After seeing "Tropic Thunder" last night I'm drawing my personal Summer Movie Season to a close as I've seen all of the movies I really want to this Summer, eventhough I'm sure to see more movies between now and the "offical" end of both the Summer season and the Summer Movie season.
Here's my Summer Movie Summation: Movies are Listed in Order of how I'm rating them.
1. The Dark Knight: A+ (99.9%)
By far the best movie of the Summer. Ledger's performance as The Joker is jaw-droppingly fantastic. This is a movie I've seen four times in the theater and would gladly go see it again. Everything that can be said about this movie has been said in the various threads over in the Sci-Fi forum but to sum it up this movie is damn near perfect. Buy it on DVD? I will certainly be buying this one on DVD.
2. Iron Man: A+ (99.8%)
Up until TDK, Iron Man was the best movie of the Summer for me and it still is, as far as I'm concerned it "ties" with TDK. DC and Marvel both came out on top this Summer with these respective franchises. Robert Downey Jr. makes a good "come-back" of sorts in this movie by playing a great Tony Stark and the movie does a great job of establishing who Iron Man is and what he can do. Who cares if his villan isn't a central focus of the movie? That's what sequels are for! Buy it on DVD? Most certainly will!
3. Tropic Thunder: A (95%)
Funniest movie of the year, by far. Great, great stuff. The only thing that "hurt" it for me is the excessive use of profanity which ordianry doesn't bother me but I felt it was too much in this movie. And it's possible I just noticed it more since I saw this with my mother.
Wasn't enough to really spoil the movie for me as this thing is wall-to-wall laughs and RDJ steals the show as a Method actor who's dyed his skin black to get a part. Fantastic, fantastic stuff. Buy it on DVD? You bet your ass!
4. Hancock: A (94%)
A pretty good, solid movie. There's not a whole lot I can say about it. Will Smith was good, I wasn't as put-off by the sudden "tone change" in the middle of it as others were and it was a good story. Buy it on DVD? Most likely I won't.
5. The Incredible Hulk: A (93%)
Far and above better than the Ang Lee version. Much closer to how a "Hulk movie" should be. Edward Norton is "good" as Banner, Liv Tyler is very "meh" as Dr. Ross. But the movie's action scenes and climatic battle are very good and this movie just buries the pervious version in terms of what a Hulk movie "should be." Unfrotuantly I don't think this version of The Hulk translated well to the Big Screen so the movie has some flaws but nothing major. Buy it on DVD? I'm undecided on this front. I think I may.
6. WALL-E: A- (92%)
Another winner from Disney/Pixar and that's about all I can really say about this. A touching, beautiful and poignant movie. Buy it on DVD? Yes, as I have all other Pixar movies I've seen.
7. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: A- (90%)
A fine addition to The Mummy series. It didn't have the same "swashbuckling spark" the first had but the use of Rick and Evie's son was well executed but I think the "mummy" in this movie isn't as strong a threat as Imotep was. The movie misses a "spark" and that spark may or may not have been named Rachel Weisz. Buy it on DVD? Probably not. There's not much here to warrant a repeat viewing.
8. Get Smart: B+ (88%)
Funny movie. Carrell is well cast as Maxwell Smart, Anne Hathaway is gorgeous, Steve Austin is a nice surprise in this movie which is a lot of fun. I expected more from this movie but it was a funny outing. Hope to see sequels down the road. Buy it on DVD? I likely will.
9. Indiana Jones and the Kingodm of the Crystal Skull: B+ (86%)
Frankly, I'm being kind to this movie. It's only graded so "high" because of Harrison Ford and the franchise history. Shia Lebouf isn't nearly as annoying as I was expecting him to be but he wasn't exactly "good" either better casting for Indy's son would've helped this movie some. But the action sequences are too "over the top" for my tastes (even given the franchise history) and too much use of CGI between sceenery, backgrounds and
gophers awing at nuclear explosions Lucas' modern take on movie-making is very evident here. This could've been much, much, better but as it is it's just OK. It's Indiana Jones. What more can one say, I guess? Buy it on DVD? Likely won't.
10. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army: B-
Good addition to the franchise and hopefuly, despite it getting trounced by TDK in it's second week in theaters, we'll see another movie in this franchise. It felt good to visit these characters again the addition of Johann Kraus was great and well executed. Buy it on DVD? Sure will!
11. The X-Files: I Want to Believe: C+
You may notice I dropped this movie's grade here than I've listed in my signature. Well, upon reflection I felt the movie just deserved the grade drop. Frankly, it just wasn't very good. The only thing that "saved" it for me was just having Mulder and Scully in it and the "shippy" stuff. Other than this? This movie was a complete waste of time to see in the theaters. It's just dreary, boring, the plot doesn't matter and doesn't make sense (they pardoned and pull Mulder out of hiding for a missing person case?!). The movie is just not good. There's countless episodes in the series that are far better. Buy it on DVD? No. Not even sure a Riftrax on it with David Duchovany will get me to do it.
