Summer Movies

Dear Lifeless Readers:

Is it just me, or has this summer held an over abundance of crap filled movies for the public consumption? It's not just me, so don't even go there! I usually go to the movies nine or ten times in the summer, anxiously awaiting some sci-fi thriller, summer comedy, fantasy film, Pixar release or sex comedy. Where the hell were they this summer? I was reduced to reading most of the summer because the options were pretty scarce.

I started the summer by reading Treasure Island, a book I swore I would get to someday but have been putting it off for fear that it would be so freakin' old Bristish that I would hate it. Turns out, there is a reason why that book has been around for such a long time. There is loads of action, mutiny, conspiracy, subterfuge and...knock me over with an f-ing feather, a plot! How many of the summer movies had this? Even Harry Potter and the Half -Blood Prince (which I saw three times due to a wicked crush on the Weasley Twins) seemed to be more about creating tension than furthering the plot. A place holder until the final two films based on the final book (where something finally happens and its not just talked about). Read Treasure Island if you never have! It's worth it and you are a dipshit if you never have!

The second book I read was IT, by Steven King. Has anyone ever tackled this mammoth novel about evil incarnate in a small town in Maine? Coincidentally, I spent most of my summer in Maine and it created a nice reference and setting to the detailed world King was talking about. Short of his inability to write a coherent female characater, King writes of adolesence with such understanding but unflinching accuracy. Each 12 year old boy in this story was so lovingly and truthfully fleshed out. Could this be- dare I say it? - Could this be character development? Where was this amidst the summer clap trap? Star Trek didn't have it! Harry Potter gave up on it after the second movie! The only true place it could be found was in Pixar's gloriously touching UP, which in the first ten minutes had more charcater development than District Nine managed for its entire, painful duration. UP may be the only truly great film of the summer and even the middle of it became sluggish before picking up and carrying us to a joyous conclusion. IT, however, was a complex study of childhood fear and every character save the one girl was a complete study in character development. Read IT as well.

Finally I read the biography of lyricist E.Y. Harburg, entilted Who Put the Rainow in The Wizard of Oz. Harburg was a trouble maker, apparently, because his original ideas, individuality, loathe for racism, hate for sexism and his contempt for the military and the federal government eventually led to his black listing. This is the guy who wrote such poetic and clever lyrics to songs such as "It's Only A Paper Moon", "Somewhere Over the Ranbow", "How Are Things In Glocca Morra", "Lidya the Tatooed Lady" and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime." He pushed the musical theatre boundaries of storytelling and content like no other librettist. He insisted on quality in the movie musical storytelling, something that had been, up to that point, practically void. His pioneering changed both the stage and movie musical and yet his later life was met with such grief because he dared to have original ideas. Where the hell are the E.Y. Harburgs of today? We sure could have used them in the creating of the summer movies we were forced to sit through in the summer of 09. If you really want to be entertained, secure yourself a copy of Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz. Its far more compelling than whatever the latest Judd Apatow, sophmoric piece of crap that was left steaming on the July sidewalks!

God, I hope the Holiday films better than this!!!

The hell with you,

Aunt Mark