Today was not the most productive of days, but to be honest, it was the perfect cap to the kind of weekend which I desperately needed.
First off, I finally saw Spider Man 2. The character is a sentimental favorite of mine (Amazing Spider Man is the first comic I ever read) and so is the director (hey, who doesn’t love Evil Dead 2?). I enjoyed the first film, despite the worst theater going experience ever (was forced to sit in a shitty spot despite my best wishes, and then had to endure some loudmouthed jackass sitting right next to me who had to explain the entire film as it’s playing to his dipshit girlfriend, all while baby-sitting expensive wedding gifts for later that night, which further undercut my ability to say anything) but was able to enjoy the flick later on DVD. But it never stood out as something truely awesome. Solid, definitely, but it didn’t blow my mind as I had hoped (a Spidey movie was something I had been praying for since the age of five, and believed that God finally listened once I heard Raimi was attached to the project).
Some reviewers are boasting that part 2 is the best super hero film ever made, and after seeing it, I have to say its pretty damn close (though Batman’s always going to be #1 in mind, no matter what). Despite being predictable and cliched (hey, its a comic book flick, so I can forgive that), I still loved every minute of it: the story was good, the pacing was excellent, and the special affects was outstanding. But the best part was the acting; I didn’t have much of an opinion for Toby Maguire as Spider Man the first time around, but now I know why he was choosen (and the woman who played Aunt May practically stole every scene she was it). On one hand, the film didn’t feel like many other comic book movies, but on the other, it felt very close to the spirit of the character and the books, at least during it’s glory days. Also, I had heard beforehand that a certain scene was very reminiscent of the Raimi of old, which turned out very much true, and was quite fun to watch.
On a side note, I had originally wanted to see the film as soon as possible, like last Friday, since I knew I was going to parties where there would be people who had seen, and wanted to talk about, the flick (which is a constant problem of mine actually). At one point yesterday, I was shown a film that recreated a fight between Spidey and Doc Ock entirely in Lego. It was great and all, but I was afraid that it was giving away the ending of the film, which I didn’t. I was also afraid the Lego fight scene would be cooler than the real thing, which it also wasn’t…. for the most part (some Lego shots would definitely look cool is see in a real film). Also, it was funny hearing “Hey those spider webs are from the Harry Potter Lego set!”
Though perhaps the best part of seeing Spider Man 2 this afternoon was discovering OutRun 2 in the movie theater lobby! I never thought I’d ever get the chance to see or play the real thing. And I did, and it was a blast. Those screenshots I’ve been obsessing over for almost a year now did not lie; the game looked very pretty, with gorgeous cars and environments, and the craziest draw distance I have ever seen. And the handling is what you would expect from a Sega racer: godly. My only gripe was that I couldn’t hear the soundtrack that well (I was hoping for speakers behind the head rest, like in Daytona 2) but I had the soundtrack, whose mp3s I’ve listen to about a million times, running through my brain anyway.
If the Xbox port is indeed arcade perfect, as is promised, that alone will be the real reason for me to finally pick up the system (plus I can finally play Jet Set Radio Future and Panzer Dragoon Orta, both of which I bought a long time ago and have yet to play). Though with AM2 farming it out again, I’m not holding my breathe; Virtua Fighter 3 was handled by Genki, which is made of ex-AM2 members and that still could have been better.
Then later in the day, I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban again, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time as I did the first. This time I saw it with someone who’s not a Harry Potter diehard, but a casual fan who’s only seen the prior films, and she too loved the film. I said it before, and I’ll say it again: the movie does a superb job of keeping true to the spirit of the book, despite any changes to the source material, which I’ve never been one to complain about in the first place. The movie’s almost perfect in my book, and nothing beats witnessing Alfonso Cuar?n’s vision of Hogwarts on the big screen. Nothing.
And lastly, on the train ride home, I finally got through every stage in Star World, including the Special Stages, in Super Mario World. Though after all that, my level completion count is still 92, which means 4 more to go before I can access the Alternate World. Problem is, I can’t seem to remember which levels I still need to crack the second way to access the last ones.
