This summer, I have so many examples of how Audiences were smart and stayed away from really bad films, but then there's Transformers, (oh wait, I kind of enjoyed that.) So anyway, audiences on some weird subconscious level, seem to be getting smart. YAY!
I swore that I didn't see that many movies this summer, until I started looking at the list of films that came out and was reminded. I've seen SO MANY MOVIES THIS SUMMER. Anyway, lets do the rundown.
Awesomeness
1. Star Trek - Do I need to say anything else other then, I've seen it 4 times. Ugh. Science Fiction, if it's too scifi, I get turned off, but if it gets more whipcracking action pop culturally savvy, I'm all in. I just can't help it. This movie rocked! I watched all the old Star Trek films leading to this one, and there was not one I could stay awake in, not one, until I saw the new one.
District 9 - Whoa. If you haven't seen this yet, DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILER. Just go to the theatre and be prepared to be blown away. Not for the faint hearted. This movie just rocks.
Up - It's pixar! But alas, the magical spell did not work on me quite as much as others. Awesome. Structurally Sound. Well made. Beautiful. But something in it left me a little cool. It's the whole father son complex thing (yeah, like my, not loving nemo thing. I'm an outkast I tell you.)
I swore that I didn't see that many movies this summer, until I started looking at the list of films that came out and was reminded. I've seen SO MANY MOVIES THIS SUMMER. Anyway, lets do the rundown.
Awesomeness
1. Star Trek - Do I need to say anything else other then, I've seen it 4 times. Ugh. Science Fiction, if it's too scifi, I get turned off, but if it gets more whipcracking action pop culturally savvy, I'm all in. I just can't help it. This movie rocked! I watched all the old Star Trek films leading to this one, and there was not one I could stay awake in, not one, until I saw the new one.
I'm going to have think about my scifi street cred, because uh, I don't think I have any.
(500) Days of Summer - Awesome. You take my brain and personality. And you put it into a movie, and it probably looks something like this. I know a few people who didn't like it that much, or didn't get it, but damn if it didn't work for me. Casting a magical spell over the trials and tribulations of love and dating today. And this is all purely subjective because everyone is different, but this one was for me.
District 9 - Whoa. If you haven't seen this yet, DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILER. Just go to the theatre and be prepared to be blown away. Not for the faint hearted. This movie just rocks.
The Hangover - Come on. This movie had an amazing marketing campaign, and it almost lived up to it. It was HELLA funny. Was it hella good. Doesn't matter. It sacrificed goodness for awesomeness, and sometimes that's all you can ask for. I know that Los Vegas was glad this movie came out, because it reminded all the youngish to middle agish guys that they should be in Vegas. (ugh. my head already hurts.)
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince - I thought The Hangover was the funniest movie of the year hands down, til I saw this. This damn movie had me rolling. Well made, beautiful, a little slow, but speedy towards the end. Potter films are great to see to visit their world. Yeah, they're not anywhere near as good as the books, but hey, fuck it! I'm just glad to be there and see it. No matter how much they change the story.
Up - It's pixar! But alas, the magical spell did not work on me quite as much as others. Awesome. Structurally Sound. Well made. Beautiful. But something in it left me a little cool. It's the whole father son complex thing (yeah, like my, not loving nemo thing. I'm an outkast I tell you.)
Drag Me To Hell - Totally Gross. You laugh, you cringe, you turn away, it was like Inglourious Basterds but tighter(thankgod) and made on the cheap. For anyone who loved Sam Raimi before Spider-Man, this was like a gross out love letter.
Great to Enjoyable with some Reservations
The Hurt Locker - Some might say that the measure of a good film is it's escapist aspect, the fantasy element, leaving the theater feeling good. And then there's The Hurt Locker. For those who want to get a little deeper, but not too deep than your typical action movie. It's looks like a character study that doesn't really want to give you too much details about the character. It wants to let you fill in the blanks. But what it really is is an exploration of the very realistic idea of the ultimate adrenaline junkie in the ultimate job. But if you want to dump all that psychological crap, it will also thrill and shock and leave you on the edge of your seats.
GI Joe - Hehe. This is what Transformers 1 shoulda coulda been like, oh without Steven Spielberg to want it to have a little substance, and without Michael Bay to want it to be Bay-Riffic. Stupid, but fun as hell. Great scenes. Bad Scenes that make you laugh without taking you out of the film. Yeah, there were some missed opportunities and it's derivative as hell, but you smile the whole time.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Oh, How could such a terrible movie make so much damn money. Hmmm... let me count the ways.
Land of the Lost - What a bad idea for a movie? A 70's tv show no one remembers and Will Farrell comedy. Really? Universal? Someone needs to get punished for this film. When you advertise a movie to be the biggest, biggest, biggest thing ever, you have a recipe for Big Flop!
Public Enemies - I fell asleep 10 times. That's all I'm gonna say.
The Brothers Bloom - Funny, beautiful, well told, well acted. Such a solid movie that was not for everyone (well almost no one saw it), but really good nonetheless. Who knew that the Maker of "Brick" would create the movie that Wes Anderson just can't seem to make anymore.
Great to Enjoyable with some Reservations
Ice Age 3 - A Movie for kids, but a lot of fun nonetheless, I really wish it could be in the top tier, but it's Ice Age, I just can't. But it was sooo muchhh funnnnn...
Inglourious Basterds - Ah, Tarantino. I wish you could separate the Writer from the Director. Such a beautifully made film, but perhaps not crafted well, no oversight from anyone other than Tarantino. Too Long. Too talky. Too Lazily shaped. I mean really, do all of his films need Cards. It's LAZY! (some will say it's his style. Whatever. IT'S LAZY!)
