FILM: Johnny Come Lately

Film: Summer is a Sad Season for the Filmgoer

Thus far this summer I've seen Up, The Hangover, the latest Star Trek movie (because everyone I talked to, and you know who you are, said how great it was and that even if I'd never enjoyed anything Trekie before, I would STILL love this movie--wrong, wrong, wrong), the truly awful, The Proposal, and last night Easy Virtue. I thought this last one, an adaptation of a Noel Coward period piece by an Australian director with an all-star cast that included Colin Firth, would be a welcome relief from all the terrible movies that have been pouring down this summer like all this rain, but alas, while it certainly had its moments, and many, many, more of them than the above-mentioned list, this too, fell awfully short. As my friend Gilly from SNL would say, Sorry.

While the summer "blockbuster" season has always been the most difficult for me as a frequent moviegoer to endure--relying on Netflix and cable news and the Red Sox more so than at any other time of the year, this summer has been particularly bleak.

And what's a guy to do? Run out and see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian? My Sister's Keeper? Land of the Lost or Year One? Not only are the movies of the lowest common denominator, they stay around FOREVER, clogging up the multiplexes and thus not allowing something new and possibly a little better some screen time.

You can let me know about the new Johnny Depp film, but I think it's already a case of Johnny come lately. I'll be off to seek some cultural relief in the form of some more regional plays, or hanging at Tanglewood as much as possible. As far as films go, wake me in September.

[JULY 1, 2009]