It’s over Johnny. It’s over!!
-Richard Crenna as Col. Trautman in “First Blood”
What? Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
-John Belushi as Bluto in “Animal House”
No. Trautman is right. It’s over.
Summer time is drawing in its last gasps as Hollywood unveils their last ditch efforts to woo the public away from their hard-earned monies. Colin Ferrell’s “Total Recall” will likely be totally forgotten. Parents are sadly staying away from the wonderfully creepy “Paranorman” while they flock to the wonderfully average “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” helping it rack up over $800 Million dollars worldwide! And “Rosencrantz and Jason Bourne are Dead” (A.K.A. “The Bourne Legacy”) took the baton but looks like it will stumble to the finish line.
The annual Post-Summer Fatigue is setting in. This is a normal reaction this time of year after gigantic, American-made pop-entertainment has commandeered own multiplexes for months on end. I, for one, am ready for some smaller, Award-Bait films aimed to enlighten and expose truths. Hell, I’m looking forward to “Paranormal Activity 4” to be honest.
But before we look ahead, let’s pause. (Pregnant Pause)
And take a look back at the last four months and subjectively assess Hollywood’s efforts. The Failures and Achievements. The Highs, the Lows. The “Hell Yeahs” and the “Oh, no you didn’ts”. Sorry about that last one.
Without much further ado let me present:
Cinemastance’s 1/3rd-ly annual Hollywood Report Card: May through August 2012.
(Note: The first 1/3rd-ly annual Report Card January through April can be found Here)
Comic Book-ends: The summer began with the birth of “The Avengers” and ended with definitive conclusion of “The Dark Knight Rises” . In the middle we got a needless do-over on “The Amazing Spiderman” origin story that played like deja vu. “The Amazing Spiderman” was a needless do-over and played like deja vu. The Super Hero Movie is the new mythology and we are always saturated every summer but this year the men (and women) in capes had a stellar turnout. Nothing beat “The Avengers” in terms of outright entertainment and Joss Whedon’s juggling act (all those charaters, all that action,) is a supreme example of a Popcorn Flick. “The Dark Knight Rises” left a disappointing taste. While Chris Nolan always tells a smart tale, the movie was too heavy and had more in common with “Batman Begins” than the superior “Dark Knight”. Many loved the film, of course, and I’m sure a “re-imaging” will shortly follow.
Comedies: Nothing came close to beating “Ted,” Seth MacFarlane’s talking teddy opus. The film made over $200 million dollars domestic and is Mark Wahlberg’s biggest hit!!! Yes, that’s even bigger than “Rock Star”. The rest of the field came up short at the box office but had some chuckles to offer. Indie Auteur Dax Shepard’s “Hit and Run” was a great surprise (and destined to find life on the DVD/HBO market) while “The Campaign” seems appropriate enough as real life funny people are on our TVs every night making bigger asses of themselves than Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis could ever pretend to be. Sacha Baron Cohen couldn’t find an audience for his fantastic “The Dictator” and it seems to be growing apparent that his “Borat” success was a one off. I loved the film and peed a little on more than one occasion. Comedy is highly subjective, of course, and that’s a fact.
Kiddie Fare: First, lets cover the sequels that play like extended episodes of a barely funny TV show on Nickelodeon. “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” was laughable while “Ice Age: Continental Drift” added nothing to our modern mythos. Regardless, the 4th “Ice Age” film made over $800 Million dollars worldwide (!!!) and that’s bigger than “Ted” numbers. Hell, that’s only $150 mill off “Dark Knight 3” numbers!!! So I’m guessing another will be in the pipe shortly. Pixar/Disney’s “Brave” was gorgeous but lacked life and may be proof that the great animation studio is on a down swing. Better than “Cars 2” does not equal good enough. While the release timing felt out of place, my favorite animation film of the season was “Paranorman”. While it could have done better around Halloween (I’m guessing they wanted to avoid Tim Burton’s stop motion flick “Frankenweenie”), this film was unique and wonderful.
The Random All Others: Well, it is summer cinema so there really is no point to have a Drama category. “Magic Mike”? Seriously sexy! The dance-stravaganza (I’m pretty sure I just made that up. You may use if you like) “Step Up 4” dealt with class struggles, rich versus poor, good v. evil. Heavy stuff, in 3D, no less. (As sarcasm doesn’t always “read” let me communicate that I’m kidding). “The Queen of Versailles” was a lovely little documentary about the the current economic crisis and it effects on the 1%-ers. Turns out they have to pick up their dog’s poop now and they are bad at it. I was a sucker for “Rock of Ages” but that comes from a guy who saw both Poison and Motley Crue in concert in the 90’s…..And Guns ‘N Roses. So I am biased. Ridley Scott’s return to the “Alien” Universe produced a fascinating Sci-Fi yarn in “Prometheus”. It was not perfect but damned good. Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” has quietly eeked out over $40 Million over a 3 month period making it his biggest hit since “The Royal Tenenbaums” .
Overall: It was a great summer with plenty of variety to appease. The Award Season has plenty of promise with new films from Tarantino, Speilberg, P.T. Anderson and David O. Russel. Optimism. I’m filled with it as 2012 is shaping up to be a fantastic year at the multiplexes.