Top 5 Most Anticipated Films for summer 2011

Wow, 2011. You're really trying to be something special. I'm a bit underwhelmed with the films...again. For the first time in a long time, Pixar is not on my top 5 list for summer movies. *Gasp* I regretfully say there isn't much I'm looking forward to. I've seen Thor and Bridesmaids already so that definitely affects how my list turned out. Still, it was tough to scrounge these choices up. But I will say that there is only one prequel on my list. The rest are again *Gasp* original properties.

5. The Tree of Life and X-men: First Class

These two disparate films share the 5th spot. Unfortunately, that is about the only congruence I can point out.





Starting with The Tree of Life, this Terrance Malick film has an intriguingly simple premise. It follows a boy throughout his life and the lingering effect his stern father has on him. From the man who makes a film about once a decade, I confess that my interest in this progress lies mostly in the trailer, the talent, and the fact that there appears to be some sort of existential exploration involved. Right up my alley. And the images in the trailer look gorgeous. Malick is really playing with composition and light. A lot of the shots appear to have some point of view shots that really engross the viewer into the young boy's position. It's really gorgeous work.





X-men: First Class is at the other end of the spectrum, but I think I can articulate my interest a little more. In terms of comic book movies, X-Men shares a spot in the pantheon along with The Dark Knight, Ironman, and maybe Spiderman. Bryan Singer mined a really interesting allegory of Civil Rights in the first X-men, and X-men: First Class appears to exist at the origin of this story. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, two very talented actors, are also taking up the lead roles of Professor X and Magneto respectfully. The trailer I embedded focuses on that relationship, which hopefully will make up the meat of the film. I don't know how that whole Cold War thing will insert into the picture, but I'm interested.

4. Colombiana

You may not know this about me, but Zoe Saldana and I are pretty cool. If by cool you mean I met her once in an airport and was too starstruck (and lovestruck) to say much more than my name. However you interpret our deep, meaningful connection, I've been following her career ever since. This will be her first starring vehicle which is pretty cool considering the work she's done in the past couple of years in blockbusters that don't really take advantage of her talents. Colombiana looks like a throwback revenge flick channeling Kill Bill and Carlito's Way. The trailer is good despite it's overly-present narration.

3. Friends with Benefits

No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits prove the ever-constant coincidental nature of Hollywood as two films with very similar premises coming out in a very short duration of time. There's Deep Impact and Armageddon, Wyatt Earp and Tombstone, and even two Snow White movies coming out next year. Having seen No Strings Attached, it does an admirable job in being an edgy rom-com for both genders, but is completely uneven in terms of performances. FWB looks like it's come to play. Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have an interesting chemistry in the trailer. And did you see Woody Harrelson? Gotta love it.

2. Super 8

Filmmaking? Check. JJ Abrams? Check. Steven Spielberg? Check.

Thematically, the precociousness of youth is always a winner in film. What you have in this film is two highly vaunted filmmakers channeling their youth in an admittedly indulgent, but intriguing premise. It's no secret that Abrams and Spielberg spent their youth making little Super 8 films. When I heard that they were making a project that evokes this type of nostalgia about the innocence of artistic expression of youth, combining it with a monster movie that obviously draws on Jaws and E.T., needless to say, I got a little moist. Abrams is a really talented filmmaker with a strong voice so I can only salivate at what he has next.

1. 30 minutes or less

A pizza delivery guy gets a bomb strapped to his chest by two criminals. They inform said pizza delivery guy that he has mere hours to rob a bank. As far as the slacker genre goes, this premise is fairly unconventional. Starring Aziz Ansari and Jesse Eisenberg, 30 minutes or less is shaping up to be oddly, fun. I can't really say why I'm drawn to this comedy. Although it feels a bit like Pineapple Express, I think where this comedy can go right where PE went wrong is the resistance to be too "genre." They've got to stay away from winking at the audience too much, playing itself as a comical jaunt of action cliches rather than actually telling a story.

So there you have it folks. I promise to keep you guys updated on my little musings and how the films turned out.

Are you f*cking kidding me?

Chick flicks.

