Spider-Man 2

Caught a late showing of Spider-Man 2 last night, and it was very good, definitely better than the first. The CGI wasn't quite as jarring and unrealistic this time around, save for a couple of scenes. Spidey moved more fluidly this time around. Kirsten Dunst is still an awful choice for Mary Jane Watson, but no one plays the conflicted young Peter Parker better than Tobey Maguire. His facial expressions can deliver entire pages of dialogue without uttering a word.

From a movie standpoint, you didn't need to see the first one to enjoy the second, which is good storytelling (parts of the first movie are recapped in the opening credits montage), and there are bits thrown in just to get the comic fans all lathered up. Overall, it was time well spent, though I wasn't thrilled with the opportunistic raising of ticket prices to $9.00 over the $8.50 the previous weekend. How can a movie like this not break records when they jack up ticket prices specifically for it?