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Ah, yes. Summer time is here. Time for Hollywood to uleash the hordes of big-budget, soulless popcorn films on the world. I haven’t written a review in a little over a month, but that’s mainly because there has not been much to report. I haven’t seen all the movies in release so far this summer, but I have seen quite a few…and I must say, that this is far and away the worst summer movie season I can remember. So, instead of writing lots of scathing, long-winded reviews of all the movies I’ve seen this summer…I decided to write several very short ones. Enjoy!
The Good
Drag Me To Hell– Far and away the most fun I’ve had at a movie this summer. Sam Raimi returns to his horror/comedy roots with a perfect movie for our times…a horror movie about the mortgage crisis. It’s the perfect blend of Raimi’s Evil Dead sensibilities and his Spider-Man production values. And Alison Lohman is perfect in the lead.
The Hangover– Judging by the box-office numbers, many of you have already seen this film…and that is a good thing. Todd Phillips(no relation to me…though I do, oddly enough, have a brother named Todd) returns to the form he showed in the surprisingly good movies Road Trip and Old School with another raucous comedy about grown men doing incredibly stupid shit. A really good script holds together from beginning to end, and actually makes the leads into real characters, not just stock comedy “types.” Zach Galif…whatever his name is steals every scene.
UP– Pixar has made only one bad movie. And this is not it. I’m looking at you Cars. Once again, Pixar makes a movie that can entertain anyone.
Public Enemies– Michael Mann has never made a bad movie. Period. And nobody can stage a shootout better. Depp and Bale both deliver the goods here, and Marion Cotillard is wonderful too. Shot in HD, this film actually manages to look better than film. One of the most beautifully shot films I’ve seen in a long time. This is the best film of the summer…and hopefully will be remembered come awards season.
Away We Go– Sure, it’s a bit pompous and pretentious, even smug at times. But so am I. And those faults didn’t bother me in the least. I really liked this story…though the photography of the film could have used some work. And the soundtrack is excellent.
The Bad
Year One– Those of you hoping for a return to comedic form for director Harold Ramis (Caddyshack, Groundhog day) prepare to be disappointed. This one is totally empty.
The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3– Another lousy, over-edited work of nothing from director Tony Scott. He needs to take a lesson or two from big brother Ridley, and find something interesting to do.
The Brothers Bloom– From the director of Brick, this should have been really good. I was very much looking forward to it. Complete waste of a wonderful cast, except for Rachel Weisz, who is wonderful in her role. Feels like a watered down version of Wes Anderson. We already got that in The Darjeeling Limited.
The Ugly
Terminator Salvation– A top notch production, with absolutely nothing interesting to say, or do. Christian Bale phones it in here, with nothing remotely close to a character to play. Apparently, after reading the script early last year, Bale told director McG that he wouldn’t do the movie until the script was up to snuff. If this is the script that was up to snuff…I would hate to read the one he passed on. Also, there is a ten minute sequence near the end where the Terminator…the mindless, one job to do and that is to kill, cyborg, spends lots of time bothering to beat up a human…instead of just ripping his head off. Seriously. Not just one of the worst of the summer…maybe one of the worst all year.
Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen– Even the trailer was awful. Shame on you, America for giving these people 200 million dollars of you money.
Land of The Lost– A really interesting looking film, that is just not that funny, or interesting.
Worst. Summer. Ever. There is still hope, though. The coming weeks will be bringing us the likes of Bruno, The new Harry Potter film, Tarantino’s long awaited Inglorious Basterds, and Judd Apatow’s third film Funny People. Hopefully at least one of these movies will live up to expectations. Seeing as this is my Summer Movie Review…I have left out the smaller, indie films I have seen recently…and there have been some good ones. That review should be coming inmmenently. Until then, I say go and have your fun, Monkeywhalers…and see a good movie every now and again.
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July 6th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Pat’s Craptacular Summer-So-Far Review: Time for Hollywood to uleash the hordes of big-budget, soulless popc.. http://bit.ly/B0jKx
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