Films of the Summer

Courtesy Disney/Pixar/MCT

After some proding from his mother, an 18-year-old Andy (John Morris) contemplates the fate of his favorite childhood toys before departing for college.

Stephen Vaughan/Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures/MCT

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is hired by corporations to use his unique abilities to enter the subconcious of rivals’ while they dream to steal their business secrets.

Top 5 worst

5. Charlie St. Cloud

The annoyingly-aggressive marketing campaign for this film gave away the 

4. Prince of Persiaentire plot. Zac Efron plays Charlie, a talented sailor whose brother dies in a car accident.

Not to worry, because Charlie just happens to have the ability to see dead people. They play catch and make corny jokes every day until Charlie meets a girl. Now he must balance his time between the two and deal with his guilt. Even teenage girls obsessed with Efron will struggle to sit through this movie.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Jerry Bruckheimer didn’t even threaten to reach the already low glass ceiling for movies based on video games. The story is weak, the dialogue is cheesy and the special effects are far from believable.

Viewers would be better off renting the “Prince of Persia” games for the mildly entertaining cut scenes. Bruckheimer is lucky to have the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise to fall back on.

3. Sex and the City 2

Sadly, “Prince of Persia” was not the worst desert-based movie this summer. Sarah Jessica Parker and company teamed up again for this disaster. Making one feature-length film after the popular TV series ended bordered on greedy.

Filming a sequel set mostly in Abu Dhabi was beyond ignorant. And producing a final cut that was more than two-hours long was just plain cruel.

2. Jonah Hex

After turning her back on the “Transformers” franchise that made her famous, Megan Fox starred in her biggest flop since “Jennifer’s Body.” The weeks of filming in tight corsets hardly seem worth it since the film grossed nearly $40 million less than its budget.

As fake as it looked, Josh Brolin’s makeup was sadly the coolest part of the movie. James Cameron could write better dialogue than the garb in “Jonah Hex,” which gives “Wild, Wild West” legitimate competition for the worst western of all time. John Wayne must be turning in his grave.

1. The Last Airbender

Despite M. Night Shamalan’s consistent decline, Viacom dumped $150 million into the production of “The Last Airbender” and another $130 million into marketing. The movie severely disappointed fans of the cartoon it is based on and simply bored everyone else.

The main draw was supposed to be the 3D effects, but they were added in post-production and were as laughable as the dialogue. The film has made back the marketing budget and nothing more, exiting a majority of theaters after less than two months. It’s only a matter of time before plans of a trilogy are officially scrapped.

10. Cyrus

John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill take advantage of their rare turn in lead roles, battling for the affection of Molly (Marisa Tomei). Reilly plays her love interest John and Hill is her overprotective son Cyrus.

The dark comedy delves into drama more than expected. However, the back-and-forth between Reilly and Hill is the main draw of the film.

9. Salt

The storyline is improbable, bordering on absurd, but the film’s plot twists keep it interesting. In one of the weaker summer movie seasons in years, the resulting clunky storyline is still good enough to crack the Top 10.

Angelina Jolie capably handled the lead role of Evelyn Salt that was originally intended for Tom Cruise (as Edwin Salt). Liev Schreiber’s quality acting is appreciated but unnecessary in a film that’s main draw is the obnoxiously fast-paced plot.

8. Dinner for Schmucks

Steve Carell and Paul Rudd provide their usual typecast rolls. Carell is a painfully awkward doofus who you love to pity. Rudd is a snarky jerk who gradually develops a heart. Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) and Jermaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) help distract from the mediocre script with amusing supporting roles.

The movie succeeds under the mindset of “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” but could have been so much more if it had let loose and taken risks.

7. The Expendables

Combining nearly every action star in existence led to a predictably ridiculous yet wildly entertaining film. Summer movies are all about escapism. The numerous explosions and high-octane violence of “The Expendables” makes it worth seeing in theaters.

Sylvester Stallone is no Martin Scorsese, but the movie is a purely guilty pleasure. With 610 years between them, the average age of the 12 “action stars” is more than 50 years old. Stallone is the oldest at 64 while Jason Statham is the youngest at the ripe age of 37.

6. Iron Man 2

With the Exception of 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” it’s nearly impossible for super-hero sequels to exceed the original, and “Iron Man 2” falls into this trap. Robert Downey Jr. provides plenty of the expected ego and sarcasm as Tony Stark, but the less-than-stellar plot and lack of a truly engaging battle scene limit the movie’s potential.

However, “Iron Man 2” was plenty entertaining and a solid way to open the summer movie season. Don Cheadle was an upgrade over Terrence Howard as Lt. Col. James Rhodes, who becomes Iron Man’s sidekick War Machine.

5. The Other Guys

Will Ferrell and “Anchorman” director Adam McKay team up for their fourth film. Falling somewhere below 2007’s “Hot Fuzz” and above 2010’s “Cop Out” in the spectrum of buddy cop comedies, Ferrell’s latest is just funny enough to be memorable.

Mark Wahlberg is hardly a comedic actor, but his usual typecast role of cranky detective was all McKay asked of him. While Ferrell’s character is timid rather than arrogant for the first time with McKay, he’s still as zany as ever. It’s no “Anchorman,” but still offers plenty of laughs.

4. Despicable Me

If it weren’t for the nostalgia of Toy Story, this would be the best animated movie of the summer. Steve Carell and Jason Segal, the stars of the film, were essentially nonessential.

The minions drove the comedy with their nonsensical language and wily antics, while Agnes stole the scenes with her adorable nature. The clip of her saying “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!” has yet to get old despite many viewings on YouTube.

3. The Kids Are All Right

Lisa Cholodenko directed and co-wrote this early Oscar favorite, banking on her experience raising a son with her partner.

Annette Bening and Julianne Moore provide convincing chemistry as a married couple in Southern California with two teenage children. The indie film presents just the right ratio of comedy to drama, leaning decidedly on the comedy.

Mark Ruffalo provides plenty of that as the biological father of the two children. “The Kids Are All Right” is an insightful look into the non-traditional family that smartly relies heavily on the characters.

2. Toy Story 3

Pixar films are always based around emotion and character development, so having three movies and 15 years to work with made the Toy Story trilogy truly remarkable. The closing scenes of “Toy Story 3” are somehow more touching than the opening scenes in 2009’s “Up.”

Pixar managed the rare feat of ending the series in a way that was universally embraced by fans. While there will not be a fourth feature-length movie, the characters will live on in Pixar’s short films. With a domestic gross of more than $403 million, “Toy Story 3” just passed 2002’s “Spider-Man” as the No. 9 film on the all-time earnings list.

1. Inception

Director Christopher Nolan took his trend of mind-bending films to unparalleled heights this summer with “Inception.” In his first film since “The Dark Knight,” he exchanged his time-jumping mechanics from films like “Memento” and “The Prestige” for the dream-invading plot of the summer’s biggest blockbuster.

Despite being his first film to extensively utilize CGI, “Inception” maintained Nolan’s reputation for high aesthetic appeal with brilliantly imaginative visuals. Leonardo DiCaprio is unlikely to win best actor this year, but was solid in his role as the angst-ridden dream invader Don Cobb.

To carry the complex story, Nolan properly utilized a solid supporting cast of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page and Cillian Murphy, among others. The nearly infinite possible interpretations of what actually happened in the movie led to multiple viewings from many patrons. As a result, “Inception” has grossed more than $260 million in just six weeks, spending its first three as the No. 1 film. Nolan is quickly establishing himself as one of the top directors of this generation.

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