The New Yorker Wraps Up the Summer

And so it is....

September 1st. Not the official end of summer (which is September 21st) but in my mind once August trickles by the party is over.

I suppose we still have Labor Day Weekend ahead of us, to cram in the last minute beach and pool time, or if you're me, your last gluttony of the Hollywood summer fare.

I still need to see The Brothers Grimm and The Cave --but other than that, I've basically seen every major summer release that I wanted to see. Not much comes out this weekend. There's the Constant Gardner, directed by Fernando Meirelles, who gained global notoriety with his 2003 release City of God. Though embarassingly enough, I still haven't seen that film, I always hear amazing things about it. I'm sure The Constant Gardner is adeptly crafted, but the trailer strikes me as one of those films where you know what is going to happen at the end of the movie within the first five minutes. Part of this might be the fault of the trailer, which seems to expose a great deal of the plot.

There's also The Transporter 2, but I never saw the first Transporter, so I don't have much incentive to see that either.

Somehow I can't help wonder to myself where the summer has gone? Seems like only yesterday I was blogging about my favorite time of year in movies, and yet quicker than you can say, a large popcorn, redvines and a pepsi, its passed me by. Well there were some big names this summer. Most monumentally was Star Wars of course, Revenge of the Sith, with the weight of Atlas on its shoulders, a remarkable work of visual achievement threaded with stark emotionalism but unable to clear up some thematically muddy elements . I really do still feel the same way I did after seeing the movie...Thank God its all over. Yes its sad, but those characters in a galaxy far, far, away needed to be laid to rest. I enjoyed it, and though flawed, it did not disappoint me,-- but thank God Lucas has to move on.

Chris Nolan's Batman was an awesome comic book blowout. To resuscitate the Batman franchise after such a torturous demise was no small feat. I still can't say that he eclipsed Tim Burton's work, but he certainly created an entire new mythical landscape of his own. One with emotion and darkness and daring. It was fantastic.

Ah yes Tim Burton, ironic that the same summer his trademark franchise got a huge makeover, he makes his best film in over a decade. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had some story problems no doubt, and there were some awkward scenes in the third act. But overall I thought it was Burton shining at his best, alot of deliciously dark, loopy, and as always artfully designed stuff. No one could ever really compete with Gene Wilder's Wonka, but overall I think the new film surpassed the old one, and I think Depp put in a great performance.

As for War of the Worlds, well, I really enjoyed it for what it was. In my mind Spielberg remains a master at being able to engage his audience at whatever he decides to show them. From the moment the cloudy skies began to swarm over the New Jersey neighborhood, till the credits began to roll up the screen, I was completely captivated.

Let's see, what else was there... Sky High? Thought it was great. Fantastic Four? Awful. Skeleton Key? Totally average. Red Eye? Completely forgettable. Dark Water? For me Dark Water was a (if inconsistent) homage to the days of pyschological thrillers gone by. Though I never reviewed them on the site, I thought Wedding Crashers and 40 Year Old Virgin were entertaining and funny, I just wish they had both cut out some of the mushiness.

Some people hanker for the fall season all year, because its "award show" season. But I love the time of year when movies about space cowboys, chocolate factories, aliens, and men who dress up as bats can come out all within days of each other. The upcoming weeks have some interesting fair though. The trailer for The Exorcism of Emily Rose is in and of itself scarier than any horror movie I've seen in awhile. I'm even intrigued by Cry Wolf, whose trailer shows a killer cleverly using AOL instant messenger to their advantage (that one was a long time coming if you ask me). Further out on the horizon is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe --both of which keep my hopes buoyed.

LOST is also returning, which I find myself very excited for --I hope the series producers don't think we're going to forget about finding out what's in that hatch! There are also are a bevy of new sci-fi/supernatural oriented shows airing on all of the major networks.

I have most of season two of Battlestar Galactica sitting on my TiVo, pending my viewing of season one (the first season comes out on DVD in a couple weeks.) So I have things to look forward to, TV and film to get excited about. I guess there's just a part of me that feels a little bit somber. Maybe its just the traditional end of summer blues. Maybe its all the tragic events of this past week. I just can't help but feeling like we could all use a little cheering up right now. And if you ask me nothing can do it better than a classic summer movie.