Summer Movies

I've mentioned several times in this space that this summer's crop of movies is one of the more promising sets I've seen in recent years. There have been some disappointments, some not-as-good-as-it-could-have-been-but-lets-give-the-trailer-makers-an-Oscar offerings, one movie I definitely liked more than the 'rents, and if we're willing to go backwards a few months, one movie that shows why books are often a better story telling medium than movies.

Normally that quartet would be more than enough for an entire summer. Fortunately for yours truly there are still two 80s toy franchise movies still to come, one big-gay-Austrian satirist, a gratuitously violent look at WWII, a movie that should actually be good, and another proof that books are often better than movies (although the movies can be fun too). The early buzz on this one is pretty bad, although the previews look pretty sweet, so I'll have to wait and see how awful the reviews are, and I wish this one was playing in the theater across the street from me, cause it looks awesome!

By my count that makes 12 movies this summer that I'd like to go see. I'll probably end up missing a few of them, but that's an incredibly deep list of movies that at least have the potential to be entertaining. Now, I'm not counting on any of these movies cracking my "3 movies on a deserted island that has a 50HD tv, DVD player and infinite power source for the two" list (Casablanca, Princess Bride, Star Wars), but I wasn't disappointed (too much) by either Terminator or Watchmen. Wolverine I knew would suck going into the theater (couldn't convince my friends that it really was going to be that bad - I mean, the helicopter exploded twice! The love interest died, twice!), but Star Trek was thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. I'll agree with my maternal unit's assessment that the plot sucked - Romulan miners from the future come to kill the Federation, and give the writers an excuse to retcon whatever they want - but there wasn't a slow moment throughout the entire thing, I thought the casting was great, the dialogue was fun, and the more successes movies like that have the more likely my space opera craving will be hit (come on, do a Serenity sequel already!!!!)

It's rare that any "action" movie can stand the test of time: Star Wars 4-6 (and people will ding me on the Ewoks), Indy 1 &3, Terminator 2, Matrix, Top Gun, Fifth Element (although that's more of a cult following), Die Hard, Gladiator (does this count?). That's 11 movies going back over 30 years, less than the total coming out this summer. Basically what I'm saying is that summer movies are like one night stands - you're doing it for fun, not trying to find a life partner. That's why I have to disagree with the Maternal Unit's assessment of Star Trek. I contend it was fun, and that's really all I'm looking for. If my life depended on it I'd say that none of the movies from this summer will join the list that started this paragraph, although I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised. That said (which is apparently my trade-mark typed saying (thanks sis)), I'm extremely happy with the direction that Hollywood is going this summer. Before Spiderman and the Lord of the Rings movies, most of my nerd interests had about a 0% chance of actually making it onto the big screen. These days it seems like its more of a question of when, not if (although this holy grail really needs to get green lit).

All I'm saying is that as a self professed nerd, the movie titles this summer make me happy! Now lets just hope some of the actual celluloid (or digital bits and bytes as the case may be) can live up to the names.