Summer Movie Season

Started by modage, April 15, 2007, 07:34:45 PM

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modage

for as long as i can remember Summer Movie Season has been a pretty big deal.  i remember in 1989, drawing little panel illustrations with dialogue for 3 of that summers soon-to-be-blockbusters, Batman, Ghostbusters II, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  and that was all from memory!  just by seeing the commercials over and over again i had memorized the big lines from the trailers and included them (as best as i could remember) in little word bubbles in the panels without even having seen the films.  i think that sums up the amount of excitement that these films can generate. 

even as i got older and my favorite films started to become the ones that crowd the end of the year, i still allow myself to get swept up in the excitement of the summer films. for me it just seems like these BIG movies are a part of summer.  coming out between May and August gives them a certain excitement that wouldn't be possible at any other time of year.  though in recent years i've started to notice that sometimes the hype can be just that.  a great number of these movies that were such a blast in theatres, revisiting them on DVD can reveal a much less exciting film.  the Star Wars prequels suffer the most from this, but it happens every year: MI:III, War Of The Worlds, anything starring Tom Cruise (kidding!).  i still end up citing them on my end of year favorites list either because i can't shake the feeling i got from seeing them that first time or because many i haven't had a chance to revisit.

but i was looking at the calendar for this summer and i'm really not that excited.  it's probably no different than any other year but this particular crop of sequels/remakes/spinoff's seems just a few movies shy of a good time.  which is ironic since i was just listening to someone predict it would likely be the biggest summer ever.  let's take a look at some of the BIG MOVIES this summer....

Spider-Man 3 (May 4) This is undoubtedly the movie I'm most looking forward to this summer, which is a little sad it's the first one to come out.  While I have been extremely skeptical they can make a good movie out of all these story threads, I'm still hoping I can suspend criticism long enough to have fun.

Shrek The Third (May 18) Like most Xixaxers here, I'm not looking forward to this movie at all.  But unlike every other Xixaxer, I actually liked the first two films!  I wasn't very interested in the 2nd one and almost didn't see it but ended up going to a matinee (back when i lived someplace those still existed) and laughed my ass off.  I thought, while nowhere in a league with Pixar, was better than the first film and a fun time.  I still don't plan on seeing this.

Pirates Of The Carribean: At Worlds End (May 25) Like everyone else, I really liked and was completely surprised by the first film.  When I saw the 2nd film last summer I didn't think it was terrible but I thought it definitely suffered from sequelitis in that it was a bloated faster, louder, emptier version of the first film.  I had a good-ish time, but it dropped any anticipation for this film to 0.  I don't know if I'll see it or not.

Knocked Up (June 1) While not a BIG summer movie, I think there's still a subgenre for the Summer Comedy and this (if not the more predictable Evan Almighty) seems poised to breakthrough.  I'm really really looking forward to this and it may be my 3rd most anticipated movie of the summer, though I'm actually hoping to see it this week.

Oceans 13 (June 8.) Despite the high wattage of movie stars this really doesn't remind me of a summer movie at all.  Didn't the first two come out in December?  Though I'm not especially excited about it (too many 3's!), I'll still see this on good faith that it's not going to suck like the 2nd one and because I see everything Soderbergh does.  Everything.

Hostel II (June 8.) Again, this really doesn't seem like a summer movie, (I KNOW the first one came out in January) and though I believe that a Summer Horror film can breakthrough on occasion I don't think this is going to be it.  I really liked the first one.  I have almost ZERO interest in seeing this.  Why?  I don't know.

Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (June 15) I have ABSOLUTE ZERO interest in this.  I saw the first one on a bus, it made me want to puke.  Why does everything profitable get a sequel?  I think I figured out why even movies I liked I'm not interested in some of the sequels.  Because they're unneccesary and there is too fucking many of them!

Evan Almighty (June 22) This will probably be the big comedy of the summer (hopefully Knocked Up can be the 40 Year Old Virgin breakout and this can be the Night At The Museum steamroller).  I like Steve Carrell and I hope this does ok so he can continue to be funny but I'm not going to see this. 

Live Free Or Die Hard (June 27) I grew up with the other 3 films, but this looks like total ass.  They really shouldn't sully John McClane's good name with this.  He had hair, I know he did.  There was maybe some potential for a Rocky Balboa type endcap but this just looks like anonymous action turd with franchise brand awareness.  No thanks.

Ratatouille (June 29) Oh thank Christ!  The 2nd movie on this list that isn't a sequel and my 2nd Most Anticipated movie of the summer.  The trailers look great, there were production troubles, don't be another Cars...