I don't know any other genre that garners more groans from the male population than this dainty collection of female-targeted films. Although I'm sure every film buff would like to think of themselves as open-minded when it comes to all films (I certainly hope I am), it appears that general discourse allows this particular genre to be disregarded. Admittedly, my eyes glaze over when someone mentions "chick flick" in a review or a trailer features a line to the effect of "if only I could find that one guy." It's generally ok to disregard chick flicks as maudlin, cheesy, and pedestrian. Perhaps it is the boys club that is film criticism in the digital age where men dominate the discourse of film discussion on the internet via the blogosphere. In any case, Bridesmaids gave me a little something to chew on. I remember thinking while watching the trailer that this film might have a little something more to it than the usual fare. It looks like a pedantic chick flick, but feels like an Apatow film. You know the type don't you. A man-boy illogically scores a ridiculously attractive female, but has to shirk his juvenile ways in order to enjoy adulthood. They may include what some might refer to as sexually perverse humor with crass and incisive dialogue throughout.

Bridesmaids pretty much covers all of that, except with markedly more estrogen. At its best, I can call it a guy's movie masquerading as a chick flick. Or maybe a chick flick masquerading as a guy movie (does dick flick sound catchier?). For that reason alone, I can't really say that I'm too crazy about it. I love raunch as much as the next guy. And I have to say, I've seen a couple of chick flicks in my day that I didn't immediately fall write off. However, I can't help but wonder if the attraction to this film is more conceptual than built off of actual merit. Does the mash-up of two disparate genres completely validate it or does it genuinely have something to say?

Bridesmaids follows presumably 30 something named Annie, played wonderfully by Kristen Wiig, as she attempts to survive being maid of honor to her best friend Lillian, played by Maya Rudolph. Obviously, tension surmounts between the bride and maid of honor, but the dearth of conflict arises from the rivalry she has with one of the other bridesmaids, the affluent and super bridesmaid Helen (Rose Byrne). These two relationships cover a fertile foundation of female jealousy and envy which the film mines considerably. The script provides enough life to get you going through the film. In terms of pacing, the film trudges through the usual set pieces of a wedding comedy (bridesmaids fitting, zany rehearsal dinner, disastrous wedding shower) but really colors them through its fantastic characters. The acting is the strength of this film by a long-shot. Kristen Wiig is a sympathetic and funny protagonist. Though she plays a punching bag, she never annoys the audience by sulking or being too self-pitying. Maya Rudolph and Rose Byrne are also very strong, rounding out the three principal character. The supporting cast is deft in providing a gallery of different women. They act a collage of womanhood, making up several different stages of a woman's life: the haplessly married woman, the bushy-tailed, newly engaged, and the enthusiastically single.

Whatever negatives in the film lie on a structural level. Sometimes the narration is a little fuzzy on how Annie's main flaw within the film, her laziness and woe is me attitude, manifests itself in ruining her best friend's wedding. Certain moments lend themselves to scrutiny as to whether or not Annie's problems are a cause of the raucous set pieces the film indulges or whether she should be blamed for what happens. For instance, there is a scene where Annie chooses a Brazilian restaurant for the bridesmaids to get to know each other. Afterwards, they have a fitting for bridesmaids dresses. Let's just say it doesn't end very well gastronomically. The whole series of events implicitly point to Annie's inability to cope with her friends upcoming nuptials, but the whole snafu doesn't appear to be her fault. She's blamed for come adverse consequences that aren't completely her own. The film tends toward these type of moments which holds Annie as the scapegoat for some of the adverse events in the film, fixing blame on her that isn't quite integrated into her own flaws as a protagonist. Not to say that her flaws are not established, they just tend to be not as well entwined.

Minute shortcomings aside, my fear with a film like this is that its evocation of male movies implicitly state that there is something wrong with chick flicks or female-targeted films. Comedy tends to be gender based; this type of gender mashing appears to suggest some type of evaluation of one over the other. "It's a chick flick that guys can watch" instead of it's a guy movie that girls can sit through." I'm a little worried that a film that takes this as its ideology, alienates a genre of film that gets unfairly disrespected.

That said, I think Bridesmaids is worth a night out. I probably would have liked it better on cable as a delightful discovery. If you love Kristen Wiig...wait even if you don't love her, you'll love her here.