Your annual defense of Spider-Man 3 is here

Of the three Spider-Man movies directed for Sony by Sam Raimi, it was the last chapter that received the most critical attention. Most of that was negatively directed towards Tobey Maguire's dance sequence, a baffling moment that somehow avoided the cutting room floor. Its other major sorepoint was the depiction of Venom, a fan-favorite character from the comics, who was misrepresented onscreen after being pushed into the movie at the last minute.

While it's been several years since Spider-Man 3 hit cinemas, it's a topic that still generates discussion as actor Topher Grace -- who played Venom -- was recently asked by THR about the film's shortcomings. "I know the movie did well for Sony," he says, "but I also know a lot of people weren't happy with it. I think Sam is so talented. I remember one time I was on ninth unit. (Laughs.) Ninth unit? It's like he's running a small country...."

"This summer, there was a movie like that where people are just slamming a big studio movie. I would love to see anyone who's slamming one of those movies try to fit in Sam Raimi's position. He was like the president of a small country — by the way, it had the gross national income of a small country, too. I have huge respect for him. I think, on a whole, he did such a fantastic job [on that trilogy]."

Gem Seddon is a freelance writer working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.