This film is deeply flawed in certain ways. It's much more convoluted than its predecessors, and nowhere near as cohesive. It seems like Sam has tried to fit too much into the film. Three villains as well as Peter's own inner demons, tension with MJ, problems at the Bugle...how much can one superhero handle? Sure, everyone has their own part to play...but introducing all those new characters, and having their individual arcs play out to a satisfying extent - it's a big job, and one that doesn't quite pay off - or, at least, pays off at the expense of smooth narrative flow. We end up with some terribly clunky lines of expository dialogue – such as Eddie Brock's line to Chief Stacy, which goes something like 'I'm the new photographer at the Bugle...oh, and I'm dating your daughter' - that will make you spit goo in annoyance (or, whatever it is you do when you're annoyed - I spit goo) The many mental/emotional shifts Harry (poor, poor Harry) goes through are handled in a pretty ham-fisted way, too. I can see what Sam is trying to do...but it just seems a bit...well, the word 'clunky' keeps coming to mind. There are also a couple of very 'sequelly' bits, which seem a little inconsistent with the other films. I'm not talking about the whole 'Flint-Marko-killed-Uncle-Ben' thing – that was actually handled surprisingly well. The most memorable example of what I mean is Bernard's little word in Harry's ear concerning Norman's cause of death. Umm...so, why couldn't he have mentioned it EARLIER?! Like, y'know, at the start of Spidey 2 for instance! It would have saved Harry a LOT of grief - not to mention Pete and MJ.

Narrative flaws and rough edges aside, however, this succeeds in being far-and-away the most entertaining film of the three, based purely on action and laughs. It is the darkest, the most action-packed, and by far the FUNNIEST Spider-Man yet. This, I suppose, is the upshot of Sam Raimi himself writing the screenplay (with brother and Army of Darkness co-scribe Ivan). The sequence in which Peter turns into the lamest bad-boy in history is a total crack-up. The looks on the faces of the 'laydeez' as he struts along the street like a nerdy, emo-midget Travolta are absolutely priceless.

The chase/fight sequence between Peter and Gobby Jr. is brilliant. We fly and fall through the air, not knowing which way is up half the time. Only Sam Raimi could disorient an audience to that extent while still allowing us to keep up with what's going on - AND manage to inject the scene with such style, humour and gravity, all at the same time.

Both Sandman and Venom are great to watch. Yes, the special effects are awesome, but it mainly comes down to the fact that both characters are so well cast (no surprise really, given the casting in the previous films). Thomas Haden Church (a very BUFF Thomas Haden Church, I might add) brings real humanity to Flint Marko. We actually empathise with him. Topher Grace is great, too. He has fantastic comic timing, and gives us a very slick, smarmy, but perversely likable Eddie/Venom. He gets some of the best lines (as well as some of the worst).

The established cast are all as good as ever, and have now grown nicely into their roles. They all seem comfortable, with the possible exception of James Franco - just because his character has been messed with a bit. But he does a good job considering.

And then there's Gwen.

Bryce Dallas Howard.

(*Sighs*)

Nothing much to say, really.

I suppose I could say that Gwen would never make it as a model, because she's far too healthy-looking and altogether too attractive.

But that might be a little cynical of me.

Bryce has a big future in movies. She's a very capable actor, and is obviously extremely photogenic. She just needs to stop doing bad M. Night Shyamalan films. And keep doing good Sam Raimi ones.

Speaking of capable, extremely photogenic actors who keep doing Sam Raimi movies, it's good to see Bruce Campbell in a slightly more memorable part this time. I'd never imagined him playing a cheesy French Maitre'D, but he gives a hilarious turn in a classic scene.

Yes, this film has problems, but if you just sit back and soak it up, they don't really matter that much. The movie looks great, will make you laugh, and will thrill you as well as move you.

Possibly.

I can't really speak for everyone. I mean, you might be one of those unfortunate people without a soul.

