Summer of the Movies

I've seen a fair amount of movies this summer. This is a relatively big deal for me. In the last four years living in Wilmore, living on a seminary employee's & student's retail paychecks, my wife and I have not gone to a lot of movies. Sure we saw a handful in those four years - Return of the King, Cars, the Benchwarmers, Batman Begins, the Holiday, 300 and I'm sure a few more along that way that I can't think of right now, but that is just a handful of movies in four years. This summer, I have already been to at least three movies, and I'd like to see at least a couple more before the summer is up. Here's what I've seen so far:

Wall-E
Very interesting movie. I wonder how many people at the theater realized that they were being slapped in the face with its dig on our over-reliance on technology and total disregard for the environment. I thought about that quite a bit as I sat back, ate my Sour Patch Kids and drank my soda, then threw it all in the trash...

Get Smart
I was interested in seeing this movie for the sole reason that Steve Carell is in it. I find him to be absolutely hilarious. The Office is one of my favorite shows, and I was looking forward to his unique form of comedy coupled with some pretty good action. I wasn't disappointed. This movie had me laughing throughout, and the action sequences were pretty cool. Bill Murray had a cameo that had me rollin' in the aisle... not literally, that would make too much of a scene, but I was laughing for a few minutes after his bit was done.

Hancock
This was the blockbuster-Will Smith-Fourth of July release for the summer, and overall it doesn't disappoint. I will say that for a PG-13, I thought the language was a bit strong; however, I don't believe it was frivilous cussing for the sake of cussing, which you will see in so many movies these days. I think it was a very subtle way of showing the depths to which Hancock had sunk in his booze-filled, careless, selfish way of life. Without giving too much away, Hancock encounters a person who believes in him and wants to help reshape his public image. When finally somebody takes the time to care about him, he starts to shape up. He voluntarily goes to prison and turns things around. After he turns that corner in his life, his language is significantly better. Some people, usually those of a less than desirable personality, continue to cuss throughout the rest of the film, but it is significant to note that Hancock does not - at least not nearly as bad. It is a story of redemption, and it's worth wading through the muck at the beginning.

As the summer draws to a close, there is one more movie that I want to see while it is still on the big screen: The Dark Knight. I saw Batman Begins in the theater with a friend of mine that I worked with at the time, and every since the closing scene, I've eagerly been anticipating the release of the next movie. The previews have yet to do anything to unwind that eagerness to see it. The bad thing is that I don't have time to see it before I head off to Texas with my youth group for a mission trip. I guess that's going to have to wait a couple weeks.