Summer Box Office In Review

The summer movies have played out, making way for Oscar season, which I'm excited about. Just a few thoughts on this summer's offerings.

Best Movies 

JOHN CARTER

This movie was so much fun. The CG was absolutely spectacular. The story was solid. The characters didn't take themselves too seriously. It was just a great popcorn movie, and I'm sad that no one went and saw it. Personally, I thought it was ten times more enjoyable than AVATAR.

BRAVE

Gorgeous. Just gorgeous. No, perhaps not the best story structure or characters for a Pixar movie, but Pixar sets that bar high. Did I mention that this movie was pretty?

Biggest Letdown

PROMETHEUS & SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNSTMAN
(I still love you Charlize, it's not your fault.)

Ugh. I've said all I need to say about PROMETHEUS here.

With SWATH, the movie looked great, but didn't have any substance to back up those visuals. It was boring and not a drop of fun was injected into it by anyone involved. Well, I think Charlize was trying, but she didn't have anything to work with. And why, oh why wasn't the mirror involved in the climax at all? So many missed opportunities in this movie.

THE HUNGER GAMES

I had high hopes. I usually love Gary Ross's films and I loooove Jennifer Lawrence, so I thought this one would be excellent. Plus, I lovelovelove (triple love trumps elongated "o" love) BATTLE ROYALE. Seriously, that movie is the shit. There's egregious violence being doled out by children accompanied with a heartfelt love story, all done compellingly. So I have no problem with this subject matter, and I thought THE HUNGER GAMES would be much of the same, done in a PG-13 style.

THG wasn't a bad film by any means, but I felt like it had been adapted into a movie that only the fans of the book would truly love. For me, someone who did not read the book, there were too many characters. I found the "love" story confusing because I didn't understand the characters' motivations. So much time was spent showing the rich people world before we got to the games. And all that training crap...for what? We spend forever building up to the short dude throwing something big and impressing everybody, and then he never throws anything heavy again. What the...? Too much time spent in the wrong places for me.

MOONRISE KINGDOM

All the critics went batty for this one. I love Wes Anderson's aesthetic, but I rarely enjoy his movies and this one was no different (I want to like them, really I do). Not much of a story with this one. And all those great actors with nothing to do. Sad face.

Most Pleasant Surprise

21 JUMP STREET

I think this one technically came out in the spring, but I just saw it recently. This was very funny and the writing was great. I loved how the characters' roles reversed, but in an organic sort of way, very clever. This movie was so much better than it should have been, and how many times do you say that?

A Good Movie That was Totally Off the Radar

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

This one had some odd bits. The tone was a little all over the place, and the casting was slightly head-scratching. But once you get past that, this one was an enjoyable little indie rom com. It had the best last scene to come around in a long time.