Why Next Summer will be a Killer Film Season
This Summer’s movies were pretty blah in my opinion. There were two great movies: Bourne and Ratatouille. I didn’t get into (nor see) Transformers. Just not my thing. Most of the movies I did see (Harry Potter, Spiderman 3, etc.) were either big disappointments or just plain bad. There were a few fun films like Oceans 13 or Live Free or Die Hard, but they weren’t memorable in the least. Yet next year. Oh baby…
First off we have both the new Batman and the new Indiana Jones movies. And both look to be killer. Those two alone would probably satisfy me.
For those who liked The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe from a couple of years ago (I didn’t) the sequel is out next summer.
M. Night Shyamalan has a new film and while that doesn’t excite me too much I hope that his last film humbled him enough to make a great film. (To be honest I haven’t been excited by anything he did after Unbreakable - although Signs was enjoyable)
Ed Norton takes on The Hulk and Robert Downing Jr. takes on Iron Man. I’m getting a bit tired of the comic book films and am only excited about Batman because Nolan did such a fantastic job. Here’s hoping these move more towards the Nolan line than the more typical comic book adaptation.
Anyway, there’s plenty to be excited about. Too bad the Halo movie didn’t get made.
I think that the character of Batman really lends itself to the movies in a way that Superman and Spiderman perhaps don’t. His lack of superpowers is probably the key to this.
Anything that would be challenging for Superman just seems too contrived for the big screen. Though I do love Superman 2, how often can you introduce extraterrestrial baddies to torment Supes? Superman Returns can be summarized as Superman lifting a series of heavier and heavier objects, while using his powers to be a creepy stalker ex-boyfriend when not lifting things.
I haven’t even seen Spiderman 3, so I can’t comment on that much, but I wasn’t as taken with #2 as much many seemed to be. I guess I don’t care for Toby as Peter.
Comment by a random John — August 27, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
Another Hulk film? Blech.
CGI is such crap most of the time. I’m far more impressed when real people do the stunts and they cast someone whose grown their own bad guy smashing muscles.
Go Lou Ferrigno!
Comment by summershine — August 27, 2007 @ 5:09 pm
By the way, is anybody ever going to tackle Ender’s Game? I could see Nolan pulling it off in likeable fashion.
Comment by summershine — August 27, 2007 @ 5:10 pm
I wish I could get excited about movies. I’m looking forward to seeing the documentary Resolved, which is already out but I probably won’t see it until I can buy it on DVD. And I’m curious to see what Sean Penn will do with Into the Wild, which I think is out next month. I loved the book. You can see the trailer at the IMDB link.
I just saw Die Free and Live Hard at the dollar theater, it was really fun/funny.
Comment by Susan M — August 27, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
summershine, Ender’s Game has been in production woes for years and years.
There are some significant films coming out:
-3:10 to Yuma
-new Batman
-Iron Man
It’s looking good~
Comment by Supergenius — August 27, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
John, I think Spiderman really has been done well. The choice of Venom as a villain in the last one as well as the Sandman were just very bad decisions. Venom is simply too complex a tale to tell in a single movie. Sandman is simply too difficult to animate in a realistic believable way.
But the prior two movies were great.
Superman was great in the first two Donner films, if a bit limited due to special effects in the 70’s. (And the fact the second film was taken over from him half-way through production) The Singer film was highly flawed, mainly because of the inexplicable decision to make the plot a remake of the first one and to go a bit overboard on the Superman as Christ motif. Although I still dug the film.
Comment by Clark — August 27, 2007 @ 5:57 pm
I’d like to see 3:10 to Yuma, but that’s out before next summer, isn’t it? The movie I’m really excited about is No Country for Old Men. Comes out in a couple of months and looks like the first Coen Bros. in a long while worth caring about.
Comment by Brian V — August 27, 2007 @ 6:37 pm
I look forward to Indiana Jones IV. As to the rest, I haven’t had an opportunity to see movies at all this past year and four months, except for Ratatouille and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Ratatouille was excellent and Order was good.
Comment by Dan — August 27, 2007 @ 6:44 pm
as far as this summer’s movies, i’ve heard a lot of good things about resolved and hope to see it (heck, the director is my bishop), liked bourne and knocked up as well.
but by far my favorite movie of the summer is the king of kong: a fistful of quarters. if you have not seen it yet run, do not walk, to the nearest indie movie theater to check it out. i think it will be the sleeper hit of the summer, but it’s not in wide release yet. all i can say is that christopher guest and friends wish they could create characters like the real life ones in this documentary. and i believe the director was the producer and editor of new york doll.
Comment by mike d. — August 27, 2007 @ 6:46 pm
Cool. The last couple of Coen Bros. movies haven’t been up to snuff. (Although I confess a very soft spot for Intolerable Cruelty)
Comment by Clark — August 27, 2007 @ 7:25 pm
I heard about the King of Kong somewhere, really want to see that.
Comment by Susan M — August 28, 2007 @ 8:07 am
On the Cohen Bros. movie - it’s based on a fantastic book by Cormac McCarthy. As for this summer, Bourne was awesome, and I really liked Stardust. Stardust was horribly advertised, and didn’t give you any clue in the preview on how funny it is.
Comment by Jacob — August 28, 2007 @ 12:53 pm