Okay, so there’s something that I should disclose right off the top here: I have horrible taste in movies. Well, that’s not totally accurate. I do enjoy all sorts of movies, including very good ones. It’s just that I will watch pretty much anything, quite contentedly. I once sat through Trojan War, a 1997 teen flick starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Will Friedle* in which the main character spends the entire movie trying to find a condom in order to lose his virginity to the school’s hot, slutty, popular girl (Marley Shelton), while his BFF, J.Love, (in the time-honored** role of ‘overlooked-but-pretty best friend of the doofus main character who is secretly in love with him even though he totally ignores her until the very end of the movie when he suddenly realizes she’s actually quite beautiful and totally right for him, a fact that anyone with eyes and half a brain in their head — i.e. his friends, his parents, the rest of the school, the entire movie-going audience*** — has already figured out’ ) pouts and overacts her way through all of her scenes. It is truly an awful film.
*Will Friedle played the older brother character, whose name was Eric****, on the ABC Family show Boy Meets World, of which I have watched many an episode.
**Seriously, this is totally a character trope. Please see Secret Admirer and Some Kind of Wonderful for further examples.
*** “The entire movie-going audience”, in this case, consisting solely of me and my friend Caroline.
****I didn’t even have to look that up.
But I digress. The point of this post is to talk about the start of SUMMER MOVIE SEASON! (I believe this deserves the all-caps treatment, as I am very excited about it) and the fact that while I was away for two weeks, quite a few movies were released that I want to see. Including, but not limited to:
MOONRISE KINGDOM
This is a no-brainer, obviously. Wes Anderson is a complete and utter genius and I have adored every movie he has previously made, so it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that I will love this one.
KATY PERRY: PART OF ME
This is Katy Perry’s behind-the-scenes concert documentary. I think the following exchange I just had with a friend of mine pretty much sums up my feelings on this one:
TAKE THIS WALTZ
Canadian director Sarah Polley’s most recent project, starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen. It’s set in Toronto! I can’t resist that.
ROCK OF AGES
Look, just admit it. You too are curious to see Tom Cruise in the role of a long-haired heavy metal rock god. He is obviously going to be amazing. This movie is also being advertised on billboards throughout France, where it is curiously titled ‘Rock Forever’, which made me laugh. I mean, it’s not like they translated the title into French – they just changed it to an alternate English name. So random.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
I wasn’t really feeling this one until I read a great review of it here, and now I am kind of excited.
MAGIC MIKE
I have had a soft spot for Channing Tatum ever since his career-defining roles in Step Up and She’s the Man (probably the greatest cinematic masterpiece of our time – more on this later as it is clearly a movie deserving of its own post). So the fact that he wrote this one, based loosely on his early experiences as a male stripper, has me intrigued (…no, no, not because of the male stripper part – I am just interested to see if he can write a good story. Seriously. Male strippers are kind of gross. Um, so I have heard?)
SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD
I have to throw a rom-com into the mix, of course. And nothing says ‘romantic comedy’ like a speeding asteroid heading towards Earth on a path of devastation and destruction.
SAVAGES
Oliver Stone’s latest project has been getting a lot of buzz. Whether it’s good or not is really immaterial as it features both Aaron Johnson and Tim Riggins.
TIM RIGGINS!!!!!!!!*
*Also deserving of the all-caps treatment, obviously.
MARLEY
This was actually playing on the plane on the way home from Paris, but I watched Friends With Benefits instead. Gah. I hate myself.*
*But I secretly enjoyed ‘Friends With Benefits’. I told you — I’ll watch anything. ANYTHING.
INTOUCHABLES
A new friend of mine just recommended this French film and said it’s one of the best movies she’s seen in a while. I in turn suggested that she watch Step Up 2: The Streets, and since she’s already e-mailed me to tell me that she loved it, I feel that we have similar taste in movies. So I’m gonna check this one out.
TO ROME WITH LOVE
Woody Allen’s latest offering. Since I was totally obsessed with Midnight in Paris last year, I am super excited to see this one.
Well, that’s it for me (for now). Obviously I’d better get cracking if I’m going to catch all of these flicks. Thaddeus, I am decamping to the local cineplex for the foreseeable future. Please forward my calls.
How about you? What movies – if any– have piqued your interest this summer? Any and all recommendations are welcome…
MSkillz
Thaddeus
