I am devoting the majority of this blog to the summer movies I have seen so far. This summer has been a bit of a mixed bag. I would best describe it as "the summer that could have been". Almost every movie that has come out this summer was enjoyable but lacked that extra something that would have made them special. I wanted so many movies this summer to be great but they just didn't do it for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Thor,X-men,Green Lantern,Harry Potter,and Super 8, but there was just something missing.
Thor - The first comic book movie of the summer actually was better than I expected. The trailers that I had seen for the movie underwhelmed me but for a comic character that I really could care less about, it ultimately entertained me. I particularly enjoyed the scenes in Asgard and thought they were really well done. Chris Hemsworth was pretty effective as Thor and now I couldn't imagine someone else playing him. The biggest problem with the movie was the supporting cast. Thor's merry gang from Asgard sort of annoyed me once they arrived on Earth. I got a "Masters of the Universe" feel when they were roaming the streets. The climatic battle wasn't epic but it was good enough to make me want to see a sequel.
X-men: First Class - (haven't seen Captain America) This is probably my favorite movie of the summer. I would have never predicted that going into the summer but this really worked for me. I really enjoyed Magneto's story arc and felt that it surpassed anything Iam McKellan had done in the other films. The movie is far from perfect though. Kevin Bacon is completely over the top as the villain of the film. I really was expecting him to have Mr Bigglesworth from the Austin Powers movies sitting in his lap. The cameo from Wolverine was hilarious. They played a little too much with the continuity and history of the x-men but they quickly made you forget it with some of the action sequences. I would definitely be up for another installment.
Hangover 2: The original Hangover is one of my favorites ever and when I heard the sequel was coming I kinda knew it would not be able to duplicate what the original accomplished. There were funny parts but the overall feel of the movie was that of something being forced. Zach Galifinackus man boy act may be getting a bit old. I still laughed through most of it but I'm not sure they should make this a trilogy.
Green Lantern- I won't lie, I was super pumped for this one. Green Lantern is probably my third favorite comic character behind Superman and Batman. Although I was eagerly awaiting this movie I was a little worried. I wasn't sure how Ryan Reynolds would be as Hal Jordan. I always imagined Reynolds as the Flash because of his sarcasm. The negative reviews of the film really began to make me worry but ultimately I enjoyed the movie. Could it have been better?..Yes!....but it wasn't a horrible movie like so many reviewers had said. Reynolds did a good job as GL but the movie lacked a competent villain. The introduction of Sinestro and the hint of things to come will allow me to forgive any shortcomings of this film. I just wish that comic movie directors would realize that you can have a heavy action and have an origin film in the same film.
Super 8: I love J.J. And Spielberg and was really looking forward to this movie. I love the mystery of not entirely knowing what a film is about before going into it. Unfortunately the movie just didnt deliver on the goods for me. The casting of the kids in the movie was perfect and in my opinion wasted. The kids had so much chemistry and were thoroughly entertaining but the plot was predictable and alien was underwhelming. My opinion is probably the minority but if you are going to attach names like Spielberg and J.J.to a film then it should deliver entirely. The kids just couldnt carry the lackluster 3rd act of the film. I didn't hate the film but going along with my theme, it just could have been better.
Harry Potter 7: I will start this off by saying that I read not one of the books and probably would have a different opinion of the finale if I had. I really have enjoyed the movies quite a bit and i was right there will all the lunatics that attended the midnight showings. The trailer was action packed and sort of misrepresented itself. I was expecting a balls out action filled finale and it seemed to fall short. The climatic battle between Harry and Voldemort had its moments but for a series ending battle it seemed watered down. The destruction of Hogwarts also seemed to be watered down and perhaps they knew a lot of kids would be there and they took the high road. The revelations during the movie really worked though and that gives it a pass and the series as a whole was one of the better ones.
Well that's it for what I've seen so far. Captain America and Cowboys and Aliens are really the only other films I'm interested in seeing this summer. The sad thing is that all of the movies I listed above were enjoyable but just lacked something. I think in some ways it's worse to have a summer like this one then to just have a terrible one. I obviously didn't review Transformers because it was over the top and ridiculous as usual. Next summer will bring Dark Knight Rises and the Avengers and hopefully they will get it right.
Harry Potter and the Deathyly Hallows pt 2:
No comments:
Post a Comment