One of my goals this year was to see more movies in the theater. This has been somewhat realized in the last month as I’ve seen several.
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Lucy
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Planet of the apes
I see a strong sci-fi pattern here with lots of dystopia. I’m at the mercy of hollywood blockbusters with no romantic comedy, art film, or drama competing for my attention. It’s mostly because of who I go to the movies with, but I guess that’s the point.
Edge of Tomorrow was better than I thought it would be. It was presented as a sci-fi groundhog’s day and I think that is an accurate description. Whereas in the Bill Murray’s version, the day was reset by him going to sleep, in the Tom Cruise version, the day was reset by him dying. Oh yeah. The audience would titter when Cruise would be purposefully, violently, and unceremoniously killed to move the day forward.
Lucy was a Scarlet Johanssen vehicle. Much of the film was a close up of her face or focusing on her luscious body. The silly story is about what the mind would be like if a person could use 100% of her brain. This story co-starred Morgan Freeman as the professor who tries to capture Lucy’s capacity. Young woman/old man scenario. We followed Lucy with Woody Allen’s Scoop, another young woman/old man story.
Guardians of the Galaxy was family fun: silly, playful with words, a salute to Star Wars. The 70’s music sound track was a nice addition. I liked Bradley Cooper as a racoon. Zoe Saldana with green skin didn’t diminish her sexuality.
No brain cells were damaged in this summer film fest.