While the name McLovin may resonate stronger than any other movie moniker from this past summer and the line "We could be that mistake!" promises to be repeated countless times, it would be wrong to forget what blockbusters came before-both better and worse.
Moviegoers have to reach back well into May to find perhaps the most disappointing summer blockbuster-Spiderman 3. In a preposterous end to the trilogy, director Sam Raimi decided to make the web-slinger's story closer to the goofy Fantastic Four than the hip, dark Batman Begins. Tobey Maguire regurgitates Spidey's usual emotions, with a fifteen-minute baddie turn, in which the actor combs his hair over for depth.
But don't blame it on the hair. Bruce Willis proved that bald is the new bold in Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth installment in the action franchise that launched his career nearly 20 years ago.
Director Len Wiseman, a man who is strictly style over substance (see his "Underworld" movies), found his niche with Live Free, turning John McClaine into an overnight Superman via top-notch special effects.
Both critics and audiences didn't seem to mind when Big Bruce threw a cab at a helicopter, suggesting "Die Hardest" installments in the future.
And while the old action star's special effects-given transformation should be commended, Live Free looked squeamish against the almighty Transformers.
Both the most shallow and entertaining movie of the summer, Michael Bay's adaptation of the 1980s toy line and eventual television show is big, expensive, colorful, and explosive. And chances are, two of those four words will be in quotes on the DVD cover. Hotties such as Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, and up-and-comers Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox ran around screaming while the huge robot soldiers fought to the death, crashing through highways, houses, and bridges.
Unfortunately, the hundreds of millions of viewers who, distracted by Mr. Optimus Prime, didn't take the time to notice smart films such as Danny Boyle's Sunshine, whose beautiful cinematography and psychedelic plot could not capture enough of an audience to make it worth discussing.
But hey, if viewers can't deal with thinking during the summer, there's always the next best thing: a good laugh.
Judd Apatow proved to be the best remedy for any kind of mid-summer blues, lending his comedic genius to both Knocked Up and Superbad, the two most successful comedies since Apatow's last project The 40 Year Old Virgin.
Showcasing a new-age style of frat-boy joke cracking, Apatow finds a happy medium between raunchy and touching.
Seth Rogen's Ben Stone donned a gas mask while smoking that sticky-icky and cursed more than an Irish sailor, yet still managed to keep audiences rooting for his success, as the movie drew to its emotional, if slightly prolonged, conclusion. Players from Apatow's past films, such as Paul Rudd, provide supporting laughs as well, with Jonah Hill, the curly-haired roll of thunder from Superbad, giving his audience just an appetizer before the full fledged meal that was soon to come.
It seems that this new-wave "Apatowian "comedy has surpassed the ever popular '90s Adam Sandler silly comedy. "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," starring Sandler and comedian Kevin James, proved an overall disappointment-mixing locker-room homophobic laughs with an out of nowhere, socially aware message about the downright awfulness of homosexual prejudice.
As the final credits rolled, the only sound to be heard was Sandler passing the torch over to a new group of funnier, smarter jokesters.
And yet, after a summer of shallow, if not unimpressive styles, The Bourne Ultimatum stood alone as the thinking man's blockbuster. Starring an increasingly broken and badass Matt Damon as Bourne, Ultimatum moves at a non-stop speed, filmed as one long chase scene with lines of social commentary peppered throughout.
The commercial success of Bourne serves as a ray of hope, that no matter how many times a car transforms into a robot, or a 41-year-old kid named Adam cracks "queer" jokes, there will always be enough fans of smart cinema to float a quality boat.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
