A is for Animation. The past few years have marked a sort of animated renaissance. Pixar's phenomenal track record seems to have lit a fire under other filmmakers and studios, and as a result, we've gotten such gems as Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Mary and Max, Tangled, and How to Train Your Dragon. 2011 got off to a rough start on the animated front, as the toon highlights of the year's beginning were the sweet-but-plain Gnomeo and Juliet and the ambitious-but-underwhelming Rango. The summer has remedied the problem with three solid animated films that should vie for the Oscar when that time comes.
Kung Fu Panda 2 represented everything a sequel should be (and was, indeed, the best sequel of the summer). It has everything you loved from its predecessor and then some. The action is awesome, Lord Shen is a great villain, the 3-D is impressive, and there are lots of laughs. Most surprisingly, the film fleshes out Po's character by providing some compelling backstory, setting the stage for a third film and giving the climax a satisfying emotional thrust. For the first time ever, Dreamworks has bested Pixar.
Not that Pixar's offering was disappointing, though reviews and box office suggest otherwise. Cars 2 marked the studio's first poorly-received film, plummeting past the original's lukewarm reviews right into the Rotten barrel over on Rotten Tomatoes. It's too bad, as the movie's actually a lot of fun. This time around, Mater takes the spotlight for a spy adventure, and while the story's a bit convoluted, there's still plenty of Pixar's sharp trademark humor and exciting set pieces.Forgoing the reign of 3-D in the animated realm, Disney released a charmingly old-school Winnie the Pooh. Even running just over an hour, the movie doesn't feel at all slight or unworthy of its theatrical release. The voicework is great, the story is cute, and the musical sequences are classic Pooh. Zooey Deschanel's musical contribution was also a pleasant surprise.
B is for a Billion dollars. As in, what - according to Sean Parker - is cool. Making it to a billion dollars at the worldwide box office used to be a rare feat, and one that meant a lot. It's still a huge milestone for a movie to reach, but with inflated ticket prices, IMAX screens, and 3-D surcharges, the box office behemoths aren't quite as impressive as they used to be. Just this summer, three movies - the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers, and Harry Potter flicks - have passed the benchmark, demonstrating that, while exciting for the studios and a definite source of commercial bragging rights, a billion dollars just isn't what it used to be.
C is for Christopher Plummer. Plummer has been experiencing a sort of career revitalization following his Oscar-nominated turn in The Last Station, and his work in Beginners represents another beautiful performance from the classic screen star. Plummer portrays an elderly man diagnosed with cancer who, following his wife's death, comes out of the closet and experiences real love for the first time. The movie is permeated by a sense of subtle magic, much of which comes from Plummer's tender, occasionally flamboyant turn. He's one of the summer's MVPs and could find himself with another nomination in the Supporting Actor category.D is for Disappointment. Overall, it's been a great summer for movies, from indie gems like Submarine and The Tree of Life to blockbusters that deliver like Captain America and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. However, not every movie has fared so well, and while some movies were only underwhelming, others were horrendous, monstrous piles of shit that belonged in a bonfire rather than on the big screen.
We'll start with the shit piles, of which there are two that deserve special mention. The first is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Even after the convoluted, ridiculous At World's End, I found myself with unreasonably high hopes for the fourth outing of Captain Jack Sparrow and friends. Rob Marshall was onboard as director, Penelope Cruz was joining the cast, and the debacle of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley's storyline was neatly (and stupidly) tied up in AWE's post-credits scene. But somehow, On Stranger Tides managed to be the franchise's worst entry yet.The biggest problem was that the movie was so fucking boring. Even with mermaids, missionaries, zombies, and Blackbeard, the movie chugged along at a handicapped snail's pace. Even worse, with Cruz playing a "viable" love interest for Johnny Depp's Captain Jack, the scallywag hero found himself neutered and, consequently, much less fun.
Despite how awful it was, the movie still managed to pass a billion dollars at the worldwide box office (see B above), so we'll probably see a luckluster fifth chapter in a few years' time.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, at least commercially, lies Larry Crowne, the weird romantic comedy pairing Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts as a student and teacher who fall in love. The movie was bland, a total waste of talent (Bryan Cranston is in there too, and gets to... look at porn and... yeah, that's it). Larry Crowne proves that neither Hanks nor Roberts are the bankable stars they once were (wait, didn't we learn that with Charlie Wilson's War?), so hopefully we'll see less projects that rest solely on the reputations of the actors. We want more than familiar faces! Or at least we should.
