I feel like I'm growing up somewhat. To me the summer movie season was the best thing to look forward too when school was over. I would find out all the summer movies that were coming out and then list which ones I would go see over the four months. Now I gotta say I'm not looking forward to this season as I once did. I probably started when I was 12 and I went to see "Jurrasic Park" five times in the theatre. It was a film that changed my way of thinking about movies. I was thrilled, I was at the edge of my seat, I was seeing something new in special effects and something that was accessible to me. I thought it was the greatest movie ever. What did I know? I was 12.
If I saw "Jurassic Park" again, I would still find it thrilling and entertaining, but since then my movie palet has tasted so many senses of cinema, I can no longer feel that youthful sensation I did when I first saw it.
It wasn't long till I realized that good movies didn't always have to have special effects, and stories and characters were the things that mattered. Perhaps the turning point for me came when I saw "Independence Day" a few years later, and I thought "wow this movie isn't really about anything". Suddenly I thought Hollywood blockbusters became superficial, my theory was confirmed two years later when "Arrmagedden" appeared.
Today those popcorn movies aren't as exciting, I can stand maybe one or two at a time, but then I long for something with substance, and I count the days for Septemeber when studios begin releasing their oscar hopefuls.
Perhaps it would be different if I lived in a big city where they would have those small movie houses that show the smaller films, or perhaps a revival of an old classic, in Red Deer I look each week for a possible indie movie that may have passed through the summer movie production line with little notice, but so far it is not to be.
My latest movie going experiences have been slightly entertaining but for the most part uninspired. "Pirates of the Carriebean" was good for the Davy Jones' Locker sequence, and Johnny Depp who can never be boring. "Surf's Up" was better than "Shrek the Third", but that's about it. Next is "Ocean's 13" which might be hopeful because of the stars and the director, but I sense by 11 and 12 I know what I'm getting into.
There are times when a good popcorn movie can become memorable, Steven Spielberg is probably the best at making a blockbuster that makes you think, look at his past films that came out in the summer starting with "Saving Private Ryan" ("A.I", "Minority Report", "The Terminal", "War of the Worlds") Some of those films are flawed but at least they are all about something, and they challenge you in some way so you don't turn off your brain.
Other popcorn films can do that, I was very impressed with last years "Superman Returns" as it just swept me in and reminded me of being a kid.
I suppose I miss being moved by a movie, I want to feel something, whether it's excitement, or joy, or sadness, or anything, I just don't want to leave feeling jaded, and that is what the summer is seeming like.
I suppose on the plus side, it's giving me more time to re-visit some old classics. I was sooooo happy to have obtained "The Third Man" which I watched last night, as well as Lawrence Ollivier's "Hamlet" which I lucked out by finding it at a video store.
I will always love movies, and I'm sure I'll feel better when I see the new Coen Brothers film or the new P.T. Anderson film in the fall but for now, I'm coming to terms that the summer is no longer my season of movies, it's a little sad, I wish I could be that kid again thrilled about the new "Spiderman" or "Pirates" movie, but it's just not me anymore. I will go to these films, but now I see them for what they are, and they aren't much.
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