Summer List

Now that the "biggest" movie season is officially over, I feel this is as good a time as any to reveal my top 10 list for the summer. Keep in mind that this was a very soft summer and while not all of these movies are great, there were still far worse films released over the course of the year thus far.

1. Batman Begins - I really dug this movie. I am a pretty big fan of most of the cast members (not really Katie Holmes) and I really like Christopher Nolan's other movies, so this was a no brainer that I would enjoy it. Still, I was into most of it pretty hardcore. I thought the movie represented the characters of Bruce Wayne and Batman very well, plus the action was all pretty slick looking.

2. March of the Penguins - I always love National Geographic stuff. Just about anything they touch turns to gold in my opinion. This movie was really only funded by the National Geographic Society, but it still had that same feel to it. Overall it was a very interesting and enjoyable experience. Hello academy, this is the best documentary calling.

3. Broken Flowers - I have never seen a Jim Jarmusch film before and I really didn't know what to expect, but for some reason after seeing the trailer and the posters I was able to put the tone and the story-line together before ever seeing the movie. Go figure. What saved this movie for me was the humor. It was a lot funnier than I thought it would be. Jeffrey Wright was awesome and Bill Murray was his usual impeccable self.

4. Brothers Grimm - I don't know what to say about this movie except that it was "fun". Spider would be proud of me for that, but that really is all this movie is about. On the whole it wasn't a terribly great film, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Heath Ledger was suprisingly funny and Peter Stormare cemented his place in my heart as a great comedic prescence.

5. Mr. and Mrs. Smith - See Brothers Grimm (except for Ledger and Stormare). Some good action, some good humor, some hot Brangelina.

6. Red Eye - Once again, not a great film, but it has three people that I'm in love with in it.

(x-Rachel McAdams)/Cillian Murphy + y = z(Brian Cox) solve for x

I have no idea what this means, but it equals a good time in the theatre.

7. Cinderella Man - Ron Howard is flat out annoying and generally his movies are unviewable, but I was able to get behind the little boxer that could. Boxing movies are generally good or enjoyable (See Rocky V, rock on Tommy Morrison), so that might have a lot to do with it. There's really nothing like watching Russell Crowe get his mug knocked in. In the end, I wanted him to beat the pillar of Judaic strength just as much as anyone in the theatre.

8. Wedding Crashers - This was the funniest movie of the summer. 40 Year Old Virgin was decent, but I got much more of a kick out of parts of this movie. Chris Walken is great and coupled with Vince Vaughn's rapid joke spewing form I laughed quite a bit. A definite bonus is Rachel McAdams, mmmmmm delicious.

9. Fantastic Four - I don't think the Fantastic Four are all too interesting but they have some great villains, especially Dr. Doom. While Doom was pretty gay in this movie, the rest of the movie made me laugh and hang with it. Because that was so much of a shock, I actually liked it (Jim reference).

10. Unleashed - Jet Li pummels the crap out of a lot of people, nuff said. Yes, May 13th is technically the summer movie season.