Ryan McNeil
If there’s fireworks bursting overhead, it must be July (Happy Independence Day to all my American friends btw). And while it may feel a tad unoriginal, I thought I’d take a moment to look back on the summer at the movies so far. I think I can sum it up in one word – “meh” – and lay the blame squarely on IRON MAN.
IRON MAN got the whole party started on the first weekend of May. At the time, I still had visions of Sarah Marshall dancing in my head, and was giddy after seeing such a cool flick right off the bat. May was cold here in Toronto, but my movie-geek heart was warmed by the thoughts of how good it could get from there. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be.
Now to be fair, most of what I’ve seen since then has been good…but with the exception of WALL-E, nothing had me leaving the theatre with a smile on my face the way that Tony Stark did…NARNIA, INDY, HAPPENING, HULK, WANTED…none of these turned me into the dork who turns to my fiancee and says “Let’s see it again” before we’ve even left the theatre. Perhaps after something so fun, so soon, there was nowhere to go but down.
A little while ago, I bemoaned the fact that usually by now, the summer has provided a few good nights out. But thinking back on it, I look at what I was subjected to a year ago at this time (SHREK 3, PIRATES 3, SPIDEY 3…all before July 1st), and wonder if maybe I’m just asking too much from the summer? Is it too much to hope for a bit more smart action and a bit less dumb franchise??
Well…all one can do is hope that the second half makes up for the first. There are one or two titles left that may cure my underwhelmed feeling, and discovering a hidden gem might not hurt either.
And hey – if we get to Labour Day and I’m still not impressed, I just need to remind myself that The Toronto Film Festival starts on September 4th.
Thanks for the Independence Day wish! Hope you had a great Canada Day yourself. š
I’ve been saying this since people first complained about this summer, but I’m starting to wonder if the Big Summer Blockbuster is just far too played-out as a genre. People have seen to many of them, there’s nothing new left to do in them, and they just can’t sweep you away like they used to. It’s been 33 years since Jaws, 31 years since Star Wars, and 27 years since Raiders of the Lost Ark…haven’t we seen every possible variation on the effects film in the interim?
Maybe it’s time for Hollywood to find a new big moneymaker.
Shrug.
Perhaps…
See the funny thing is that Hollywood can still get it right every now and then.
MINORITY REPORT was awesome, ditto GLADIATOR. Big budget doesn’t have to spell explosive silliness, know what I mean?
And even when it comes to sequels, the studios *still* managed to nail good ones with SPIDER-MAN 2 and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM.
They don’t ALL have to be landmark movies like STAR WARS, RAIDERS, and JAWS…but they could at least strive to be memorable.
The first Pirates film was a big summer hit too.
It’s a hard audience, because with blockbusters people don’t want to think too much, but they also don’t want to be let down. I think the biggie this year will be The Dark Knight – it has so much hype. Iron Man did receive a positive response but I think it was in part a “Phew, that was a superhero movie that didn’t suck” reaction.
Ah yes, PIRATES…such a fun movie. Might have to watch that tonight!
I kinda think IRON MAN was more a “COOL!!” than a “phew”. But that’s just me. Regardless, it was a tough act to follow.
You’re right though – we want our summer movies a tad on the brainless side…I just think Hollywood doesn’t always realize that brainless doesn’t neccessarily mean insulting.