Monday, August 30, 2010

The Summer Movie Awards


So this past weekend was the last of the Summer Movie Season. Another Summer of movies has come and gone, and it was a pretty dry one at that. Many flops, only a small handful of genuine hits, and more disappointments than surprises. Regardless, there is enough worthy of reflection. Welcome to the Summer Movie Awards, where I hand out honors to the movies of the Summer. What was the Best Movie of the Summer? The Biggest Surprise? The Biggest Disappointment? Find out below as the Unicellular Review's First Annual Summer Movie Awards gets started:

Biggest Surprise of the Summer: The A-Team
A movie that delivered all of the explosive thrills I want out of the Summer Movie Season with a more complex story than I ever thought there'd be. The characters were lovable, the story well told and thrilling to the very last frame, and the comedy was naturally laced within the fabric of the movie. Not to mention, all of the action. What can I say, "I love it when a plan comes together."
Runner-Up: The Karate Kid

Biggest Disappointment of the Summer: Inception
Now, I do not want this to be misinterpreted as me hating Inception, I actually liked it, but I didn't love it. As a fan of Christopher Nolan, it actually pains me not to gush about this movie like I have done with his previous works, but the bottom line is that the movie is about dreams and the world of dreams within dreams, and so much was left untouched. I mean, they simply threw away the concepts of dream manipulation, which as a movie about creating an idea in someone's head, where was it? More could have been done with it I felt, but it still managed to deliver the action, regardless to my feelings on the story.
Runner-Up: Iron Man 2

Best Movie of the Summer: Toy Story 3
I don't think this one comes as much of a surprise. As a kid who grew up with Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the Toy Story gang, this third and final installment in the storied franchise was such a befitting farewell to my own childhood, that I can't see how it could be any better. Toy Story 3 is simply a movie about growing up, leaving behind the comforts of home, and embracing the changes of adulthood. While that is Andy's through line in the story, the toys themselves find themselves on similar journeys, contemplating their own futures post-Andy. This was an exceptionally deep movie, plunging to great emotional depths, but it was also an awful lot of fun, being one of the most gut-busting, side-splitting movies I think I've seen in the longest of time. It's kinda cliched, but Pixar really is one of the best currently out there.
Runners-Up: The A-Team, The Karate Kid

So that's that. A very scant Summer for movies, but a Summer that wielded its own few surprises in packages I was not expecting. But ultimately, Summer 2010 was not one for the history books, but that's why they say, there's always next year.

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