A bit on the box office, and some summer film picks

It’s Memorial Day weekend, which means the official opening of the summer film season, and for the first time, the box office seems to be responding. Both Madagascar and The Longest Yard look to score in excess of $60 million on their four day openings, while Star Wars continues to knock the Sith out the competition and allow for ongoing bad puns by wannabe entertainment writers. These are strong openings for second and third place films, and the staying power of Lucas’ sci-fi soap opera shows robustness to ticket sales, if not much in the way of good taste. That said, here are my top film picks for the summer.

1. Batman Begins: Director Christopher Nolan reportedly held a screening of Blade Runner for his cast and crew, telling them “this is how we’re going to make Batman.” His Memento gained recognition for its narrative pyrotechnics, but it was also a film deeply devoted to its characters. Combining the visual density of Blade Runner with the seriousness and character depth we know Nolan can achieve could turn out one of the best superhero films of the recent boom.
2. War of the Worlds: We all know that when it comes to spectacular filmmaking, Spielberg is virtually unmatched in Hollywood, and War of the Worlds promises the sort of epic action and pathos that only the Beard can deliver.
3. Land of the Dead: Word is good on this fourth installment from Romero. As a relative neophyte in horror and zombie films, I’m curious to see what Romero’s take on a modern, relatively high budget (for him) picture will be. And no matter what, it’s got a post-apocalyptic wasteland full of zombies that want to kill Dennis Hopper.
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: I’ve been severely disappointed by Burton’s last two films. Planet of the Apes was, despite some impressive makeup, howlingly awful, and, despite the positive reactions of many, I found Big Fish treacly, sentimental mush marred by bad pacing and a digressive script. But here, Burton looks to be freed once more to loose his ultra-quirky surrealist fantasy worlds on unsuspecting cinemagoers, hopefully with a minimum of sap.
5. The Island: I realize that this counts me out of the cool kids club of elite filmgoers, but I have a rather large, exploding, oversaturated soft spot for Michael Bay. While Armageddon and Pearl Harbor worked only in their action set pieces, The Rock and the Bad Boys films were blood-vessel bursting examples of the cinema of testosterone. His movies may not be classics, but they are the epitome of the loud, stupid, rowdy, macho affairs for which summer was made - and I say that with utmost respect. No one blows shit up quite like Michael Bay.