Summer's (Obvious) Surprises

Summer movie releases have little intention of winning the Oscar for "Best Picture." It is both their blessing and their curse. The ideal example of a summer flick is Transformers. With all it's amazing visuals and brain crippling dialogue, it wears the mark of "Summer Blockbuster" well; however, I'm not here to talk about Michael Bay films - they're motivations and appeal are pretty self explanatory. I want to champion two summer films from polar opposite genres, which find commonality in the field of awesomeness and the letter "S."

Sunshine and Superbad may be the two best summer films you'll see this year. I'm calling them "(obvious) surprises" since it needn't take a prophet to predict that both Danny Boyle and the producers of 40 Year Old Virgin have the ability to make great movies. Yet, the surprise is still warranted once I discovered how face hurtingly, hilarious Superbad is, and creepily, crazy and beautiful Sunshine turned out.

I saw a preview screening of Superbad three weeks ago, and I wake up everyday excited about its release on August 17th. Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse are about to be the new comedy A-Team; Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg the new creative visionaries. Together they may soon show the door to current kings Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Check out the plot summary for Step Brothers for proof of Ferrell's comedic decline.

While the plot behind Sunshine made me a touch nervous - shooting an atomic bomb into the sun to save it from dying - I remained confident in Danny Boyle's eye for visual construction. It turns out Sunshine is not only was it a treat for the eyes, but a shock to the nerves. I went in picturing a tense space movie, and went home slightly terrified of going to sleep (in a good way). You will definitely had a "didn't see that coming" moment in the theaters, and I bet you will enjoy the ride.

Go forth and pay your $10 to the movie gods.

[mp3] James Brown - Super Bad
[mp3] Liars - Sunset Rodeo