Every Monday morning, InsidePulse Movies Czar Scott “Kubryk” Sawitz brings an irreverent and oftentimes hilarious look at pop culture, politics, sports and whatever else comes to mind. And sometimes he writes about movies.
The one thing I don’t understand is how far the opening of the summer blockbuster season has gone in recent years. It used to be Memorial Day was the big starter and has slowly moved back since, with the last weekends in April being the first real test of the blockbuster season. I get it as entertainment dollars flow more often during April with enough marketing hype but it’s awkward to see Summer Previews begin in March, when in Chicago there’s still plenty of snow on the ground. So really I tend to think of the summer starting with Memorial Day weekend (if only for the nostalgia of youth) and thus I present the following Memorial Day themed column:
Kubryk’s Six Things You Can Take Away From Summer 2011
6. Two Films about Mixed Martial Arts Are On the Horizon
Hammill, about the real life exploits of current UFC Light Heavyweight Fighter Matt Hammill, is on the horizon. Hammill, for those not in the know, is deaf and yet managed to be a three time NCAA Division 3 wrestling champion and one of the most prolific deaf wrestlers of all time. Warrior follows two brothers (Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton) trying to qualify (and win) an MMA tournament that could potentially change both their lives. Neither of these will probably be a game changer of a film, more like sports films that don’t quite become master works or box office bonanzas, but it tells us one thing. If Hollywood can see money in MMA films getting released widely into theatres then the sport is on the cusp of exploding. The fact that they’re en route, and perhaps pushed up into the summer, is something.
5. Superhero films are now officially genre camouflage
Want to make a war film about World War 2 without it being a traditional war film and bring in the fanboys? Captain America could be fun. How about a science-fiction epic about a man chosen to protect the universe? Green Lantern is your ticket. The cool thing about the evolution of the comic book film is that now we’re seeing classic characters being shunted away from trying to be in comic roles, like Dolph Lundgren’s The Punisher, and we’re seeing great directors tackle the genre as a means of exploring them through the eyes of something else. Christopher Nolan started it with his take on Batman, which is essentially a crime thriller trilogy wrapped up in a cape, and it’s kind of cool to see other directors do the same.
4. There’s plenty of cinema for adults
One of the downsides of not being a fanboy or a teenager, one imagines, is that trying to find a film to watch can kind of suck. This summer looks to have some good films that are geared away from teenagers like Crazy, Stupid, Love, Larry Crowne, The Help and others. For adults looking at the box office for something that could be interesting and isn’t clad in spandex there are going to be a handful of solid choices.
3. It’s fairly light in terms of must see material
2011 has been rather bland in terms of cinema so far and the summer doesn’t show much promise of changing that. Green Lantern looks perhaps to be the a/v feast of the year but nothing else screams “I HAVE TO SEE THAT” based on trailers, et al, alone. Hollywood normally does a good job at promotion but there isn’t anything that just oozes cool, like how the teaser for The Dark Knight did years ago.
2. It’s fairly light in terms of films, too
Outside of a handful of weeks the sheer volume of films being released this summer seems to be less than 2010. There are a handful of weeks with multiple releases but there’s going to be an awful lot of weeks where one new massive film is released and the cinema is stocked full of also-rans. I’d love to see someone scoop up a bunch of indies and get them wide, if only to break up the monotony of big blockbusters on every screen.
1. There’s almost as many blockbusters being held for the winter as there are for the summer
When you look at this fall’s releases it almost looks like a summer schedule with how many bigger franchises coming out. You have the first half of the final Twilight film and the end of the Harry Potter franchise as well as Tintin andReal Steel that have the feel of summer films. Hollywood seems to be viewing the winter season as similar to the summer now, just with trophies at stake on occasion.
A Movie A Week – The Challenge
This Week’s DVD – Bad Lieutenant
This is one of the most seriously messed up flicks I’ve ever watched. And I couldn’t turn it away because it’s so fascinating.
Recommended to me by my buddy Nick the Standup, Bad Lieutenant was later remade (for lack of a better phrase) into Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans as a Nic Cage vehicle. It had nothing to do with the Harvey Keitel-headlined original, outside of sharing part of the same title, and the Cage version was not very good. So, picking it up at a sale at a local Borders for like 80% off, I figured it’d good for a viewing. Turned out to be an interesting way to spend an hour and a half, for lack of a better phrase, as this is easily on my list of most messed up flicks I’ve ever seen.
Keitel plays the aforementioned lieutenant, never given a name, in the NYPD. He’s as corrupt as the day is long, regularly using drugs and gambling, when a case fascinates him. A nun gets raped and he wants to track down the guys who did it. As he spirals down into a world of drugs and losing, this case keeps him moving forward. What he finds at the end, though, is much less than he came with.
This is one seriously messed up flick though. If you ever wanted to see Harvey Keitel in the nude, this is your flick.
Mild recommendation.
What Looks Good This Weekend, and I Don’t Mean the $2 Pints of Bass Ale and community college co-eds with low standards at the Alumni Club
X-Men: First Class -1960s X-Men, in the beginning.
See It – Bryan Singer and Matthew Vaughn are back.
Beautiful Boy – Michael Sheen and Maria Bello have a college aged kid. He decides to shoot up his school. We follow them as they handle the aftermath. In limited release
See It – School shooting aside, Maria Bello has a knack for picking cool films and Michael Sheen always delivers.
Do you have questions about movies, life, love, or Branigan’s Law? Shoot me an e-mail at Kubryk@Insidepulse.com and you could be featured in the next “Monday Morning Critic.” Include your name and hometown to improve your odds.
Scott “Kubryk” Sawitz brings his trademarked irreverence and offensive hilarity to Twitter in 140 characters or less. Follow him @MMCritic_Kubryk.
