Summer Falls

It's Labor Day weekend, the calendar's unofficial end to summer.  Sure, the autumn solstice doesn't roll around for another two and a half weeks, but for all intents and purposes, summer is basically over.  The days are getting shorter, beaches are closing down and school is back in session.  Temperatures drop, the leaves change color and people stop wearing white.

It seems like just yesterday I was celebrating Memorial Day at my neighbor's barbecue.  How could this happen?  No more ice cream, flip-flops, shorts, open windows, and bathing suits?

Bummer.

But I don't want to sulk about the end of summer, because unless you live near the Equator it has to happen sometime.  I want to be optimistic for a minute and focus on fall's strengths instead.

Basketball-people complain about the length of the baseball season, but the Association typically tips off before Halloween, plays into the middle of June, and ends up with a schedule half the size of the Show's.  Jesus, the playoffs take two whole months!  Unfortunately, the start of the NBA season is nowhere in sight

Energy-everyone seems rejuvenated after relaxing summer vacations.  People seem more motivated, especially to go outside.  Any outdoor activity (concert, farmer's market, football game) on a fall weekend, weather permitting, is likely to see some action

Halloween-candy, costumes, parties, tricks, treats, the Charlie Brown special and pumpkin carving. 'nuff said

Hot chocolate-makes a glorious return

Football-see chocolate, hot

Playoff baseball-you play ball for six (eight when you include spring training) months, day in and day out, and then, all of the sudden, there might not be a next game, another at-bat, one more fastball.  The game suddenly has a sense of urgency, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Yankees-Red Sox in the ALCS

Indian summer-those perfect days in the middle of October when it's so comfortable outside.  Just ask Kenny Chesney
Fewer bugs (mosquitoes)-correlates to fewer bug bites

Foliage-you gotta admit, those leaves look pretty awesome.  Then they fall off and you have to rake (or leafblow) them.

Sweatshirt and shorts combo-too cool for tee-shirts, not cold enough for pants.  There has to be a middle ground, and this is it

Thanksgiving-family, food, and football

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of anything else at the moment.  Feel free to add.

Missing Mad Men

Summer is always a down time for TV when our favorite shows go on vacation, and this year has been no exception.  There hasn't been much on the tube lately, especially since "Friday Night Lights" had its series finale (I didn't watch, but understand it had quite the following), but at least we have "Entourage" (also in its final season) and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" back on HBO to help ease the pain.  What we're missing, though, is AMC's "Mad Men," which has been a mainstay during the past four summers.  I thought something was fishy when I didn't see any commercials or advertisements for the season premiere throughout June and early July, so I did some research a few weeks ago and came across some depressing information. 

Unfortunately the show won't return until March 2012 because creator Matthew Weiner put his foot down when the network wanted to tinker with the critically acclaimed series.  Apparently during recent contract negotiations, AMC and Lionsgate Television asked Weiner to incorporate more product placement, eliminate two of the supporting characters and trim two minutes out of each episode to allow for additional commcercial time, but he refused because he felt these changes would alter the dynamic of the show.  Weiner ultimately signed a huge three year, $30 million contract that rivals something a professional athlete would scribble his John Hancock on.  But kudos to him for not selling out and putting the show's quality in jeopardy; that takes a lot of guts and I'm sure weaker men would have followed the money and given in.

I'm glad the show has a stable future, but am still disappointed about its absence this summer.  I miss everything about it; the cool title sequence, Slattery's quick one-liners, and enough cigarette smoke drifting through the office to suffocate the entire floor.  "Mad Men," thanks to its outstanding writing, superb acting, strong production values and slick style for a period piece, is widely accepted as one of the best shows on television, now or ever.  Since it's a summer show, you can take the time to sit down, watch it, and appreciate its greatness without trying to squeeze it into a busy schedule.  Leaving us hanging in October, 1965, the series was finally starting to have a sixties feel to it (referring to the music, fashion, and vibrant color scheme here) and is about to cover the most turbulent events of the decade; Vietnam War escalations, race riots, anti-war protests, social turmoil and the Summer of Love. How would the writers integrate these pivotal themes into the plot?  How would the characters respond to their nation abruptly changing around them? Looks like we'll have to wait another half-year to find out, but on the bright side, Weiner guaranteed two more seasons and possibly a third, which would definitely be the final season in the series and would presumably end with Don Draper and co. on the cusp of the 1970s. 

