summer movie review...so far

Well, summer is almost over and it has been a decent one on the movie end of things. While there are several films I did not get to see, here's what I thought of the ones I did, all of which would fall in the summer blockbuster category. These would be in the order in which I saw them.

1. Wolverine: X-Men Origins - I didn't really care to see this at first. Liked the first X-Men, loved part 2, thought part 3 was a giant excuse to have indecipherable battles; so my expectations were low for this. But it wasn't bad at all. Hugh Jackman is fun in most films and this one let his Wolverine character loose. There was a little bit of a nice back story involving his desire to live a normal life with the woman he loves and then, of course, the conflict begins. It was fun exploring some of his back story and seeing where the anger and rage comes from. Nothing to well developed, this wasn't high art or anything, but it was fun. Grade: B-

2. Star Trek - I was looking forward to seeing this from last summer's teaser trailers. It really didn't disappoint. Again, not exactly high art but tons of fun and everything that makes Star Trek fun for the masses. I'm sure some Trekkies were disappointed for a variety of reasons, but I thought JJ Abrams did a good job of paying homage to the original while taking it in a new direction. The opening 45 minutes were filled with more laughs than special effects and that was welcome too. Sometimes Star Trek takes itself too seriously and a little levity was appreciated. If the series continues along these lines, I think it will have legs for years to come.
Grade: B

3. Up - While I will admit that I am prone to enjoy almost any Pixar film, this one really blew me away. I thought they wouldn't be able to top Wall-E in terms of plot, storyline, and execution. I was wrong. This story was so simple yet absolutely perfectly told. There was so much for kids to enjoy (both of mine were just completely take with it) while deeper issues of loneliness, loss, love, and letting go of the past were examined at the same time. Watching the old man drag his house around with him as he searched for the lost city was just so sad and beautiful. His heartache at losing his wife after so many years and his willingness to try to let someone into his life were very real. I loved watching this story unfold and it did so delicately, slowly, and beautifully. With the Oscar fields expanding to 10 films, I wouldn't be surprised to see this one get serious consideration for a nomination for Best Picture. Grade: A+

4. Transformers 2 - There are two angles on this. The first comes from knowing what I was getting into having watched the first Transformers movie. From that angle, this didn't disappoint nor did it alter very much. It was fun, exciting, action packed, humorous, and had lots of pretty dazzling special effects. The second angle comes from a story angle and it's there that this movie just loses everything. The plot is about 1cm deep. There's approximately 2 minutes of back story/narrative exposition. There are giant leaps in the story that don't make sense and some of the characters are so ridiculously stereotyped it makes you wonder if Michael Bay has met real live human beings (check out "michael bay storyboards the great gatsby, just google it, hilarious, that's where I draw that last comment). I think part of what drives me crazy about this is this movie was basically considered family fare and had some rather gratuitous sexual scenes, language, and just misogynistic overtones. Beyond that, I wanted to throttle the parents sitting in the rows in front of me who brought their 8 year old children who basically were hiding under their seats during some of the Decepticon scenes. It's PG-13 for a reason people. Anyway, it bugs me that this has now surpassed Lord of the Rings: Return of the King on the all time money list and that there are articles calling Transformers 2 "this year's Dark Knight". No it's not. It's eye candy for sure, but it is not a good movie. Grade: C

5. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - This may be my second favorite of the series after Prisoner of Azkaban. I really enjoyed the slow pacing and humor involved in much of the film. It's refreshing to see that this film isn't just being taken in a "let's blow people away with effects" direction that guys like Michael Bay do things. Anyone who's read the books knows what's coming up in the next two films and this movie served to set those films up well. Yes, there's decidedly less action than the previous film, but the characters are just so well rounded now. And being a Christian, I love that this series wrestles so deeply with issues of love, hate, sacrifice, friendship, loyalty, determination, and good vs. evil. It doesn't take an easy way out but shows the difficulty even the best people have with living the higher virtues out. And beyond that, could we ask for a more wonderful, chaste exploration of romance than the Harry Potter series? A brief kiss between Harry and Ginny, a desperate longing look of "don't you notice me" from Hermoine to Ron, Harry comforting Hermione after she has her heart broken again by Ron, Hermione's unwillingness to settle for a jerky guy who wants to use her - these are the kinds of things we should be celebrating. What a great presentation of real love and romance, something that goes beyond who's hooking up with whom. And while some can get caught up in the magic issue (namely how the Bible views magic/sorcery), and I don't want to disparage that, I personally find so much more here, the magic is just a surface thing, it's not what this is really about. This is an epic presentation of good vs. evil and the love and sacrifice necessary for good to overcome. Grade: A

6. G.I. Joe - You could pretty much toss this into the same review as Transformers 2. It's a lot of eye candy, very little plot, and lots of blowing stuff up. I guess since I collected these things like crazy and watched the TV show every day, I wished for something that was a little less oriented to bashing me over the head with special effects, and simplified things a bit. However, they at least made an attempt at some kind of background on the character, giving short glimpses into their pasts that were supposed to give them the motivations they had for joining Joe or Cobra. And the action sequences were fun even though by the end it was almost incomprehensible who was shooting at whom. I always think it's funny when movies automatically set themselves up for a sequel as if assuming that they are good enough to warrant one, and Joe's ending does just that. But, casting aside good storytelling, plot development, overwrought special effects, and not so snappy dialogue, this was pretty fun and I enjoyed seeing my action figure/animated childhood toys come to life. Grade: C+

Up next, hopefully District 9. Looks really good and initial reviews are exceptional. Hopefully will be able to see it this week.