At the behest of my composition professor, I decided to start blogging. I have very little sense of self grandeur so I know that there will be little interest in what I have to say short of my mother and close loved ones. In deciding what theme to blog about I looked at what my interests are and what i have the most to talk about. I decided to talk about my second greatest love. Most people love summer because of the hot weather, time outside, the beach, picnics, barbeques, or whatever they enjoy doing during this short hot period in Minnesota. My love of summer is something completely different. I love summer because it is when the big movies come out. The sensation of the summer blockbusters makes me as gitty as a fifteen year old girl at a Twilight wrap party. I'll keep you updated on the movies I see this summer as I seem to rush to the theater once a week to catch the newest releases this summer. Already I've already been to two midnight showings and a couple opening weekends. I figure that what the internet is truly lacking is blogs about movies. *snicker, snicker*
I'll also be using this as an outlet to vent any and all frustrations. Be it politics, religion, school, or general thoughts I have in my head. There will be strong language and very opinionated commentary. If you have an issue with what I have said then you may e-mail me or start up your own blog saying just how wrong I am. Isn't the internet grand? I figured with my inaugural address, I would ease into it by giving you a rundown of the summer movie season so far. I will be coming to you with every movie I see so as you can base your judgement on whether or not to see it. To decifer if you will take my advice to heart, I will give you a rundown of my expertise so that you know where I am coming from. I own 540 DVDs, mostly films but about 25 t.v. seasons. I am a Star Wars fanboy. The greatest movie of all time is the Boondock Saints. I am an addict of the movie theater, I try to get there at least once a week if not more. I have seen over half of the AFI's 100 greatest movies of all time. I can quote thousands of movies as well as tell you actor's repetoirs and have a wealth of knowledge on the subject. My dream is to one day open a movie store where I can geek the place out and have a shrine to all movie lovers. I place you can go and talk movies with people. To sell memorabilia, have screenings, and catagories that go beyond your alphabetical standards like action, horror, comedy, etc. and more like Zombie movies, John Hughs flicks, and awesomely bad movies. I have been told, especially by one of my professor Mr. Sachin Koshy, that DVDs are on their way to obscurity to join up alongside VHS. That it will be all digital and that people will be buying their movies strictly off the internet. I say nay to this theory. I believe that some will go this route, but most will still want a place to go and own their movie instead of a file on their computer. Like the honorable President Obama has said, we need to be a country that makes things. Imagine the jobs that will be lost if we no longer make DVDs. To show bipartisanship, I will paraphrase former president Bush by saying that if you start buying your movies in file format rather than DVDs, then you, my friend, are un-American and strengthening our enemie's resolve.
Here is the rundown of movies thus far. I'll only give you the ones that are still in theaters since to find out that you should have seen a movie that is no longer available would upset you and I am only here to help.
The Hangover
Go see this movie immediately. I'm not even joking. Go to the next available showing of this movie. I saw this movie at the midnight screening and I almost need to go see it again simply because the laughter was so loud that I feel I missed some of the jokes. The beginning gives you the set up. The groom is getting fitted for his tux, he and his two friends and future brother in law are heading to Vegas two days before the wedding for the bachelor party. From there, it launches into a volley of comedic genius. I laughed out loud so much and so hard that my eyes were watering for half of it. There is slapstick, there is witty banter, and there are so many quotable lines that you lose track of them all. There is nothing bad I can say about this movie except that it ends eventually. I will be anxiously awaiting the Unedited version of this DVD and it tops my list of greatest summer movies so far.
Star Trek
My first impression of this movie was that it was actually kind of good. That is, until my monster sized buddy Grant swatted and chastised me with a "no, bad midget!", and explained to me why I cannot say I liked this movie. It is simple, if people start saying that this was a good movie then the studio execs will start stroking their beards and will want to continue to make Trek movies. We will see a new shiny Trek series on T.V., more remakes of the movie, and the dark side will be strengthened. As a lover of all that is Lucas, I cannot make myself say that this movie was anything but a waste of time and money. It pains me to knock anything that the geek Titan J.J. Abrams puts out. This is the man that brought us Lost and Cloverfield, but I must implore you, do not see this movie.
Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian
I actually thought this movie was good. I love history and to see so many more things come back to life makes me smile. I am not a fan of Ben Stiller but I can stand him when he plays a normal person and not like his characters in Dodgeball, Zoolander, etc. Jonah Hill has a nice cameo but all his lines are basically in the previews. There is a hilarious parody of 300 by the miniature Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan. Hank Azaria plays a great bad guy and the movie is very heart warming. The fact that the Lincoln Memorial comes to life gave it a biased edge in my mind. It's good for the kids and for the adults. Don't know if you want to spend the money to see it in the theaters, but it will be worth the money whether you see it there, wait and rent, or buy it on DVD.
