2000's Bracket; Round 1, Match 4- 4) Spider-Man 2 vs. 29) Anchorman

[Papa Shango]

The Wrestlezone Movie Tournament, 2000's Bracket;
Round 1, Match 4

Spider-Man 2

vs.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy

 

[Shocky]

Spiderman 2, when you talk about movies that are universally praised for no apparent reason, this is the movie that comes to my mind. Alfred Molina is a great actor, but this Doc Ock is so terribly boring and unterrifying that I can honestly give a shit if he's on the screen. Spiderman is simply put, a crying, whiny bitch that no one can sympathize with. I truly, truly detest Spiderman 2.

However, Anchorman is god awful. Will Ferrel stopped being funny the second he left SNL and was impersonating Alex Trebek. His movies are simply atrocious, long winded, and terribly boring. I don't like Spiderman 2, but Anchorman is much, much worse.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

Im going to agree with Shocky here. Spiderman 2 was a very boring movie. The villain wasnt even that good. Doc Ock should have been this bad ass motherfucker. But he wasnt. I also thought that Spiderman 2 spent way too much time on the love story between Parker and Watson. The movie I gues wasnt bad, but it definitely didnt keep my attention throughout.

Anchorman. It's pretty sad to say that I have this entire script memorized. I laughed the entire way through this movie. One of Will Ferrell's only good performances. Plus the supporting cast are absolutely phenomenal. PAUL RUDD!!! Love that guy.

Anchorman takes this one, barely. Im going to get crucified for my opinions on this one, don't care.

 

[klunderbunker]

Spidey gets it for me. It wasn't as great as it was hyped up to be, that's true, but it was hardly bad. Doc Ock left me shaking my head, but at least the building fight was cool to see. Overall not bad, but substandard to the original.

That being said, let me make one thing perfectly clear: I would rather be locked in a cell with a live wolverine than have to watch a Will Ferrell movie. He is the most annoying actor I have ever had to endure (save for celebrity jeopardy). His movies are almsot always the exact same thing and the lines are hailed as being so great but I just don't get it. At least Spidey was a cool superhero and I always thought MJ was hot as a redhead. Spidey in a crushing defeat I hope.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

I'm SO glad that Monkey and Shocky haven't fallen into the pits of "Spider-Man 2 was the best superhero movie ever". Spider-Man 2 is a sad example of wasted potential. I'll give them this: Molina certainly looks the part of Doc Ock. And I don't even mind that they tried to give him a bit of a more sympathetic outlook, because it was at least a little bit reasonable. But the film suffers greatly from the same mistake that Raimi makes in the third film: caring way too much about Peter's love problems with Mary Jane and how he needs to bitch and moan about the littlest details. Spider-Man was great because the story was well structured and everything had its purpose. The second film had too much fluff with not enough substance. The train fight? Entertaining. But it was followed by a huge crowd seeing his face...and for what? Just for shock value? Stupid. Subplots dealing with Mary Jane having a play that Peter can't see when he should be worrying about, oh, I don't know, the supervillain that could destroy the entirety of New York??? Peter has emotional trouble and as a result, totally reverts back to being an inept nerd that can't do anything right? Come on. This movie would've made so much more sense if it would've had a plot consisting of Connors turning into the Lizard (possibly with Scorpion going through the same process) and Harry hiring Kraven to hunt down all three (Lizard/Scorpion/Spider-Man) while Peter tries to keep Connors from being killed. They could've had it so Kraven's murderous hunting and Scorpion's bad intentions get the both of them killed while Peter saves Connors/Lizard from death and is able to convert him back.

BUT!!!!

Anchorman was so terrible that I turned it off, and it takes a lot for me to turn a movie off. The way I look at it, I might as well finish it and give it the full treatment. But this movie, I couldn't do it. I watched about a half hour of it and I couldn't stand it anymore. Will Ferrell has gotten into the habit over the years of playing the exact same character in every single film: Will Ferrell. Its unfortunately what Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, and Jim Carrey have all done before as well, and what apparently Carrell is in the process of doing. Whenever someone becomes "funny" based on the fact that they're just "different", I'm not there laughing with the rest of the simple minded crew that don't want anything complicated presented to them.

