Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

OK, a thread like this is gonna have spoilers. If you're gonna have spoilers in your post, though, just do something like this:

SPIDER-MAN 3 SPOILERS BELOW!!!! (FOR REAL)

and then write a couple of lines before writing any spoilers. No need to bother with white text or whatever.

OK, now on to the reason for this post.

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Spider-Man 3.

I saw it this weekend at an IMAX theater. That part was pretty sweet. It looked better than some other movies I've seen on IMAX recently. And the 2-minute IMAX theater intro video was sweet. That was probably the highlight of the movie-going experience.

I really liked Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. But this one was just ridiculous. First off, it was way too long. It really felt like it dragged on. Secondly, everything seemed geared to a third-grade level. Of course I understand it's a comic book movie and expect a certain style. However, I don't expect everything to be repeated six times. And sure, things are usually a little over the top in these movies, but this was just way too much imo.

The scene where he is all carefree and swaggering in his dorky way walking down the street, ridiculous. The whole scene with him in the jazz bar, ridiculous. Just plain silly. I could go on.

Too many villains. I think having Harry/Green Goblin 2, Venom (both him and the second guy), and Sandman was too much. I bet that more time with second Venom (I don't know if black spidey is also called venom or not, whatever) and Harry without having Sandman there would have been much better.

The only positive thing I'd say is that the spidey swinging effects looked a lot better. And Sandman effects looked pretty cool.
--

I wanted to see 28 Weeks Later, but friends insisted on Spider-Man last week. Can't wait to see 28 Weeks Later, I really liked the first one and liked the previews I've seen so far.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

SPIDER-MAN 3 SPOILERS!!!!!



I really disagree with you, El D. I loved the first Spider-Man (to the tune of 9/10) but thought the second one was just decent (7/10). This third one was nearly great (8/10) and much smarter than #2, doing a lot of interesting and self-aware things.

It managed to work everything about its plot into the key messages it was making about character. The whole thing was about character and identity, and all three villains related to that, specifically to Parker's identity crisis.

At the end of Act 1, Peter and Mary Jane both start believing their own press at the same time, to deleterious results. Peter gets too proud, while MJ loses her confidence. And the more you believe your own press, the less of an identity you have. MJ asks Peter "who are you?" and he honestly replies "I don't know." Having a superhero alter-ego causes one to lose their identity, and it's something Peter has to grapple with, such as in the scene where he didn't know if it was him kissing Gwen Stacy or if it was Spider-Man.

So to get that identity back, you must define yourself through your actions. In the hilariously awesome Emo-Spidey sequence, the film makes fun of emo kids (with the Bright Eyes hair and dark clothes) who are really pretenders and poseurs. This is Peter about as far away from the person he used to be as possible. But it's who he is in the moment because his actions have defined it. (The meteor that falls from the sky and the black goop which comes out of it is one giant honking metaphor for this all, and it's so comic book that I didn't have a problem with it).

Peter eventually comes around by re-forging a relationship with his best friend (who makes his own heroic choice to define himself differently from his father) and shaking his revenge motives -- ultimately forgiving the man who shot his uncle because the villain was trying to re-define himself as a loving father. (I absolutely loved Thomas Hayden Church's entrance, as this creepy dude who sneaks into some girl's bedroom and reaches ominously into his coat, only to bring out loving letters he had written to his daughter and places them under her sleeping pillow).

Also, the movie has some political subtext, something about how America has started believing its own hype and gotten too aggressive, trying to get revenge in places it doesn't belong and pissing everyone off in the process.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

SPIDER MAN 3 SPOILERS [ED]

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Too many villains. I think having Harry/Green Goblin 2, Venom (both him and the second guy), and Sandman was too much.

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this reminded me a lot of Batman & Robin, or whatever the Batman was that had the Riddler and Mr. Freeze and 2Face as well I think? I forget exactly, but there were a bunch of new villians in one of them, and it sucked. too much going on.

my biggest problem with the "Topher Venom" was that he was introduced and killed like 30 minutes later. No character development at all. Comic book nerds seem most upset by this, as Venom is apparently one of Spidey's biggest nemesessisis.

