Summer Movie Review

With Labor Day behind us and no more big blockbusters about to open it appears the summer movie season is over. Starting in early April, after the usual March lull, I saw a grand total of 16 movies this summer, surely more than I’ve ever seen in a single season before.

Expand to the full entry for capsule reviews of each of the 16 movies as well as superlatives for the season...


Capsule Reviews:

Each movie gets a thumbs up , thumbs down or neutral .

Batman Begins
It was OK. The visuals looked great, the acting and characters were passable, most of the components were there (a memorable villain notwithstanding). Why was it so utterly forgettable, then? I barely remember seeing it.

Bewitched
Will Ferrell was funny and Nicole Kidman ridiculously charming and cute. The problem is the movie never really goes anywhere. The characters are strong and the premise promising, but the plot stalls halfway through, eventually reaching more inevitable conclusion than climax. It was good for some chuckles and anything with Nicole Kidman looking like that can’t be all bad, but I was ready to leave when it was over.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
As a fan of the original movie, but having never read the book, I was less than optimistic about this going in. As it turns out, it was great. The oompa-loompas were funny. The children and parents appropriately horrible (except Charlie, of course). Depp’s Wonka, obviously the star, was very weird, but for the most part in a lovably ridiculous way rather than in the Michael Jackson way I had feared.

Cindarella Man
Performances by Russell Crow and Renee Zellweger were strong, but this is ground that’s been covered so many times before I couldn’t get even a little excited about it. When someone makes a sports movie about something other than an underdog winning the championship against all odds wake me up.

Crash
Powerful, moving and it has a good message. The first line of the movie is "In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In LA, nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something." That pretty much explains the whole film. It’s not about race and it’s not about cars crashing into one another. It’s about the innate human need for meaningful contact with other humans.

Fantastic Four
Like Batman. It was fine, but completely forgettable. The very definition of a summer popcorn flick.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
All wrong. Just completely wrong. They Americanized the humor, making it completely unfunny in the process. They totally changed the story for no good reason. The characters lacked all the nuances that made them memorable in the books. The only good parts were the opening dolphin sequence, which was admittedly hilarious, and the Magrathean factory floor, which was visually cool.

Kingdom of Heaven
Great visuals and a surprising performance by Edward Norton as the King of Jerusalem, but the score was weak and the part just a bit beyond Orlando Bloom’s abilities. Nothing spectacular, but passable. Better than Troy, worse than Gladiator.

Sahara
One of the most contrived and ridiculous movies ever. The lone bright spot was Steve Zahn’s comic relief.

Sin City
OK, this is not a normal movie. The plot is completely insignificant and the characters only tangentially important. The whole point is to immerse the viewer in this universe, to show you exactly what this place called Sin City is like. It does so brilliantly.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
The dialogue was absolutely horrible and the direction uninteresting, particularly in the opening battle sequence, which despite all the slick cgi was boring, but otherwise the movie was exciting and fun. And ultimately, exciting and fun is good enough for Star Wars, so thumbs up. A particular nod to Ian McDiarmid as Chancellor Palpatine, who easily stole the show from Hayden Christensen's Anakin.

The 40 Year Old Virgin
It’s just the right amount of over-the-top. Hilarious. Steve Carell isn’t an up-and-comer anymore, he’s a bona fide star.

The Aristocrats
Fair warning: If you’re not prepared to hear the most sinfully filthy joke in the world over and over, each time more lewd and depraved than the last, then don’t see this movie. If that doesn’t bother you, or if you can get over it, it’s pretty hilarious. The film is simply a documentary about the joke (apparently a mainstay in comedy club dressing rooms for decades) and goes from celebrity to celebrity as they each tell their own wantonly indecent version of it. The best entries come from Bob Saget, Sarah Silverman, Kevin Pollack, Steven Banks (the mime) and the South Park crew.

The Great Raid
Whether because of the screenplay or acting, the dialogue is completely lifeless and the characters completely devoid of character. Each one is a walking war movie cliché. There’s the young officer waiting the prove himself, the veteran jarhead, the spunky sidekick for comic relief, the stubborn-but-skilled commander who learns to be humble by the end, etcetera etcetera ad nauseam. The action sequences were OK and Connie Nielsen stood out as the mandatory love-interest, but any comparison to classics like Saving Private Ryan quickly show there is really no comparison at all.

War of the Worlds
This is a confused film. It doesn’t quite take itself seriously enough to be a good earnest drama, but isn’t fluffy enough to be an ideal popcorn flick, either. Contrivances are a big problem (I’ll suspend my disbelief about some things, but come on; if a jumbo jet crashes on your front lawn you’re not going to be able to blithely drive the family minivan out of your driveway). Dakota Fanning out-acts everyone, including Tom Cruise, and the visuals are just stunning. The abrupt ending didn’t bother me, as defeating the aliens was never the point of the movie. But then, I read the book.

Wedding Crashers
Completely predictable, but completely hysterical. The most quotable movie of the summer and another badge for rising star Rachel McAdams. It helps to be from Maryland, but even if you’ve never been boating on the Chesapeake or so much as tasted a crab cake this movie will still be funny.

Superlatives:

Best Drama: Crash

Best Comedy: Wedding Crashers

Best Actor: Johnny Depp, Willie Wonka

Best Actress: Dakota Fanning, War of the Worlds

Best Direction: Crash

Best Screenplay: Wedding Crashers

Best Music: Crash

Best Visual Effects: Sin City

Tags: entertainment