Films featuring
James Franco

Spider-Man 3

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While I would never knowingly recommend either of the two Joel Schumacher Batman movies to you, gentle readers, I think either of these two brain-dead cinematic exercises would be instructive to those responsible for Spider-Man 3. It could have helped them avoid that dread affliction known as elephantiasis of your villain roster. It’s what happens when you have three (or more) antagonists for your comic book hero to fight, fatally diluting the threat that any one of them poses. A quick review of Superman Returns might have also warned them of the dangers of dwelling too much on your hero’s girl troubles. Yes, Peter Parker’s relationship with Mary Jane is major part of the Spider-Man mythos, but there is such a thing as balance and this movie does not achieve it.

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The Great Raid

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The January 30, 1945, raid by U.S. Army Rangers on the Japanese POW camp outside the city of Cabanatuan was not a decisive battle for World War II in the Pacific. It didn’t capture any vital territory or even hasten the Japanese surrender by one day. However, by bringing home over 500 Americans imprisoned since the Bataan Death March, it served to right what many still felt was a national disgrace, the abandonment of thousands of American and Filipino soldiers to three years of hellish captivity at Japanese hands. This mission, along with the assault on the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day, also helped cement the Rangers’ reputation as an elite organization.

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Spider-Man 2

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Now’s not a bad time to be a fan of comic book movies, as long as you forget Fantastic Four ever existed, which by itself is not a bad idea. We currently have three well-executed comic-based franchises in full swing: the X-Men, the Christian Bale version of Batman and Spider-Man. With X-Men helmer Bryan Singer also directing the new Superman movie, there is going reason to hope that we will soon have a fourth.

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