To the first point, I think directors sometimes fall into the trap of thinking "this is a sequel, I better do more than I did last time!". hence more characters and in general too much stuff going on, instead of sticking with the formula that worked. it's probably a shortcut, b/c I would think it's harder to make multiple great movies with 1 hero/1 villian.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

pj,

I agree with your analysis. I just felt like these themes were handled in a third grade manner and it felt like we were being hit over the head with these messages.

Don't know if you watch the Sopranos, but the last episode was very similar in ways to Spider-Man 3, with multiple characters struggling with different sides of themselves and some metaphorical stuff layered on top to further make the point. I felt like Spider-Man 3 would fall somewhere between the Sopranos level (it was definitely not subtle, but also not overly in your face) and where the movie ended up.

Basically, in SM3, I think that these character and identity struggles were something that were better in concept than execution.

I did like the THC entrance you mentioned.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

SPIDER MAN 3 SPOILERS [ED]

KBZ,

"my biggest problem with the "Topher Venom" was that he was introduced and killed like 30 minutes later. No character development at all."

Exactly. I'm not familiar with the comic book story, but I would really liked to have seen more of this character and think a Spider-Man v Venom central plot could have been plenty for a very solid movie.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (DISCUSSION)

It hits theaters May 25th and I'm really pumped about it. Some chick has me taking her to see it and she is insanely pumped. I hadn't seen the second one, so I wasn't sure why, but I watched it the other day and now know why.

Here's the trailer if you haven't seen it yet :

Trailer

This is the plot summary from IMDB :

After Elizabeth (Keira Knightly), Will (Orlando Bloom), and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) rescue Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from the clutches of the Kraken, they must face their foes, Davey Jones (Bill Nighy) and Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander). Beckett, now with control of Jones' heart, forms a dark alliance with him in order to rule the seas and wipe out the last of the Pirates. Now, Jack, Barbossa, Will, Elizabeth, Tia Delma, and crew must call the Pirate Lords from the four corners of the globe, including the infamous Sao Feng (Chow-Yun Fat), to a gathering that will make their final stand against Beckett, Jones, Norrington, the Flying Dutchman, and the entire East India Trading

I'm hoping Keira Knightly is better done up in this one because she was so hot in the first one, but too bummed down in the second.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

I think the film felt that the Tobey vs. Topher storyline was more interesting than the Spidey vs. Venom storyline, which is why more attention was paid to the former. I can't say I disagree. Especially because Topher is such a good actor.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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I hadn't seen the second one, so I wasn't sure why, but I watched it the other day and now know why.

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I really liked the first Pirates, thought the 2nd was very meh. they fell into the trap of just repeating all the same jokes from the first. I'm not optimistic about the 3rd, but I'll see it just the same.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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I hadn't seen the second one, so I wasn't sure why, but I watched it the other day and now know why.

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I really liked the first Pirates, thought the 2nd was very meh. they fell into the trap of just repeating all the same jokes from the first. I'm not optimistic about the 3rd, but I'll see it just the same.

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I think it's more along the lines of the second one being a huge cliffhanger, just setting up the third one. Had I saw the second one last summer, a year before the third came out, I might not have liked it. However, I only have to wait two weeks to see the third.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

28 Days Later:

Dom's review on 28 days later in the lounge

my review in OOT

Overall, I really really enjoyed this movie. (as I stated in my post in OOT), if you like the genre or the first one, I highly recommend this one.

28 weeks later
 

Non-spoilers

The first half of 28 days later was close to zombie movie perfection, while the 2nd half ended up quite silly but still well directed.

28 weeks later I thought had lots of sloppy writing (idiotic devices to move the plot forward) and directing(extended shaky cam sequences) throughout the movie. Still a cool premise though. C/C+.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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Exactly. I'm not familiar with the comic book story, but I would really liked to have seen more of this character and think a Spider-Man v Venom central plot could have been plenty for a very solid movie.