But I love it, in spite of its flaws, and I still think Sam Raimi is one of the best high-profile directors in Hollywood - because he's all about having fun. And that's what it all comes down to with Spider-Man 3.

Fun.

300

I have been at the World Premiere of 300 in Berlin where I watched this fantastic movie – a movie not only for MEN! I got sucked in from the very first moment! I don't want to say too much about the story itself–I don't want to spoil anything for you. But let me explain that this kind of movie isn't usually my cup of tea. But when I saw the first trailer I knew I wanted to see it badly. And 300 didn't disappoint me–it was even better than expected.

From the very first moment, you can see the fantastic colors and the amazing visuals. I got hooked. I loved the way how the film sped up and slowed down at some certain key moments. It was stunning!!! There were moments where the music set in and shivers and adrenaline were running thought my body. Moments where I held my breath. Sometimes I had to hold myself back not to scream out loud "YEAH!" You can see how much this movie sucked me in.

The battle scenes: I feared them, because I hate too much violence in a movie. But they were stunning. These scenes were incredibly beautifully choreographed. These scenes gave me the feeling of a choreographed dance of warriors. Beautiful to watch. Powerful, aesthetic and elegant. Yes, they were brutal (without a doubt–sometimes I had to hold my hand before my eyes – but only for a short moment because I didn't want to miss something) but they still were amazing. And all this slowing down and speeding up makes these scenes more tense more beautiful. And you can feel the adrenaline rush of the warriors.

And in between these scenes there were this modern phrases like "we are in for a wild night." Some could say they don't fit into this movie. I loved it. It's incredibly cool and they made me laugh sometimes. And that was great; it eased the tension. These sentences lightened the moment. The perfect pause before the action goes on again.

Gerard Butlers acting is absolutely powerful. It is full of passion, full of emotions (love, anger and so much more). You can see the fire burning inside of him, the sadness, the inner struggles, but also the dignity and the kindness of the King. (I guess these were the scenes I loved most–where I saw his dignity, kindness and love). His way of showing you his emotions through his eyes, I guess is stronger than ever. I love this – I love when actors are able to express so much only with their eyes without saying anything. And all these fantastic close-ups just made these scenes perfect! But it was not only Gerard Butlers acting, but the other actors also performed extremely well. A perfect team and I got the feeling that all the actors are chosen because of this ability to be a team. It would take too long to mention every single actor/actress. For me it was an incredible cast.

The sound was excellent, especially during the battle scenes. For example, when metal meets metal(it's hard to explain this for me – but when you see the movie you might know what I'm talking about). Not to forget the soundtrack. It makes the whole impression of this movie complete. Again full of power and then very emotional. I loved it.

This movie is more than an action movie for me. It's about love, camaraderie, the defending of what they love, of what they believe in. It's about the power not to give up but follow their destiny and to do what they think is the right thing to do. And it's also about the big love between the King and the Queen.

For me personally this movie is unique. It's a masterpiece of visual effects, color, sounds, soundtrack and the absolutely stunning performance of the actors. That's my own personal opinion. The opinion of a woman who already loved the powerful trailer, but wasn't sure if she would like the movie as well. Maybe you get the feeling that I'm praising this movie too much. But I can't help myself. That's exactly what I'm feeling, what I'm thinking. And believe me, if I thought differently, I wouldn't bother to write anything about it. And I'm definitely longing to see this movie again.

Even now as I'm writing this, I can feel the same emotions as I felt during the watching of 300. It just blew me away. After the movie there were standing ovations !!! What a great evening! What an amazing movie!