But then again, It's amazing. AMAZINGLY Acted. AMAZINGLY shot. There are scenes in this film that blow away anything in theaters today. Like really. Without even breaking a sweat, this guy creates riveting and powerful scenes that will like haunt you for days. Ah, just if the damn connective tissue was better.
So as it is, Tarantino gets BETTER and WORSE as he continues his career.
The Hurt Locker - Some might say that the measure of a good film is it's escapist aspect, the fantasy element, leaving the theater feeling good. And then there's The Hurt Locker. For those who want to get a little deeper, but not too deep than your typical action movie. It's looks like a character study that doesn't really want to give you too much details about the character. It wants to let you fill in the blanks. But what it really is is an exploration of the very realistic idea of the ultimate adrenaline junkie in the ultimate job. But if you want to dump all that psychological crap, it will also thrill and shock and leave you on the edge of your seats.
GI Joe - Hehe. This is what Transformers 1 shoulda coulda been like, oh without Steven Spielberg to want it to have a little substance, and without Michael Bay to want it to be Bay-Riffic. Stupid, but fun as hell. Great scenes. Bad Scenes that make you laugh without taking you out of the film. Yeah, there were some missed opportunities and it's derivative as hell, but you smile the whole time.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Oh, How could such a terrible movie make so much damn money. Hmmm... let me count the ways.
1. It was enjoyable. I've been flogged so often for this statement that your picks cannot hurt me anymore.
2. Robot fighting. Good, bad, doesn't matter. We love it.
3. Hot girls. Megan Fox, and the other one with the frightening tongue. Pointless Hot Girls.
4. A consolidation of what people seemed to like from the first one. No one cared about the story of a Boy and Alien robot. Weak. So they didn't really create a story. When you have alien robots, does logic matter. Nah, fuck it. Does anyone care about anything other then Megan Fox running around. Nope. So we can just focus on nothing but... Megan Fox running around and Robots beating the crap out of each other. Oh wait, but that's like an hour of the film, okay, well add in some other shit. Bay has a bunch of great ideas for things that would be really really cool. Great, add them in. Oh, and you know people complained that it wasn't like the TV show, okay, we can steal from that too.
Adios Spielberg touches, hello more Michael Bay + More Transformers the TV show.
This was Bay's opus. His epic. This was ALL BAY, ALL THE TIME. No more then during this movie, did we see why his teaming with Jerry Bruckheimer was a good thing. Bruck cared a little about story and what the audience might want. Bay only cares about himself and his own sensibilities. This was like that scene in Being John Malkovich, when he goes into his own head.
Now as far as audiences cared, if you look at items 1, 2 &3, that was apparently more appealing then the downside of Baydom.
Side note: This movie was horrifically racist, down t its bones. It was done to be funny, and to me and many many others, some of it was funny, but it was funny to me in the same way that when you watch Borat, or any of its lets bash all cultures ilk, you laugh, but then go home feeling dirty.
Turkeys (And not in the bowling way.)
Terminator Salvation - There is a good 30 minutes in here. And they come before the mid-point. That left a lot of time for bad movie. There were some good ideas in here, then again there were some real stinkers. Did I miss Arnold? HELL YEAH!!! No one can set the Terminator tone better then he can, and this movie was bleak. It looked good, but that ain't enough. Although, it did have Sam Worthington, future star of tomorrow today in it, so i guess it wasn't that abysmal. Speaking of Abysmal ---
Time Traveler's Wife - I was bamboozled by a really good trailer. There was more emotion in the trailer, because of that damn Lifehouse Song "Broken"(99centsItunesplug) then there was in the damn short 90 minute movie. Don't see the movie. Buy the song.
Terminator Salvation - There is a good 30 minutes in here. And they come before the mid-point. That left a lot of time for bad movie. There were some good ideas in here, then again there were some real stinkers. Did I miss Arnold? HELL YEAH!!! No one can set the Terminator tone better then he can, and this movie was bleak. It looked good, but that ain't enough. Although, it did have Sam Worthington, future star of tomorrow today in it, so i guess it wasn't that abysmal. Speaking of Abysmal ---
Time Traveler's Wife - I was bamboozled by a really good trailer. There was more emotion in the trailer, because of that damn Lifehouse Song "Broken"(99centsItunesplug) then there was in the damn short 90 minute movie. Don't see the movie. Buy the song.
No, but seriously, I really really liked the book. This movie doesn't even make me want to read the book. If I saw it without reading it, I'd be like why the hell did they make this into a movie. FOR ALL THOSE WHO WANT TO ADAPT a BOOK INTO A MOVIE, see the film and see how IT IS NOT TO BE DONE LIKE. You take a book, and you reshape it into a movie, this movie took paragraphs and dialogue and just cut and pasted it into a script. And then it was over. Story doesn't work like that! ACK! Twilight is a better movie then this!
But! in its defense. It is a beautifully shot, well acted movie.
Land of the Lost - What a bad idea for a movie? A 70's tv show no one remembers and Will Farrell comedy. Really? Universal? Someone needs to get punished for this film. When you advertise a movie to be the biggest, biggest, biggest thing ever, you have a recipe for Big Flop!
Public Enemies - I fell asleep 10 times. That's all I'm gonna say.
So that's it. That's summer. Next summer might be good, it might be bad, it will be less due to Hollywood cost cutting cause of the economy and dvd sales. But it will always be FUN!!
Keep on Truckin!
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