Karen the AI was likable and had some funny moments - and I might like her more now that I know she was voiced by Jennifer Connelly - but I couldn't help but think to myself, "I don't like this!" during their conversations. I guess it serves the same narrative purpose of exposing you to Peter's inner monologue though.

One thing that I did enjoy from my ASM series rewatch: Peter actually takes time over the course of the movie to develop webbing that is resistant to Electro's attacks. That type of character-specific ingenuity is like what you mentioned. I honestly hope that the future movies depower that stupid Iron Man lite costume.

I always pass by the Rieber/Cassaday issues when I'm trying to clean out my collection and get rid of stuff, but it always squeaks by just because of that damn fine Cassaday art. I might be wrong, but I think he was the first one to draw Cap's chainmail in that intricate way.

What'd you guys read this week?

Steve Epting's action scenes during the first 25 issues or so of Brubaker's Captain America. As a kid, I always thought the character was pretty dumb and that his shield was a stupid, ineffectual weapon.

It was really great to finally see that dynamic from the early Marvel days and also the Ultimate universe where Spider-Man is really small potatoes compared to the bigger, more famous and respected characters. He's a character with such range though that all of these movies (excepting maybe the ASM ones) capture some…

Dreamcast was the right place to get comfortable with analog sticks. The N64's was in a funny position and the DualShock was too far to the side. It's funny to think that the N64 and Dreamcast were some of the few with single analog sticks. Maybe you can count the original Nintendo 3DS too.

Basic physics made it so that the controller didn't feel right if you held it in either position because the weight would feel off balance.

JRPGs were never difficult, but they've aged in a very different way. The requirement for random battles and level grinding to advance through dungeons does not hold up at all without certain modifications anymore. I recently played Skies of Arcadia - a game I would have adored if I played it when it came out - and…

Aren't the Crash games basically on rails though and don't really involve any 3D camera movement though? I don't even remember there being an L1 and R1 feature for rotating the camera, but I think that was commonplace in games like Spyro. I remember Crash moving strictly vertically or horizontally not too different…

Ape Escape was really fun and had an iconic look for the apes, but I always thought the protagonist was about as generic spikey anime lead as you could get. It was the first game to really experiment with the Dual Shock controls in a creative way though.

Tenchu?!

I remember that MGS Japanese-voiced demo that just let you play that first outside area in Outer Heaven. It was short and sweet, but I could waste hours in that playpen just toying around with all the different gameplay mechanics.

It's a script that Affleck himself didn't even want to direct, so where there's smoke there's probably fire.

That's pretty uncharitable that even though GotG came first, you're bending over backwards to retcon it so that Gunn somehow stole it from Wright. No thanks on that one man. The other guy's movie has been out for years. Any comparisons are fair game and it felt a little too familiar in Baby Driver for me.

I recently rewatched all of the Spider-Man films while leading up to this new one. In hindsight, I'd say the biggest problem with the ASM films is that every time Emma Stone appears onscreen, you're wondering why the movie doesn't just follow this delightful person instead of that mopey selfish dope.

I kind of wished the action scenes didn't all take place at night. I was disappointed that my original purchased ticket was changed from a 3D to 2D showing, but now I'm glad because it would have been even harder to follow.

A part of me is mildly annoyed that they basically just took Miles' best friend from the comics, Ganke, and randomly gave him the name of a Daily Bugle supporting character who was never really his friend anyway. It's going to be confusing when they release their animated Spider-Man movie featuring Miles Morales and…

Given that they attend what is supposed to be one of NYC's top technical schools, it makes sense that this bully would be less of a jock and more of a confident and entitled nerd.

I don't think he's had a single compelling female lead yet.