Typical

Not all trips to the city are full of fun and excitement and wacky misadventures.  No, sometimes their full of the mundane, the jobs that must be done, and collecting the necessities of life.

For example, on Saturday, I was in need of a kettle.

It didn't take long to figure out that the mysterious puddles being left on my stove top were coming from my old, leaky kettle.  Time to retire ol' greenie and get something new.  The housewares section of Wal-Mart had something new to boil the water for my tea, so now I was on me-time.  Because I'm an overgrown manchild, that meant heading over to the toy section to see what's new in the world of action figures.

And that's where I saw something that made me roll my eyes.  Star Trek Hot Wheels.  Not classic Hot Wheels versions of the starship Enterprise.  Hot Wheels cars done up with Star Trek graphics.




So of course I had to buy a couple for my personal collection of toys.  What really struck me as odd was the fact that it looked like they took the graphics from the old 1960s comic book.  The logo is even the logo that adorned Star Trek merch back in the 1960s.  Not pictured are the ones I actually got:  Spock and Uhura. 

Down the road to Best Buy, still one of my favourite places to browse.  Now that I finally have the HDTV I'd been longing for for several years, I find I leave the store less sad than I used to.  There's currently not much out in the way of Blu-Rays that I'm after, but I still like to look.  Because you'll never know what I'll find.  Like the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, newly released and newly discounted to plug the new Amazing Spider-Man 2.

When I got my first DVD player all those years ago, I swore I'd only upgrade from VHS to DVD if one of two criteria was met:

1. It's one of my favourite movies.
2. There's enough new bonus materials to warrant the re-purchase.

Now, as I upgrade from DVD to Blu-Ray, I find I've added a third criteria:  the disc is just so cheap, you guys.

So I snatched up the Spider-Man trilogy.  $30 for the boxed set, so that's $10 per disc.  How could I say no?  And there'd been some double-dips on the Spider-Man DVDs over the years, all now compiled onto the Blu-Ray, so criteria #2 was met, too.

 

And with all that Spider-Man on my mind, of course I was off to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  I know the critics have not been kind, getting mixed reviews all around.  I, on the other hand, kind of liked it.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with the main crticism.  There's a lot of stuff in this film.  Despite what you see in the commercials, Rhino is just a glorified cameo.  Way too little time is spent developing Electro as a villain.  He just kind of gets his powers and goes nuts.  Same deal with Harry Osborn and the Green Goblin.  Near the end of the film, you realize that they only stuck Green Goblin in there to do that...infamous thing he did in that one comic one time.  Ahem.  

(Trying not to spoil it, because it did surprise me that they went there.)

There's lots of good, though.  Andrew Garfield IS Spider-Man.  He's got the quips and the wisecracks down pat.  It's nice to see Spidey's scientific side, as we see him tweaking his web shooters to Electro can't short them out.  And, just like the last film, the true heart is the Spidey/Gwen Stacy romance.  Forget the superhero stuff, put Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in a romantic comedy, because they are THAT good together.

Ultimately, this is a transition film.  They're trying to resolve and do away with what people didn't like in the last film, and set up their whole Spidey cinematic universe, with the two sequels and the Sinister Six film and the Venom solo film in the making.  But there's lots of good in it, so if you focus on the film, you'll like it.

I give it a 3 out of 4 Nibs, and you'll see I have my full review up on the main site.  

And that was my latest day in the city.  Would you like to come over for a cup of tea?  I've got this shiny new kettle and all.