(Also worth noting: Larry Crowne featured the cheesiest credits sequence ever. It got bigger laughs out of me than any of the jokes in the movie).
While not disasters like those mentioned above, I also found myself disappointed by two other tentpole releases: J.J. Abrams' nostalgic Super 8 and superhero origin story Green Lantern. I actually quite enjoyed both movies, but Super 8 was a bit too nostalgic and all over the place to deliver on the immense promise of its trailer (the kids were great, though), and Green Lantern just didn't make its hero heroic enough or feature a very interesting story. It was so been-there-done-that. However, I do hope a sequel gets made following up on the mid-credits scene hinting at a direction for a next chapter. There's potential there, but Hal Jordan needs more definition, and not in the abs department.
E is for Emma Stone, another of the summer's MVPs. Since Superbad, Stone has been a rising star, finally getting her breakout role in last year's hilarious Easy A. Now, she's everywhere, appearing in three movies this summer and gearing up for next year's The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield. While her turn as Gwen Stacy has me salivating with anticipation, her trio of movies this year have all thrilled me in their own right.Stone's first appearance of the season was a bit part in the strangely wonderful Friends With Benefits, as the John Mayer-obsessed girlfriend of Justin Timberlake's character when the film begins. She's only in the movie for a few minutes, but she does what she does (and how!) and gets some laughs before the movie leaves her in the dust for Mila Kunis.
Stone had a much beefier role in Crazy, Stupid, Love., one of the summer's most pleasant surprises, and one of my favorites movies to come out so far this year. (It's also the only movie I've seen in theaters multiple times this year.) Stone's part in the grand scheme of things is a bit of a mystery during the first half of the film, but she ends up as a pivotal character, especially in the way her Hannah affects Ryan Gosling's womanizing Jacob. The pair's chemistry is great, and Stone is somehow adorable and sexy, all at once.
The last movie featuring my soulmate (did I forget to mention that?) is also one of the year's breakout hits: The Help, based on Kathryn Stockett's blockbuster novel about race relations in 1960's Jackson. Stone gets one of the best roles: Skeeter, a plantation owner's daughter who decides to write a tell-all book from the perspective of the black help. Stone nails the role, managing to capture a somewhat ignorant optimism and a fierce desire for change while still imbuing Skeeter with the awkwardness and likability that define her in the book. It's another star turn from the young actress, who should find herself nominated for the SAG Ensemble prize later this year, and many more awards in the years to come.
F is for Friends With Benefits. After last year's masterpiece Black Swan, there was a bit of weirdness when it came to light that both Natalie Portman and her fantasty lesbian lover Mila Kunis would be starring in movies about the exact same thing. Portman's take on casual sex with friends, No Strings Attached, released in January to dismal reviews and loud hissing from my corner of the theater. It was bland, unfunny, and contained nothing you wouldn't expect, given its premise.
Yet, somehow, I still managed to have mild expectations for Friends With Benefits. It had a better cast (including coolest guy on Earth Justin Timberlake) and the trailers actually looked funny. Both of those portents were fulfilled by a hilarious flick featuring a wonderful ensemble, but Friends With Benefits also had a surprise up its sleeve: it's one of the year's sweetest, most touching romances.
Obviously, Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake (see J) fall in love after tumbling in the sheets, but the trajectory of their relationship happens quite cleverly as the movie comments on romantic comedy conventions even as it adopts quite a few for its own purposes (much as Crazy, Stupid, Love. does). The result is a movie that is compellingly watchable and tear-jerkingly romantic. Yes, I'm a sucker for those grand, romantic gestures that only happen in the movies.
In a summer full of R-rated comedies (see R), few matched the humor or tenderness of Friends With Benefits.
G is for Gearing up for Summer 2012. It's been a great year for movies, and an especially great summer. We've had charming indies like Submarine and Beginners, exciting blockbusters like Harry Potter (see H) and X-Men: First Class, and serious Oscar contenders like The Tree of Life and The Help. Yet, somehow, most of the news on various movie sites has been squarely focused on next year's crop of movies rather than celebrating the berth of quality we currently find ourselves in.
Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises has been getting tons of publicity, much of it doubting the casting of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle or bemoaning how small Tom Hardy's Bane looks in fan-taken photos. Me, I'm content to sit back and put my complete faith in Nolan, whose oeuvre is one of Hollywood's most impressive.
Also getting mixed (and much) hype: Marc Webb's Spider-Man reboot, starring Emma Stone (see E) and Andrew Garfield. The trailer looks great to me, and I love the people attached to the project, but there's certainly a danger of being too familiar, too soon. Hopefully the origin stuff can be dealt with quickly and cleverly so the movie has room to find its own identity.
Outside of the superhero realm, next summer's biggest movie will likely be Brave, Pixar's Scottish fairy-tale that looks freaking amazing. It's exciting to have an original Pixar flick to look forward to, and the movie's art direction is gorgeous. It's certainly one of the movies I'm most excited to see next year.
H is for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II. Obviously. The year's biggest movie is also one of the best-received, causing fans to post Facebook statuses about how many gallons of tears they shed and quickly proclaiming that it is SERIOUSLY, THE BEST MOVIE EVER. It isn't that, but Deathly Hallows: Part II is a definite step up from the plodding camping documentary that was Part I, thanks in large part to some bold changes David Yates and his crew made to the source material. Action-heavy and emotional, the finale moves along at a healthy, exciting clip and finds time to showcase nearly every member of the huge, fantastic ensemble.
Fans of the books and, especially, fans of the movies have little to complain about as far as how the fate of their hero and (corniness forthcoming) friend was handled onscreen. Though the movies never matched the quality of the books, they've been exciting and divisive adaptations, and with the cinematic journey finally done, it truly does feel like the end of an era, that Pottermore thing notwithstanding.
I is for Impersonations. One of the summer's funniest movies was The Trip, a blissfully British road trip comedy from Michael Winterbottom starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing fictionalized versions of themselves. In the movie, Coogan and Brydon travel around England, visiting restaurants for an article Coogan is writing. While eating, the pair often resort to showcasing their impressive array of impersonations, and some of the movie's best moments come when they attempt to outdo each other's imitations. The funniest of the duels involve the ever-slowing speech of Michael Caine and the iconic neurosis of Woody Allen (see W). The scenes also proved inspirational - for me at least - as I couldn't stop trying my own hand, er, voice, at Caine for the weeks after I saw it. J is for Justin Timberlake. Since his boy band days, Justin Timberlake has come a long way. He had a successful solo career during which he brought sexy back. He's become one of SNL's MVPs thanks to his great comic timing and phallic gift-giving prowess. And now, he's becoming a bonafide actor, thanks especially to his great work in The Social Network last year.
This year, Timberlake's thespianic endeavors have been of the comedic variety, resulting in a very good performance and a great one. In Bad Teacher, Timberlake plays the slightly naive, very hot substitute whose ex's boobs help inspire Cameron Diaz's titular ineffectual educator's crusade for bigger tits. Among the many talented, established comedians in the cast (such as The Office's Phyllis Smith and the ever-reliable Jason Segel), Timberlake holds his own and gets lots of laughs.
The more impressive turn came in Friends With Benefits (see F). Timberlake again got to flex his comedic muscle, but his character was much more well-rounded, thanks to a complex relationship with his father (played by the great Richard Jenkins) and the growth his character experiences as a result of his sexy-friends relationship. It's another star turn for the actor, and I look forward to seeing him in In Time later this year.
K is for Kristen Wiig. When I was in Los Angeles last year, I went to eat lunch at the Redwood Grill, since the karaoke scenes in (500) Days of Summer were filmed there. On my first attempt, however, the restaurant was closed for the filming of another movie. I asked the Paramount dude what movie it was, and he told me it was Bridesmaids, which I had never heard of. A little research later, I found out it was a comedy about bridesmaids starring a bunch of television actors. I huffed that I was prevented from my lunch for such an inevitably awful project.
Fast-forward 10 months and there I am in a theater, watching Bridesmaids, and realizing that it's the best comedy of the year, one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and one of the year's best movies, period. I like my crow medium well, thanks.
