No one ever intends to make an awful movie, so how is it possible for certain films to reach the screen in a shambles that is obvious to anyone with a sawbuck and at least one functioning eyeball? Granted, director Sam Raimi raised the bar for superhero movies with 2004's nearly flawless "Spider-Man 2," but the third time's the harm for its grueling follow-up, a masterstroke of mindless abundance that all but drains the joy from your friendly neighborhood... you know.

Tobey Maguire returns as the webslinger, and as "Spider-Man 3" opens, Peter Parker is putting the "ego" in "alter-ego," his semi-secret identity having become somewhat of a celebrity. Unfortunately, Peter's selfish conceit is offset by the needy whining of his girlfriend, failed Broadway ingénue Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst, please go away), but their relationship woes will seem small once the villains manifest. All three of them. Well, four if you count the extraterrestrial taffy that latches itself onto Peter and turns him into a seething bad boy, identifiable by his ominous black Spideysuit, embarrassing swagger, and totally vindictive bangs.

Harry Osborn (the suddenly yucky James Franco), still needlessly pouting over Peter's role in his father's demise, carries on his dead dad's legacy as the sky-surfing New Goblin until some convenient amnesia allows Spider-Man to focus on his new enemies. First there's escaped con Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church, "Sideways"), who stumbles into a demolecularizing gizmotron and becomes the windswept Sandman, all clobber and angst over modified sins of the past. Then there's smarmy photographer Eddie Brock (a wasted Topher Grace), morphing into Venom after a run-in with the evil space tar because Manhattan apparently just has the one cathedral.

It's all a bit much. There are naturally some extravagant set pieces involving plenty in the way of destruction and chaos (Sandman, though awkward, is effective and resilient), but the CGI looks more like soulless video game outtakes than anything involving humans. The script is cheesy and predictable, the score obtrusive, and the two main characters - the reasons we're supposed to care - have become unlikable and detached. His man-child persona having grown tiresome, Maguire has done all he can with the lead role, flickering to life only when channeling his wicked id.

It's the craggy and buff Church who ultimately emerges as "Spider-Man 3"'s heart, the conflicted Marko one of the more sympathetic archenemies to cross a costumed crimefighter's path. Rosemary Harris reprises her lovely role as wise Aunt May, JK Simmons returns far too briefly as blustery J. Jonah Jameson, and the great Bruce Campbell is of course present, employing a Clouseau accent and Waters mustache to play a supremely attentive maître d'.

Oh, it was sweet of you to read this, but we both know you didn't have to. You've likely caught "Spider-Man 3" already, seeing as how the film vacuumed almost $160 million out of American pockets in its first three days. This has paved the way for at least three more "Spider-Man" films, because greed makes the lights turn green in Hollywood. Will the downhill trajectory continue? Possibly, but superheroes are all about redemption. Just ask Batman.

A couple weeks ago in this space I was lamenting the lack of decent Italian movies making it to US theaters in recent years, so I'm happy to report that Alberto Lattuada's suspenseful and surprisingly slapstick "Mafioso" is an absolute gem, brought to us by those responsible for exhuming Melville's "Army of Shadows" last year.

Made in 1962, "Mafioso" stars the awesome Alberto Sordi as Antonio, a transplanted Milan efficiency expert eager to take his Bardot-ish Northern wife and towheaded daughters back to his native Sicily, but it isn't long before he gets pulled back into local, um, politics. When he's not keeping track of who's dead to whom, Antonio reacquaints himself with Don Vincenzo, and the kindly crime boss calls upon the untraceable outsider for a very big favor after pulling some strings in a real estate deal.

Besides being a crackling mob flick, "Mafioso" doubles as a travelogue of sorts, with gorgeous Sicily and its colorful inhabitants stealing a number of scenes. But Sordi, blessed with textbook comic timing, is the reason to watch: as his naïve, jovial Antonio slowly realizes what is being asked of him, the tone of the film shifts from comedy to tragedy in a subtle and unnerving way. You really can't go home again... without being asked to whack someone.

"Spider-Man 3"(PG-13), directed by Sam Raimi, is now playing everywhere | "Mafioso(NR), directed by Alberto Lattuada, opens Friday, May 11, at Little Theatres.