summer entertainment

This is the time of year I make it a priority to get out and see movies. Back in 'the old days' -- pre-kids, I suppose that means, and especially during the summers I wasn't dating anyone, or the boyfriend lived in a different town, or whatever ... I would go see a lot of art-house movies by myself. But these days, I have time and freedom for only so many a year, and frankly, my brain is mush. And I also can't take the morally ambiguous, pathos-heavy ones any more, be they ever so well done. So it's big blockbustery stuff for me.

Thus far this summer, I've seen three -- I thought I'd give you Kate's perspective.

First, Iron Man. If I haven't already said so, this movie ROCKS. For so many reasons. Pretty much, you just have to see it. I'm betting it will be the best of the summer. (I have some hope, but not too much, for The Dark Knight - the first Batman movie was awesome, but Heath Ledger as the Joker is NOT doing it for me in the previews. But perhaps I'll be surprised. I'll also add that Hancock is starting to look rather interesting, as well. These movies both come out on or after my due date, though, which means I don't know how long it'll be before I can make it to them. Unless I take an infant, to a matinee. Hmmmm...)
I'd never even heard of Iron Man, the superhero, before the hype machine cranked up for this movie. I'm no Marvel Comics addict. Though there's nothing at all wrong with that. Low expectations do tend to help. Though this movie would meet high expectations, as well.

Second: Prince Caspian. Now, no one loves the Narnia books more than I do. Really. Not possible. And I'm not one of these purist types who flies into a million pieces if a moviemaker deviates from the book by a smidge (I'm looking at you, Potter fans). I recognize this sometimes makes for more compelling viewing, as opposed to reading. And I liked the first movie.
However ... this one didn't quite do it for me. It's hard to say why. One likely reason -- it was my least favorite book. Just not all that. The Pevensies go back to Narnia. And there are a few compelling thoughts about faith and God sprinkled here and there. That's it. The end. Well, and the revelation that there are other 'ways into Narnia,' which I don't quite know what to do with. But if you want killer Middle Earth-style battle scenes, and special effects, it begins and ends with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This series suffers greatly from having come after that one. I do realize that it's possible/probable that the only reason the movies were green-lighted (green-lit?) was the smashing success of LotR. The next book/movie (Voyage of the Dawn Treader) will be either utterly killer, or hopelessly cheesy. I'm crossing my fingers for the former. I like the casting of the younger Pevensies best, so I won't be sad to see the eldest two go. It's already got that going for it. No White Witch, though (I don't think). Tilda Swinton absolutely rocks.

I just got back from the latest Indiana Jones movie. Disappointing. It's even worse than you think a movie about a 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' will be, believe it or not. Well, it's not terrible -- none of these movies was terrible -- but so not Indy at his finest. It's actually not even interesting enough to be terrible, come to think of it. I mean, the second movie was what I'd consider terrible, and those images of eating baby snakes and monkey brains, and still-beating hearts ripped out of chests, and the sheer horror that is Kate Capshaw, is forever burned into my brain. This latest one, surprisingly, was less than stellar not because Harrison Ford has one foot in the grave. That all played just fine. And they do some cool stuff with the new addition -- Shia LaBeouf. Who is my personal favorite 'far-younger-than-me actor that I secretly love for some random reason.' Though my mother in law thoroughly cured me of that recently by remarking, when I told her that he reminded me a lot of Matt: "Oh, really? I've always thought he looked just like Nick" (her other son). Yeah. No more Shia lust for me. Done. Bleeaaahhh.
But I still can enjoy the actor -- he does his slightly goofy, comedic, sometimes black sheep thing very well. And he did it well here. They had the usual cute little comedic touches that Indy movies do so well. I also adore Cate Blanchett, but they didn't ask a whole lot of her. But the storyline? oh MY. I don't want to spoil anyone, but I will say that if I wanted sci-fi, I'd watch one of my Star Trek DVDs. For pity's sake, people.
George Lucas, I'd love to say you have failed me for the last time, but you have your finger in so many cinematic pies, you're a hard one to avoid.