Summer at the Movies

By Audra Foster

(Or, Every Movie I Saw  in Theaters This Summer in Fifty Words Exactly.)

Iron Man 2

Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as crack-addled detective—no, a white-man-turned-black—no, a heroin addict—no—does it matter? He brings the same dysfunctional genius he always brings to his role as iron-clad hero Tony Stark, and it makes up for the sequel’s otherwise lackluster plot and character development.

Despicable Me

Equal parts adorable and deplorable, this movie combined Steve Carrel’s usual comedic awkwardness with a girlish cuteness so far only rivaled by Disney’s Monsters Inc. Despite having a plot shot full of holes and relatively poor dialogue, the familial love that pervades the entire movie really does warm the heart.

Grown Ups

One day, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, Kevin James, and Rob Schneider were playing  a game of one-upmanship (in which one person is ragged on until someone comes up with a joke no one else can top, and then it’s their turn), and they accidentally caught it on camera.

Toy Story 3

The story of every kid who ever went to college and left their toys behind. It completes the trilogy so beautifully, carrying with it the same love that sustained the first one, ten long years ago: the love that exists in the imagination of a child, to infinity and beyond.

The Karate Kid

Jaden Smith’s modern-day attitude, plus a surprisingly serious Jackie Chan, plus incredible fight choreography, PLUS a time that isn’t the eighties, when fashion was bad and onscreen fights even worse, equals a Karate Kid for kids of this century—but they’re mistaken if they think this is the real thing.

Inception
(Since I saw it twice in theaters, it gets double the words.)

This was a mindfuck of a movie, spawning comments such as ‘Dude you just INCEPTED me!’ and ‘No, CHRISTOPHER NOLAN incepted THE WORLD!’ because people cannot stop talking about it. Christopher Nolan has once again conned his audience into actually thinking about the movie. You can’t not, even if you’re only trying to figure out what exactly happened. And in thinking so much about it, it forces you to think about your own way of thinking, which quickly devolves into an obsessive compulsion, forcing you to question your own reality—is what I’m thinking really real?—and  that is Inception.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
(An epic of epic epicness.)

It was chock full of geeky references, quick-witted humor, and starred Michael Cera, the ultimate nerd-turned-actor. What more could I ever ask for? But as a fully declared and aware fan of video games, comic books, and to some extent, punk rock, I admit I may be a touch biased.

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See a movie I didn’t? Completely agree with everything I’ve ever said? Think I’m full of shit and disagree on every point? Feel free to leave a comment and tell me exactly what you think!