Canada's online magazine: Politics, entertainment, technology, media, arts, books: backofthebook.ca

Politics, tech, media, culture and more, from a Canadian point-of-view

  • Politics
  • Media
  • Culture
  • Science and Tech
  • Living
  • Arts and Books
  • Features
  • The Video
You are here: Home / Culture / Spiderman $382 million

Spiderman $382 million

05/10/2007 by backofthebook.ca Leave a Comment

By Zeff Davies

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard so many instant disses of a movie as I heard on Monday about Spiderman 3. My 15-year-old son: “awful.” An actor friend: “appalling.” A guest on CBC Radio, who digressed from being interviewed to pronounce, “That is one bad movie.” The host of a hip cable TV show, who actually shuddered when he said, “Save your $12.”

Not even George Clooney’s version of Batman provoked that sort of revulsion.

And to all of you who flocked to the opening weekend — all 382 million dollars worth of you worldwide — I say: you got just what you deserved. That’s right, you heard me. What is the matter with you? It’s a movie about a spider man. What were you thinking? Does that sound like something worth dropping everything to run off and see the moment it opens? A movie about a guy who shoots webs out of his wrists? When D.W. Griffith was helping to invent the cinema back in 1915, do you really think this was what he had in mind?

I blame Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert. Kael, because, great film critic though she was, she gave Richard Donner’s Superman back in 1978 not only a good review but a respectful one. She gave comic book movies cred. And Ebert because he’s given just about every one to come out since then a thumbs way-up. (Still recovering from surgery, Ebert has not yet reviewed Spiderman 3, so there’s hope for it yet.)

Perhaps this outpouring of scorn spells the end of moviemaking’s idiot period. Then again, given that the movie grossed $382 million in three days, perhaps it doesn’t. But let’s wait and see what the box-office is like this weekend, now that word-of-mouth has spread, like halitosis. If it takes in under, say, $100 million, we might at least be spared the threatened Spiderman 4, 5 & 6.

On the other hand, if it grosses another $382 million, I plan to jump off the nearest tall building. And I don’t expect to fly.

Filed Under: Culture Tagged With: film

Subscribe to BoB by e-mail or RSS

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Google+
  • Living
  • Politics
  • Media
  • Culture
  • Arts and Books
  • Features
  • The Video
Fire sale sign

Fort McMurray: Shopping time!

By Brady Tighe We’re now officially in the aftermath phase of the northern Alberta wildfire crisis. The fire is long gone, and everyone with a home to return to is back in its … [Read More...]

Nathan Cullen

Electoral reform: Hashtag fresh thinking

By Alison@Creekside The most interesting and innovative idea to come out of the first meeting of the all-party Special Committee on Electoral Reform, or ERRE, was Nathan Cullen's suggestion, … [Read More...]

Trudeau on quantum computing

The Trudeau gush fest is getting old

By Jim Henshaw There have been several bewildered as well as angry accounts coming out of the USA lately about how little media time has been spent covering the Democratic Presidential Primary … [Read More...]

Rick Meyers in Nanaimo Pride Parade

My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade

By Frank Moher On this dreadful day, I don't want to write about the shootings in Orlando. I want to write about my friend, Rick. Rick lives just outside of Nanaimo, a city of about 80,000, … [Read More...]

Stephen Colbert on Late Night set

Triumph of the drama nerds

By Frank Moher Two drama nerds have recently moved into high profile positions. Before I name them (or perhaps you’ve already guessed who they are; or perhaps you’d like to scroll down and look at … [Read More...]

From “Our Rape Blog”: Shooting the Moon

Originally published on Our Rape Blog, the author's account of the aftermath of a violent sexual assault. By Mary Fraughton Have you ever played Hearts? It’s a card game. For our purposes, … [Read More...]

First Nations defending Lelu Island

The video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”

From Creekside: The B.C. provincial government is trying to green light the construction of a massive LNG terminal on Lelu Island in the Skeena Estuary -- Pacific Northwest LNG, backed by Malaysian … [Read More...]

Google

Follow Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

RSS CBC News



Recent Posts

  • Fort McMurray: Shopping time!
  • From “Our Rape Blog”: Shooting the Moon
  • Electoral reform: Hashtag fresh thinking
  • The fish hotel
  • Hatred on an Alberta golf course
  • The video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”
  • My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade
  • Our selective sympathy
  • The Water Bomber, The Frogman and The Great Canadian Novelist
  • Komagata Maru: The story behind the apology

Tags

9/11 Afghanistan Alberta bad behaviour books British Columbia business Canada Canadian military Canadian politics CBC celebrity computers Conservatives crime environment family film G20 Globe and Mail internet Jason Kenney journalism Justin Trudeau law Liberals Maclean's music National Post NDP newspapers oil sands online media Ontario Quebec RCMP religion sports Stephen Harper television theatre Toronto U.S. Vancouver women

Archives

The Video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”

Pages

  • About
  • Privacy

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in