I saw Hellboy II and Journey to the Center of the Earth since the last time I blogged movies. Here's my updated rating for the summer: 1) Wall-E 2) Kung-Fu Panda 3) Speed Racer 4) Iron Man 5) Hellboy II 6) Get Smart 7) Wanted 8) Hulk 9) Indiana Jones 10) Hancock 11) Prince Caspian 12) Journey to the Center of the Earth I swapped Hulk and Wanted since the last time I rated these, because Wanted really stuck with me, and Hulk didn't. It's not really that important, though. You see, my list can be broken into three discrete pieces: 1) Wall-E, which I think is a five-star film, a solid 9.5-out-of-10. 2) Numbers 2-4 on my list, which are all four-star films, maybe four-and-a-half. 3) Numbers 5-12 on my list, which are all three- to three-and-a-half-star films. I haven't yet seen anything on the big screen this summer that really let me down. I mean, besides Indiana Jones, but my expectations for that film were unrealistic, and looking back, I know that I really DID enjoy it. Regarding Journey: see it in 3D, or don't bother at all. The plot is very linear, the characters are simple-but-likeable, so it's up to the effects to sell the whole thing. Without 3D they can't. Regarding Hellboy II: With the exception of some botched writing just before the climactic fight, this was pretty much perfect delivery on the Hellboy premise. I guess that means the premise itself isn't the stuff of five-star films. I'm fine with that. I'll post my complaint about the writing in a spoiler-marked comment below. This has been a fantastic summer for movies. My list of things I really, really wanted to see has been quite long, and I've been having a great time. And we haven't even gotten to Batman or Space Chimps yet.
