Monday, September 17, 2007

Summer Nights: The best and the worst of the '07 summer movie season

The Summer Movie Season is sadly at an end. Fall is coming, as are the fall movies and the awards season will soon be in full swing. So let us take a look back at the summer movies that we loved, hated, and enjoyed in the summer of 2007.

Overall best movie: I am giving this honor to Pixar's Ratatouille. In a season full of unoriginality and the onslaught of mediocre sequels, Brad Bird's computer-animated comedy about a rat who uses a garbage boy to become the hot new chef in Paris was not only a breath of fresh air, it is also one of the year's best movies. Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix is runner-up.

Best Comedy: It's the duo of Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen that take the comedy belt. Knocked Up and Superbad were both so outrageously hilarious that they both will share this title. The Simpspons Movie is runner up for it's staying true to it's roots and the satirical wit it brought, along with the slapstick.

Best Summer Sequel: Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix wins by a knockout. Unlike Ram Rami's mediocre Spider-Man 3, Gore Veberinski's bloated Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and the over-familiar Shrek 3, David Yates' take of Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts brings out the best in the series and in it's young actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. The Bourne Ultimatum, with it's kick-in-the-jams action and Matt Damon bringing out the best in Jason Bourne, takes second place.

Best Actor:
This is a no-brainer........Christopher Mintz-Plasse's gut-bursting performance as Fogell (aka: McLovin) in Superbad

Best Actress: Again, a no-brainer......Angelina Jolie as the wife of murdered journalist Daniel Pearle in A Mighty Heart.

Breakthrough Performance: Three no-brainers in a row! Shia LeBeouf in Transformers and Niki Blonsky for Hairspray take the top honors.

Best Action Movie: Every dog has his day. That's why Michael Bay will get this honor of action movie for Transformers. It's the embodiment of what an summer movie is: big, loud explosions, kick-ass action, and a damn good time that will be had by all. Live Free or Die Hard is the same embodiment and it takes runner-up.

Best Surprise movie: Hairspray. I mean really, did any of you think that a remake of the Broadway play -- plus John Travolta in drag -- would work? Everything from the dance No's to the music no.s worked like a charm. And since were on the subject of musicals, High School Musical II -- despite the overload of saccharine-driven story and cardboard characters -- worked it's Disney magic to make runner-up honors.

Best Hero: This is a tough one, but I'm going with Daniel Radcliffe reprising the title role of Harry Potter in Order of the Phoenix. Homer Simpson for saving the town of Springfield in The Simpsons Movie, gets runner-up.

Best Villain: No baddie put a shiver down my spine more than Imelda Staunton in Order of the Phoenix. As Umbridge, she not only brings out the evil side in bureaucracy, but she makes Dick Cheney look tame. Ashley Tisdale takes the runner-up prize in HSM II reprising her role as the school bitch Sharpay, who takes her bitchiness and her attempts to steal Gabriella's man, Troy, to new, irresistible lows that makes the Plastics look like a joke.

Most Disappointing: I never thought I would be giving this award to Peter Parker, but there's really no denying that Spider-Man 3 became a mediocre summer movie when the filmmakers sucked-out what dark narratives the third movie had in exchange for bigger and more visual action pieces. That, and having Peter go emo on you doesn't help out the cause much.

Worst movie: Who cares about who killed Lindsay Lohan's character in I Know Who Killed Me? What I do know that Lohan killed her career in just one summer with her next bomb, Georgia Rule. Sad to see a bright career was thrown to the wayside for a drive in the fast lane.

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