Good things ahead?

Good news. I'm hearing that there are good movies on the horizon. A bunch of them. Some are out right now, like 500 Days of Summer and In The Loop. Both movies are small and almost-indie, but that's okay. They are both supposed to be excellent.

Then there are the movies that will be in theaters soon. Funny People, the new Judd Apatow movie is supposed to be very good. I just have to see it for that Raaaandy guy alone. And even GI Joe is supposed to be decent. Not sure how much stock I can put in that one, but it actually doesn't look half bad.

And of course, the movie I've been waiting for all summer is not so far off anymore. Inglorious Bastards will be out in a few weeks!

So here's the list of seeable movies

1. 500 Days of Summer
2. In The Loop
3. Funny People
4. GI Joe
5. Inglorious Bastards.

Only three of these movies will be out in the next week, since Funny People opens this Friday and the last two still have time before theyre released. But three movies worthwhile is better than we've gotten all summer. Finally, a reason to go to the movies!

Harry Potter and the blah blah blah

Just saw the new Harry Potter movie. It is literally the same old shit. I'm starting to realize that these movies (except for the one true great one that was Prisoner of Azkaban), are all pretty much the same. They really don't have plot and instead concern themselves with the minor minutia around the school. Who likes who, who's flirting with who, and a lot of spells stuff that seems pointless to anyone who hasn't read the book. The movie is not bad in the sense that the style and shots and color palette are all wonderful. But for three quarters of the movie there is just no plot. Harry has to get the new professor to tell him something. That's the plot. And the professor doesn't tell him until after three quarters of the movie. The ending is cool and surprising (unless you read the book), but it's just so long and effortless. It's as if they know the audience is coming, so they can literally do whatever the hell they want. And take as much time as they want with doing it. This is not a movie that has to please, like say The Hangover. There's a built in audience and they bank on that the whole qway. This movie doesn't earn any points for creativity or being different.

Garbage...garbage...and more garbage

It's now mid-July and things are looking ugly. There has been so little that is worthwhile this summer. Going all the way back to May, Star Trek was fun, and then the Hangover, but there hasn't been much since. I hear Up is worthwhile and Harry Potter that comes out in a few days is supposed to be dark which means good (remember Prisoner of Azkaban, the only really dark Potter movie and by far the best). Still, aside from those four movies spanning the months of May, June, and July, it's been pretty gloomy. Based on word of mouth, Public Enemies is boring, Transformers is idiotic, Taking of Pelham has a terrible ending, Bruno is non-stop offensive. Where's the fun? I went to see the Larry David - Woody Allen movie Whatever Works, simply because there was nothing else to see, and it was just as plain and predictable as everything else. Maybe Judd Apatow's Funny People will be ok, and I have high hopes for 500 Days of Summer and Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards, but those three would have to be pretty miraculous to put this summer on par with where it should be.

the dog days of summer

For some reason, studios have gone more and more in the direction of bringing out the biggest and most anticipated movies in May, leaving little for June and almost nothing for July. And don't even get me started on August. So here we are, in early July, and our two big movies are Transformers 2 and Public Enemies. Obviously Transformers 2 is supposed to be terrible. No surpirse there. It looks like loud, clangy, suped-up garbage. But Public Enemies doesn't look a whole lot better. So Johny Depp is in it. So what. It's a Michael Mann movie and honestly the guy hasn't made a well-paced movie since HEAT in 1995. Everything the man does is slow in the name of art. His movie Collateral with Tom Cruise as a hitman had no reason to be slow and yet it still was. And even HEAT, much as I love it, was too slow for it's own good at times. Well, Public Enemies doesn't look any better.

So what's out that's worthwhile? the same stuff that was out and worthwhile three weeks ago, maybe more. Up and The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three, and The Hangover. Those three movies. Those are the ones to see. And I'm hoping that I'm not wrong about Pelham, but it could really go either way.