Summer Movies Hurrah!

Well it's that time of year again where the best, brightest and most expensive movies begin their march across our nations theaters. I have to say the summer movie season is one of my favorite times of the year.

There's just one thing to keep in mind before you go to any movie this summer:

In my mind there are two types of movies. There are movies that are good, ones that when you see them your view of the world is altered and you will remember that movie until the day you die. They tend to come out between the months of September and December. They sometimes end up nominated for Oscars, yet more often than not get overlooked. These movies aren't necessarily high achievers in the box office because to most of the movie going public they are above their heads. Movies like this include: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, American Beauty, Requiem for A Dream, and Pulp Fiction (this last one most definetely being the exception to that last rule).

Then there are the fun movies, mostly action movies. These movies are often extremely successful in the box office, and are mostly released during the summer, though a few come out during the November Decmber area for the holidays. One should not go into this type of movie expecting their mental facilites to be extremely challenged. Do not expect well developed characters and engaging dialogue. Go into this movie expecting a great adrenaline rush, expect spectacular special effects, and expect some of the best action scenes you'll see. Movies like this inclue: The Matrix Trilogy, Spider-Man, X-Men, The Star Wars Triolgy, and The Mummy.

Though movies can fall into categories outside of these two realms, mostly comedies, they can still be put into one of the other two categories.

Anywho, the entire point of that information is to say that the first big movie of the summer has come out and I absolutely loved it. It was Van Helsing. In general I'll say this. I think it's one of the best summer movies since Spider-Man, while I immensely enjoyed X2, it just didn't get me as excited. As far as what so many people are saying the campiness and the over the top melo-drama that bugged them, just remember that this movie is from Stephen Sommers the guy who wrote and directed such Horror/Action movies like Deep Rising, and The Mummy, and it's exactly what I expected from the man. Kate Beckinsale was definetely the weak point of the movie, she's one of the worst actresses in a long time (and coming from a guy who loves just about every movie ever made, that's saying a lot). I severely enjoyed David Wenham as Carl and was not expecting much from him in the comic relief sense, but I was gladly proven wrong (keep this in mind, according to IMDb.com his role was originally going to Paul "Crodile Dundee" Hogan, just imagine if that had gone through *shudder*). Richard Roxburgh, well let me just say that I was pleased that he was cast as Dracula from the moment I heard it. I mainly know him as The Duke from Moulin Rogue, and he just had that certain something to carry that evil into Dracula.

But that's about all I got to say for that movie, I'm actually gonna try to go and see it again during the summer.