I agree, the movies are their own universe. I mean, there's no Secret Wars backstory for the symbiote. No mention of other superheroes, either.

SPOILERS ahead (like this thread didn't already have them)

I was disappointed in Spiderman 3. I was not a big fan of the franchise to begin with. The first film was mildly watchable, but flawed. The second was notable improvement, but not the greatest superhero movie ever. This one...Venom was silly. The symbiote worked...Venom...no. Sandman has awesome powers...but they decided to make him a giant monster. Does he do that in comics? It really doesn't matter, the movie being its own universe and all, but they should've kept Sandy a tad more grounded. Harry Osborn seemed like the real villain of the movie. The other two seemed shoehorned in for MERCHANDISING reasons, especially Venom.

Gwen Stacy was an okay addition, I suppose. Where'd that butler come from? I don't remember him? Exposition character to fill in plot holes?

Yeah, I was tired of maskless Spiderman battles and the sillyness of Parker always finding his mask after it's ripped from him.

They didn't need to revisit Uncle Ben's death...Wolverine's origins...enough already. At least X-Men 3, another flawed sequel, was wise enough to let go of that (until the Wolverine movie is made!).