Of Trilogies and Beyond

This summer film season was a disgusting display of unoriginality and excess. Well, to be fair, that’s every summer. 2007 just took it to a new level. Six trilogies were completed in the past few months, and most of those will no doubt keep going. Not to mention that the Die Hard franchise came back for its 4th installment – and brought a PG-13 rating with it. Hell, the Harry Potter series also came out with its 4th installment, also rated PG-13. Harry Potter…with the same rating as Die Hard. What the fuck has gone wrong?

The two biggest hits other than the ones already accounted for? Transformers and The Simpsons Movie – cartoons with pretty damn big, albeit older, fanbases. One turned into a massive live-action movie, the other basically being a big, prettier episode. The former was the one that raked in the money, but the latter didn’t do so bad for itself either. Of course, both are already slated to be trilogies.

I’d love to rip on the rampant outbreak of sequelitis with a clear conscious. I really would. Unfortunately, I paid to see the castrated Live Free or Die Hard. Even worse, I let two of my friends drag me to go see Pirates of the Caribbean 3. I didn’t even particularly enjoy the first, and hated the second. Drinking alone at the bar would have been a more enjoyable option. Worst movie I’ve seen in theaters since The Day After Tomorrow.

Fortunately, the only other sequel I saw this year was The Bourne Ultimatum, which also happens to be the best movie I’ve seen this year. I’m actually very interested in seeing United 97 now, due to Greengrass’s directorial ability. And his handheld camera work is no doubt more suited to a documentary-style movie such as United 97. If that film is as good as I hear, he’ll be one of my favorite directors at the moment.

The other two have to be Judd Apatow and Edgar Wright. They are two guys stopping the movie industry from totally sucking. Most people would also argue that Pixar comes out with one quality film after another, but they make formulaic children films that just happen to be as perfectly crafted as they can be. I doubt Ratatouille is any exception. I hear The Incredibles is legitimately awesome though.

Judd Apatow both directed and wrote The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up and was also a producer for Anchorman and Superbad. Edgar Wright, along with Simon Pegg, is responsible for the wonderfully awesome movies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. These are the types of movies that break up the stale conventional movies that fill up the middle of the year. August has already been better than was offered from May until July with The Bourne Ultimatum alone. I still need to see Superbad, but every person I’ve talked to says it’s one of the funniest movies they’ve ever seen. Shoot ‘Em Up is coming soon, as well as 3:10 To Yuma (a remake, but it has Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, so I can forgive it). I even wanted to see WAR really damn bad until I saw the godawful reviews it’s getting.

I don’t know where I’m going with this entry, but I started writing it up at work and I didn’t want to put it to waste. I just know that I was annoyed seeing so many movies being released with such high numbers after their titles. Next year shouldn’t be anywhere near as bad, and THE DARK KNIGHT will be released. Fuck yes.

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