Cinematic Doldrums.....

This summer has been disappointing since Star Trek came out. I was looking forward to Transformers, but I've heard enough feedback to deter me from even venturing to see it. Usually I don't let critics or other people deter me if it's a movie I want to see, but since this was one that I was questioning already, the ton of negative attention that followed it was enough to keep me away.

I am, however, looking forward to some stuff coming out this month and through December. I feel like the movie industry goes through cycles of great summer blockbusters and terrible movies the rest of the year, and then a year where the spring movies are good but the summer movies are awful save for a brilliant one here and there. This year I would categorize as the latter.

It was going strong with Up, Terminator (sorta), and Star Trek, but lost its steam after May. I wish that I could see Away We Go, since that's the only thing I've been compelled to see recently, but living in a small town brings along with it the disadvantage of not getting sufficient showings of indie or slightly artsy movies.

I feel like it's been forever since I've been the movies. However, there are some good ones coming up in the next couple months that look promising.

Public Enemies-July 1
Bruno-July 10
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-July 15
Funny People-July 31
Julie and Julia-August 7
Ponyo!!!!! August 14
Inglourious Basterds-August 21
9-September 9
Couples Retreat-October 9

Scattered amongst these good eggs are atrocities like G-Force (Disney, you need to take a breather with these terrible animal movies/movies in general. Hopefully Princess and the Frog will redeem you) , I Love You Beth Cooper, and Ice Age 3, which already came out.

I am the most excited for Ponyo by far because I've been waiting for a year for it to debut in the States and it's been a while since Miyazaki has put out a movie. !!!!!!!!!

I'm not as confident about Harry Potter and Julie and Julia as the others, simply because I have been disappointed with Harry Potter movies for the most part but for some reason still go. Julie and Julia could go either way, but I excited because it's another movie about food. I feel the same about it as I did with Ratatouille; that the art of cooking was finally being brought into mainstream culture besides the ventures of Food Network (which no longer interests me nearly as much save a few shows).

The cast is similar to The Devil Wears Prada-Meryl Streep as an iconic older female lead, Stanley Tucci as her wingman, and a young actress (Amy Adams in this case instead of Anne Hathaway) in the supporting female role. In the capable hands of Nora Ephron, this should come to fruition quite nicely. Unless something goes wrong. Which has happened before (*cough* Bewitched remake).

Anyway, the epic movie that I wish I could put on this list but unfortunately doesn't come out until March 5, 2010 is Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. This movie is my light at the end of the tunnel. Incidentally, Burton also started filming Dark Shadows this summer in London with Depp starring as the vampire Barnabas Collins. FYI-Dark Shadows was a Gothic soap opera that aired on ABC in the 60s and early 70s which featured vampires, ghosts, zombies, and the like. Apparently it was awful. Hopefully he'll breathe some life into that franchise instead of sucking it dry (sorry I couldn't resist).I won't be able to see all of these movies but those I do get a chance to see I will write posts on afterwards. Let's hope that the summer shapes up a bit movie-wise.