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I love summer movies. I mean, I see some movies during the rest of the year, but in the summer, I park my butt in an air-conditioned theatre every weekend. I've recently shifted to going on Saturday afternoons instead of Friday nights, because there were too few movies living up to that $7 quality range, but I still love going.
So far? Kind of a blah summer, with a couple high points. Nothing has really struck me the way I had hoped, though. First out of the gate was Godzilla, and as just about anyone will tell you, it was disappointing. Really badly written. I mean, I liked Independence Day despite the hokiness that most critics hated, but I had to agree with the snooty majority about Godzilla. Too much Jurassic Park influence obvious, and not enough characters I didn't want to see eaten.
Then there was the Truman Show, which was good but way overrated. Call me a philistine if you must, but I'd rather he had done Ace Ventura 3. :) X-Files was my first "must-see" of the summer, and I even paid the full $7 price for it. It was about what I expected. A really solid two-hour episode that doesn't really alter the show much. I could have hoped for more, but in general, I was pretty happy with this one. There were some great moments, like the race through the bees, for example, and Scully's abduction (again?)
Last weekend, I went and saw Out of Sight, which is a pretty damn good movie. I've been an Elmore Leonard fan since I realized he wrote Get Shorty, a movie I absolutely love to watch. Jackie Brown was good, but Out of Sight is better. I'm one of the few heterosexual men in America who *doesn't* hate George Clooney, and one of the many who *loves* Jennifer Lopez. Add in Ving Rhames and the other supporting cast, and you had a great start. Mix in the script and good direction, and you had, as I said, a damn good movie.
Tomorrow night is Armageddon night for me, my friend and my girlfriend. I've heard almost entirely good things, and I look forward to it. I think this is going to be the summer movie I love this time. Bruce Willis, Steve Buscemi, Ben Affleck, and lots of explosions. How can you go wrong?