Spider-Man 2 has its many, many flaws, no doubt about it, and I would be surprised if it made it much further in this tournament than this round, but by proxy and in comparison to Anchorman, Spider-Man 2 has a definitive vote in my book.

Spider-Man 2.

 

[Mr. TM]

Hmm, I was boreded by Spiderman 2. I was boreded by Spiderman besides Macho Man. I was boreded that I made up the word "boreded". Anchorman dragged on at the end, and it was funny for most of it. Spiderman 2 was not good and shouldn't be included in the top 32 of this decade. So that being said and undeserving Anchorman should move on. Also the fight scene in Anchorman is pretty epic.

 

[Father:_Polley]

I'm going to go against the seeding here with Anchorman. I'm another of the ones who has Anchorman pretty much memorised I've seen it that often.
Don't get me wrong, I adore Spiderman. It was always my favourite superhero franchise and still is. It's just it was so poor. In it you had two villains with hearts, and it just went so badly for me. Doc Oc was always the most boring of the cartoon series villains. Sure, Spiderman was rarely able to get the best of him, but in the film it turned him from a maniac into a man who wanted to power the world only it went wrong. Spiderman didn't even kill him, he did it himself. It was a fluff piece to fill in the story with respect to Harry's transition into the Goblin, and even that only happened at the last moment, and to show MJ and Peter getting together. Beyond that...it did nothing for me.

Anchorman isn't smart, it isn't clever comedy, it's just ridiculous. Steve Carrell is outstanding and the cameos only add to it. It's not meant to be a comic masterpiece, but it gets laughs

 

[RBH]

Im also gonna go with Anchorman. I liked Spiderman 2 and all that but Anchorman was one of those stupid comedies that you just cannot help but love. It's like having a stupid friend and still liking him even though he's a dumbass. Because it was charming in a way and you remember lines from that movie. To this day I still tell people "That's it" referring to Ron Burgandy's speech about the rules and how there was one rule. I even still say "It works 60% of the time every time". That is one of the dumbest lines ever and yet you could use it to start a conversation and people would laugh. So while I liked both movies, Anchorman takes the cake.

 

[Papa Shango]

I also love both of these movies. However, I feel compelled to vote for Spider-Man 2. It's just such a strong film. And to those who keep complaining about Doc Ock not being pure evil, who cares? I know they overdid the "villain with a heart" thing in Number 3, but in this one it was just right. Alfred Molina was a terrific Octavious. It would not make any sense for Dock Ock to go from well-intentioned scientist one minute to crazed evil madman the next. His transformation fits perfectly into the film's theme, which is "finding the true hero within". How many movies do you actually have an antagonist who truly earns his redemption? There are plenty of characters who see the error of their and then die, but here, here Octavius shows that he is still a good man, who still has the heart to do right by humanity, and sacrifices himself, and dies at the hands of his own creation, much like Frankenstein and his monster. The third film may have ruined it a little, but if you watch the second one on it's own, and consider it on it's own, you realize how deep the film really is. It also helps to have top notch, Oscar-Winning effects (3 of them, if I'm not mistaken), a majestic and powerful score from the always fantastic Danny Elfman, and a wonderous supporting cast. I don't care how cheesy he was in the third, in Spider-Man 2, James Franco is in his form. He's sleezy, slightly unhinged, and still angered and haunted by his father's memory. And of course, how can we forget J.K. Simmons? I swear, the man was born to play J. Jonah Jameson.

Despite the fact that Anchorman is a very entertaining, silly comedy (one of my favorites, mind you), it simply is not nearly the movie that Spider-Man 2 is.

 

[strafro]

Why is Spiderman 2 in this over Spiderman and Spiderman 3, I definitely see this to be the weakest of the trilogy. As people have said, Doc Ock could have been much better, but this would be an easy vote if it were the first or third going up against Anchorman, but it's not, so I vote Anchorman, should have put the better Spiderman movie(s) in here.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Spider-Man 2 is great. It everything you want from a sequel. It's exactly the same, but with a better bad guy and bigger set pieces. It's great. If this is shit then I guess the trilogy is shit. Because the template for the first is the same, but less. And the third is just total overload.