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Sam Raimi is an old-school Spider-Man fan, and as such, FAR prefers the classic lineup of villains. He wanted 3 villains for this film (Harry, Sandman, and another), and was actually going to go with Ben Kingsley as The Vulture (which would have been awesome, btw). Instead, the studio basically pushed Venom on him, so he caved to the pressure. IMO, the Venom character isn't really that interesting, since he's basically just an evil Spider-Man. But there's no way it should have been introduced and discarded in like 20 minutes.

But when you talk about teases and no payoff, Peter's college professor has been in all 3 films, and he his character is yet another classic Spidey villain, and yet he gets no screentime.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

I hated topher grace's performance as venom. not really what i expected either (and i am/was a huge comic book fan).

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

Spiderman 3 was awful.

The first two were entertaining for me, the third one was just embarrassing.

The Sandman creature was just a terrible villian IMO. I heard from a friend that was familiar with watching it on TV and with the comic books, Venom was a really cool creature and they missed a lot of time with him, a lot of details, a lot of background, etc. (and he did seem underdevloped). In addition to that, the social life stuff was just beyond unrealistic and stupid. When he's acting like a douchebag, I just didn't even want to watch, it was all beyond retarded, even for a movie based on a man that becomes part spider.

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In other news, I'm stoked about the new Bourne and O13.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

ae,

I am also pumped about both of those, even though O13 will suck.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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ae,

I am also pumped about both of those, even though O13 will suck.

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I disagree. Altohugh O11 was classic, and O12 was poopoo, I think the reason O12 was much worse (correct me if I dont remember) was b/c it took place away from Vegas. Somewhere in Europe yes?

The series belongs in Vegas. And judging form trailers, it will be in Vegas.

Obv my expectations aren't high coming into this, but I think the movie will not be as disappointing as 012.

Bourn Identity 3 will be off the hook, just like the rest of the series. I am confident that the makers of this film will deliver.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

spiderman 3 was pretty meh. it dragged on for eons and just didnt deliver any entertaining moments to me. it was too cheesey. diablo hit this one on the nose

28 weeks later. let me preface this by saying that i never viewed 28 days later, so i had no idea what was going on, and have never enjoyed horror/zombie movies. i really enjoyed 28 weeks later though. it wasnt at all what i expected, and it had me on the edge of my seat throughout, though the end left a bit to be desired imo.

definitely looking forward to 013, bourne3, and pirates.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

I'm not looking forward to pirates much, even though I will definitely see it. The second one did absolutely nothing for me.

El D, why do you think O13 will suck? I'm pretty sure it has one, if not the, best cast ever assembled. FWIW, I definitely enjoyed O12, though not as much as the first one.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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spiderman 3 was pretty meh. it dragged on for eons and just didnt deliver any entertaining moments to me.

definitely looking forward to ...pirates.

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Let me get this straight, raptor -- a complex, intricate character study with a wealth of comic sequences and amazing special effects "dragged on for eons" and wasn't "entertaining" to you. But you're actually looking forward to a 2-hour, 50-minute epic-length soggy blockbuster based on a theme park ride.

Talk about dragging on -- 3 hours of Orlando Bloom swaying back and forth is not nearly as appealing to me.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

I just watched Spiderman 3. I am kind of late on this and had heard many bantering of S3, so i was not as excited as i was before the movie came out (being a weak person that's easily persuaded by the general public). I got to say, I enjoyed the movie a lot. I agree the number of villains were one too many. Taking out Sandman and add the screen time for Topher and Venom would be totally awesome. Yea, this is 3rd grade material on many facets. But IMO this is exactly the break every movie watcher needs from the artsy indies and smart twist at the end movies.

And is it just me or I think Tobey is a really underrated actor?

Oh, I am looking forward to O13 and P3 as well, but have low expectation for O13 and great interest in P3. Even though O13 has a great cast, in O12 they didn't spend enough time developing the characters and letting me buy into the whole fox vs the gang thing. Also, O11 was just so entertaining that it is extremely hard to get the same feeling again.

