My 2013 Summer Wrap Up

With July winding down those long hot days will be transitioning into the cool nights of fall.  To me that means the awesome summer blockbusters will be transitioning into the movies competing for the Academy Awards.

This summer brought one of those Oscar contenders with the release of Fruitvale Station.  It’s a small indy film that is hard to forget.  The late summer release shows the start of the above mentioned transition.

For me the summer season started, unofficially, with Oblivion.  Though nothing original in this film I still enjoyed it.  I enjoyed it the way I enjoy warmed over leftovers: done better in other forms but still enjoyable.

The summer kicked off officially with the biggest disappointment of the year, and one of the biggest disappointments I’ve seen in years: Ironman 3.  I loved the first two entries in the franchise, three if you consider The Avengers part of it.  This one had a terrible twist and wasted the talent of Ben Kingsley. 

There were a few other disappointments this summer: Grown Ups 2 (but with Adam Sandler that’s not a surprise), World War Z (still a decent flick but I read the book and it took a turn for the worst), and The Purge (lame is all I’m going to say).

Most of what I saw was what I expected it to be: Red 2 (awesome action sequences, a great John Malkovich performance), Despicable Me 2 (fun entertainment for the whole family), Monsters University ( see the Despicable Me 2 description), Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Hangover part III (some gross out humor which I enjoy).

There were some surprises this summer as well. The Wolverine surprised me.  It was a mediocre movie but leagues better then the last stand alone wolverine flick.  I thought Man of Steel was incredible and loved how it was more of a sci-fi movie then a comic book one.  Now You See Me, Pacific Rim, and 100 Bloody Acres were all great counter programing to a summer filled with sequels, prequels, and and reboots.  

Though my favorite release this summer surprised me at how much I loved it.  The movie was Fast & Furious 6.  The movie had a decent story and incredible action sequences.  Each sequence could easily have been a climax sequence in any movie and the sequences kept getting bigger and bigger.  Then the whole airstrip action sequence was breath taking.  I do love how the creators of the franchise have taken the movies.  It started out as car chase films and then with five was more of a heist flick and this one more of an espionage movie.  

So with all of that said I look forward now to the cool temperatures of the fall and the Oscar hitters.

FRUITVALE STATION

I enjoy all kinds of movies, always movies never a film even if they come with subtitles. Films stay with me like the thrills of Jaws, the breathtaking bobsled chase in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, or the beach pounding reveal in Planet of the Apes.  Sometimes a movie sticks with you without flashy explosions, over the top special effects, and incredible action sequences.  These movies go for the heart and brain with the events by simply portraying their events.  These movies tend to be once in a life time and Fruitvale Station is one of these movies.

This morning I caught to an early screening of the movie I eagerly awaited to see.  When I came out of the theater 85 minutes later I had experienced a truly remarkable and breathtaking movie.

The movie follows its protagonist, Oscar Grant performed by Michael B Jordan (no not the basketball player but a very talented young actor with the upcoming awards season in his future) on New Year’s Eve 2008.  Through flashback the movie shows Oscar’s struggles and how he is now trying to over come them.  While showing the triumph of the individual the true story ends with tragedy.  

The timing of the movies release is appropriately ironic but that’s for another place and time.

The movie is truly unforgettable.  It’s an experience that starts in your gut and ends in your heart and throat.  The movie does this without insulting the viewers intelligence, which it easily could of done.  It’s impossible not to get overwhelmed with emotion the movie portrays.  I dare you not to be impacted by this movie.  It’s 85 minutes of very important and brilliant cinema.

The trailer for Fruitvale Station.

The Four Horsemen of Haunted Houses

I’ve noticed that my home video watching goes in phases.  For instance phases maybe classic comedies (Airplane, Monty Python & The Holy Grail), Espionage (Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy), James Bond (but 007 pretty much gets regular viewing no matter what cycle I happen to be in), Outer Space movies (Prometheus, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), and also but not limited to Universal Monster movies (The Wolfman, Frankenstein) 

Currently I’m in a haunted house phase.  Ti West’s two movies The House of the Devil &  The Innkeepers, the cult classic The Evil Dead, and The Legend of Hell House have been on my mind to watch again.  Haunted house movies are my favorite sub genre in the horror canon.

There are four haunted house movies I call “the Four Horsemen”.  They’re what I consider the Granddaddy of haunted house flicks.  They’re all classic in their own right.

So what are these four movies I’m suddenly raving about?

First up is William Castle’s 1959 House on Haunted Hill starring Vincent Price.  The movie is in beautiful black & white and has some imagery that is second to none.  The image that sticks out in particular is the parade of funeral cars led by a hearse in the beginning of the movie.  A great since of suspense makes this one a movie for the ages.

The second of the four horsemen maybe a little biased because its my favorite haunted house movie and one of my favorite horror films all together.  It’s Robert Wise’s 1963 The Haunting.  Another black and white spookfest this time staring Julie Harris.  The movie opens with the strange history of the house and then welcomes its guests like lambs to the slaughter.  Also after first viewing the movie some years back I didn’t want my hand hanging out of the sheets when I went to sleep.

1979’s The Amityville Horror from director Stuart Rosenberg frightens me almost every time I watch it.  The fact that there is a real life scenario to back it up makes the movie more frightening.  It’s also one of those movies that after viewing I wanted to immediately know more.  This led me to read the book, which was fantastic, and check out the sequels and remake, which were the polar opposite of the book and original classic.

The last of the four horsemen is certainty not the least.  The movie is Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant 1980 release The Shining.  It was one of the first horror movies I ever saw and the image of Jack Nicholson chopping his way through the bathroom door was breath taking.  The almost painfully slow pace of the movie creates a since of isolation that makes the movie a stand out, not only in haunted house movies, but in cinema in general.  The imagery of a single person standing alone in the massive room featured in the hotel are legendary and add to the experience that is The Shining.

007

The house lights fell to give way to the light on the screen.  For the next couple of hours the images danced telling some unveiling some incredible adventures.  These adventures are the missions of one Mr James Bond, 007.

I’ve said it before and will say it again: Bond is my favorite.  That’s why I got it excited, more then usual, for the one of the Carolina Theater’s many retrospectives.  This summer they are showing 12 Bond movies over two weeks.  

Yesterday, the third day into the retrospective, I finally made it to see some 007 flicks.

First up was You Only Live Twice, Connery’s penultimate Bond flick (I’m excluding Never Say Never Again as part of the Connery Canon).  What a rush to see this movie theatrically again.  Connery is my favorite Bond actor and Blofeld my favorite Bond villain.  To see the two square off for the first time, and to see it theatrically, was inspiring.

The second Bond movie I saw yesterday just so happens to be my favorite in the 23 and counting film franchise.  The movie: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.  It is George Lazenby’s only time wearing the 007 tux.  What a surprise to see the screening dedicated to me as well.  That moment I will never forget.  EVER.

Seeing the movie again in the way it was meant to be seen got the adrenaline running and it ran laps like a NASCAR driver.  

I did get jealous talking with other movie goers after when I heard that the first time that the co watcher of the movie’s first time seeing this movie was now, on the big screen.  But you know what jealous is the wrong word it made experience of seeing the movie that more vibrant.

So with all that said I am excited to continue to see Bond on the big screen over the remainder of the fort night.