RECAPPING THE SUMMER MOVIE SEASON!
While this summer hasn't exactly been a blockbuster season, some definite big films have come out, some surprising us with their superhero goodness, and some disappointing us with....Johnny Depp as a vampire. With no further introduction, here's a look at some of the most prolific movies of the summer, and maybe there's one you haven't seen:
The summer officially kicked off back in May with "The Avengers" premiering with the biggest box-office weekend ever, eventually getting up to over a billion dollars. While parts of the movie felt a little bloated, I think it was all worth it just to see every Marvel superhero together fighting Loki (except Spider-Man, who always gets left in the dust). With this mammoth of a franchise left theaters, the dust settled with...well, some major disappointments. Disappointment number one rolled around with Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows." When even Johnny Depp seems lame in a vampire movie, you know you're doing something wrong, "Dark Shadows" sucked all the life out of me at the end of May.
The next few films released weren't much better...while "Men in Black 3" did bring back some nostalgic memories of the '96 original, "Rock of Ages" made me want to borrow "Men in Black's" mind eraser. As appealing as Tom Cruise gyrating in leather pants was to some people, I couldn't get on board with it, or the fact that "Glee" and "American Idol" have already stomped and smashed the 80's karaoke-singing genre to death.
What did make me want to sing was a one-two combination of movies I saw early July, heading into a time in the summer one might have called...unbearable. With temperatures reaching 300 degrees outside, the movie theater was an even more welcome escape than usual, and no movie took me farther from Virginia then in "Brave," featuring an all Scottish cast. The movie's no "Finding Nemo" or "Toy Story" by Pixar standards, but it was enough to subdue the 1100 six year olds surrounding me with 3D glasses for 90 minutes. That was the Goliath of the animated season, the David came in the form of a tiny indie called "Moonrise Kingdom," one of my favorite films of the year, about two pre-teens trying to make it out on their own after the boy escapes from his Boy Scout troop. With Bill Murray as the grandfather, don't be surprised if you see this little movie walk home with a trunk full of Oscars.
That left the two most anticipated superhero movies of the year, both coming out within two weeks of each other. Now "The Amazing Spider-Man" was great, don't get me wrong. The film had a great plot, Emma Stone, solid performances, Emma Stone, a really sinister villain you could relate to, plus Emma Stone! Those were several great attributes, but I have to give the movie of the summer to "The Dark Knight Rises." Even though Bane looked like he had something on that you'd wear after a root canal (extra points if you could understand a full sentence he said), he was a terrific bad guy, and along with Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, "TDKR" was the most satisfying conclusion to the Batman series anyone could ever want.
So that was a recap of the summer movie season. I know the Katy Perry documentary came out last month, but I had tickets to a paint drying competition the same weekend, so I chose to go to that instead. Sorry!
The summer officially kicked off back in May with "The Avengers" premiering with the biggest box-office weekend ever, eventually getting up to over a billion dollars. While parts of the movie felt a little bloated, I think it was all worth it just to see every Marvel superhero together fighting Loki (except Spider-Man, who always gets left in the dust). With this mammoth of a franchise left theaters, the dust settled with...well, some major disappointments. Disappointment number one rolled around with Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows." When even Johnny Depp seems lame in a vampire movie, you know you're doing something wrong, "Dark Shadows" sucked all the life out of me at the end of May.The next few films released weren't much better...while "Men in Black 3" did bring back some nostalgic memories of the '96 original, "Rock of Ages" made me want to borrow "Men in Black's" mind eraser. As appealing as Tom Cruise gyrating in leather pants was to some people, I couldn't get on board with it, or the fact that "Glee" and "American Idol" have already stomped and smashed the 80's karaoke-singing genre to death.
What did make me want to sing was a one-two combination of movies I saw early July, heading into a time in the summer one might have called...unbearable. With temperatures reaching 300 degrees outside, the movie theater was an even more welcome escape than usual, and no movie took me farther from Virginia then in "Brave," featuring an all Scottish cast. The movie's no "Finding Nemo" or "Toy Story" by Pixar standards, but it was enough to subdue the 1100 six year olds surrounding me with 3D glasses for 90 minutes. That was the Goliath of the animated season, the David came in the form of a tiny indie called "Moonrise Kingdom," one of my favorite films of the year, about two pre-teens trying to make it out on their own after the boy escapes from his Boy Scout troop. With Bill Murray as the grandfather, don't be surprised if you see this little movie walk home with a trunk full of Oscars.
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| One of the summer's biggest surprises |
So that was a recap of the summer movie season. I know the Katy Perry documentary came out last month, but I had tickets to a paint drying competition the same weekend, so I chose to go to that instead. Sorry!
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