Transformers (July 4) I grew up with the Transformers.  I actually like Michael Bay (and started his very own Worship thread!)  I don't care about this movie.  At all.  I don't care what color Optimus Prime's stripes are, or that Shia LaBouff wears a Strokes T-Shirt (well maybe a little about that). Like the TMNT movie a month ago, grew up with them, even got to work on the (new) show a year or two ago!, and the movie just did not interest me.  This is the sort of big explosive dumb summer thing I should really be into.  And I'm not. 

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (July 14) Even though this is a 5, I haven't read the books and the series seems to have gotten progressively better.  My girlfriend is a big fan of the books so I'm excited about this one.  Chalk it up for #4.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry (July 20) I haven't been excited about an Adam Sandler movie in a long time, and while I'm not excited about this one, it looks better than his last few efforts.  And they were filming this last summer in DUMBO around the corner from where I work.

The Simpsons Movie (July 27) At least 10 years too late to stir up any real excitement for me.  Still, it's probably my duty to see it anyway.

does this seem like an especially weak crop to anyone else?  am i just getting old?
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Ghostboy

I think you're just getting old. I remember waxing ecstatic about summer movies in years past. I just loved everything about them. Or at least I thought I did. Maybe I just loved the trailers. I'd look forward to the Christmas movies every year because that was when the first big trailers for the summer movies would come out, and then the anticipation would slowly ramp up from January until May. But that's all changed now. Starting in 2004 or so, I just stopped caring. Maybe The Matrix Reloaded just wore me out for good the summer before, or maybe the ratio of anticipation to delivery finally got too wide to sustain my excitement. But I just don't get excited about summer movies anymore, and I also don't really make an effort to see any of them.

The only summer movies I'm excited about are Spiderman, The Simpsons and Harry Potter, and I'm not even really excited about those - just interested enough to know that I'll go see them. I suppose I'm really looking forward to seeing Knocked Up, too, although I've already passed up two advance screenings of it.


Kal

For me its something similar... not too long ago I would have been so excited about this summer and having so many kickass movies to go see... but maybe I'm getting older, or maybe now we all understand better the way the hollywood system works and the greed behind it makes us not want to see these movies. Even though blockbusters have been always about money, big explotions and hot stars, I think before they did try a little harder to make something exciting and new. Now, it seems like every year is the same and not only they make sequels, but they make them so fast that you dont have time to look forward to a sequel.

There are some movies I really want to see, but unlike other years there is none that I would want to go opening day or that I'd be willing to wait in line for 3 hours. I have not done that a lot, but at least with movies like Superman Returns, LOTR or The Matrix I felt that excitement.


Ravi

Spider-man 3 was a disappointment.  Way to start the summer  :yabbse-thumbdown:

Of the films Modage posted I'm looking forward to Knocked Up, Ratatouille, Harry Potter, and yes, The Simpsons Movie.  I guess Superbad and The Ten don't count since they come out in August, but I'm looking forward to seeing those more than most of the listed movies combined.  I also want to see The TV Set, which releases here in a few weeks.

Quote from: Ghostboy on April 15, 2007, 08:01:50 PM
I just don't get excited about summer movies anymore, and I also don't really make an effort to see any of them.

I too used to look forward to the summer films as a kid, but my tastes in films has improved, and now I can't be bothered to care about warmed over sequels, remakes, TV show adaptations, and generally lame films (I'm looking at you,  I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry).  Its like getting excited over razorblades or nails or any other assembly-line product.

polkablues

I'll see Ocean's and Knocked Up in the theatre... and if a girl that I'm looking to have relations with wants to see Harry Potter or Pirates, I'll bite the bullet and go for those as well.  Everything else is destined for my DVD player.  Except Fantastic Four, which can suck a fuck for all I care.
My house, my rules, my coffee

MacGuffin

Quote from: Ravi on May 08, 2007, 10:42:58 PMI guess Superbad and The Ten don't count since they come out in August

Summer lasts until September, so those, along with Bourne Ultimatum, Bratz, Daddy Day Camp, Underdog, Rush Hour 3 and Halloween would count.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

polkablues

Quote from: MacGuffin on May 09, 2007, 12:51:30 AM
Quote from: Ravi on May 08, 2007, 10:42:58 PMI guess Superbad and The Ten don't count since they come out in August

Summer lasts until September, so those, along with Bourne Ultimatum, Bratz, Daddy Day Camp, Underdog, Rush Hour 3 and Halloween would count.

Yeah, but "Summer Movie Season" starts in May.  The actual angle of the earth to the sun is meaningless to these people.
My house, my rules, my coffee

modage

yeah i count the summer movie season as may through august, i just got tired of listing all the movies. 
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Ravi

Quote from: MacGuffin on May 09, 2007, 12:51:30 AM
Summer lasts until September, so those, along with Bourne Ultimatum, Bratz, Daddy Day Camp, Underdog, Rush Hour 3 and Halloween would count.

How could I forget about Daddy Day Camp and Rush Hour 3?  Fuck the movies that I listed.