I’m one of the hugest Spider-man fans. Over 1,000+ comics in my collection I would say 90% of them are Spider-Man. Heck, I trying to get job so I can draw for it one day. I’ve waited 4 long years for the arrival of this film and it was worth it. While the making of the film was in many court battles and was handed to many directors. (Such as James Cameron, director of The Terminator, Aliens, and Titanic.) I believe Sam Raimi, (Evil Dead Series), was the best choice though. If you see a movie this summer see Spider-Man and here’s why.

Sam Raimi’s vision of how comics books work is amazing. The camera angles and everything this man thinks of for this film really make you feel like you’re reading a comic. The fantastic cast helps. Tobey Maguire, (Cider House Rules) plays Peter Parker and Spider-Man great. Both Tobey and Peter seem to be shy guys you seem to go for. William Dafoe (Platoon), was an awesome choice for Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin. If the two egos to don’t function well as one character, then it fails, Dafoe made sure that it didn’t fail. Kristen Dunst, (Bring It On) plays Mary Jane Watson, “The Girl Next Door”, right from the start she is why Peter gets stuck being the hero. She plays Mary Jane well, better than I could have imagined. She seems to be somewhat a tease for Peter but hey what girl isn’t?

Right from the beginning of the film, you see the geeky Peter Parker’s many attempts to fit in but, alas our poor hero is an outcast but with the exception of Mary Jane and Harry Osborn (James Franco). Mary Jane eventually learns to be Peter’s friend. I guess taking pictures make any girl fall for you, eh? Anyway, Peter is bitten by a genetically altered spider which leaves him sick and unconscious through out the night.. You then learn that Osborn’s Company, OSCORP, seem to be in financial problems and the only way to recover is to sell an experimental super soldier formula and accompanying glider. This leads him to test the formula on himself and causes him transform into two personas (Osborn and the Green Goblin).

Peter awakens to find the next morning, but he’s different than his normal self. He learns of his abilities, the same as a spider, and tests them out. Raimi’s humor is shown as Peter tries shoot his webbing. Peter then tries to raise money to find the affection of Mary Jane. Peter fights Bone-saw! (Macho-Man Randy Savage) in order to collect his prize money for a car. By the way, if you see Bone-saw and watch wrestling, you can tell Randy has gotten huge! Seems Peter is duped and then Peter’s uncle is killed by the same robber that he let get away at the wrestling match. It’s kind of like a cross road what if he did get that crook? Would he have become Spider-Man? Who knows? Peter learn that “With great power, comes greater responsibility.”

Then the movie changes setting, which is New York City. Peter becomes Spider-Man, and helps the city out. The Daily Bugle tries to make him look like bad guy. Mostly because of J. Johann Jameson. (J K Simmons), the creator of the paper. The Green Goblin starts to cause trouble in town and tries to get Spider-Man to join forces or die. Of course, ol’ Spidey won’t let this happen. So they duke it out in many great battles. Raimi loves to show intensity in these battles to which is greatly received. The ending is great and I don’t wanna give to much of the final setting away but lets just say it’s superb.

I guess the saying “better late than never” comes into play when talking about Big Trouble. Originally to be released on September 21st of last year, the movie was delayed because of the cowardly terrorist attacks on the United States. It would seem to be taboo to show a movie that involves the passing around of a nuclear weapon that eventually ends up on an airplane that is high jacked by two dim-witted criminals.

Big Trouble finally made release last week, and I can honestly say, the movie is everything I would have expected. Big Trouble is based on a novel by humor columnist Dave Barry, who writes for the Miami Herald. The movie is about self-proclaimed loser Eliot Arnold (Tim Allen) who is recently divorced, owns a struggling advertising firm, and just bought a Geo.

The movie features a high caliber ensemble of actors who all lend the movie their respective talent. The greatest part of the movie is it resembles Guy Ritchie’s Snatch by allowing all the characters to overlap once and again. As stated before the movie uses the plot vehicle of a nuclear weapon (that resembles a garbage disposal) to bring the cast together. Eliot and his son Matt interact with Arthur and Anna Herk (Stanley Tucci and Rene Russo) after Matt is playing a school game called “killer” and is forced to soak their daughter Jenny (Zooey Deschanel). Puggy (Jason Lee in an awesome role) is a drifter who finds himself in love with Arthur’s housemaid Nina after she mistakes him for Jesus.

Along the way the main characters run into two cops Monica Romero (Janeane Garofolo) and Walter Kramitz (Patrick Warburton), two FBI agents Pat Greer (Omar Epps) and Alan Seitz (Heavy D), and two really stupid criminals Eddie (Johnny Knoxville) and Snake (Tom Sizemore). While the bomb will eventually bring the entire cast together at the airport, the movie really shines on the humor of the script.

The movie has some generally funny moments especially when introducing the characters for the first time. No one would have though Arthur Herk had such an amazing foot-fetish. And a surprising cameo by Martha Stewart just brings down the house when coupled with the psychedelic toad.

Really shinning out in this movie is notably Jason Lee, Tim Allen, and Dennis Farina who plays a hitman contracted to take out Herk. Farina’s character seems taken directly from Snatch while being just as funny as ever. While Lee is beloved by all for his roles in Kevin Smith’s cult classics, Allen has had limited success on the big screen. Allen as Eliot Arnold seemed like a perfect choice because of the similarities between Allen and Dave Barry. While he doesn’t get top billing, he is first in alphabetical order, so in a sense this is a Tim Allen movie.

Coming out of the theatre on Saturday Night completed a perfect night. The movie offers laughs by the dozens and manages to keep the humor level up for the entire movie (notably, once again, by Andy Richter’s security guard characters). Big Trouble, bombed at the box office this weekend. While not the funniest comedy this year, it sure wasn’t the worst, or anything close to average. If you are looking for a funny movie with a great cast and a super script look no further than Big Trouble.

Resident Evil is one of my favorite game series to date. I didn’t have the curse of owning a PlayStation, so my first endeavor into the series was Resident Evil 2 for the Nintendo 64. Later I would try my hand at Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil: CODE Veronica for the Dreamcast, and later this year, gamers will we treated to two new RE games on the Nintendo GameCube. So with all of the background, and expectation, does Resident Evil (RE) make a successful video game to movie transition?

Holy Freaking-Yes!

Despite what some critics may say, and only some, the movie totally rocks. From the minute I stepped into the theatre, and saw the familiar Umbrella logo on the big screen, I was amazed, and overjoyed that this was finally happening. The movie starts off with a killer credit sequence setting up who the Umbrella Corporation is for non-fans. Constintin Films tried really hard to set this movie up for people who are not familiar with the series.

Fans of the series will recognize some of the monsters, such as zombies, zombie dogs, and the ever cool Licker who actually evolves before your eyes when given fresh DNA. While the story may not be too above average, it does present some nice twists and turns that keep you guessing, and the best part, the movie actually produces some legitimate scares, as well as some T and A.

The Marilyn Manson score has already received high praise in our soundtrack review, but on the big screen with a high decibel level, it is even cooler.

The best part of the whole experience is that you know a sequel is guaranteed. The movie ends in just the right spot where we could see Leon and Claire barreling down the street in a police car being chased by that blasted tanker truck.

In the end, Resident Evil was worth every penny it received this weekend at the box office (around 18 million dollars), and I can honestly say I will be making more than a few trips to the theatre to see some live action zombie movie. I know I seriously doubted Paul W.S. Anderson’s potential in doing this right, but I don’t think the movie could have had a better director.

Three months later…