Summer is a special time of year where the theaters are flooded with big movies made to push the popcorn. Not many of them make it to Best Picture status, but you can usually find the all the special effects categories tapped out. Nonetheless, I love summer movies, and this summer, I have been spending plenty of time at the theater. Now, I would like to fill you in on the ones I’ve seen and which I have really enjoyed.
I write this just out of a showing of Magic Mike. I’m completely comfortable seeing most movies on my own, but something about seeing a male stripper movie solo felt weird. And all my coaxing couldn’t get my husband to see it with me. I entered the theater (packed with middle aged women) with low expectations, so it was much better than I expected. The dancing was a good bit of raunchy fun, sending the ladies in the theater into squealing and applause at times. And there was much more character development and story than one may expect in a stripper movie, but this is obviously geared toward women. Ladies seem to want to know more about the owner of those chiseled abs, his dreams, his disappointments, you name it. Overall, a decent guilty pleasure, fun for the ladies and a compelling enough story.
Back to the beginning of summer with The Avengers. That was a fun superhero movie. You throw them all together, they each have their own jokes and ticks. Give them the first half of the movie to fight against each other, let them assemble (as Avengers do) and throw them into a huge save the world fight at the end. It works out pretty well, and for once the girls are never helpless little things. I approve.
One movie my husband was bent on seeing was Abraham Lincoln: Vamprire Hunter. I didn’t expect much here, history mixed up with vampires as Lincoln’s hidden agenda. However, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It’s a fun mix of action and loose history. And everyone loves Lincoln, why not make him a total badass weilding an ax?
I’ve already written a bit about Brave. I liked it because the depiction of the princess and the mother-daughter relationship, but for Pixar, it’s far from their best. There may be a review in the works, as I expect it to be up for best animated feature, be patient.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was just lovely. The cast, including Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson, work wonderfully together. It’s often hard to find a film about older people that doesn’t use gags like false teeth as a crutch, here there are no cliches. Each character is a beautifully individual human, not just getting old. And the idea of new adventures on the horizon for them fills us with hope and warms our hearts. I highly recommend this one.
My favorite film by far this summer has to be Moonrise Kingdom. It’s sweet, simple, beautiful and fun. It reminds me of my scouting days and makes me long for simple times where kids could canoe around a small island town and have real snail mail pen pals. If I had to give one recommendation for everyone to see this summer, it is Moonrise Kingdom.
There are a lot more summer movies ahead, I look forward to them and so should you. All year I’ve been excited for Nolan’s conclusion to his Batman trilogy, only a couple weeks of waiting left! Anyway, enjoy the popcorn, and lay off the butter.
Grab your mouse ears and stock up on pixie dust, because The Best Picture Project is going to dive into some Disney films! Over the summer I’ll post my reviews of classic and new Disney (and Pixar) films. 
The Best Picture Project 