I've always enjoyed Wiig's brand of loud-and-proud humor on SNL, but her talent has rarely translated well to the big screen. She tends to be reigned in too much, feeling underutilized in MacGruber and utterly wasted in Paul, so I was glad to see Wiig in a role that allowed her to show off her impeccable comedic skill but also demonstrate the potential for great acting that, up to Bridesmaids, had never been tapped. Wiig's Annie is a rarity in comedy: a well-rounded woman with emotions, short-comings, and insecurity who is more than the sum of her parts. Katherine Heigl has never played half the character than Annie is, and as a result of Wiig's prowess (as well as the brilliant screenplay she penned with Annie Mumolo), some of the film's highlights are the quieter, more serious moments that delve into who Annie is. When's the last time you saw a comedy where that was true?
If there's any justice in the world, and there's not, then Wiig will be a serious contender come Oscar season. She deserves credit for her superlative writing and acting, and while I'm at it, I also demand supporting accolades for the hilarious Melissa McCarthy.
L is for Larry the Cable Guy. I'm not at all a fan of Larry the Cable Guy's comedy or persona. I think he's mastered his schtick, and he has a dedicated audience, but it's never been and never will be my cup of tea. Despite my indifference to the actor, I adore his work in Pixar's Cars movies. Mater is one of the studio's most endearing creations, and Larry (or should I refer to him as Cable Guy?) does a fantastic job bringing the character to life. In Cars 2, Mater takes center stage and, being a funnier and more likable character than Lightning McQueen, the sequel manages to be better than its predecessor, despite what the critics said.
M is for Motion-capture. I'll give you three guesses as to what movie this one is referring to. If you guessed Justin Bieber: Never Say Never or Mr. Popper's Penguins, you get an A for effort, but I'm actually referring to the surprisingly impressive and rightfully successful Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
The origin story rests almost entirely on the nigh-wordless performance capture of Andy Serkis, whose contributions to the technology have resulted in some of the most memorable CGI characters in film history, such as Gollum and the most recent King Kong. As Caesar, Serkis delivers another nuanced performance, communicating clearly through facial expressions and motion, a truly remarkable feat. Weta Workshop of Lord of the Rings fame has outdone itself with these apes, and I'm looking forward to the next chapter to see what's next for Caesar.N is for Nim, the star of the year's best documentary, Project Nim. It's fitting that this entry comes right after motion-capture, as Nim's real-life story serves as a sort of factual counterpart to the tale spun in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Project Nim chronicles a 1970's science experiment in which Nim, as a baby chimp, was taken into a New York City home to learn sign language and live like a human. The progress made was extraordinary but controversial, and the relationships formed between Nim and his many teachers, as well as the cat, were complex and touching. The film does a nice job of forming a narrative from the various events and stages of Nim's life, complete with a villain who will make your skin crawl. Being woven from truth, Project Nim manages to eclipse Rise of the Planet of the Apes as the summer's best simian cinema.
O is for Octavia Spencer. One of the best characters in The Help is Minnie. Known for her culinary talent and her sharp tongue, Minnie is one of the most sought-after and detested maids in Jackson during the 1960's. Bringing such a funny, sweet, and conflicted character to life is no easy feat, but Octavia Spencer manages it handily. As Minnie, she projects attitude, care, and great comedic timing. She serves as a more vibrant and vocal foil to Viola Davis's (see V) more reserved Aibileen, and together, they make one of the year's most charming and challenging pairs.
P is for Page One: Inside the New York Times. Another of the year's best and most successful docs takes a look at one of the news world's most respected institutions. A simple peek behind the curtain of the giant paper would be interesting enough, but Page One arrives at a time when the Times - and the newspaper industry as a whole - is in crisis, as younger readers flock instead to the instant-news-gratification of Twitter and other social networking sites. Page One makes a compelling argument for why print media still matters, even as the Times attempts to make headway in the online realm through their own website and a strong Twitter presence. The movie makes the case for real journalism and important stories that can't be contained in 140 characters or less, and even as a seldom reader, the film strengthened my personal conviction for the place physical reading material has in a world that is turning increasingly digital.
Q is for Quirky characters. This has been a summer full of pretty straight-laced protagonists. Captain America represented patriotism personified, solid and serious, only quipping when it counterintuitively reinforces his stoic persona. Bard Pitt's father figure in The Tree of Life was hard and no-nonsense. And Harry Potter certainly didn't have any time to crack a smile while defeating the Dark Lord and saving the wizarding world.