I generally don't like watching sequels because they're mostly downers but Spiderman 3 imo has set the bar pretty high for the rest of the gang (Shrek, O13, Pirates) this summer. I don't think any of these will break Spiderman 3 (even though I stayed in the line for 3 hours for P2). The best sequels coming up (not in the summer 07 [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]) are Dark Knight and Bourne Ultimatum.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

Spiderman 3 was so bad I was laughing the whole time:

-A meteor just so happens to fall right where he and MJ are making out. Wow.

-A guy who just so happened to kill Ben's father just so happens to fall into some hole and the bright guys operating whatever laughable peice of machinery that was decide that it is "just a bird". Fine.

-The guy who he turned in for photoshopping the photos just happens to be praying to kill spiderman as spiderman is struggling with the black goo in the exact same church!

-Harry's butler happens to come forward with information that he's had since Spiderman 1, but for some reason didn't tell him until the last possible second before Green Goblin could turn good and save the day.

Everything about this movie was cliche and terrible. Awful writing.

MJ is hot though.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

On Spidey 3,

The whole Venom and Black Suit Spidey was way under developed which was very disappointing. The real way the black suit into play can be read here .

Sandman was a complete waste of time IMO.

edit: I did enjoy the movie though, but was sad that Venom was a non-factor till the end.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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I'm pretty sure it has one, if not the, best cast ever assembled.

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based on what? Male sexyness?

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

I just saw the commercial for Live Free or Die Hard. A tad promising but can't expect too much out of Willis.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

Transformers Trailer
This is the new trailer for Transformers. It's directed by Michael Bay with a July 4th opening. Is there any chance this movie could be good?
note: It's titled 'Exclusive Trailer'

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

I am pretty confident that Pirates 3 will be awesome. I think the action scenes will be epic, and Johnny Depp and Chow Yun-Fat will be excellent... Orlando Bloom will be wack as usual, but whatever. Kiera Knightley, well, I'm not so concerned with her acting.

Not too concerned with the fact that the 2nd one kind of sucked because the 2nd installment of a trilogy is always the most boring. Y'heard?

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

28 Weeks Later was awesome, even considering the plot was [censored].

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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[ QUOTE ]
spiderman 3 was pretty meh. it dragged on for eons and just didnt deliver any entertaining moments to me.

definitely looking forward to ...pirates.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let me get this straight, raptor -- a complex, intricate character study with a wealth of comic sequences and amazing special effects "dragged on for eons" and wasn't "entertaining" to you. But you're actually looking forward to a 2-hour, 50-minute epic-length soggy blockbuster based on a theme park ride.

Talk about dragging on -- 3 hours of Orlando Bloom swaying back and forth is not nearly as appealing to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Spider-man was a complex, intricte character study? Comic sequences? I saw it in IMAX and enjoyed it for the special effects, but I thought the storyline was geared towards 10 year olds.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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Let me get this straight, raptor -- a complex, intricate character study with a wealth of comic sequences and amazing special effects "dragged on for eons" and wasn't "entertaining" to you.

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Why do you say this as if he was the only one to have this opinion? It was pretty terrible man, and I loved the first two.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

I didnt think Oceans 11 was that much better than Oceans 12. Pacino is in the next one, which makes me think it will suck.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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Let me get this straight, raptor -- a complex, intricate character study with a wealth of comic sequences and amazing special effects "dragged on for eons" and wasn't "entertaining" to you.

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Why do you say this as if he was the only one to have this opinion? It was pretty terrible man, and I loved the first two.

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Yeti -- it's because he followed it up by saying he couldn't wait to see a 3-hour Orlando Bloom movie that looked to contain the same offenses he just objected to -- but for 40 extra minutes.

