Video Essay On What Makes Sam Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN Films So Good
Comic book movies have come a long way since Marvel released Iron Man in 2008. But before Marvel Studios got their act together, we were getting films like Bryan Singer’s X-Men and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. I am such a huge fan of what Raimi did with the first couple of Spider-Man movies. He played a huge part in using in the awesomeness of superhero films and what they could really be if done right.
Moviebob does a cool web-series called “Really That Good” that I was just introduced to by Kotaku. I’ve watched a couple of episode this week including this one the focuses on Raimi’s first two Spider-Man movies.
Welcome to a NEW kind of film-criticism series, built around the radical premise that just because "everyone knows" a movie is a classic doesn't mean it stops being worth a deeper look.
Superheroes dominate the blockbuster landscape now, but it wasn't long ago that no one knew just how big they could get - until Sam Raimi's groundbreaking SPIDER-MAN and it's equally-impressive sequel showed Hollywood the way; not only breaking box-office records but also changing the direction of an entire genre.
But now, after a decade and change filled with an inferior sequel, a pair of inexplicably-awful reboots AND with a new revival in the Marvel Cinematic Universe looming... do they still hold up? Do we remember them being great simply because of nostalgia? Or is our perception of them colored by the challenging moment in history during which they debuted?
Are SPIDER-MAN 1 & 2... Really That Good?