, I also remember when the special editions came out a few years ago. The audience in LA was, shall we say, rather less than reverent towards the source material. When Vader first tells the Emperor of Luke’s presence and says “I have felt him, my master”, about two people in the front right corner of the theater burst out in guffaws. The laugh then proceeded to ripple through the theater so nicely that you could probably have used it to measure the propagation speed of humor.
For the rest of the film, whenever anyone “felt” anything (which is surprisingly often in that movie), nobody ever heard the next line or two. 🙂
TWL
I was tormenting my friend who hadn’t seen it yet from the moment I got back from the theatre.
“Oh, and when Spider-Man dies, CRAP I mean die-ets! When Spider-Man diets…
Geez. Why would Spider-Man die? At the hands of his clone, even? That was stupid. I MEAN that WOULD BE stupid!”
He was ready to throttle me, before he saw it three days later…
A little late but . . .
I like the scene with the skinny girl and yet, I’m also a bit puzzled by what it means. What I came up with on my second viewing of the movie was that it was meant to show Peter (not Spider-man) as the source of inspiration for other people. Basically, even without the costume, Peter can’t help but be a hero, and not just in the flashy “rescue the girl from the fire” kind of way, but also in the quiet, “make this girl’s day by having a snack with her” kind of way. I mean, it’s obvious she’s very much in awe of him. I might be reading too much into it, but didn’t it seem like Peter Parker was one of the few good things in that girl’s daily routine?
And I like what someone else said about the scene also helping Peter see people liking HIM, not just Spider-man. Yes, it’s something proved by other characters, but the point’s stronger when made by a complete stranger, I think.
Either way . . . In the end, it shows Peter as a cool guy. Someone that girl wants to hang out with. Not someone who would let a guy be mugged.
I’m sleepy.
Ovnio
Does whatever a LEGO can…
If you see just one movie made entirely of LEGO blocks this summer, see Spider-Man: The Peril of Doc Ock. Amazing stuff…
Who needs a reason to show off delicious, delicious chocolate cake?
Mmmmmm…cake.
About the Lego film: I loved it. A great spoof.
About the real movie: the cake scene was one of many that made my overall impression of the film less than glowing. I felt like Peter was simultaneously sometihng of a loser, and yet too cool and handsome to be a loser. A very mixed message, delivered with no subtlety at all. There were to many scenes like this, and the overall effect was a film that was clunky and overwrought.
(Of course, I also felt that every Peter/MJ scene where he was unreliable or uncommunciative and she was self-involved echoed Smallville waaaay too much. Everyone wants to give credit to Michael Chabon, but it seems to me that the guiding lights for the story were clearly Millar and Gough, rehashing old ideas from Smallville. And I can only say that if after seeing the final product, they continue to rehash all those lousy Clark and Lana moments, i may throw up.)
The scene where Peter Parker eats chocolate cake with his landlord’s daughter. It took a significant amount of time (In comparison to, say, the Stan Lee cameo.) and I just didn’t understand the poing of it.
I had the same “hmmm?” moment in the film..later talking with my sister we kind of surmised that it was a Red Herring to give some tension to the situation between Peter and MJ…in other words giving Peter a possible other love interest..
On the “landlord’s daughter” thing; we did all notice that the landlord’s name was Ditkovitch, didn’t we?
(Is anyone other than me bothered by the fact that the top two jerks at Disney are named Eisner and Iger?)
FINALLY IN!!! (Glenn, what was up for the last day or two? One time I signed in, was redirected to TypeKey to sign in, got returned here only to find out that I wasn’t signed in. After that, couldn’t even sign in at all.)
Oh well, on to the Spider-flick.
Overall, it was pretty good, though I didn’t like it quite as much as the first film. The computer effects *were* much cleaner this go-round, though it seemed that Spidey was shooting webs into thin air at times. Dr Octopus’s arms were incredibly well done (surprisingly, they looked much better in the film than I’d seen in the trailers). While the comic fan in me liked the “Spider-Man No More” shot, the real-world me was just thinking how stupid the whole bit is (the guy who found the suit and only gets $100 from Jameson, but comments he could get more from Ebay–excuse me, but wouldn’t a real person have just told Jameson what he could do with the $100 and taken the suit to another paper or just sold it on Ebay?).
Biggest gripe–all through the film, I kept thinking that Alfred Molina’s hair looked too much like a bad toup
Spidey question …In the first movie was the arachnid that bit Peter the only one to escape ??Somehow I remember there being more than one spider missing.I could be wrong,just want an answer either way. Thanks
Deano,
Yep, it was just the one. If I remember the scene correctly, the tour guide talks about “15 genetically engineered super-spiders”, and MJ corrects her with “14. One’s missing.”
I may have the numbers wrong, but it’s definitely just the one that went missing.
(No, my memory’s not that good — we watched the film last week before we went to the second one. 🙂
TWL
I’m looking forward to the IMAX version coming out in two weeks so I can watch the chocolate cake scene again, six storeys high. I just wish we got to see more of the glass of milk before Pete drained it.
This has almost as much personality as the movie
Spiderman 2, LEGO-style. Courtesy of Peter David….