In the first of three video chats looking back on the summer movies of 2o09, Owen and Lisa talk about whether popcorn movies for grownups had a chance in a season of battling robots.
Aug 31
2009
07:08 PM ET
Summer movies wrap-up, Pt. I: 'Transformers' vs. pop movies for grownups
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Great video recap of the summer movies and looking forward to part 2. Of the ones you recapped in pt.1, I’ve made it to only Star Trek and Public Enemies so far but really enjoyed both and thought your recap of Star Trek was very well phrased.
uummm Public Enemies came out July 1st…thats not launching the summer
Wolverine was the first sumer movie. its sucked but it was the first
2 best movies of the summer – UP and STAR TREK
UP and HALF-BLOOD PRINCE!
UP and INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
UP and DISTRICT NINE
UP, UP and AWAY!
Star Trek, UP, and Harry Potter!
UP and ALL of those! Not a bad summer…
well at least we’re all in agreement that UP is one of the two.
Add 500 Days of Summer and your list would be spot on.
She’s kind of a downer. Not to say that she doesn’t have a point but she really wasn’t having Transformers!
Not sure how she could say she didn’t like it when she’s said in a previous blog post that she hasn’t seen it and wasn’t planning on seeing it. I don’t think she would like it, but she can’t argue against Owen’s point if she hasn’t seen the movie.
So if Public Enemies launched the summer, that means that Star Trek, Wolverine, Angels & Demons, Up, The Proposal, Transformers weren’t released in the summer. Weird.
Kim – You forgot 500 days of Summer and District 9
agreed! i loved 500 days of summer.
Given that summer movies are usually generic, run-o-the mill, popcorn fare (“The Dark Knight” aside), I was pretty impressed with this summer’s offerings. I’m still a bit disappointed by “Harry Potter,” even as a huge fan, but “Up,” “District 9,” and “Inglourious Basterds” were fantastic movies (I’m assuming the latter counts as a “summer flick” since we’re still not to Labor Day).
Transformers really wasn’t that bad of a good movie.
Love Owen, hate Lisa
Agreed.
Disagreed, completely. I think Lisa was spot-on in this video and Owen was barely making any sense. It’s disheartening that she was trying to talk about which movies she loved the most and he changed the topic to which made the most money.
best movie of the summer: Star Trek (thank you JJ Abrams)
DISTRICT 9!!!! All the way!!!
you are so right.
So it’s okay for people to watch things that have no sort of intellectual value at all, that don’t strive to convey any sort of meaning? He says it’s okay for people to “turn their brains off!” Then he even says people are now yearning for something that doesn’t do that, but that is not true. The result is that those types of movies train people to NOT want more. I dare you to prove me wrong!
I am so with you, Nick T. The more we let studios get away with dumbing movies down during the summer the more the overall experience suffers. Star Trek, District 9 and 500 Days of Summer show that there are decent to excellent flicks out there for people who crave them and don’t want to “turn their brains off.”
i like to watch both types of movies
even though GI Joe and Transformers arent in my top ten I still enjoyed them. Every now and then (NOT TOO MUCH) , I like some good ol’ douchebaggery in my movies
Not only do I enjoy the occasional ‘turn off your brain’ movie, but I need them in order to decompress from work. Some people have very serious jobs and use those movies as a time to not think…specifically and purposefully.
So Nick…did I just prove you wrong?
There always has been a place for movies of this type. George Lucas was lauded for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, which were really just homages to the serial movies of his youth like Flash Gordon which would be placed on par with a movie like Transformers. Audiences have proven that yes, we do want to be amazed and entertained, and yet there are times when the deep thought proviking movies will be successful too like last year with The Dark Knight. Owen had a point: it’s useful to pay attention to the movies that do well because that informs what productions the studios are likely to back in future years.
ALOT of people loved transformers
ALOT of critics hated transformers
It was ok
It as disgustingly BAD! I hated that movie. I would’ve walked out but I had paid for it.
You can get your money back if you walk out during a bad movie. Really!
I payed for it and I did walk out Crap movie
STAR TREK! STAR TREK! STAR TREK!… Oh,…and some other were good this summer.(NOT TRANSFORMERS!)
Loved Star Trek the one I enjoyed most this summer and I have seen pretty all the summer movies. Still want my money back from the crap that was Transformers. Refused to watch Inglorious bastard did like D-9. Really liked the woman on there. The guy has the thinking that lands us all these bad movies. Fed them any thing dumb and they will come ugh. Not all of us.
If you refused to see Inglourious Basterds, you cheated yourself out of a good time. 500 Days of Summer was good but slightly over-rated, but not nearly as over-rated as Public Enemies.
IG was a mediocre movie at best.
Did anyone else notice that Owen and Lisa seem really old? If they represent the average critic, critics definitely do not represent the primary target audience for summer movies in age. However, it is interesting that I completely agree that Star Trek was the best movie of the summer. Terminator was my second favorite for the summer. The worst movie of the summer for me was Night at the Museum.