 "Photo: Courtesy Photo")
 "Photo: Courtesy Photo")
In the words of "Zoolander," "Seth Rogen is so hot right now." Whether it be writing/directing, cameo appearances, or leading roles Seth Rogen is on his way to being the next big thing. With the summer comedic hits of "Knocked Up" and "Superbad" under his belt, there's no telling what Rogen will come up with next. But for this, I shall bypass the underdogs, and go straight for the money makers with Summer Blockbusters making this summer season one for the books.
Spiderman 3 ($336.5 million)
Boy gets girl, boy doesn't want girl, girl gets captured, boy turns into evil version of himself due to extra planatarian alien goo that comes down to earth. It's a movie that makes itself. With the largest movie budget ever spent making a movie, $250 million to be exact, Spiderman 3 proved itself well worth the money spent. Although the plot line is growing old and the characters too, there is always the added benefit of a great villain. Topher Grace, who plays Venom, is at his best. No wonder he opted to focus on the role of Venom versus ending out the final seasons of "That 70's show." Although he is a little boring as his alter ego Edward Broke, Peter Parker's rival at the Daily Bugal, Venom was by far one of the best creations of the movie. Along with Grace's skills, the special effects brought Venom alive to the T.. and I mean really alive. With sharp graphics and twisted features, Venom by far made this movie what it is. Forget Sandman….forget Green Goblin….Venom is in the house. And let's thank God that it isn't in Tobey Maguire. We all know we can't look at an emo inspired Maguire for another 30 minutes again…although it did add for a good laugh.
Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End ($307.8 million)
Johnny Depp…. enough said. Well maybe not to convince the guys to go see the movie, but hey… there's always Keira Knightly. With a plot running close to three hours, the so-called end to the trilogy that is the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, I must say that "At World's End" is my favorite of the three. It's funny, it's action packed, it makes sense and you don't fall asleep halfway through it. It isn't "Disneyfied" as much as "Dead Man's Chest" was, meaning less cartoonish characters obtaining most of the movie, but settled on combining both the greatness that was "Curse of the Black Pearl" and the characters of "Dead Man's Chest." Davy Jones and Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa fit well together in terms of screwing over one person after the other. Will Turner, played by Orlando Bloom, and Elizabeth Swan (Knightley) also work well together, continuing to bicker, but work their stress for one another out through intense sword fights. Knightly's character transforms herself from the first movie most of all-no longer a princess but more of a captain of the ship. She holds herself well and does an excellent job outshining Bloom's character. In the end, it seems that maybe this trilogy is not the last that we shall here of the Keith Richard's inspired character of Jack Sparrow.
Transformers ($306.5 million) I would just like to start out by simply saying how flippin' awesome this movie was. I was going into the movie not thinking that the plastic toy of the 80's would turn into such a blockbuster hit, especially with all the outside advertising leading up to the movie's opening, but I was wrong. I absolutely loved this movie. Plus, it had a killer soundtrack (not including Bumblebee's mix tape) with snippets from artists such as "The Used" and "Linkin Park." Girls may only have a hint of liking toward seeing the movie due to the lovable Shia LaBeouf, which my ladies, would be a perfectly good reason to go. He is adorable in a goofball way, yet serious enough to take the role well…. seriously. He has stepped up his game and is on his way to no longer being known as the "Even Stevens" kid. With a supporting cast of names to be reckoned with, including Jon Voight and John Turturro, "Transformers" needs no introduction, but I'll give you a brief one.
A long time ago on the planet of Cybertron there was a war between noble Autobots (led by Optimus Prime) and the not so noble Decepticons (led by Megatron) for control of Allspark, a magical amulet that could grant unlimited power to whoever it possesses. Autobots smuggled it off of the planet onto Earth, but Megatron continued to search for it. His desire for power led him to the Arctic Ocean where he froze to death, but not before leaving a map to the location of the Allspark in Captain Archibald Witwicky's glasses to send a transmission to Cybertron. That is where LaBeouf's character comes in, as he is Witwicky's great grandson.
In the end, the guy gets the girl, Autobots save the world, and so on an so forth. Although the ending may be a bit confusing, with which Transformer is fighting which other transformer, it still makes for a great action packed film. A bit unrealistic but who cares-let your memories of playing with Transformers take place instead.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ($280.8 million) Going into the movie as an avid Harry Potter fan, I knew that as soon as I saw that this installment was the shortest of all the previous movies put out, I knew this movie was going down under. Cutting out a large chunk of the book's ending and once again showing only Harry's skills and point of view, we end the movie wondering whether our imagination fooled us. In a 38-chapter book, it seems we only capture about half of those, fast-forwarding into the prophecy room faster than you can say "Avada Kedavra." Although as always, the special effects are great for action purposes, it still leaves the reader wanting more. I also felt the movie was dummed down a bit for children making immature jokes here and there to keep them laughing but making others cringe as they don't fit in with the characters or the tone of the past movies. By far Chris Columbus has the best films under his belt in the series, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," but perhaps that's because he is a Hollywood director and not a British director. But I guess one movie out of five is okay for not doing as well as the others. But let's hope six and seven don't repeat the pattern-or we will have to live with the fact that Harry Potter did in fact die on the screen.
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