So a few comments:
1) Why yes, the crane thing was ridiculously stupid
2) What did they change about Ben's death? The key points I see are (a) the last thing Peter said to him was an insult (b) Peter could have stopped the killer but didn't. What was missing?
3) I really enjoyed the movie. Really did. I didn't think the acting, screenplay, or visuals (other than the Lizard) were too bad. I'm not going to call bias, cause that's stupid. From the first trailer, you thought this looked bad and I thought it looked good. When the movie came out, you didn't like it and I did. That's not bias; that's having individualistic taste.
But I will say this: Bob, if this movie does well, don't be depressed that its because film studios are tricking people into seeing a lazy Spider-Man movie. It will do well because a lot of people liked it. Whether you condemn the process that led to its creation or not, the result satisfied a lot of people. Green Lantern bombed because everyone hated it. If this does well, its because you are in the minority (which is fine; personally I hate X-2, but whatever), but the rest of us have a right to enjoy are movie and hope it performs well in the box office.