Mr. Bean's Holiday

Rowan Atkinson had disappeared off our screens for a little while. After the critical mauling of Johnny English he sort of vanished into thin air for a while. Personally I can never understand why the critics savaged Johnny English as much as they did, sure it was flawed but it was pretty funny. Now, however Rowan Atkinson has returned, and he's brought along his most well loved character to date. Mr Bean is back, ladies and gentlemen! Now for some people this will cause great excitement, for others it will cause them to groan very loudly. You see Mr Bean is an acquired taste, and after seeing this movie I can still very much say that Mr Bean is an acquired taste. If you dislike Mr Bean in the first place the odds are extremely high that you will hate his latest outing. I on the other hand really like Mr Bean, not love, but I enjoy his sketches and the last movie was pretty funny. This movie in my eyes is a bit better despite still being overly sentimental and some comedy moments feeling a bit too forced. But this is a movie of small pleasures, this doesn't deliver witty comedy, in fact a lot of humour relies on either slapstick or embarrassing situations, yet the comedy still feels fresh and you can't help but enjoy it all along.

The first thing I'll mention is the actual storyline and the actual comedy of the movie. The storyline here works a lot better than it did in the first Bean movie. It seems more natural and like a proper Bean movie, not committee driven like the first movie seemed. The story involves Bean winning a raffle and going off on a holiday to France. It's a simple story and won't be winning any awards, but its what happens along the way that makes the movie so much fun. The comedy here ranges from pretty small laughs, such as the tie getting caught in the baguette machine, to absolutely hysterical sequences which involves Mr Bean trying to earn some money. And the comedy works like that throughout, its always making you smile, whether it be small little sequences that make you smile to yourself, or whether you're practically rolling in the aisles, this is a feel good movie and proud of it.

Nevertheless, the fact it is a feel good movie is also the movies largest downfall. The original Bean movie had huge problems because it was overly sentimental, unfortunately it seems like they haven't learnt their lessons with this movie. Sure it starts out hilarious, but the sentimentality begins to kick in around the halfway mark, and sometimes it is unbearably sickly that you can't help but want to heave. Of course this is a kids movie so I can't be overly critical with the sentimentality. But I would have preferred it to have had a little less of it. We want to see Bean in funny situations, not in a situation that tries to be heartwarming yet feels oddly misplaced. My other moan goes with the ending, it seems rather abrupt and also a tad sickly. The sickliness of it goes with my last complaint. But the ending after a bit of a lead up just suddenly jumps on you and its over. I was the only out of the group I saw it with who felt this, so perhaps that is just my feelings, but in my eyes I wanted a more spread out ending.

The performances of the movie are up to a pretty high standard. Atkinson doing his traditional Mr Bean routine, it doesn't feel old in the movie and it still proves that the character is pretty funny. Willem Dafoe pops along for a great role, and the actual child actor of the movie was surprisingly not irritating like a lot of child actors out there. Overall Mr Bean's Holiday is a great family movie that will keep the kids in hysterics and the adults very happy as well. Its not going to amaze people, but in terms of fun this movie should be a family favourite.

The Beginning

So this is the beginning :D

You probably don't know me so I'll introduce myself. I'm Ahmet. I have a lot of hobbies and occupations but I won't concentrate on that right now. The thing is, I have many frieds and many of them are into this "blogging" stuff. So I was courious and I decided to create one. And I don't want to describe my room and what I do during the day (like they do :D) so I come up with idea to use movies as my topic. I like this "art" and I see approximately 2-4 movies every week. I rent them on DVD because my cinema is a bit outdated and it plays only homemade movies and shows. Untill now I saw cca 300 movies.

And that "idea" that came up to me is to post reviews of new movies. And when I don't see anything new I'll atleast try to add review and comment of one older movie because I'm sure that you haven't seen everything I did.

And sometimes I'll post news about new movies and etc.

Also, you can write in comments name of the movie you find good and want a review of it or you don't know whether to go and see(rent) it or now.

And that would be all for the beginning. Later this evening I'll post my first review. I was thinking of 300 and Wild Hogs and if anyone accidentally read this post which one do you want in comment and I'll do it.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to you coment, suggestions, critics and everything you think I should know.