Summer Movies

Overall, this was a pretty unexciting summer for movies but fortunately I got past the real stinkers early. These I enjoyed.

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix

They sure grow up fast, don't they? Harry is quite the young man now, and if you've seen any of the racier photos from his West End production of Equus, you know I'm right. If you have stayed a faithful Harry Potter fan, as I have, then this one is quite enjoyable. It's got all those rich production values and a wonderful cast as always. Imelda Staunton steals the show as Dolores Umbridge, the tight-assed new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. But now that I have finished reading the final Potter book [no one important dies, almost everyone lives happily ever after] my Hogwarts fever has abated a little and I need a Potter break.

Hairspray

I'm not sure why it was necessary to remake this movie but the songs are a lot of fun. I prefer John Waters' sick humor, though, to this scrubbed-up version. John Travolta is NOT good as Edna Turnblad. He just isn't clever enough. And poor Michelle Pfeiffer needs a good nights sleep and a hearty meal-she looks like the mummy of Hatshetsup. Queen Latifah is good as Motormouth Maybelle and Allison Janney is funny as Prudy Pingleton. If you need to go to the bathroom, leave during the scene between Michele Pfeiffer and Chris Walken in the magic store.


Ratatouille

Very cute, wonderful animation. Pixar beats Disney all to hell. Great scenes of Paris, and lots of fun French caricatures. It's about this French rat who dreams of becoming a chef... and... just go see it.

Sunshine

I'm still not sure what to make of this. I have to say I really enjoyed watching it, even though it got pretty fucking silly toward the end, with a monster on board the ship and our hero, Cilian Murphy, riding the back of a bomb into the sun, just like Slim Pickens in Dr Strangelove. But most of the time it's an engrossing sci-fi on board a cool spaceship with that interesting, just-took-a-Seconol feel of the first Alien. It seems the sun is slowly burning out so a group of astronauts are taking a big bomb up there to try to explode a new star out of it to save mankind. Gee, it sounds silly when I say it.