And that will be a great time to stop, because there would be something profoundly weird about our favorite clean-cut advertising executives sporting shaggy hair and tight, polyester clothes.  Don's kids would be teenagers, Betty would have to get a job and some major character would have to die from alcohol poisoning or lung cancer (see what I mean? the show would be way too different if it goes beyond Woodstock). In the meantime, though, I guess we'll have to settle for ABC's "Pan Am," a show about the airline company during its heyday in the 1960s.  It looks like it will combine elements from "Mad Men" and "Catch Me if You Can" (you know, the parts when Leo DiCaprio poses as a Pan Am pilot when he's supposed to be a sophomore in high school) and it debuts on September 25th. 

I'll give it a shot because it looks halfway decent, but I'll still wait for "Mad Men" to return because in this case, I know the wait will be worth it.

P.S. Happy 36th birthday Alex Rodriguez, who could return from the DL within two weeks

My Favorite Summer Movies

It's the middle of July, so that means we're smack dab in the middle of my favorite season.  A few days ago, I wrote about my affinity for summer flicks and why I love them so much.  After much deliberation, I have composed a list of my personal favorites.  These movies weren't necessarily released in the summer, but did a memorable job in capturing the glory of this treasured time of year.  My list is not ranked and is in no particular order.

"Jaws"-Hollywood's first summer blockbuster was about  a terrifying summer on the fictional Amity Island (played by Martha's Vineyard)

"61*"-fantastic HBO drama about Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris's pursuit of Babe Ruth's single season home run record during the magical summer of 1961.  The best and most realistic baseball movie I've ever seen

"Independence Day"-classic summer blockbuster about an alien invasion in the first week of July.  Pure entertainment and defines the phrase "popcorn flick"

"American Pie 2"-hilarious romp reunited the original cast at a house on Lake Michigan for their first summer back from college

"Gone Baby Gone"-Ben Affleck's masterpiece about a missing child investigation during a sweltering Boston summer.  In my top five

"Super 8"-I discussed this more thoroughly in my other post, but it's about a group of kids in a small Ohio town during the summer of 1979.  They're making a zombie movie when a train crash unleashes a mysterious monster near their homes.

"Wedding Crashers"-raunchy summer comedy where the incomparable duo of Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn take advantage of wedding season

"Crooklyn"-Spike Lee's semi-autobiographical portrait of an African American family's summer in 1970s Brooklyn and a fond recollection of innocent youth

"Bobby"-underrated drama about that fateful June day in 1968 when Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down in the Ambassador Hotel

"Mississippi Burning"-powerful movie depicting the FBI investigation of the strange disappearance of three civil rights workers in Mississippi during the turbulent summer of 1964 "when America was at war with itself" (the movie's tagline).  One of my all time favorites

"Do the Right Thing"-the best of Spike Lee's storied career.  Racial tensions bubble over on a sizzling summer day in Brooklyn, and Lee makes you feel the heat with an intensely red and orange color palette.  You'll want an ice-cold glass of water after this one

"The Wackness"-Josh Peck as a lonely pot dealer/high school graduate drifting through the summer of 1994 in New York City.  The movie is divided into three parts; June, July, and August, the three best months of the year

"Stand By Me"-Rob Reiner classic about four boys looking for a dead body during Labor Day weekend, 1959.  Full of nostalgia for a simpler time

"Disturbia"-Shia Labeef is under house arrest for the summer when he begins to suspect his next door neighbor is a murderer

But for me, the best has to be...

