Summer Movies
Miss T and I watch movies, primarily on DVD. For that reason we’re always months or years behind in watching the regular crop of summer blockbusters. This year, however, we’ve been on a going-to-the-movies roll and have caught quite a few of the Summer 2007 releases: Live Free or Die Hard; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; Transformers; The Simpsons Movie; and, most recently, Ratatouille. We also saw Paprika, which didn’t receive a widespread release in the United States, but is an anime-viewer’s must-see. What’s brought about this flurry of theater-going activity? One word: Cheap movie Tuesday. (Okay, three words.)
So, following are a few thoughts about the aforementioned.
- Starred Bruce Willis and the Mac from the ”I’m a Mac. I’m a PC.” commercials
- The fourth Die Hard movie
- If you enjoyed either of the other two Die Hard sequels, odds are you’ll like this one—I did
- Watch it on a cheap Tuesday ($4 or less)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Starred Harry Potter and his kid-wizard friends
- The best Harry Potter movie thus far (this is installment 5 of 7)
- Needed; more Gary Oldman, Ralph Fiennes, and Alan Rickman; a little less Harry Potter and his kid-wizard friends
- Had an awesome wizard battle near the end—the best wizard battle of any movie containing wizard battles that I’ve seen (including the one in The Lord of Rings)
- Watch it as a matinee ($5.50 to $7.75) unless you’re a Harry Potter fan, in which case, since you’ve already seen it by now, buy the Special Edition Blu-ray DVD when it comes out and watch it again and again
- Starred the new Michael Bay-version transformers
- Directed by Michael Bay
- Surprisingly internally-consistent once you accept the ”transforming robots from outer space waging a battle between good and evil on an alien planet—Earth” premise
- Lots of quick, funny dialogue
- Lots and lots of explosions
- Lots and lots of pretty darn good CG
- Robot transformations seemed needlessly complex
- Miss T complains: “Why did they change Megatron’s transformation into a plane? His giant gun form from the cartoon was cooler.”
- Go in with low expectations and watch it as a matinee
- Starred the Simpsons (with cameos by Green Day and others)
- Directed by one of the directors from The Simpsons TV show
- Actually funny; not laugh-a-second funny like some of their best TV episodes, but not deadly unfunny like some of their worst TV episodes
- Clocking in at 90 minutes, The Simpsons Movie is actually that: a movie—i.e. with cinema-pacing and an overarching story, The Simpsons Movie actually has time for plot development and a “real” ending
- Watch it as a matinee
- It may help if you haven’t seen The Simpsons in a couple of years
- It will not help if you’ve never seen The Simpsons
- Starred Pixar and many celebrity voices that you will and won’t recognize
- Directed by Brad Bird
- This is an amazing movie
- Pixar proves once again that the story is king, then the voice acting, then the animation, then the quality of the visuals
- Go see it right now, then see it again, then buy it on DVD and Special Edition Blu-Ray DVD when they come out
- Starred Japanese voice actors you’ve only heard of if you’re an anime fan
- Directed by Satoshi Kon
- This movie is a mind-bender; blurring the line between dreams and reality
- It’s hard for me to describe Paprika without comparing it to Satoshi Kon’s other projects—so, if you’re not familiar with these other titles, rent them and watch them
- In terms of twisting reality, unreality, time, and space:
Least twisted «— Tokyo Godfathers | Paprika | Millennium Actress | Perfect Blue | Paranoia Agent —» Most twisted - In terms of presenting dark/disturbing themes:
Least dark «— Millennium Actress | Paprika | Tokyo Godfathers | Paranoia Agent | Perfect Blue —» Most dark - Oh yeah, it’s probably not playing at a theater near you, so anime fans should pick it up when it comes out on DVD
Huh, that turned out to not be as brief as I thought.