Already the 2009 year is gone like a long, drawn out marathon and the home stretch is up ahead for Hollywood to make an impact. And like most competitions, there are the winners and losers but also in some rare cases the proverbial tie. At the midpoint, a few musings about the trends in films that may or may not carry over to the nearly completed decade. A report on the summer movie season so far with May and June passing by like a leaf in the wind. The first half is done and now is a good time to sit down and reevaluate what happened and make some adjustments for the next one.
Video games have now become the mainstream after so many decades of arcades large and small and numerous parents’ living rooms. Like their comic book brethren, this medium is looked at as something that gears toward geeks or children in general. Regretfully, there have been more misses “Super Mario Bros. (1993)” and “House of the Dead (2003)” than hits like “Mortal Kombat (1995)” and “Hitman (2007).” Of course, the rollercoaster of quality hasn’t stopped studios from investing in popular franchises like Halo, Castlevania, and Gears of War. The only thing preventing its breakout success, besides Uwe Boll, is a visionary director to bring the best qualities of the games to life.
Summer season moves forward, and after a couple of months the grade for the midyear is quite poor which is a D , maybe C- thanks to “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” “Terminator Salvation” was a disappointment since most of the characters were as lifeless as their machine counterparts. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” gave audiences a rarity as far as leaving them knowing less about the hero than they already knew beforehand. “Star Trek” has been the only true blockbuster that delivers on what it set out to do and that’s bring the franchise to the next generation of fans. “Drag Me to Hell” was another fun, gory, scary film by Director Sam Raimi even though 90% of fans just want Evil Dead 4.
News looks to be steady as Iron Man 2 films and with each pic released shows this movie will go for the crown as best film of the summer season. Todd McFarlane wants Leonard DiCaprio for the new Spawn movie he’s been selling since 1997. File that under “Who cares?” Terminator 5 is rumored to set in London with the machines and the Resistance traveling back in time. How about traveling back two years to rewrite the awful script and bring back James Cameron? Scream and Alien are both trying to make comebacks with a sequel and a prequel, but if they don’t bring back Wes Craven or Ridley Scott then don’t bother. That’s all for now. Let’s see what August got!
