08.30.07
The Summer Season Wrap Up
The summer of the threequel has come to an end. Hollywood has unleashed its biggest guns and according to the box office it has paid off but what about for you and me, the devoted moviegoer, did we get what he paid for? Like most summer that answer is loaded with arguments for both sides of the coin.
DUDS
A film can be a dud even if it skimmed by with a 3/5 from this lover of cinema. A dud is just a film that failed to exceed expectations or even worse turning out to be a complete piece of trash.
Shrek 3 - DreamWorks (the assholes who recently ditched blu-ray for HD-DVD) released a big giant green shaped turd this summer and his name was Shrek. Whatever last leg this franchise was standing on was sawed off and fed to the nearby cannibals. Jokes are reversed as not to appear recycled. Characters remain stiff and two-dimensional. The animation style is dated when compared to Pixar who is constantly upping the ante in that department. It’s a franchise that families can’t seem to stay away from and that needs to over dose on pixie dust.
Rush Hour 3 – Falls into a lot of the same pit falls as most of the threequals that came out this summer. More of the same old thing. Nothing fresh to offer. Even the stars are looking older and tired of running around with the same old routine. Jackie Chan does none of the awesome stunts that made Rush Hour 2 so much fun. Chris Tucker tries almost too hard and rehashes his singing bit and the “I don’t understand you” bit. A lame attempt at tying this up, as some sort of trilogy cannot disguise that nobody involved seems to care anymore, and neither should we.
Sunshine - I don’t blame Danny Boyle for trying. Every filmmaker secretly wants to make his or her very own masterpiece in the vein of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Boyle came awfully close until he throws it all away for a third act that destroys the ambiance of the first two acts. I wouldn’t be so hard on the film but it starts off so promising and then just descends into mediocrity so easily, falling back on every cliché that these kinds of films are riddled with. A team of scientists stuck on a ship. Will they each die one by one? Will they turn on each other? Will they search another ship? The answers should surprise no one familiar with the genre.
Good but slightly disappointed.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - I am a slight apologist for this bloated and uninspired end to the Pirates saga. While I walked away impressed with its ballsy ending I was surrounded by disappointed sighs and charlie horsed butt cheeks. The films three hour running time was a true endurance test for your derrière. Some didn’t enjoy the franchise leaping head first into the fantasy genre, almost without warning. Still even with its pleasant surprises one can’t help but complain that at three hours this film at times feels aimless and lost at sea until its almost thrilling finale.
Hot Fuzz - In hindsight I truly am sick and tired of every comedy running two hours and sometimes even longer. A word to the wise, I can only laugh so long until I tire of it. Lets embrace the concise nature of the 90-minute comedy. Non-stop laughs, not too much story, and ends right as your face begins to hurt from all that grinning. Hot Fuzz succeeds mostly but fizzles out in its mid section.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer – I enjoyed this film for what it offered but two glaring aspects may hurt my opinion of it as I revisit it on home video. 1) Its short running time limits the scope of the storytelling. 90 minutes just isn’t enough time to explore all of the relationship possibilities with the fab four. The best comic book films run at least two hours. 2) Galactus – yeah a big giant cloud of dust. I’ll never get over that one.
Stardust - You can read my recent review as to why I was not impressed with this wannabe fantasy film. I just can’t bring myself to complain about it anymore.
Winners
Transformers – An empty, shallow, yet entertaining cartoon becomes an empty, shallow, and very entertaining feature film. Transformers knew what it had to do and it did it just right. It’s the very reason we go to the movies in the summer time: beat the heat and watch giant robots blow everything up. Michael Bay doesn’t squeeze any false sentimentality out of the proceedings and gives you the bots with as little filler as possible.
Spiderman 3 - My problems with Venom aside, if you pretend this movie is just about Spidey and Sandman then it becomes a truly phenomenal end to this segment of the web crawler’s film adventures. Sam Raimi continues the formula that worked so well and manages to evolve the characters each to a very satisfying conclusion. Now you really can’t ignore how terribly underplayed the Venom/Black Suit saga was done so its up to you how much of a deal breaker that is, but for me it wasn’t enough to sour me on this great comic book film.
The Simpson’s Movie - If you didn’t find something to love about the Simpson’s movie I pity your immortal soul. TV-to-film movies don’t get any better then this. Its full of truly well written jokes, the characters all get their moment to shine, and the tone remains true to the Simpson’s that made us truly care about this dysfunctional yet charming family.
Beyond Winning. Downright Greatness.
Once - The indie musical that will make you forget that you hate indie musicals. The music is where this film shines. Sounds like a brilliant mix tape of unknown artists when compared to Hollywood’s flamboyant and loud counterparts. The story is simple, as it should be, and just allows the music to sweep you away and win you over.
Grind house – If you didn’t catch this one in theaters then you will never understand how Death Proof, and Planet Terror made for the perfect double billing. Never before has the ten-dollar movie ticket been worth every penny. Going down as one of the best films of the year in my book.
Sicko – Michael Moore is his own worst enemy. Most will not sit down to watch it simply because he made it and that will be their loss. Never before has he so fairly displayed a topic that nobody can possibly refute. Healthcare is a hot button issue that will surely drive the next presidential election. You can thank Mr. Moore if one day you can pay $5 dollars for your mother’s medicine.
Final Thoughts
Like every summer you get a healthy mix of good, great, and downright awful movies. Comparing summers is about as useful as wondering which side of an apple you should eat first. Every year I hope the next summer’s offerings can just give me more of what I love and less of what I hate. Lets hope Iron Man, Batman Dark Knight, and Indiana Jones 4 can live up to the hype.
(yes the caps are part of the official title.) While some would love to charge Mr. Lynch with just throwing three hours of abstract craziness at his audience I would argue he is doing nothing of the sort. What you may not recognize right away can develop into a form of understanding the more you allow the film to settle in your mind. The trick is not to be so easily thrown off by some of his outstandingly intuitive visuals. If you think of it was as art-in-motion then you are taking the first step to discovering what’s so beautifully complex about this film. INLAND EMPIRE should not be your first David Lynch film and its a wonderful companion piece to his previous masterpiece Mulholland Dr.. Dare yourself to move beyond comprehension and you may at last discover it.
as a piece of pop art but theirs something alluring about its fearless nature to move pass your expectations and drop unexpected bombs all over you during its slim running time. Watching this film in theaters was a very interesting social psychological experience because everyone found something different to laugh at on screen. Some moments you’d hear one person laugh and it would continue to spread itself out in this manner. ATHF lays it all out there for you and leaves it up to you to pick the bits that you find amusing. Its like a comedy buffet where you choose when to laugh. This is another one that should truly be for fans only but perhaps it’s fitting to see this film and INLAND EMPIRE released in the same week. Theirs something randomly humorous about that, and yet I’m not sure why.
is extravagant spectacle at its best. It’s an experience that remains fully on the surface for its brisk two hour running time. Bringing Frank Millers book to life as perfectly as his last successful adaptation; Sin City. Gerard Butler makes a name for himself as King Leonidas and gets the award for catch phrase of the year. 
. I would label this one as a must-see rental for the week. Fans of Shaun will find plenty of laughs and the action movie references are inspired. Its only downfall is its over long running time. Much of the middle of the film could be cut down especially some of the more unnecessary plot twists. Still I can’t harp on the film too much for giving you quite a good number of old’ fashioned belly laughs but after 90 minutes you may be all laughed out with 30 minutes left to go. I can’t wait to see what genre this great team takes on next. Check out my film review section for a more detailed look at this movie.
