Blockbuster Summer 2013 - My Movie Review So Far

Here’s how my Blockbuster Summer is going so far.

IRON MAN 3

RATING: A

I loved this movie.  I loved the dialogue. I loved Tony getting out of the suit.  I loved he wasn’t up against another armored villain.  I’m not going to give spoilers because maybe you haven’t seen it but all the fuss the fan boys made about the Mandarin was a little silly.

I understand expectations and all but it’s an adaptation.  And in adaptations, you have to change stuff.  Being a slave to the original story ultimately dooms the adaptation because different mediums require different tools.  I thought the surprises and the fights were cool.

I loved Ben Kingsley, I loved Guy Pearce.  I loved the little kid who busted Tony’s chops.  That movie is infinitely rewatchable.

STAR TREK:  INTO DARKNESS

RATING: A-

Also loved this movie.  I thought Chris Pine was topnotch.  Even better than the first one.  The moment when he turns to everyone and says, “I’m sorry.” is one of the better movie moments of the summer.  It makes me excited for Abrams to tackle Star Wars because it needs that kind of emotional grounding coupled with characters you care about.

The bromance of Kirk and Spock was topnotch again.  Simon Pegg and Karl Urban were hilarious and awesome in the ensemble.  And freaking Benedict Cumberbatch was so menacing and interesting, he might have been the best movie villain of the summer.

MAN OF STEEL

RATING: B-

Star Trek and Iron Man got right what this movie got wrong.  Don’t steer away from the themes and story in favor of more fighting, Superman Movie.  I don’t want to see Superman fight the giant Kryptonian for five more minutes instead of fleshing out the theme of Fathers and Sons.   Deliver on the story and the action will be that much sweeter.

In some ways, it’s the Superman movie I always wanted.  I loved Krypton.  I loved Kevin Costner going through the moral effects of Clark being able to save everyone and whether he should or not.  Of him reconciling his Krypton side with his Earth side.  That was all great.  That’s what I wanted.

But right when they should have dived into it, they backed off.  Put in a bunch of destruction to make Superman’s situation more dire.  

But the story was about CLARK CHOOSING BETWEEN HIS EARTH FATHER AND HIS KRYPTON FATHER AND ULTIMATELY DECIDING HE’S HIS OWN MAN AND TAKING A BIT OF BOTH.  Not Zod’s zealousness.  Not Diane Lane’s lackluster performance.  It was about him making a decision and living with it.

David Goyer, the screenwriter, knows better.  And the ending in the train station? Meh.  Not what it was about, Zach Snyder.  Good job missing the point.

PACIFIC RIM

RATING: A

Awesome.  Totally awesome.  The most fun movie of the summer.  Giant Monsters vs Giant Robots? BEST. IDEA. EVER.  It was pure summer popcorn.  It delivered on every count for what this movie should be:

Awesome Overacting? Totally.

Amazing Scale?  What Transformers wished it was.

Cliché Anti-Hero?  They should have just called him Maverick.

Mind Blowing Battles?  Does using an oil tanker as a bat count? Then yes.

Sweet Names for Robots and Monsters? Leatherback?! Gypsy Danger?!  Striker Eureka?!?!

I saw it in IMAX, which I recommend, and it was exactly what I wanted it to be.  Del Toro knows what he’s doing and delivered over and over.  When they have to unplug the robot, they literally pull out a giant plug.  Del Toro just gets it.  There’s so many nods to so many monster movies in here that it’s like watching Godzilla for the first time.

And thanks to it blowing up in China, it looks like we’re going to get a sequel.

NEXT UP:

The Wolverine (I’m seeing it Friday)

Elysium (it’s going to be bonkers)

The World’s End (I love those Edgar Wright movies)

BEST BLOCKBUSTER SUMMER EVER? or How I Set Myself Up For Hulk Sized Disappointment But Can't Help Myself

I think it’s healthy to be excited about things.  It makes life more topographical.  No matter what I’m doing, I can see a mountain in the distance.  That mountain can be a lot of things.  The new Marvel movie.  A festival or journal I submitted to.  A trip.  A new burger place.  A project being filmed or staged.  Whatever it is, I like knowing it’s coming.  Feeling its nearness.  It’s like driving off-road.  Steering for the peaks and valleys instead of keeping to the even road.

Admittedly, it sets you up for greater disappointment. Anyone who has owned a BMX bike knows there are painful possibilities from going off the jump.  In layman’s terms, it’s called “crotching” yourself.  This analogy is apt because a good crotching is not life altering or damaging.  It’s just a momentary incapacitation, a discomfort you wish would pass so you can get back on the bike.  It also is obvious to everyone else around but it’s not a wound that can be treated like an arm break.  It’s treated with sympathy mixed with “I Told You So”.

Life is easily crotchable.  Especially if you set yourself up for it.  You don’t have to build jumps.  Most people don’t.

There are definitely larger applications for this but I’m going to use my love of blockbusters. In the Spring, I map out my Summer.  Not by vacations and swimming  but by which movies I’m most excited about.  I love Blockbuster Summer.  It’s a mountain I watch on the horizon, a mountain full of superheroes and face punches and car chases and witty banter and space battles and me stuffing my face with candy and Coke.

The success of Blockbuster Summer depends on these factors:

1.     The Amount of Blockbusters I’m Excited About

2.     The Amount That End Up Being Great

3.     The Amount That End Up Being Just Okay

4.     The Amount That Make Me Want to Die By Drinking Lava

It’s not all blockbusters.  It’s just the ones I want to see.  In 2011 there were 6 and it ended up 5/6.  In 2012, it was 3/4.  This year there are 7.  And about 5 Maybes.  It could be the Best Blockbuster Summer Ever.

Now uttering those words has put me in a dangerous, imminently crotching place.  But I have to live like this.  I have to be excited.  I have to share my excitement.  I have to find like-minded excitable people.

So when I say it can be likened to movies, it can.  But it's really more of a philosophy for me.  A choice to live life out in the open with hopes and dreams sewed on my sleeves.  Did you know I'm writing a new script? Of course you did.  I told you that.  Did you know that I'm waiting to hear back on a few other writing projects?  Sure.  Because I have to tell you.  It keeps me boiling.  It keeps a horizon in my eyes.

I’d rather be disappointed than regret.  I’d rather wallow in all my failures then obsess in my thoughts over might-have-beens.  And it’s not fame and recognition I want.  It’s completion.  It’s creation.  It’s standing over the sandcastle I’ve built and being okay that we may not outlive each other.  But at least everything I’ve made is here now.  I don’t care about immortality.  I care about the quality of my mortality.

See?  It’s a much bigger issue.  It’s not just me obsessing over Iron Man’s 42 suits of armor.   That’s a part of it, though.

For those of you interested, here's my Blockbuster Summer List:

Iron Man 3

The Great Gatsby

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Man of Steel

Pacific Rim

The Wolverine

Elysium