College life can be tough. Some of us are underpaid, underfed, undersexed or just plain under-accomplished. We all need to get away sometimes. We all need an occasional trip to the movies.
In this column, I'll share my movie thoughts with you and help steer you towards the worthwhile escapes and away from the bad ones. I had great success in my theatergoing this summer, so let me start the year by sorting out some of the summer's fare.
I think \Road to Perdition"" was the summer's best movie. Tom Hanks and Paul Newman matched their high standards, while director Sam Mendes offered a follow-up worthy of his ""American Beauty"" debut. Adding a great script and gorgeous cinematography, ""Road to Perdition"" is a truly elegant tale of fathers and sons. I can't bring myself to give any other movie the top spot.
The movie that closely challenged ""Road to Perdition"" for best movie of the summer was ""Insomnia."" Director Chris Nolan delivered a follow-up to ""Memento"" that offers the same craftsmanship and artistic vision as his last work, only with a faster pace, a more linear script and a grade-A cast, led by Al Pacino at the top of his game and Robin Williams, who strays convincingly from his lovable goofball signature. Crime-centered suspense-thrillers don't get much better.
""Minority Report"" fell short of the top two and its own aspirations. It was a very good movie, but proved that legendary on-and-off screen talent (Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg), magnificent production design and a whole world of ambition isn't enough to make a classic. The movie's Achilles heel was the way it dumbed itself down. At least twice, Tom Cruise was forced to explain the intellectual implications of certain scenes out loud for no purpose other than to help slow members of the audience. That and a spectacularly lame ending weighed down an otherwise pretty remarkable movie.
""The Bourne Identity"" was almost the exact opposite in terms of ambition versus performance. It took a simple, interesting spy story and just nailed it. Matt Damon was buyable as a superspy, crafting a modest action hero with great poise. ""The Bourne Identity"" was the most re-watchable movie I saw this summer. It's slick and cool without being silly.
The comedies were OK this summer, even if they paled against the inspired crop of dramatic offerings. ""Men in Black II"" had its moments, including the best ever use of ""Who Let the Dogs Out"", but director Barry Sonnenfeld and company seemed to forget that most of the original movie's charm was drawn from the chemistry between Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, which required a lot of shared screen time.
Mike Myers and Adam Sandler also did decent work, but not their best. ""Mr. Deeds"" undid the crimes of ""Little Nicky"" by focusing on the charm and humor of Adam Sandler and the delightful performance (as usual) of John Turturro. It's stupid and silly and soppy, but I enjoyed it and my mom will too, just like how she enjoyed ""Big Daddy."" Sorry to sell you out, mom.
As for Myers, ""Austin Powers: Goldmember"" was a step down for Austin, but still fun. It dragged more than the previous two, but more of Verne Troyer and Seth Green was welcome, and the opening scene was truly inspired. Still, the funniest thing I saw in theaters this summer was the trailer for ""Swimfan."" I mean, what's next? A beautiful college freshman obsessed with a cute, but oblivious paper columnist? (Hint, hint.)
Overall, the summer movies to see if you missed them are ""Road to Perdition,"" ""Insomnia"" and ""The Bourne Identity."" These were the best, no matter how underwhelming the hype was for ""Insomnia."" ""Insomnia"" was to Summer 2002 movies what ""The Mighty K.C."" by For Squirrels was to '90s rock songs: overshadowed, but undeniably great.