"The Sandlot"-the summer of 1962 was a great time to be a kid, and this movie captures a magical time for nine ten year-old boys that just wanted to play baseball every day. This is the ultimate summer movie as far as I'm concerned since it has scenes involving baseball, the Fourth of July, campouts and a community swimming pool.  'Nuff said

Missing any of your personal favorites?  Feel free to comment and let me know

Celebrating Bayhem, Blockbusters and Summer Movies

Is this the worst summer ever for movies?  Because that's what everyone is saying these days.  I don't know about the worst, but it definitely feels like the most unoriginal.  Each Friday the latest summer flicks premiere, and every single one of them seems to be a sequel or involve superheroes.  But as a collective audience, we should be blaming ourselves, not lazy Hollywood screenwriters.  You know why?  Because these movies are making money.  Lots of it.  I mean, if a steaming pile of crap like "The Green Lantern" can earn $110 million domestically with four weeks of screen time, then we deserve junk in our cinemas.  We pay for the tickets; no one forces you to go see a movie when you can rent it On Demand or get it in the mail from Netflix.  So instead of pointing the blame finger at the studios for following the money at the expense of new plots and characters, turn it 180 degrees and point it back at yourself for supporting the production of such films with your wallet. 

But don't get the impression that I'm bashing this summer's movie lineup, because I'm not.  Did we really need a second "Hangover," a fourth "Spy Kids" and a fifth "Fast and the Furious?"  Of course not.  Nonetheless, I must admit that I was thoroughly satisfied by every movie I've seen this summer (X-Men: First Class, Hangover II, Super 8, and Transformers Dark of the Moon--more on that one in a moment).  They met or exceeded my expectations.  I had never seen an X-Men movie before, but the latest installment was very cool and had more of a James Bond polished feel to it.  "Hangover II" was a letdown compared to the first, but still provided the humor even though it fell into the classic sequel trap of trying to top its predecessor.  "Super 8" was a great movie for many reasons.  Although it felt like a blend of "Cloverfield," "E.T." and "Jaws," it was an homage to Steven Spielberg and qualifies as the most original movie of the summer.  Besides its great thrills and laughs, "Super 8" had a whimsical/curious/innocent childlike quality about it that made me look back on the more carefree days of my youth.  It was the perfect summer movie, which are supposed to be fun and entertaining popcorn flicks where you can turn your brain off for a couple hours and enjoy the air conditioning.  After all, you're not going to the theatres in July to see potential Oscar nominees, unless you buy a ticket for a Pixar production or a Christopher Nolan flick, so if a summer movie can offer a few laughs and some cool special effects then it has served its purpose. 

Which brings me to an equally popular and polarizing figure in Hollywood; Mr. Michael Bay, the teenage boy that never grew up.  To me, Bay's flicks epitomize summer blockbusters because they are always big, loud, and fun, and they manage to stand out by being bigger, louder, and more fun than the competition.  I have an absolute blast (no pun intended) while sitting back and letting the Bayhem overwhelm me for two-plus hours on a summer evening.  For those of you unfamilar with the term, Bayhem is a style of filmmaking that includes (but is not limited to) movie stars dealing with heartstopping car chases, falling buildings, dueling robots, sexy girls, hit-or-miss jokes, and many explosions, all essential ingredients in the successful summer movie recipe.  That's why I can't stand it when critics like Roger Ebert and Peter Travers constantly complain about lack of plot, lengthy running time, choppy editing, cheesy dialogue and an abundance of things that go boom in his movies.  They've seen all his movies from the past fifteen years, so what the hell do they expect from him?  I hate to say it, but these complaints make them sound like dinosaurs, the kind of cynics who would have opposed the automobile and rock and roll once upon a time.  Their criticisms are unfair for no other reason than they address staples of every Michael Bay movie.  All his movies are long, based on thin scripts, edited like music videos and rely on big budget special effects for gratuitous action.  At this point Bay is what he is and viewers should know what they're in for when they sit down to watch one of his movies.  Expecting anything more would be like expecting Dwight Howard to sink 90 percent of his free throws or Ichiro Suzuki to bang out 30 homers.  Not gonna happen, right?  But you accept them for what they do because they do it well.  That's the key, and Bayhem is the same way; if you don't embrace it for what it is, then you're going to be disappointed and miss out on a great time. 

So don't go trashing his movies, because no one is better at creating Bayhem and the perfect summer blockbuster than Michael Bay himself.