Thank God for the weirdos, who provided comic relief and some singular splashes of color to their respective films. The Queen of Quirk Summer 2011 is inarguably Melissa McCarthy, whose Megan in Bridesmaids was a comic tour-de-force without coming off as a caricature. McCarthy's no-holds-barred gusto provides a hilarious contrast to the more straight-laced of the bridesmaids, and she steals many of the film's funniest scenes, such as when the ladies try on gowns or are flying to Vegas. It's impressive that McCarthy manages to attain such hilarity while still making Megan a relatable - even believable - character.Jessica Chastain gets her gonzo on in The Help (which was really strange after seeing her ethereal waif in The Tree of Life) as too-loving, too-buxon, too-blonde Celia, who has trouble understanding the racial hierarchy of Jackson. Chastain serves as comic relief but also serves as a sort of colorblind hero who, unlike Skeeter, isn't trying to challenge or change anything. She's just being friendly.
Woody Allen's (see W) wonderful, magical Midnight in Paris is populated by some of art and literature's most famous names, and seeing them brought to live in such vivid strangeness is one of the movie's highlights. The best of the bunch are Corey Stoll as brash, super-macho Ernest Hemingway and Adrien Brody as a hilariously inspired Salvador Dali. Both garner huge laughs as artistic icons via Allen's clever translation.
R is for R-rated comedies. It seemed like there was a new R-rated comedy every weekend this summer, and the gradual fatigue at the box office certainly demonstrates the effect of too much of a
S is for Submarine. Even with producer Ben Stiller behind it, Submarine hasn't been quite the breakout hit I expected it to be. It's a shame, because the indie import is one of the most charming movies of the summer, delightfully meta in its filmmaking and featuring what should be a star-making turn by Craig Roberts as young, horny, suspicious Oliver Tate.
Oliver is a kid with two missions in life: to get a girlfriend and then bed her, and to determine if his mother (the wonderful Sally Hawkins) is having an affair with an old flame, a mystic who's just moved in next door. Oliver is nosy but sensitive, except when it counts, as he abandons his girlfriend in her time of need for a more comfortable existence. You'd like to think his heart is in the right place, but it's sometimes hard to argue such, meaning that while he's imminently likable, he's also quite an asshole.
Some of my favorite bits of Submarine are when Oliver narrates how his life would play out as a movie, commenting on editing and cinematographic techniques he would employ, which are then used to great comic effect. They're some of the best moments in one of the summer's best movies.
T is for The Tree of Life. In a way, The Tree of Life is the antithesis of Inception. Whereas Christopher Nolan’s layered blockbuster challenged the viewer to keep his mind turned on to keep up with the complex dreamworld, Terrence Malick challenges his viewers to succumb to the wonder, awe, and insatiable curiosity of childhood. The film, with its spiritual tangents and inexplicable moments, is constantly magical, defying any sort of complete narrative clarity. Instead, Malick weaves an experience, a celebration of life through the innocent eyes of a child trying to navigate a dangerous, often cruel world. The sense of discovery, the thrills that come from the exotic (the much-hyped dinosaurs, which don’t disappoint) and the familiar (the birth of a baby), the sense that every image – however seemingly impossible – is an essential part of Malick’s epic tapestry, all combine to create a cinematic experience unlike any other.
At its core, The Tree of Life is an examination of, even an experiment in, childhood. Malick examines the joys, fears, and hopes of childhood, the complexity of the family unit, the danger of being so malleable, and the inevitable heartbreak that comes to the innocent. The camera positions the viewer as a youthful soul, wandering about with a hunger for experience, an excitement for the smallest details of life, though it also shares a kid’s short attention span, snapping around to follow an animal or a cloud and thus barely denying us lines of dialogue or other pertinent information. Despite its sometimes-dizzying energy, though, the camera also provides a sense of reverence, especially in the still cinematography of the creation portion of the film. It’s not hard to imagine a child sitting in front of a screen, completely enraptured by the gorgeous, ethereal images of the emergence of life.
