Summer Movies

As with most summers, I find myself weighing the need to see all the damned cool movies with the need to save money for my next electronics purchase (in this case, the Xbox360 fund). This means that I can't see quite as many movies as I'd like to over the summer.

Last summer was a tragedy. I saw a total of one movie last summer....Transformers. And don't get me wrong...I'm very glad I did. Michael Bay action-type movies have a way of not translating so well into the small screen, so I knew that one I'd have to see in the movie theater or I'd regret it.

This year I've seen both Marvel movies: Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Iron Man is, without a doubt, the most fun superhero movie I've seen in a very very long time. Marvel couldn't have done better with its new Avengers-based movies right out of the gate. In most circumstances, I try and go into a movie with realistic expectations of what that movie is going to provide me, from drama to plot twists to action, and I note to myself what I loved and what I hated upon exiting the theater.

Knowing this was a comic-book action movie...I really can't say I found much here to hate, and there was a lot to love. Iron Man has potential to be not only my favorite movie of the summer, but of the last few summers. Awesome movie.

The Hulk I have to say surprised me a bit. The previous Hulk film both sucked and blew (no offense to Ang Lee, but I absolutely despised the film, and that was hard to do with me being completely in love with Jennifer Connelly and all), so I can't really say when I walked in if I was predisposed to hate the film, or if I set the bar so much lower that I was prepared to like anything that wasn't as horrid as the previous one.

But actually this Hulk movie was actually downright enjoyable. It wasn't as good as Iron Man, but I had fun watching it, which is more than I can say about the last go-around with this property. Norton does well as Banner, and a lot of stuff was taken from the TV show (LOVED the green eyes!), which is how I was first introduced to the Hulk. They of course had the shared continuity with Iron Man (hopefully a prelude to the Avengers movie coming out in the next few years), and even showed The Leader's origin. I also thought the South American slum city he was in during the first part of the movie kicked ass. So all in all I have to say it was a pretty fun action flick.

Movies this summer I'm still looking forward to? Well Indiana Jones just became a cheap theater movie after various reviews I've read and heard, so Batman and Hellboy 2 are the other two I'll likely shell out for. Those two each have the potential to unseat Iron Man as my favorite movie this year. X-files and The Mummy.....weeeeee'll wait and see.