Bring on the fall movies, please
 

This summer has been a disappointment to say the least. I want the good movies to come out, yes even the pretentious made-for-Oscar® movies, I even want to see those. I'm desperate for some valiant effort at making an engaging movie. Please, bring on the fall movies.

Amen.

Let's see...Waitress, Paprika, The Boss of It All, Severance, Knocked Up, The Bourne Ultimatum, A Mighty Heart, Broken English, Once, Rescue Dawn, Interview, Cashback, Sunshine, This is England, Talk to Me, Paris, j'taime...

All of these were released from May to last week. Unless Orlando is devoid of arthouse theaters (hell, even some googoolplexes probably showed a few of those films), what's your excuse for not seeing any of the above? And if there are no arthouse theaters around you, then why are you complaining? I assume you know that summer movies shown in multiplexes are not renowned for their complex scripts, layered plots and award-worthy performances; people go to have fun and see shit blow up. And early 2007 gems like Zodiac and The Lookout are now hitting DVD.

Were you expecting John McClane and the bad guy to have an intense, sitdown debate about the War on Terror before shooting at one another?

This was more of a "another sucky summer season, fall looks way better" thread. And while I enjoyed Zodiac, other than that film, there's nothing that has come out that has really stood out. Just because it's indie doesn't mean it's good.

Across the Universe should be getting some attention as it's a pretty decent Beatles musical as well as enjoyable movie over all.

I'm looking forward to Across the Universe ... Taymor is an interesting filmmaker if Titus was any indication ....

Amen to that BUT...if you think this summer has been bad for movies so far then what do you think about last year summer?!

to me,the 10 months of 2006 was the worse period of movies since...forever! at least since 2000.

this summer has been full of overrated and mediocre sequels,still compared to last summer it's GREAT.plus,the first quarter of this year wasn't that bad,at least there was something to look forward to like 300 and TMNT,despite being big disappointments for me.


i mean...come on! this the year that we got ground-breaking movies like Zodiac and FANTASTIC movies like Hot Fuzz.and very very exciting B movies like Transformers.and the year is still not over!

I do want to see this, badly. But I have to tell you, if I see that bloody trailer one more time.....

I'm **really** looking forward to the Fall and Winter movies for sure. But I'm quite pleased with the movies this summer. "28 Weeks Later", "Knocked Up", "You Kill Me", "1408", "Ocean's 13", "Harry Potter 5", "Ratatouille", "Hairspray", "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "Stardust". And I haven't even seen most of the indie/art house films yet. If I never see or hear of another green ogre or Pirate film, I'll be fine with the summer season.

This summer has been substantially better than the last several. Sure, it had some huge disappointments (Spider-man 3 and Pirates 3 were god awful) but it also had some relatively nice surprises (Ratatouille, Superbad, Simpsons, Stardust, Sunshine, Knocked Up, Live Free or Die Hard, Bourne Ultimatum, etc; )

That said, I'm interested to see what comes out this fall, but am not exactly anticipating much.

I have to say that this summer was much better than last year's and so far the movies this year have been great (Grindhouse, The Host, The Lives of Others, Transformers, Knocked Up) but last fall was an absolute madhouse of awesome limited release movies, including new movies from each of the three Mexican directors, etc.

If you rely on Hollywood for quality films, then you'll be disappointed more often than not. There are many quality films out there, you just have to broaden your search for them. There's a whole world of films outside of the US that people are depriving themselves of.

Quite true but I do like to sometimes go to the local movie theatre.

So I guess we can look forward to a thread like this every year? Because I thought this summer's slate of big movies was a huge step up from the past few years.

That is absolutely true. However, your OP implied that there was nothing but typical summer fare released in the past few months, when that was clearly not the case, just like every single year before it, and likely after it.

After I offer up several examples of non-typical summer movies, and Coral tells you the same, you basically admit that the problem with summer movies is that, even though you're fully aware that big blockbusters don't challenge your mind and that you're desperate for something more "engaging," you're still too lazy to look outside the multiplex.

You realize you're posting the equivalent of "I'm really want a hamburger, and I don't feel like making my own at home, and the only nearby place is a vegetarian restaurant. I guess I'm screwed since there are no other options for me."

(Dammit, I should have eaten before posting this. Now I really do want a hamburger.)

I've been looking forward to that one for almost a year now, give or take. I'm happy to hear you say that it's enjoyable.

I'm always so conflicted about the fall movie season. My desire to see so many of these movies is continually thwarted by the fact that only about 20% of them are ever shown in my area. So the fall season is more like the "wait-for-spring-DVD-release" season. :( :(

I suppose I could drive a few hours down to Miami to see a couple of gems I missed. The point I was trying to make was that I look forward to the time of year when Hollywood does release quality movies.

Across the Universe trailer left a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm pretty interested in Across the Universe as well, plus the Elizabeth sequel.

You have to wade through the crap before you can get to the good movies. September is the month studios unload their mistakes on the public. So expect some Weinstein crap to flow in ... Nanny Diaries opens on August 24. Looks like they are getting a jump on September.

It repeats itself every year. You can only have so many blockbusters all at the same time. For people in cities getting limited releases, you have a great uninterrupted flow of smarty-pants cinema, but for those of us out here in shopping center hell, it's whatever is running on 1200 screens or more. :(

I'm looking forward to the fall releases, not because I thought summer's was terrible though.

Shoot Em Up
3:10 to Yuma
Beauwolf

i'm looking forward to:

3:10 To Yuma
American Gangster
We Own The Night (aka The Yards 2, Commodus and Marky Mark reunited)
The Brave One

Well, I can sympathize with those of you without easy access to arthouse theaters and...oh, who am I kidding? I can't sympathize with you at all: I live in the Bay Area/East Bay--I'm very close to a theater that plays big releases and the occasional small flick, and I am a short ride away from a gigantic multiplex that also has a separate sister arthouse theater, about 1/4 of a mile away from each other. And on top of that, I can always jump onto BART and ride into San Francisco or Berkeley, where you can find just about any theatrical movie you want, all within walking distance.

What I was trying to say though (perhaps a bit harshly), is that possibly great, challenging movies are released year-round, even in the first quarter graveyard (with its late December previous-year holdovers), and also during the summer season. And if they're too far away, then suck it up and start looking for good movies that came out earlier and are now on DVD; give them a spin, it might help alleviate your summertime blues.

I can't wait for these five:

Southland Tales

No Country For Old Men

We Own The Night

There Will Be Blood

American Gangster

i can't believe no one mentioned "Control" and "Iam Not There".