The film is infinitely complex in its intimate consideration of adolescence. Scenes, shots, and sounds are edited together with a logic that often transcends the viewer’s understanding, giving the film the feeling of an incomplete and edgeless jigsaw puzzle that Malick is working at completing as the camera rolls. The viewer feels, at turns, like an intruder and a wanderer through an undefined labyrinth, a fitting effect as we witness Jack’s (a stunning Hunter McCracken and a subdued Sean Penn) attempt to navigate the confusion of childhood, the loneliness of adulthood, and the time-compounding reunion afterlife.
Put quite simply, The Tree of Life is not only the movie of the summer, but the movie of the year (I say this fully aware of all the great films coming out in the next few months). Never have I so deeply felt or been so transported by a movie, and I'm so grateful for the experience.
U is for Underperformance. This is an unhappy letter, as we consider the failure of some movies to perform up to expectations at the (domestic) box office. Through there have been some true box office successes this summer - such as Oscar hopefuls Midnight in Paris and The Help - there have also been a string of movies that didn't manage to break the bank as much as one might've thought. This is especially true in the animated realm, where Kung Fu Panda 2 and Cars 2 both did well, but not terribly so. Neither broke $200 million on our shores, perhaps signaling that audiences are tired of animated fare, but - more likely - a demonstration of how sick-to-death people are of 3-D.
3-D isn't dead, but it might as well be. Even the summer's big 3-D movies failed to bring in much through the medium, as audiences flocked instead to the less dimensional versions. Just this past weekend, Fright Night, Conan the Barbarian, and Spy Kids: All the Shit in the World all opened in 3-D and failed to surpass The Help or Rise of the Planet of the Apes. People are sick of seeing 3-D everywhere they go, especially when it's combined with something as passionately hated or ignored as Glee.
Other movies that didn't manage to capture America's minds (i.e., American's dollars): Larry Crowne, Winnie the Pooh, and The Tree of Life, which raked in a respectable $12 million or so, but was never destined for box office greatness.
W is for Woody Allen. Woody Allen is a Hollywood institution, all the more impressive for how much work her turns out. Since Annie Hall released in 1977, Allen has had at least one movie every year. I don't think any other director came claim to be so prolific.
Of course, not every movie is a hit. Last year's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger was a total dud, while Vicky Cristina Barcelona was sexy but hollow, and Scoop was fun but unappreciated. Recent Allen is very hit-or-miss, but the hits seem few and far between. That changed this summer with Midnight in Paris, which isn't only one of Allen's finest movies, it's also his most successful, with over $50 million at the box office.
It's fantastic that Midnight in Paris has become such a breakout hit. It seems like everyone's talking about it, and when I saw it back in May, the elderly women leaving the theater were chatting about how it was "the most charming movie" they'd seen in a long time. It's hard to disagree. A love letter to the City of Love, Midnight in Paris is a lovely but sharp commentary on the danger of nostalgia, a fitting theme for Allen, who is often criticized for not matching the quality of his classic films. With a great cast bringing to life some of the art world's most important names and classic Allen dialogue, Midnight in Paris was one of the very best movies of the summer.
X is for X-Men: First Class. Probably not too surprising a choice, eh? After the boring Last Stand and the bland Wolverine, I was, understandably, not terribly excited for the newest X-Men movie. But with Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) directing and a new cast, it seemed like First Class could mark a fresh start for the stale franchise. That's exactly what it did.
Rewriting comic history by changing our own, First Class cleverly interwove the meeting of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) with the Cuban Missile Crisis. The chemistry between McAvoy and Fassbender dominated the movie, as much of the rest of the action played out like previous installments (young mutants playing with their powers, yada yada yada). Fassbender's take on the birth of Magneto was especially compelling; he's a phenomenal actor, and this seems to be his year.
First Class also deserves kudos for featuring the best cameo and the best "fuck" of the summer.
Z is for Zookeeper, sadly. Kevin James is one of those few actors whose movies I refuse to watch (though that'll change with he appears in Frank and Francis, penned by Charlie Kaufman). While I skipped Zookeeper, I imagine it was probably the worst movie of the summer. Between James' typical brand of self-deprecating screwball stylings and awful talking animal antics, it's hard to imagine a worse way to spend a couple fleeting summer hours.
So went the summer. Now we enter to strange purgatory of September before diving headfirst into awards season. I can't wait.
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