And Sandman? These are the type of twists that the episodic nature of comic books delivers. So, while I can understand these complaints in the context of cinematic ‘reality’, none of them caused me any problems as I interpreted them (correctly in my opinion) as being consistent with that comic book ‘reality’. Thus I found all three films highly enjoyable, and especially the first.

I think MJ is the weak link in the franchise. I like Kirsten Dunst as an actress but there’s something about the writing of her character in Spider-man. To be blunt, she comes across as a whiney bitch somewhat and I’m left wandering why does Peter bother with her. And yeah, the whole damsel-in-distress thing gets a little repetitive. If I recollect correctly, the comics didn’t always end with saving the babe.

As for the dance sequence and the whole dark-Peter scenario, I thought it was handled really well and didn’t have a problem with it. I found it very entertaining – there was this whole balance of humour, action and character development that I think Raimi has balanced quite well. As I said in my review, my only real complaint was the length of the film. But I can see why it was so long, because Raimi wanted to do the multi-character thing without it being all-action and no human drama. He paced it and tried to balance it but the mix draws the film out beyond what the average audience is capable of.

Maybe I will send some of these in to a publication. Guess it can’t hurt. not sure how to even begin that process…I’ll look into it.

As per your wanting to discuss Spidey 3. I wasn’t so much perturbed by the villains safe landing in the vicinity of Parker, nor the way Sandman caused Ben Parker’s death, what really got under my skin was the third act’s way of safely solving everyone’s problems. Not only did Sandman kill Ben Parker, BUT IT WAS AN ACCIDENT?! Way to let off every character involved. Makes it way to easy for Peter to offer forgiveness and for us to like Sandman in the end. But why do we need to like Sandman in the end? Why can’t a villain be a villain in the Spideyverse. Oh, but wait, there’s Venom! Who finally shows up in the third act and has the creativity to do to Spidey what both villains did in the previous film, and that is to hang Marty Jane Watson from something and bait Spidey into rescuing her. Poor, poor third act. Even Peter’s epilogue as he goes in to see Mary Jane was territory they’ve already soiled upon. Come on guys, give us a good ending next time.

I remember liking Millennium Actress a lot. Maybe I’ll pick it up again.

Everything I’ve heard about Pirates 3 has been very positive, but I haven’t seen it.
I will say here though that–and I’m sure a hundred reviewers have already said this–Venom and the whole light/dark dichotomy was apropos for Spider-Man 3, because it was one of the best and worst movies I’ve seen in a while. MJ’s story was great, as was Peter’s decent (especially the dance scene), but the action portions? A villain literally just falls out of the sky next to them? Seriously? That’s Battlefield Earth bad – just like the nail-pulling convenience of the Sandman suddenly being the one to really kill Uncle Ben. Again, seriously? Did Raimi and … [who is that bad?] split the scenes and not talk to each other?

Lastly, I seriously suggest you send your portfolio of reviews to an entertainment publication. This isn’t your mom talking, but a professional editor and writer who works in a publications department. You write these on a level that warrants payment as a professional.