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The process of picking a movie to go see on a Friday night is always a daunting task between my wife and I. I have systems. Lots of systems. All are usually designed with a single goal in mind: Let her pick the movie because if she doesn’t like it she won’t blame me. Rarely do they ever work. I don’t think she spoke to me for a week after I took her to see Seven, with Brad Pitt, when we were dating. I tried a new one yesterday. She emailed me at work as asked me if I wanted to see a movie. I skipped the pleasantries and logged into Fandango. I shot her back a list of about 8 movies that I wanted to see and the times they were playing at our theatre. I told her to narrow it down to three. She complied and edited my list down to Spiderman 2, De-Lovely and Anchorman. I wasn’t so much in the mood for a comedy last night, so I nixed Anchorman. The ball was now in her court. She picked Spiderman 2. I think I finally found a system that worked…

I’m a big fan of the Spiderman franchise. I enjoyed the comic books and Spidey’s rare cameos on Superfriends as a kid, his animated series as a teen and now the films as an adult. Everything people didn’t like about the first film is what I loved about it. The innocence and the corny dialogue is what made the comic book so great. It was for kids – not adults. (Now this same argument can be made for the 3 Star Wars prequels, but I won’t be the one making it. I enjoyed the new SW movies, but they can’t hold a candle to the original three. But that’s a rant blog for another time, let’s get back to Spidey…)

** Warning – Minor Spoiler Below **
There were lots of great little gems in this sequel. The awkward elevator scene where we learned that his costume itches and rides-up in the crotch. The homage to Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. The first introduction of the cult-favorite Spider-Man theme song – sung by an asian woman with a violin on the street corner. The elevated Subway fight which led to Spiderman’s identity being revealed to the public for the first time. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the film.

The only negative had nothing to do with the film itself – rather our fellow viewing audience. From the parents who think that it’s okay to bring 8 year olds (and younger!) to PG-13 movies to the teenagers who came in 15 minutes late and squeezed in next to my wife, one of which answered his cell phone twice during the movie and spoke to the other party for over 5 minutes each call. Theatre etiquette is quickly dying.

The movie also proved my wife right on a point that we argued about. She saw an interview a couple weeks ago where they kept referring to the villian in this film as “Doc Oc” – short for Doctor Octopus (or Dr. Otto Octavious). I balked (being the purist that I am) and said that nobody referrs to him as “Doc Oc.” How ridiculous. He’s Doctor Octopus! So, after all that J. Jonah Jameson (the publisher of The Daily Bugle) called him Doc Oc… once.