Year One
Now, to put this in perspective, I saw this a couple weeks after I saw the Hangover. So my expectations of a comedy were pretty damn high. I was disappointed with this one. It had some kinda funny moments and reminded me of a Mel Brooks movie. I laughed occasionally but it was as to be expected. Jack Black was the hapless joker and Michael Cera was timid and awkward and I find his delivery funny. Olivia Wilde was smoldering hot and Oliver Platt was disturbing. The many cameos where good with McLovin' playing a teenage Isaac and Hank Azaria delivered again as Abraham. It was a funny spoof on religion and history and had its moments. Definately a rental, you don't need to spend the extra money to see it in the theaters. It kindof disappointed me and i was expecting a lot more.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
This was one of my three highest anticipated movies of the summer, Wolverine and Harry Potter were the other two. There were 5 midnight showings of this movie, all five were sold out. I had to buy tickets off of some kids outside to get in, nearly had to strong arm some junior high boys to get two seats together, and deal with people talking through the previews. Luckily for the health of teenagers around me, they shut up when the movie started. If you liked the first one, then you will get more of the same. 75% of the movie is explosions, shooting, and running. There was more focus on Shia Lebouf in this one then on the robots with the Transformers being more of the background and had less interaction than in the first one. It felt a little too comicy at times and they tried a little too hard to make the robots funny rather than badass like the first one. It confused me because all of a sudden Michael Bay threw in Decepticons that can morph into sorority chicks. The plot kind of sucked and it was too campy. Yes, Megan Fox is scantily clad and runs around in tank tops, push up bras, and short shorts, but that's about all she contributes. Shia Lebouf and John Toturro try their best to save it and do a good job of it. The mom and dad pick up where they left off but there were some times when they were a little too over the top. i.e. pot brownies at college. It's a fun movie to watch and visually interesting. a whole lot of bullet speed slow-mo and explosions. It's your typical Michael "boom boom" Bay pick and he was able to create his own "Jar Jar Binks" type character in the buck-toothed, kind of offensively stereotypical twin robots. They are unnecessary, distracting, annoying, and pointless. All in all, it was a good action flick but not what I was expecting.
Well there you go so far. Now, it's only the end of June so there is plenty more to come. It seems that every week for the next two months, a movie I'm excited about seeing is coming out. Here is a quick guide of what is coming up.
July 1st - Public Enemies
- Johnny Depp as Dillinger looks really good. The shots I've seen so far are awesome and I'm sure Depp will knock it out of the park.
July 10 - I Love You, Beth Cooper
- Here's the back story on this, in March I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale, FL to move my little brother back home. I bought this book as a quick read to pass time at the airport and on the drive home. It was a really good read and quite entertaining. I even thought that it would make for a great movie. Two weeks after finishing it I found out that they were wrapping up shooting of the movie, so I was immediately excited for it. Then the part that got me jumping up and down, the title character is being played by none other than Hayden Panettiere! I have had a crush on this girl for a long time and think she is the greatest thing since I first saw Michelle Rodriguez get out of her car in Fast and the Furious. I will be there first night and on the edge of my chair as Sarah rolls her eyes at me.
July 15 - Harry Potter- the Half Blood Prince
HARRY!!!!! I have been waiting for what feels like an eternity for this movie. Dumbledore's death, Harry and Ginny hooking up, Emma Watson smiling, return of Luna Lovegood, the battle in Hogwarts, and there will be Quidditch again. My best girl friend Jenny and I have been texting each other for weeks in anticipation of this. I'm spending most of my week up north during the first week of July re-reading the book for the third time in anticipation for it. It is the last of my big three movies and I am very excited about it. I have had discussions with people that have read the books and all I can say is that you cannot go into the movie expecting everything. To make the movie perfectly in line with the book the movie would be ten hours long, I know you might sit through that, but not many people would. Take it for what it is, a movie not the book. Be excited for the things you see from the book and for the things that weren't.
Less anticipated movies, but will see anyways:
(500) Days of Summer - July 17th
Funny People - July 31st
G.I. Joe - August 7th
Halloween 2 - August 28th
Looking further into the future:
Jennifer's Body (Written by Diablo Cody) - September 18th
2012 - November 13th
Well thank you for reading my inaugural blog, I will be updating as recently as i can to bitch about what's bothering me. Keep in touch and give me some feedback if you think about it or subjects you want to discuss.
