No update yesterday; I felt sickly due to allergies so I went home and slept for 5 hours. Damn that felt good. Only got up because I had a doctor's appointment. He strongly urged me to go back to using Nasonex; plus he gave me a prescription for Allegra. I am happy to report it doesn't make me sleepy like Claritin does.

I couldn't help myself; I then talked Jon into going to see Spider-Man II. I am happy to report that I loved it.

Well, I loved the first movie. This one is better. Really! All that critical hyperbole may be warranted in this case.

I will do my best to remain spoiler-free:

2 years after the funeral of Norman Osborne Peter Parker is still where we left him: he fights crime but he can't have a normal life. His dual identity is wearing way thin; he can't hold a job, his college grades are suffering, and he's alienating the few friends and family he has. To top it all off in his frustration he starts losing his superpowers. He does all of these remarkable things and he gets nothing in return; just a lot of bad press and loneliness.

I wrote before (borrowing heavily from someone else) that chick movies and actions movies are bastard children of the Romantic movement. Well, here you go: a movie that perfectly blends both genres. This is an action movie, but much of the screen time deals with eternally put-upon Pete and his disentigrating relationships. This is a chick movie, but Spidey gets to whoop ass and have his whooped in return.

Spider-Man had a good villain; a scientist whose experiments go haywire and they turn him into an evil villain. He still manages to maintain some of our sympathy. Spider-Man II doesn't tinker with the formula; Dr. Octopus is a worthy bad guy that we feel kinda sorry for. Alfred Molina does a great job; he even gets to Muahahahaha several times.

Sam Raimi is a personal god; I saw Evil Dead way back when it was originally released in the theaters, I'm bragging to say; and Evil Dead II remains to this day one of my favorite movies to whip out on an unsuspecting friend (as Nancy can attest to. She got me back by showing me Pink Flamingos). I liked The Gift and A Simple Plan, and Darkman gave us geeks early hints as to what Raimi could do with a comic book movie.

This movie is Sam Raimi's baby; after the resounding success of the first one the suits at Columbia let him loose and it shows. His love of slapstick is apparent with plenty of (painful) visual gags, his unabashed corniness, odd camera angles, and a WTF montage featuring a song I won't mention for fear that it will get stuck in my head. Many things have all ready been written about the operating room sequence and its similarity to some of the insanity of Evil Dead II (Chainsaws! whoops, that was a spoiler). Did I say corny? Yeah, but the cornball scenes are also effective. The entire sequence on the subway train and the passengers' reaction to Spiderman was heartbreaking. In a good way.

Raimi also loves and respects the characters. This is one action movie where the hero is far more interesting than the bad guys. McGuire's innate nerdiness comes to the fore here; he also has an intensity that's hard not to respond to. No wonder Mary Jane loves him.

And speaking of Mary Jane; some critics have said Kirsten Dunst is the weak link in the picture. They are smoking some bad stuff (it's James Franco, but he did a good job too). Her frustration over Peter's hot/cold attitude is understandable, and when she moves on, I can't blame her. But in the end, her choices made me want to stand up and cheer. Or at least do the Boykin Victory Dance as inobtrusively as possible in my theater chair (Jon looked at me kind of funny).

The best thing about this movie is that the story moves forward. It isn't merely a rehash of the first movie, the characters grow and their relationships change. Shit happens! It's still way too early to put it on my top 10 but this movie definitely earned an "I loved it!". Way to go, Raimi, can't wait for Spidey III.

Oh wait, yes I can. This is Peter Parker we're talking about. Considering that McGuire, Dunst, and Raimi all have no desire to do a part 4, one wonders what kind of hell Parker is going to be put through for 3. Yikes.

I'm going to go see it again. Best praise I can give any movie. In the meantime, I think I'll inflict some Evil Dead II on my husband tonight...