DVD This Week

Spider-Man 3 - The Junior Slump in the eyes of most, the third installment in the Spider-Man saga is where it seemed to go a little off the rails. Why? Because producer Avi Arad begged Sam Raimi to include Venom, a character with potential that appeals to the more rabid comic-nerd fanbase. So Raimi acquiesced, so we wound up with Topher Grace as one of the villains instead of Ben Kingsley, who was highly rumored to play the Vulture before the Venom thing happened. Wouldn’t you rather see Ben Kingsley flying over New York City with fake bird wings than another slobbering goo monster? Yeah, me too.

Not that Grace was all that bad, of course. There’s something highly intriguing and amusing about a jerk in church praying for God to kill somebody. It suffers a bit from the too-much-going-on syndrome, without enough room to deal with it all. The Venom and Sandman team-up seems forced, whereas a Vulture/Sandman team would have been perfectly complementary - Kingsley as the brains, and Thomas Haden Church as the brawn.

Overall, though, it’s still a highly enjoyable film, and it gets a worse rap than it deserves. Tobey Maguire is finally able to express emotion when the alien symbiote suit brings out his dark side., and “Saturday Night Peter” is quite amusing, and it feels very much like a goofy Raimi touch. The series needs a lot more of these. Spider-Man is supposed to be funny, and he’s woefully not. Kirsten Dunst is sadly a bit irritating as Mary Jane, but Bryce Dallas Howard is appropriately captivating as Gwen Stacy, who’s supposed to be the kind of girl you know for five minutes and fall in love with. James Franco gets to have a particularly fun turn as Harry Osborn wallows in evil and self-pity.

It’s still a heck of a good time. Let’s hope everyone can get together for a fourth, and they can still snag Sir Ben.

Captivity - torture porn, as it’s been called, starring Elisha Cuthbert as a fashion model abductee being sadistically abused by her stalker. Why does that sound appealing to anyone?

License to Wed - Robin Williams needs to stick to dramas. He’s good at those. This, however, is more ‘wacky Williams,’ which has really lost most of its punch, and considering his reputation for stealing jokes, much of the punch wasn’t really his to begin with. Here, he’s a wacky priest who gives Mandy Moore and John Krasinksi marriage lessons. Yuk it up!

Talk to Me - Don Cheadle stars an an ex-con who makes good by becoming a success on talk radio, but still haunted by his own vices. Don Cheadle is great at everything.

No End In Sight - a documentary about the Bush administration’s conducting of the Iraq war, and the title alone lets you know it’s not going to be very positive. Narrated by Campbell Scott, who is also great at everything.

The Wendell Baker Story - a little-ballyhooed film from Luke Wilson, about another ex-con trying to make good by working at a retirement home. Owen’s in it, too, as is Eva Mendes. Still, no ballyhoo.

The Tripper - “From the warped mind of David Arquette” comes a story about a Reagan-obsessed serial killer and his dog of death named Nancy stalking hippies. I have no trouble believing David Arquette’s mind is warped.