Review - Movie catch-up - June & July

June & July have been busy months here in the Northwest.  It's summer of course, by the calendar at least, although it's been a rather cool summer so far.  And summer, as we all know, even if it is cold and rainy, means two things:  lots of outdoor activities, and lots of great summer blockbusters!!

Since it's been too cool and drizzly most weekends to do much outside (I'm exaggerating of course! A little.), Bob and I have managed to see our fair share of movies.

X-Men: First Class * * * *

Loved it!  Loads of fun, with all the mutant-y explosion-y goodness anyone could ask for.  Somehow I managed to make it into the movie theater without any clue that the movie starred none other than my favorite Footloose dancer, Kevin Bacon, so that was a nice surprise, and I thought he made a fair villain.  The story was good and tied nicely into the history books with the Cuban Missile Crisis, and also set up the back stories for some of the main characters in the later films.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Bob said he didn't hate it.  That's high praise from him...

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon * * * *

Again, I liked it.  It wore on a bit long towards the end, but I thought it was fun that, for once, the city being destroyed wasn't New York or LA.  Patrick Dempsey was a riot, Shia LaBeouf was his usual self, if a tad more whiny.  The new girl did OK, and I liked her better than the old girl.  I never did figure out why his parents were in this film, as their presence made no sense, but it was a fun cameo.  Everyone keeps saying how it was sooooo much better than the second movie, blah blah blah, but I have to be honest and say that I've liked all three.  I didn't think the second movie was that bad, or confusing, and have never understood why people have so many issues with it.  Maybe I'm just not enough of a movie snob.  Whatever.  I liked T1, and I liked T2, and now I like T3.  It was awesome, and the moon scenes were killer kool.

Bob thought it was ok.

Green Lantern * * * *

I wanted to see Green Lantern because the previews were funny and I have a little crush on Ryan Reynolds.  I also adore Blake Lively.  I was not familiar with the Green Lantern story at all and the movie did a good job of filling in the history so that I didn't feel confused or lost.  Was it the best movie ever?  No.  But it did have lots of Ryan Reynolds, which made me feel generous with the stars.  It was fun, and a little predictable, but still, fun.  Green Lantern ties into the Avengers conglomeration with the SHIELD agent showing up at the end again, and I'm really digging how they are subtly tying all these super heroes together for the big Avengers movie coming out next year.

Bob said, "Meh."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 * * * * *

You've read the hype, you've seen the clips, and studied the movie posters.  You know this movie is amazing.  I don't need to say it, but I will.  This movie is the most awesome thing I've ever seen, ever, and it's made of awesome, dipped in awesome, cooked in awesome, rolled in you've-gotta-be-kidding-me, and served with a side of OhMyGodThat'sSoAwesome!!!

The story felt complete, even though there were details missing, and characters that we didn't see as much of as we might have wanted, but everything worked.  It was perfectly balanced and paced.  Beyond that I will only say two things:
1. The true story of Severus Snape may quite possibly be the greatest and most tragic unrequited love story ever written, and I sobbed my heart out during that portion of the film.
2. Nevile Longbottom was so Frakkin' HOT when he killed Nagini, I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU HOW HOT THAT WAS.

If you haven't seen HP7.2 yet then I don't even know what you are doing here, you should go see it now.

Oh, and Bob loved it too.

Captain America: The First Avenger * * * * *

So with Captain America we swing back to the Avenger prequels.  This one was much better than Green Lantern, in part because it was more serious, and not as cheesy.  The 3D was amazingly well done without being obnoxious, and the story was just GOOD.  Chris Evans did a great job, and was gorgeous as usual.  The story takes place during World War II, so it's set earlier in time than the other Avengers, but by the end of the film we've caught back up to the present, and once again Samuel L Jackson shows up with his sexy eye-patch to do his SHIELD thing.  Good film, good FX, and a much better storyline than Thor and Green Lantern, which do little more than set up who their characters are, where Captain America really tells a complete story all by itself.

Bob thought it was ok.

So that, as they say, is that!  The upcoming films that I'm looking forward to are:
Cowboys and Aliens (hope to see that this weekend!)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (OMG!  I can't wait!!)
Conan the Barbarian
Fright Night (I love me some David Tennant!)
Abduction
In Time

Have you seen any of these movies this summer?  What did you think, and what films are you looking forward to seeing?  Let me know in the comments!