The PLANET OF THE APES TRILOGY
WOW! THIS is how you do a trilogy.
A brilliant premise with an ingenious twist in WAR. Everyone did a great job. Of course, special mention for Serkis and the ape FX crew.
SPIDERMAN HOMECOMING and the Raimi films…
TH was a great 15 year old Peter. It was fun and effective. I liked it a lot.
I didn’t see 1 or 2 in theaters. I went to see 3 in theater after hearing the high praise for 1 and 2 and found it a little meh. I saw large parts of 1 on cable.
In spite of being a big fan from 7 to 11, I made a point of avoiding this series. It was the basic characterization of Peter. They completely missed the mark of what he represents.
You could have given me a million years to think of possible new and interesting ways to present Peter Parker, and I never would have thought of turning him into a body-horror spine-chilling mutant who spews sticky bug goo out of his veins and grows grotesque little arachnid spikes on his hands and feet. A great part of the appeal of Peter/Spidey was that he was an ingenious young inventor who could create and build his own webcasters and a suit that helps his finger and toe strength. Why mess with that???
Don’t get me wrong. I like Tobey Maguire. I think he is a talented actor with his own special sort of slightly geeky presence and charm. I could appreciate seeing him in any number of roles. I understand that they were going for the ‘slightly awkward and geeky young underdog overcomes and gets the HAWT chick’ sort of thing and why that story line is appealing. Trouble is, that is a COMPLETE SUBVERSION of what Peter/Spidey represents. By accident or design (I’m guessing design), the story of Peter is allegory and metaphor for an idealized passage from gangly and awkward adolescent boyhood to strong handsome confident funny capable young man. Harsh motivation aside, Peter is everything boys hope to become.
If I had been casting those films or any before or after, there is no question about what I would have done. I would have gone through every HS yearbook and contacted every HS drama coach in the English speaking world. Criteria would have been boys 16-19 who: have classic comic book features and good-looks, are very lean and cut, very well proportioned, 5’10" to 6’ tall, blue or hazel eyes and are likely to retain these qualities through the series. In other words, I would have been looking for Peter Parker. Why would anyone go looking for anyone else??? I would have had the 500-1000 likeliest candidates send in a 10 minute audition video wherein I would be looking for those with the greatest natural acting ability, presence, humor and charm.
TH was a terrific 15 year old Peter just discovering and beginning to cope with his new powers. They bought a lot of good will in HOMECOMING and I’m happy to take this ride until the next iteration in a few years.