|
 Movie
B+ |
Video A | Audio A
| Extras A+ | Recommended!
Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James
Franco,
Cliff Robertson, and Rosemary Harris
director Sam Raimi | Columbia Pictures
2002 | Fantasy - Action | PG-13 | 121 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
|
anamorphic
widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio
| THX-certified | Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary:
"With great power there must
also come great
responsibility."
-Uncle Ben
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is your ordinary geeky
and introverted teenager who admires the out-of-his-league, beautiful girl
next door (Kirsten Dunst) from a distance. Though they have been
neighbors since the time they were six years old, she barely notices
him. In this first installment of the Spider-Man franchise, we are
introduced to how Spider-Man came to be and how he used his special gifts
for the betterment of mankind.
Acting performance-wise, Spider-Man was only
average. But for a summer blockbuster, it has what most movie-goers
are looking for: big action, a bad guy, a superhero, and romance.
What more can you ask for? This is one of the few films that I went
to see at the movie theater. Visually, the big screen Cineplex didn't make that much of
an impact on me. The special effects were fine, but there's nothing
ground-breaking. I think this film is fine for home theater
viewing. And as a 2-disc Special Edition DVD, what a treat it
is. This is what I call money well spent.
Special Features: There's a ton of bonus
features spread across this Special Edition 2-disc set. Each disc
has a set of DVD-ROM features, which require a PC with a DVD-ROM drive.
Disc 1: audio commentary by director Sam
Raimi, actor Kirsten Dunst, producer Laura Ziskin, and co-producer Grant
Curtis; SFX audio commentary by special effects designer John Dykstra and
visual effects crew; "Weaving the Web" subtitled factoids
(pop-on production notes and historical facts); branching "Web-i-sodes"
featurettes; music videos (Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott
"Hero", and Sum 41"What We're All About"); TV spots;
theatrical trailers; filmographies and character files
DVD-ROM features: comic/feature film comparison; record your own audio
commentary; countdown to Spider-Man 2; and web links
Disc 2: HBO Making of Spider-Man featurette;
"Spider-Mania: An E! Entertainment Special" featurette; director
profile: Sam Raimi; composer profile: Danny Elfman, screen tests: Tobey
Maguire, J.K. Simmons and CGI Spider-Man; costume and makeup tests;
gag/outtake reel; conceptual art & production design gallery;
historical documentary "Spider-Man: The Mythology of the 21st
Century"; the Spider-Man comic archives; Rogues Gallery; "The
Loves of Peter Parker" featurette; comic book artist gallery;
Activision game: hints & tips
DVD-ROM features: Activision PC game with 2 playable levels; 3 exclusive
Marvel dot.comics (Spider-Man: Blue #1, Black Cat #1, and Peter Parker:
Return of the Goblin); and Spider-Man Visualizer
DVD released on 11/1/2002 | Reviewed 1/5/2003
List $28.96 | online $17.38 | order from Amazon.com
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Also available in full screen from Amazon.com
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Editor@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
| 
United We Stand
