This summer has not been a good one for movies. With a few good films and precious few truly amazing ones to speak of, summer 2009 makes last year look like a dream come true (ever see The Dark Knight?). I got lazy and failed to write reviews for many of the movies I saw this summer, so I decided to write some mini reviews for them. Here they are, a whopping 16 of them...let me know what you think.
Bruno was no Borat. Once the initial shock wears off, all we have here is a joke recycled over and over again throughout an unfunny and ultimately disappointing attempt at raunchy comedy. See the trailer, and you've seen the film.
1.5/5
District 9 showed us what rookie director Neill Blomkamp could do with a small budget, an unknown cast, and a big vision. This film is an original, action-packed, deep, and completely engrossing science fiction masterpiece. Watch it as a commentary on apartheid-esque racism, or just enjoy the action. You won't be disappointed in either case.
5/5
Drag Me To Hell saw Spider-Man director Sam Raimi return to his Evil Dead and Army of Darkness horror-comedy roots. Although it may not have been his most memorable or long-lasting work, Drag Me To Hell was a refreshing return to form for Raimi, offering scares and laughs in equal measure. If you haven't seen the Evil Dead series, take note: Raimi's horror films like this brought about the amazing Otto Octavius hospital scene in Spider-Man 2.
3.5/5
Funny People made me lose a lot of faith in Judd Apatow. At an inexcusable two hours and 26 minutes, Apatow's latest opus shows us that even the current king of comedy can make mistakes. Big ones. Long ones. The running time is ridiculous, the characters and plot are convoluted, and the movie isn't funny. Maybe calling his most unfunny film "Funny People" was supposed to be ironic, but that doesn't make it good.
1.5/5
The Hangover proved that star power isn't required to make an amazing comedy. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifinakis (and Mike Tyson) helped this movie to the record for highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time. It's hilarious, epic, random, and the new benchmark for road trip comedies (and probably comedies in general).
4.5/5
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince wasn't the best in the series, but it allowed the three stars to give their best performances yet, giving the film a unique focus: characters. This makes it a bit uneven, however, since the focus shifts drastically away from the story at hand, so much so that we forget about the titular Half-Blood Prince until he is revealed in a frank and unoriginal plot twist near the end. A good film, just not a great one.
3.5/5
The Hurt Locker was the most intense film I saw this summer. As it follows a U.S. Army bomb squad through Baghdad, The Hurt Locker seemingly never stops to take a breath, and manages to throw in likable characters we actually care about. Even the best war films sometimes fail to do this. Aside from a strangely abrupt ending, The Hurt Locker doesn't really fail at much of anything.
4.5/5
Inglourious Basterds was my favorite film of the summer. Though not as action-packed as the trailers and TV spots might lead one to believe, Inglourious Basterds is altogether funny, intense, frightening and cool. Quentin Tarantino makes no attempt at historical accuracy, and this allows him to fill this graphic novel-style reimagining of World War II with wit, femme fatales and a whole lot of killin' Nazis. Don't miss this one (but don't take the kids).
5/5
Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian wasn't very memorable. It had its funny moments, but in the end, I think it's safe to say that movies like Pixar's Up have shown us that studios can expertly craft movies that work on both kid and adult levels. Battle for the Smithsonian is not one of them. This sequel wasn't awful, but it dragged on, and in a typical summer filled to the brim with movies, if you can afford to miss a movie in favor of a better one, then it's probably a good idea to miss it.
1.5/5
The Proposal was a typical date movie, and worked very well in that capacity. It was very predictable, but let's be honest, aren't almost all romantic comedies that way? I'm a sucker for Ryan Reynolds' comedic delivery, too. I do have a question: when will Sandra Bullock start playing characters who aren't half her age?
3/5
Public Enemies was another entry in the series of long movies this summer. It helps that this one is actually a good film, however. This isn't Michael Mann's best work, but it does feature yet another Oscar-worthy performance by Johnny Depp. Marion Cotillard and Christian Bale deliver incredible turns as well.
3.5/5
Star Trek renewed my faith in reboots. After so many failed reboots in the horror genre, the creator of my favorite television show demonstrated the art of taking a beloved show of the past and turning it into a wonderful movie of the present. The plot is a little far-out, relying on a lot of coincidence and such, but the movie is fun all the way through, and a great setup for a hopefully-great film series in the future.
4/5
Terminator: Salvation was the worst movie I saw this summer. I could go on and on about its many flaws, but suffice to say giving McG the benefit of the doubt certainly backfired on a lot of people. There is no story. The plot isn't advanced whatsoever. Christian Bale is just plain bad as John Connor, and when I don't care about John Connor in a Terminator movie, you know something's up. Like I said, the list goes on, but I don't feel like taking time out of my night to write any more sad facts about Terminator: Salvation.
0.5/5
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ended up being yet another blockbuster that failed to live up to expectations. There are improvements over the first movie, like slicker fight scenes, but the inexplicable length and ultra-cheesy robots (much worse than the first Transformers) pushed this one into the realm of bad movies. Oh, and it's over two and a half hours. Sorry, Mr. Bay, but you can't justify a crappy plot by saying "it's just Transformers" when you spend that much time weaving your crappy plot together.
2/5
The Ugly Truth was another good date movie, with a bit of a hard edge provided by its R rating. In a predictable storyline, Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl do their best, but what results is a cookie-cutter romantic comedy that is as predictable as any other. But, it serves its purpose as a date movie, and I was pleasantly surprised by the depth shown in Butler's character. I laughed more in this movie than in Funny People, and that goes a long way.
3/5
Up provided the mandatorily amazing Pixar movie for the summer. Funny, original, heartwarming, action-packed and filled with wonderful characters, Up marks yet another fantastic entry into Pixar's filmography of hits. I saw it in 3D, which didn't add too much, but hopefully it's a precursor to some amazing 3D stuff to come (Avatar?).
4.5/5
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