Sunday, August 26, 2012

Summer movies: Winners and Losers

Summer 2012 Winners and Losers

Photo: Disney/Universal
From "The Avengers" to "The Expendables 2," this has been an active -- some might say overactive -- summer. Now, with our back-to-school list-making, let's scan the summer's winners and losers:
Winners :
    1. Joss Whedon and "The Avengers": The summer's opening -- and best -- studio tent-pole blockbuster. Now, Whedon will direct the sequel, too. 2. Matthew McConaughey: The hunky actor got a career infusion with his Oscar-baiting male stripper in the surprise hit "Magic Mike." Continue to take it off, Matt! (Add in the underrated "Bernie" and "Killer Joe," too, for a massive and interesting comeback.)

    3. Wes Anderson and "Moonrise Kingdom": Anderson's most successful live-action movie also boosted the careers of Bill Murray and Bruce Willis.
    4. Jeremy Renner and "The Bourne Legacy": Renner proved that he could open a movie and make audiences forget Matt Damon as Jason Bourne -- and he also had a piece of "The Avengers" action as "Hawkeye."
    5. Tom Hardy and "The Dark Knight Rises": Hardy is the summer's breakout action star with dramatic chops -- see also "Lawless" -- and he rises with the Dark Knight franchise.
    6. Seth MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, and "Ted": A sleeper hit about a dirty-mouthed stuffed bear and his arrested-development owner drew on "The Family Guy" fan-base and Wahlberg's ability to pull off comedy or action with understated charm.
    7. Quvenzhané Wallis and "Beasts of the Southern Wild": The indie Oscar-bait movie has its staunch supporters and cynical detractors, but no one is doubting the eight-year-old star's performance and we're betting on an Oscar nom
Losers:
    1. Kristen Stewart: With the unfaithful kiss seen round the world, KStew put a stake in the heart of her participation in the sequel to "Snow White and the Huntsman" and her fairy-tale romance with Robert Pattinson.2. "Battleship": Sunk.

    3. "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter": Not all vampire movies are created equal, and this big-budget fiasco sucked at the box office.
    4. "Total Recall": The most forgettable of the big-budget remakes.
    5. "Dark Shadows": They were crying into their Count Chocula on this one, but Johnny Depp-Tim Burton collaborations tend to remain undead, and this movie, which had a decent global gross, may have legs beyond 2012.
    6. "Savages": Oliver Stone lights up and misfires in this underwhelming adaptation of Don Winslow's terrific novel about the clash between the Mexican Baja Cartel and smug Southern California dope peddlers -- and the death of hippie naiveté. It may be more disappointing because expectations were so high.
See Joss Wheldon give commentary to a clip from 'The Avengers':
'The Avengers' Clip Commentaryend quote from:

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/the-reel-breakdown/summer-2012-winners-losers-180816238.html

I agree with most of this except I like "Dark Shadow" which like they said may have legs on DVD because I think it is a cult classic that will never die. It was way too sophisticated for most people to completely get it the first time they saw it. With heavyweights like:
Johnny Depp Johnny Depp ...
Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Pfeiffer ...
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard  you have to look deep because of the vast sophistication of both these actors and what they bring to a movie, any movie
 
 
 
Also, I like "Battleship" even though it was a little corny and 1950s like with CGI in how the plot ran.  And I wondered about Snow White and the Huntsman.

Kristen Stewart Kristen Stewart ...
Chris Hemsworth Chris Hemsworth ...
Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ...
 
 
 For some reason as I put this all together Michelle Pfeiffer's picture keeps moving around and I can't seem to control it's position. In the Snow White movie I thought Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron were well cast for this movie. And I think Kristen Stewart is a great action star as a woman just like Charlize Theron. But the problem is Charlize Theron sort of Stole the movie with her acting away from everyone else, so if this had a problem it was the witch was just too good an actress the way it was done.

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