Here's my Summer Movie Summation: Movies are Listed in Order of how I'm rating them.
1. The Dark Knight: A+ (99.9%)
By far the best movie of the Summer. Ledger's performance as The Joker is jaw-droppingly fantastic. This is a movie I've seen four times in the theater and would gladly go see it again. Everything that can be said about this movie has been said in the various threads over in the Sci-Fi forum but to sum it up this movie is damn near perfect. Buy it on DVD? I will certainly be buying this one on DVD.
2. Iron Man: A+ (99.8%)
Up until TDK, Iron Man was the best movie of the Summer for me and it still is, as far as I'm concerned it "ties" with TDK. DC and Marvel both came out on top this Summer with these respective franchises. Robert Downey Jr. makes a good "come-back" of sorts in this movie by playing a great Tony Stark and the movie does a great job of establishing who Iron Man is and what he can do. Who cares if his villan isn't a central focus of the movie? That's what sequels are for! Buy it on DVD? Most certainly will!
3. Tropic Thunder: A (95%)
Funniest movie of the year, by far. Great, great stuff. The only thing that "hurt" it for me is the excessive use of profanity which ordianry doesn't bother me but I felt it was too much in this movie. And it's possible I just noticed it more since I saw this with my mother.
Wasn't enough to really spoil the movie for me as this thing is wall-to-wall laughs and RDJ steals the show as a Method actor who's dyed his skin black to get a part. Fantastic, fantastic stuff. Buy it on DVD? You bet your ass!4. Hancock: A (94%)
A pretty good, solid movie. There's not a whole lot I can say about it. Will Smith was good, I wasn't as put-off by the sudden "tone change" in the middle of it as others were and it was a good story. Buy it on DVD? Most likely I won't.
5. The Incredible Hulk: A (93%)
Far and above better than the Ang Lee version. Much closer to how a "Hulk movie" should be. Edward Norton is "good" as Banner, Liv Tyler is very "meh" as Dr. Ross. But the movie's action scenes and climatic battle are very good and this movie just buries the pervious version in terms of what a Hulk movie "should be." Unfrotuantly I don't think this version of The Hulk translated well to the Big Screen so the movie has some flaws but nothing major. Buy it on DVD? I'm undecided on this front. I think I may.
6. WALL-E: A- (92%)
Another winner from Disney/Pixar and that's about all I can really say about this. A touching, beautiful and poignant movie. Buy it on DVD? Yes, as I have all other Pixar movies I've seen.
7. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: A- (90%)
A fine addition to The Mummy series. It didn't have the same "swashbuckling spark" the first had but the use of Rick and Evie's son was well executed but I think the "mummy" in this movie isn't as strong a threat as Imotep was. The movie misses a "spark" and that spark may or may not have been named Rachel Weisz. Buy it on DVD? Probably not. There's not much here to warrant a repeat viewing.
8. Get Smart: B+ (88%)
Funny movie. Carrell is well cast as Maxwell Smart, Anne Hathaway is gorgeous, Steve Austin is a nice surprise in this movie which is a lot of fun. I expected more from this movie but it was a funny outing. Hope to see sequels down the road. Buy it on DVD? I likely will.
9. Indiana Jones and the Kingodm of the Crystal Skull: B+ (86%)
Frankly, I'm being kind to this movie. It's only graded so "high" because of Harrison Ford and the franchise history. Shia Lebouf isn't nearly as annoying as I was expecting him to be but he wasn't exactly "good" either better casting for Indy's son would've helped this movie some. But the action sequences are too "over the top" for my tastes (even given the franchise history) and too much use of CGI between sceenery, backgrounds and
gophers awing at nuclear explosions Lucas' modern take on movie-making is very evident here. This could've been much, much, better but as it is it's just OK. It's Indiana Jones. What more can one say, I guess? Buy it on DVD? Likely won't.10. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army: B-
Good addition to the franchise and hopefuly, despite it getting trounced by TDK in it's second week in theaters, we'll see another movie in this franchise. It felt good to visit these characters again the addition of Johann Kraus was great and well executed. Buy it on DVD? Sure will!
11. The X-Files: I Want to Believe: C+
You may notice I dropped this movie's grade here than I've listed in my signature. Well, upon reflection I felt the movie just deserved the grade drop. Frankly, it just wasn't very good. The only thing that "saved" it for me was just having Mulder and Scully in it and the "shippy" stuff. Other than this? This movie was a complete waste of time to see in the theaters. It's just dreary, boring, the plot doesn't matter and doesn't make sense (they pardoned and pull Mulder out of hiding for a missing person case?!). The movie is just not good. There's countless episodes in the series that are far better. Buy it on DVD? No. Not even sure a Riftrax on it with David Duchovany will get me to do it.
