Unless you have a lot of spare time and money, or a weekly newspaper column to write, seeing all of the new movies this summer isn’t an option, so you’re going to have to pick and choose carefully. To help, I’m going to write capsule reviews of three new pictures, all of which have already earned buckets of money, but not necessarily your hard-earned dollars:
Not so “Super 8”
There was a moment during my viewing of “Super 8” when a big smile broke across my face. Unfortunately, that moment came while I was watching the end credits. As the names of the people who’d worked on the movie scrolled by, a magnificently cheap zombie thriller played to the side and kept me in my seat.
I wish “Super 8” had been as fun as the mock movie. Billed as a love letter to the genre films of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, it’s actually a confused jumble of ideas.
“Super 8” follows six adolescents who unwittingly film something strange escaping a cargo car following a train crash. Writer and director J.J. Abrams (“Star Trek”) does so many things right with the movie, it’s painful when it falls apart. I love the overlapping dialogue, the early Spielbergian wonder, the clever ways Abrams keeps the “something strange” off camera, and the emphasis on relationships.
Unfortunately, a ridiculous ending ruins everything. Lines like, “It’s not mean; it’s hungry,” made me want to throw my soda at the screen. Kid, if an alien wants to eat me, I’m going to do my best to stop it. Abrams tries to crossbreed the evil alien genre with the lost, confused and misunderstood alien genre, and fails miserably.
As someone weaned on movies like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “John Carpenter’s The Thing,” “Alien,” and “E.T.,” I wanted Abrams to knock “Super 8” out of the ballpark. While he comes out swinging, he fails to connect.
“X-Men” marks the spot
Like “The Dark Knight,” “X-Men: First Class” is a good movie. Not just a good comic movie, summer blockbuster, or prequel, but also a good movie.
“First Class” tells the story of how the X-Men came together in the early ‘60s. The movie draws its narrative strength from our memories of the antagonistic relationship between archrivals Professor X and Magneto in the three “X-Men” movies. In “First Class,” they form a friendship that’s strong, but also doomed to fail due ideological differences.
The script is ingenious. Writer Jane Goldman skillfully interweaves the story of the mutants with the Cuban Missile Crisis, and brilliantly connects the story to the other “X-Men” movies. What’s more, director Matthew Vaughn films on a grand scale, with impressive special effects. But it’s the acting, writing, and Vaughn’s confident direction that make “First Class” as good as it is.
“First Class” stumbles only during a scene in which several young mutants shows off their abilities to each other, and then fail to stave off an attack from one of their own who’s already chosen the dark side. It’s an awkward sequence that seems to have been inserted to keep teen viewers from getting bored with the heavy-handed drama.
Still, even if you’re not an X-Men aficionado, “First Class” is well worth seeing.
Bright as day, dark as night...
Having never read a Green Lantern comic, I had no expectations when I sat down to watch the movie adaptation. And, unlike fans of the character, who are seeing red over the picture, I had a good time.
When I think about the story, I do have to resist the urge to laugh. As explained in a hilariously solemn voiceover, Green Lanterns are guardians of peace who use the power of “will” to protect the universe. An enemy who feeds on fear to destroy entire planets is on the loose and headed toward Earth, so a dying Green Lantern recruits Hal Jordan, a hotshot test pilot played Ryan Reynolds, to save the day.
Jordan takes the news that there are aliens pretty well. In fact, most of the humans in the movie blink nonchalantly when incredible revelations are made. You’d think seeing a man with green skin use a ring to transform a crashing helicopter into a racecar that slides safely to a stop on a transparent road that materializes out of thin air might elicit at least a “whoa” from the crowd.
While Jordan is evidently a serious chap in the comic, Reynold’s lighthearted tone keeps “Green Lantern” from becoming too serious for its own good. The look of the movie is also appealing, even though some of the special effects are iffy. In addition, the evil force, which reminded me of the smoke monster from “Lost,” only with a head, is an effective villain.
However, if you have a low tolerance for goofiness, you might want to pass.
Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.