Thursday, May 06, 2010

2010 Summer Movie Season

It's that time again, bla bla bla, start of the 2010 summer movie season, yadda yadda yadda, top ten list of movies, etc. etc., you know the shtick.

  1. Iron Man 2 (May 7)
  2. Robin Hood (May 14)
  3. MacGruber (May 22)
  4. Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time (May 28)
  5. The A-Team (June 11)
  6. The Last Airbender (July 2)
  7. Despicable Me (July 9)
  8. Inception (July 16)
  9. Salt (July 23)
  10. The Switch (August 20)


Upon surveying the list of movies I'd be most willing to see this summer, I can't help but notice a shared trait among nearly all of the selections: ample levels of testosterone. Between Tony Stark, Robin Hood, MacGruber, Prince Dastan, and the entire cast of the A-Team, it's like somebody detonated a million crates of Axe body spray all over Hollywood. Look, it's no secret that the summer blockbuster is tailor made for males in their 20's and 30's who like stunning visuals, loud explosions, and hero-villain-damsel motifs (myself included), but this summer's crop of movies just really seems to be pushing that philosophy further than ever before.

I've searched high and low for a solid summer documentary (I guess Babies looks interesting?), for an early Oscar contender (first year I haven't been able to find one), for a summer movie oozing with originality (last year we had Inglourious Basterds; this year we have sequels to Shrek, Sex and the City, Toy Story, and Twilight...kill me now). That said, I'm certainly intrigued by Christopher Nolan's Inception, I'm excited for Robin Hood to be the Gladiator sequel I always wanted, and I welcome The Switch as the romantic comedy summer date movie for me and my love (I like Jason Bateman, she likes Jennifer Aniston. She also likes Jason Bateman. I somewhat dislike Jennifer Aniston, mainly becomes she seems a bit snobbish, but I'm still willing to see the...what am I talking about again?).

A more pressing issue is the reality that the costs associated with seeing a movie in the theater have skyrocketed some 1000% over the past ten years (completely made that figure up, but probably close). Based on the calculation that spending $1 at a Redbox on a not quite five-star movie is a much savvier decision than spending $25 to see the same movie in theaters (albeit a bit sooner), I'd be surprised if I end up seeing more than half of the movies on this list.

In summation, the 2010 summer movie season may be terrible and you'll probably spend a small fortune finding out. See you at the movies!
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