Well it's Labor Day and the summer movie season has officially ended. What are your top ten? Thanks to the gas hikes I went to the movies about half as much as I used to, but I still managed to see 12 movies this summer.
#10 HULK. Disappointing but serviceable.
#9 NARNIA. Better than the first but not spectacular. More action, darker.
#8 MUMMY 3. Not nearly as good as the first two but I still enjoyed it. Loved the Yetis!
#7 TROPIC THUNDER. Very funny, great actors, but also an expensive action movie!
#6 KUNG FU PANDA. So much better than I ever thought; gorgeous CGI, great action scenes, moderately funny. It actually managed to tell a good action epic story with good characters. And Jack Black wasn't annoying!
#5 CLONE WARS. I enjoyed it a great deal, had no probs with the CGI, had lots of great action, but the stupid droids do drag it down a little.
#4 DARK KNIGHT. It's a great movie but the final act just completely falls apart. Like Spider-Man 3 you introduce a major in the last 15 minutes and then just use him immediately in an anti-climactic ending. And Bale's "scary" voice is still silly.
#3 IRON MAN. My favorite non-X Marvel movie. Coulda used more action as always, but great story and humor and character work.
#2 HELLBOY 2. Wow this one blew me away. It was just so much FUN. So imaginative. Amazing visuals. Great action. Absolutely hilarious. I laughed harder at this movie than any other this year. My only complaint is the ending ignores the larger world and the bad guy ends up being just one guy rather than part of a society/group.
#1 INDIANA JONES. While it definitely wasn't as good as the originals, it was still a magical nostalgic experience. The opening Area 51 sequence and the jungle jeep chase were two classic action set pieces. I didn't really care for "Mutt" and the ending was a bit of a do-nothing, but looking back on it, Indy did nothing in the ending of Raiders either. He just sat there tied to a post. So at least they're following tradition.
TOP FIVE I MISSED BUT WANT TO SEE:
#5 HANCOCK. A "super hero" movie with no action and no villain? I already saw that in Superman Returns. Pass. Still, it might be okay. And I do love Bateman.
#4 X-FILES. This used to be my favorite show but I could give a fig about it now. Still it could be nostalgic.
#3 PINEAPPLE EXPRESS. Should be funny.
#2 WALL-E. Pixar? Great. Sci-Fi? Great. No dialogue? Hurum.
#1 WANTED. I loved the comic and poo-poo-ed the movie which removed every single good aspect of the comic (costumes, super powers, alternate earths, comic book parodies). I predicted this would bomb. But after it did $130 mil domestic, I've started to really regret missing this.
BIGGEST SURPRISE OF THE SUMMER: Kung Fu Panda. I didn't even really want to see this, but it was great! It wasn't some dumb kiddie movie, but a great kung fu action story with gorgeous visuals. Wow!
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE SUMMER: Get Smart. I like Steve Carrell and I remember liking Get Smart. But I had no interest in seeing this; I only did b/c it was my sister's birthday. And I found it completely uninteresting and by the numbers. And unfunny.
#10 HULK. Disappointing but serviceable.
#9 NARNIA. Better than the first but not spectacular. More action, darker.
#8 MUMMY 3. Not nearly as good as the first two but I still enjoyed it. Loved the Yetis!
#7 TROPIC THUNDER. Very funny, great actors, but also an expensive action movie!
#6 KUNG FU PANDA. So much better than I ever thought; gorgeous CGI, great action scenes, moderately funny. It actually managed to tell a good action epic story with good characters. And Jack Black wasn't annoying!
#5 CLONE WARS. I enjoyed it a great deal, had no probs with the CGI, had lots of great action, but the stupid droids do drag it down a little.
#4 DARK KNIGHT. It's a great movie but the final act just completely falls apart. Like Spider-Man 3 you introduce a major in the last 15 minutes and then just use him immediately in an anti-climactic ending. And Bale's "scary" voice is still silly.
#3 IRON MAN. My favorite non-X Marvel movie. Coulda used more action as always, but great story and humor and character work.
#2 HELLBOY 2. Wow this one blew me away. It was just so much FUN. So imaginative. Amazing visuals. Great action. Absolutely hilarious. I laughed harder at this movie than any other this year. My only complaint is the ending ignores the larger world and the bad guy ends up being just one guy rather than part of a society/group.
#1 INDIANA JONES. While it definitely wasn't as good as the originals, it was still a magical nostalgic experience. The opening Area 51 sequence and the jungle jeep chase were two classic action set pieces. I didn't really care for "Mutt" and the ending was a bit of a do-nothing, but looking back on it, Indy did nothing in the ending of Raiders either. He just sat there tied to a post. So at least they're following tradition.
TOP FIVE I MISSED BUT WANT TO SEE:
#5 HANCOCK. A "super hero" movie with no action and no villain? I already saw that in Superman Returns. Pass. Still, it might be okay. And I do love Bateman.
#4 X-FILES. This used to be my favorite show but I could give a fig about it now. Still it could be nostalgic.
#3 PINEAPPLE EXPRESS. Should be funny.
#2 WALL-E. Pixar? Great. Sci-Fi? Great. No dialogue? Hurum.
#1 WANTED. I loved the comic and poo-poo-ed the movie which removed every single good aspect of the comic (costumes, super powers, alternate earths, comic book parodies). I predicted this would bomb. But after it did $130 mil domestic, I've started to really regret missing this.
BIGGEST SURPRISE OF THE SUMMER: Kung Fu Panda. I didn't even really want to see this, but it was great! It wasn't some dumb kiddie movie, but a great kung fu action story with gorgeous visuals. Wow!
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE SUMMER: Get Smart. I like Steve Carrell and I remember liking Get Smart. But I had no interest in seeing this; I only did b/c it was my sister's birthday. And I found it completely uninteresting and by the numbers. And unfunny.
It's still the #2 highest worldwide grosser though!