It doesn't confuse me that he thought it dragged on for eons; it confused me that he's excited about something that drags on even longer.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

okay. i just thoguht describing it as a complex intricate character study was a huge stretch.

i agree that pirates 3 trailer + runnign length looks like a yawnathon.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

SPIDERMAN 3 SPOILERS








This movie deserves to be pilloried. But where to begin? First, the amount of time it takes to get to the action. A brief list of things we have to endure before there's any actual action:
-A song performance not even worthy of American Idol.
-A whiny verbal confrontation between Peter and Harry.
-Aunt May giving a meandering speech about that damn wedding ring. We get it; it has a lot of sentimental value. Who cares? Honestly, it reminded me more of a diamond commercial than anything else. I half expected the screen to fade to black as the words "De Beers" appear on screen and an announcer tells us that "diamonds are forever."


My main objection here is that this movie tries too hard to deal with the characters' emotions, and in doing so takes itself way too seriously. It's not a big-screen adaptation of some Henry James psychological novel. It's essentially a movie about a guy who whips around New York City in a spider suit and beats up villains. I care very little about how he, or anybody else, feels. Especially when the scripts and actors do such a poor job of conveying these emotions. For instance, watching Tobey Maguire's face crinkle up at the end of the movie, presumably filled with grief over Harry's gory death, was high comedy. Oh, you're SAD, spidey? I think I'll laugh riotously now, because your attempt at conveying sadness only elicits the opposite response.

There were various other oddities that can (and probably should) be overlooked because, hey, it's a comic book movie. A meteor slamming into Earth, seemingly yards away from Peter and MJ, and nobody notices? I can overlook it. A large WARNING: PARTICLE PHYSICS TEST FACILITY sign? A humorous absurdity that one might expect in a comic book. Still, there's only so much I can take; Spidey leaping in front of an oversize American flag was pure cheese.

Anyway, the most telling thing about this movie was that the audience erupted into laughter upon seeing "black-suit" Peter, who looked like he was straight out of My Chemical Romance or Dashboard Confessional or whatever emo bands Jurollo loves. If this is what the "poison of revenge" is supposed to look like, I'm pretty damn unconcerned.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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Let me get this straight, raptor -- a complex, intricate character study with a wealth of comic sequences and amazing special effects "dragged on for eons" and wasn't "entertaining" to you.

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Why do you say this as if he was the only one to have this opinion? It was pretty terrible man, and I loved the first two.

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Yeti -- it's because he followed it up by saying he couldn't wait to see a 3-hour Orlando Bloom movie that looked to contain the same offenses he just objected to -- but for 40 extra minutes.

It doesn't confuse me that he thought it dragged on for eons; it confused me that he's excited about something that drags on even longer.

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private joker,

i loved the first pirates, and watched it probably 20 times. i thought it was awesome cuz every other movie about pirates sucks. the second one left a bit of a dry taste in my mouth, but im interested to see what they will do with the third. if i was 10 i would have loved spidey 3. sorry i dont live up to your standards. maybe im gay and wanna bang orlando bloom.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

I just saw Spiderman 3 IMAX last night, expecting it to be pretty bad. I was entertained. The important life lesson I took away from the movie is that Elizabeth Banks (Ms. Brant, the secretary) is hot and should be a big star. She was funny in 40-Year Old Virgin too.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

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sorry i dont live up to your standards. maybe im gay and wanna bang orlando bloom.

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LOL

http://pbskids.org/backyardjungle/fi...iscovery_f.jpg

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

I know it isn't a blockbuster or anything, but I saw Fracture tonight and was very, very impressed.

I went in knowing NOTHING about the movie, but got excited when I saw Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling were starring. The acting was superb. The plot seemed telegraphed, but I loved it none-the-less.

I'd really suggest it.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

so pretty much everything is about spiderrman 3? Whatever, I thought 2 sucked.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

3 hours for pirates? that is a long [censored] movie.

Re: Summer \'07 movie reviews/discussion (SPOILERS)
 

pirates 3 looks promising even though pirates 2 sucked. geoffy rush is awesome. also the fact that someone above said spiderman 3 is good is absolutely and truly baffling. it is one of the worst pieces of garbage to come out in a while. this reminds me of yesterday when some POS said his favorite Hannibal lector movie was Teh Red Dragon and how it made me go from having no respect to him to having disgust for him.