Back on the blog - the summer so far!

Well, I've not been on the blog for quite a long while as life has filled up with other things. With a bit more time on my hands over the next few weeks, I thought I'd try and put a few thoughts down. To start with the main interest of the blog: how's the summer been so far in the cinema.

The Best:

Son Of Rambow managed to be both funny and moving and more original than usual and contained some of best child performances of recent years. Persepolis had a unique visual style, a compelling story and an interesting insight into a culture that is often demonised in the West. More recently, Gone Baby Gone hinted that Ben Affleck might have more of a future in directing than acting, presenting us with a portrait of the part of Boston he grew up in combined with an intriguing mystery where the moral questions became more complex with every twist uncovered.

In Bruges was darkly funny whilst pushing the boundaries of good taste. Mongol was beautifully shot, stunning scenery and an intriguing take on the Genghis Khan story. Caramel was a warm and subtle tale crossing divides in Lebanon. My Brother is an Only Child boasts perhaps the best title of the year and an interesting, well-acted portrait of political differences and families in Italy in the 60s and 70s. And Scorcese's Stones concert flick Shine a Light was well worth checking out.

The Worst:

Brian De Palma's Iraq based Redacted was an intriguing idea let down by acting and scripting so bad it became both unintentionally funny and offensive. Talking of bad acting and scripting, M Night Shyamalan's The Happening was deeply disappointing a featured career-low performances from both Mark Wahlberg and ZooeyDeschanel - the former seeming to think that the way to be convincing as a teacher was to be unbearably whiny throughout.

Elsewhere, Three and Out couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a comedy or an emotional drama and missed both by a country mile. Superhero Movie wasn't the worst spoof of recent years but was still more miss than hit with the gags, as was Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanomo Bay. Fool's Gold featured two of the worst accents of recent years from Brit actors Ray Winstone and Ewan Bremner, and they were still the high points of the film.

Doomsday was enjoyable post-apocalyptic rubbish, if not always intentionally so. Speed Racer was a migraine-inducing day-glo mess of a film, that had its moments, but confirmed the impression of the Matrix sequels that the Wachowski's really need to learn some discipline in editing and keeping a clear narrative. Whereas, Street Kings was very much seen it all before corrupt cop drama with bad acting again, requiring more emotional range than Keanu Reeves is capable of and wasting Forrest Whittaker's talent with poor dialogue.

The Rest:

Horton Hears a Who was a good recreation of Dr Seuss style without, except in the observatory sequence, ever really challenging Pixar's inventiveness. Iron Man was a good start to a franchise, a better than average superhero movie that was made far more watchable by the presence of Robert Downey Jr, whose sparring with Gwyneth Paltrow proved a highlight of the film. Downey Jr also lifted sub-Ferris Bueller Charlie Bartlett, which was good, but not as much as it thought it was. Funny Games was well done and thought-provoking but probably lacked the explicitness to attract the audience it really wanted to challenge.

Of the big blockbusters, The Incredible Hulk improved on Ang Lee's effort but lost its way after a promising opening with the CGI Hulk still being too flat to be sympathetic. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was not the film you'd hoped for, but better than the one you'd feared might be produced. It just about holds its own, but strays too far into the ridiculous for my taste.

Mike Leigh's Happy Go Lucky like its central character, took some work to get used, but then proved surprisingly likeable. Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis was an amusing and likeable French comedy which maybe loses some of its humour in translation. And Shotgun Stories was a heavy-going but interesting tale of feuds in small town America.

21 and Leatherheads were both entertaining enough, but left you with the feeling that the talent involved should have produced better. And comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall was marginally more hit than miss and won points for the hilarious puppet musical of Dracula it contained and a performance by Russell Brand that didn't leave you wanting to throw things at the screen.

Well, thats it for now. Hopefully be back soon.