Finally back behind the keyboard after taking a break for a few weeks. It's the end of JULY and for the most part the bulk of the summer giants have made their footprint on the box office and are headed for the showers. Even though 2009 has been a solid growth year thus far (especially considering 2008 witnessed THE DARK KNIGHT's towering success), a surprising number of 2009's top twenty grossers have already hit DVD shelves, a natural response by the studios to combat piracy (sounds familiar... http://tinyurl.com/cpc7gh ).
And now that WATCHMEN and FAST AND FURIOUS BluRay discs are floating around, it takes away the appeal of the summer flick. It used to be about going to the pictures in the summer, just because it was the one time of the year you actually had to go out to the theater and spend a bit of the grocery money on popcorn. Anymore, it's late-JULY, you can rent the MAY blockbuster playing Tetris while having a conference call with Denver.
SUMMER 2009 was also without a picture everyone loved. Sure, the numbers will tell you it was TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, but woe be an instance you find two consecutive people who enjoyed it. STAR TREK was a crowd pleaser, no doubt. A bona fide hit, nearly an instant classic... but that doesn't make it a classic. DISNEY'S/PIXAR delivered another remarkable picture in UP!, although I'm eager for return to glory a la THE INCREDIBLES, or even TOY STORY 2. And THE HANGOVER came within inches of beating them all despite having access to one quarter the market size.
It proved to be THE HANGOVER - a gritty, raunchy and hilarious adult comedy that had both studio executives as well as audiences turning their heads and grinning ear to ear. BORAT, err, BRUNO! saw moderate success, but nothing thirty some odd pictures didn't do better. And along with the smash-hit came the smash-bomb: TERMINATOR SALVATION - it's blandness as a film prevailed only by it's disastrous performance.
Other pictures from 2009 that aren't my favorite but merit mention include HARRY POTTER, TAKEN, and PAUL BLART. Upcoming will be GI JOE, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, FUNNY PEOPLE and a slew of unmentionable garbage. JOE looks messy, BASTERDS (which is TARANTINO'S latest) didn't get OCTOBER placement (suspect), but FUNNY PEOPLE should do well. And I'd be a liar if I didn't say I'm drooling for ROLAND EMMERICH'S upcoming return to disaster filmmaking in 2012 this NOVEMBER... is winter the new blockbuster season? We'll have to wait and see what AVATAR tells us come DECEMBER, for it's the gold-welded handiwork of KING JAMES CAMERON.
Back to FUNNY PEOPLE, it's in my scope for the next review. I'll do my best to get back to the weekly previews - thanks all as always for swinging by for the read. It's what your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man would do.
