Sep
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Summer Movie Season Post-Mortem
Filed Under Blockbusters, Movies
Well, it’s Labor Day. I guess the summer movie season is pretty much over. I skipped all the bombs dropped this weekend — “Babylon A.D.,” “Traitor” and “Disaster Movie” — and went to a midnight showing of Walter Hill’s “The Warriors” at the Nuart instead. This was a dodgy summer for movies, all things considered. I passed on a bunch of flicks I’d have otherwise seen a year or two ago. So in the tradition of those lame “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” essays we all had to write in school, here’s my seasonal wrap-up.
The Best Movie(s) of the Summer:
“Iron Man” and “The Dark Knight” in a tie. These two films represent not only superhero movies at their best, but blockbuster filmmaking at its most confident and satisfying. In a summer that was lousy with superhero filums, it was lousy with them in the best possible way. The one-two punch of “Iron Man” and “The Dark Knight” this summer revitalized a sub-genre I felt had been exhausted. Good on the filmmakers. Now, let’s hear some sequel-talk.
The Worst Movie of the Summer:
“Cthulhu” is a movie that’s a game-changer in terms of overall badness. I almost made it through the entire summer without seeing a single movie that I actually hated as much as terrorism. In fact, “Cthulhu” is terrorism. I was terrified it would never end.
The Best Movie of the Summer You Didn’t See:
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” should’ve come out in October, not a week before “The Dark Knight.” What was Universal thinking, dumping a perfectly good monster movie in the middle of the summer movie season? “Hellboy II” is something that’d work much better during the run-up to Halloween. The first “Hellboy” was a sleeper hit because it wasn’t wedged between a Will Smith P.O.S. that everyone saw anyway and Heath Ledger’s final completed performance. The film deserved better, it deserved to be released in a less competitive and cutthroat season.
The Weakest Reboot of the Summer:
“The Incredible Hulk” is an improvement upon Ang Lee’s “Hulk,” but that’s like saying “Attack of the Clones” is better than “The Phantom Menace.” Being less misguided, less boring, and less sucky isn’t really much of an improvement upon anything. It’s a movie I tried to like — twice. I love the Hulk more than I probably should. But as far as I’m concerned, “The Incredible Hulk” TV series is the best adaptation of the character. I don’t need any more reboots or soft sequels to remind me, thank you.
The Best Indie Movie of the Summer:
“Frozen River” is a movie I didn’t write a review for. I’m simply much better at lamenting than complimenting. But Courtney Hunt’s debut film about a trailer park denizen (Melissa Leo) who begins smuggling illegals into the U.S. across via the titular body of water that runs through an Indian Reservation is as engaging and powerful as indies get. Leo’s an actress I was relatively unfamiliar with, yet she’s just as entitled to all the praise the specter of Heath Ledger’s getting for “The Dark Knight.” When awards season rolls around, I’d like to hear this film and Leo in particular get some notices. This isn’t a movie where some glam actress puts on some weight and wears Billy Bob teeth. This is a film that feels much more lived in and authentic than those phony-baloney Hollywood movies with dressed down starlets trying to curry favor among Academy voters.
The Worst Trailer of the Summer:
“The Love Guru” gets the nod for this one. What an insufferably stupid montage of unfunny. This horrorshow of a trailer is the very reason I didn’t see “Iron Man” more times.
The Best Comedy of the Summer:
“Tropic Thunder” will get zero nominations from Academy voters and probably not make any hoity-toity critic’s Top 10 list. I still had a retarded good time watching it. The single line, “Mother Nature just pissed in her pantsuit!” is better than most people’s ears deserve. This is a comedy that goes after spoiled celebrities in such a way that TMZ and all the other tentacles of the paparazzi-enriching infotainment leviathan can never hope to achieve. It’s actually funny. Our culture of late has become infatuated with kicking real-life celebs while they’re down and laughing with sadistic glee. I don’t quite get that. But I get “Tropic Thunder.” Leave the full celebutards alone!
The Lamest Thing That Happened at the Movies This Summer:
The fire alarm going off about thirty minutes into “The Dark Knight” takes the prize.
The Best Thing That Happened at the Movies This Summer:
I managed to avoid seeing a trailer for “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.”
And there you have it, my summer at the movies. I’m not sure if I’ve grown up, or if the movies have dumbed or, if it’s a combination of the two. All things considered, I felt the output was fairly anemic. Maybe next year things’ll be better. Otherwise, the Nuart’s going to be seeing a lot more of me.
-Brad Lohan
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““The Incredible Hulk” is an improvement upon Ang Lee’s “Hulk,” but that’s like saying “Attack of the Clones” is better than “The Phantom Menace.”
Ah. More SW Prequel bashing. I’m out of here.
You will be missed.