Part I: The Recent Stuff and the Good Stuff, Not the Same Thing
Well, another summer has come and gone. Labor Day 2008 had the lowest box office takings this holiday has seen in seven years. Of course, even for regular Joe’s like me, it was no surprise. I mean, seriously, let’s look at what was opening:
“Babylon A.D.”
Wow, really? THIS is the big scfi-fi actioner you want to end the summer on? A movie that was taken away from its director because the studio thought that was the right thing to do? Clearly, it was left to the last weekend of the summer for a reason: no competition. That says all it needs to, really, but if you want you can read my full review here.
“College”
Yet another low-brow teen comedy about students partying in college. Uh huh. Right.
“Disaster Movie”
Seriously? These people are still making these movies? Little hint here: when the horse is dead, you can stop beating it! Remember the Leslie Nielson and Zucker/Abrahams comedies? Same thing.
“Hamlet 2”
I guess the studio thought that, seeing as there wasn’t much competition for a quirky independent comedy (or anything else for that matter), it would have a chance. Fail.
And those are just the high-profile films of the weekend. Definitely a holiday for spending at the beach, or out in the yard having a barbecue.
The summer may have ended on a whimper, but that’s not to say it didn’t let off some bangs earlier. In fact, for the most part, it seems the studios blew their loads before August this year.
My summer high points:
“Iron Man”
Talk about starting the summer with a bang! This was a great addition to the comic book movie roster, and who didn’t love Robert Downey, Jr.? He made that movie.
Pretty darn fun. These folks are doing a fine job bringing The Chronicles of Narnia to life, so far.
I didn’t see it, but the ladies seemed to like this movie. I mention it because it did well.
I loved this movie. It was really funny and clearly the best animation outside the Pixar monopoly. Read the interview with Mark Osborne!
I enjoyed this one. WAY better than that Ang Lee debacle, and chock-full of nods to the old TV show.
“Wall-E”
I liked this movie. It’s sweet, funny, and has a good message. Who doesn’t love cute robots? What are you, dead inside?
“Hancock”
This surprised me with a story more interesting than expected. I think it suffered from poor marketing, but was worth the watch.
I’m a big fan. This thing was big fun.
As if I really need to say anything about this masterpiece of film-making. It’s easily the pinnacle of the summer. All-around flawless. This is what film is all about. Read my review by clicking on the title, or read Graham’s or Mike’s. Yeah, we all wanted to go see this one.
Read Part II
Neil T. Weakley
