Finally, summer movies get really good. After the lackluster and somewhat disappointing start to the 2008 summer movie season, Hollywood cranks out some goodies to salivate over and over again. here's the list of the great, the awful, and the toss-ups I saw in the month of June.
Movie, best: Wall-E - Leave it to Pixar to show everyone else up when it comes to making a work of art in a summer movie season that beats the drums of mediocrity. Pixar has given us memorable movies - from Toy Story, to Finding Nemo, to last year's classic Ratatouille - but once again, they have outdone themselves yet again in this tale of a robot who's job it is to clean up after mankind leaves Earth after the mess it's made. Part heartwarming love story (the relationship between Wall-E and another robot named EVE), part optimistic dystopian story, part ode to classic sci-fi tales such as Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Lucas's Star Wars, all 100% masterpiece from Disney/Pixar, and the best film so far this year.
**** stars out of ****
Movie, worst: The Happening - Remember awhile back when I said that M. Night Shyamalan was back after Lady in the Water? Turns out he wasn't. I've defended Shyamalan thought most of his career, but after this wannabe version of Hitchcock's The Birds, i'm beginning to believe that maybe he's just a one trick pony who quickly running out of tricks. The Happening has a promising opening and an idea: the eastern seaboard is hit by an environmental event in which plants release toxins that make people commit mass suicide. Unfortunately, from there, Shyamalan resorts to using the same old tricks he's used in past movies: philosophical metaphors, focusing on troubled characters, etc. It's such a shame to watch great actors in Mark Walberg and Zooey Deschanel drag in M. Night's hit-and miss disturbing eco-thriller (disturbing in the methods of how people kill themselves), but even more shameful to watch this once talented filmmaker resort himself to making shit like this.
* star out of ***
Surprise, biggest: The Incredible Hulk - Unlike The Happening which I had high hopes for, I thought this new version of 2003's boring Hulk would be a total suck-fest. But it turns out that a new director (Louis Letterier in place of Ang Lee), and a new lead actor (the great Ed Norton in place of Eric Bana as Dr. Bruce Banner and his mean, green killing machine alter ego) was just what the doctor ordered. Banner's trying to find a cure for his exposure to high levels of gamma rays, while trying to stay a step ahead of the U.S. military who'll stop at nothing to capture him and use him as a weapon for the government. Tim Roth is great as Blonsky, the militarist who wants to use Bruce's power for his own ends, Liv Tyler does the cliched loved interest and loyal partner well as Betsy Ross, Bruce's dream girl, and William Hurt is excellent as Betsy's bastard father/general who's willing to put her own daughter in prison for aiding Banner. The action sequences are exciting, but not thrilling where you actually fear a green monster and his evil arch nemesis, The Abomination, clash and create havoc and destruction over New York City. When it's all said and done though, Incredible Hulk delivers the goods, which is more than I could say for The Happening.
*** stars out of ****
Comedy Wars: Who Lost? With movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up and Superbad, and the upcoming Pineapple Express, Judd Apatow is the newly appointed comedy czar. But this month, his status has been knocked down a tad, thanks in part to him helping pen the awful Israeli/Palestinian parody, You Don't Mess With the Zohan. Apatow and Adam Sandler have a funny premise: an Israeli soldier fakes his own death in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a hair stylist in NYC. His chance comes when takes a hair styling job in.....a Palestinian-owned hair shop. Funny idea, would make for some great geopolitical humor, but the jokes just don't stick to you. That, and the script relies on too many sex jokes involving Sandler's Zohan giving old ladies happy endings. And will somebody please tell that unfunny douche Rob Schnider to quit starring in movies, for God's sake?
* 1/2 stars out of ****
Comedy Wars: Who Won? Steve Carell wins this round. His portrayal of bumbling field analyst-turned spy Maxwell Smart in Get Smart works like a charm. So what if the action falls flat at times? Carell, backed up by the lovely Anne Hathaway as femme fatal Agent 99 and (suprise!) Dwayne Johnson as Smart's friend, Agent 23, make up for it in strides of laughter and slapstick comedy.
*** stars our of ****
Runner up is another surprise: Jack Black voicing Po in Kung-Fu Panda. Sure the message of believing in yourself and you can overcome any obstacle is as old as time, but Black delivers the funny in almost every scene he's in. Add to it, wonderful martial-arts action sequences and colorful, lively animation makes tis family film a winner.
*** stars out of ***
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