A Decent Summer for Movies

Labor Day has come and gone, kids are headed back to school, so it's time for this LA resident to accept that summer is over. Consequently, I should provide the bookend to the piece I wrote earlier previewing the summer movie season. Here are some of the highlights and not-so-high-lights...

March of the Penguins - Perhaps the surprise hit of the summer, this film is now the second highest grossing documentary of all-time. The film was a beautiful look at the mating and birthing saga of the Emperor Penguin, a process involving almost constant sojourn, courtship, love, and sacrifice. A fantastic movie for the family, a fantastic movie for a date - Penguins showed that the process of creating and sustaining new life requires commitment, perseverance and resolve.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - The movie was the highest grossing film of the summer. Lucas rebounded from the lackluster previous two episodes to make a Star Wars movie that was worth of the name. Read my review for further commentary.

Batman Begins - This film could have easily been called Batman Returns, the title of the second of the recent Batman films (directed by Tim Burton) because after the previous two, which were crap, the latest from Nolan proved to be a worthy addition, darker than the others and more introspective. The stellar line-up of cast members did not disappoint, though the Katie and Tom show got a little out of hand (okay, a lot out of hand).

Hustle and Flow - Like Melvin van Peebles before him, John Singleton took a tremendous risk by committing the cardinal sin of investing his own money to make a movie, but he was rewarded with a very good film and a very decent return on his investment. Terrence Howard followed up Crash with a powerful, and affecting performance that may earn him an Oscar nod.

Crash - One of the most beautiful films of the summer, Talyor Hackford's film wove an intricate story of a diverse group of people living in Los Angeles struggling with alienation as their stories crashed into one another. The writing was wonderful, the direction strong, the score a beautiful complement, and the acting solid. Struggle, ugliness, brutality, heroism, intimacy, downfall, and redemption are all the subject matter.

Wedding Crashers - This was probably the second funniest film of the summer with consistently hilarious moments for the first two-thirds. Vince Vaughn was at his best with the timing and delivery of his lines and Isla Fisher was easily his comedic match.

The Aristocrats - Not for those who are easily or even not-so-easily offended, this documentary is the funniest thing I have seen in the past year. People who find this movie funny probably need some psychological help and don't worry, I'm shopping around online for shrinks as we speak. However, the concept of comedy being a release for those things in life that we are uneasy about and make us uncomfortable is perhaps exhibited better no where else than in this film.

2046 - Kar Wai Wong made a beautiful film visually speaking. From a subject matter standpoint, this movie took a great look at the nature of love, relationships, and how we run to and from them. Unlike Closer which examines some similar themes, 2046 has an ambiguous conclusion as to whether what the main characters quest for can be attained. Therefore, the cynics can conclude no, and the hopeless romantics can imagine their happy endings.

And for the biggest flop of the summer, the moviee that stunk in an oh so extra special way...

The Island - Michael Bay can be a great action director, but this was nothing more than 136 minutes of the director getting off while the audience could do nothing but bear witness to a script that looks as though it was part of some eighth grade summer camp final project. Lesson - big budget + two budding stars with no track record or drawing box office crowds + director who is as consistent as Bush administration reasons for going into Iraq ≠ good movie or successful film.

The film that best lived up to the hype...

Mr. and Mrs. Smith - This action movie was more than decent with some genuinely funny moments. What made this movie even more fun though, was that everyone wanted to see what the on-screen chemistry would be like between Angelina and Brad. Conclusion: to anyone with eyes, the attraction between the two was so painfully obvious. Had there been no rumors of an affair between them before the movie came out, once it did, they would have immediately surfaced and there would be the same results for Jennifer and Brad's marriage (though I have it from some different sources that Angelina played a smaller roll in the breakup than tabloids speculate).

So summer is over and now we can all look forward to the crap that will be rolled out continuously until Thanksgiving. Word to the wise, read reviews because the hit-to-miss ratio is about to go down substantially, see some indies and use and abuse the three-movies-at-a-time privileges on Netflix.