SUMMER 2008: Top 10 Awesome Movies
From smoking buddies to a cute robot on an outer space adventure; from curving the bullets to flying faster than jet planes, and an awesome reboot to one of the greatest sequels ever made. Summer 2008 goes down in history as one of the most awesome summer movie blockbuster seasons ever!
THUG LIFE! Yeah! This is a hilarious ride that will take you from comedy to action and then back again. It’s a great escape, a sweet release… the dopest dope!
Awesome Moments:
* Cross joint
* Danny McBride’s character crawling quickly out of a burning building.
Far-Fetched? Yes! Ridiculous? Yes! What’s your point? In the end, the word ‘cool’ still applies. It reminds me of movies like Matrix and Equilibrium… and there’s something rad about hearing Morgan Freeman say, “MothatF*cka!”
Awesome Moments:
* The beginning Car Chase Scene
* Shooting from afar in the last scene
Which one is funnier; Tropic Thunder of Pineapple Express? Some people have been asking that since these two movies came out a weekend apart from each other. What they don’t get is Tropic Thunder’s comedy is different, it’s a satire on actors, Hollywood execs and the whole movie business.
Awesome Moments:
* Anything that Robert Downey Jr.’s character does
* Anything that Tom Cruise’s character does
They say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Well, Ang Lee’s HULK back in 2003 was a disaster, but Marvel has fixed the mistake by bringing us this smashing reboot. When we see the green giant hero, we wanna see some destruction and incredible fights…this movie knows exactly what we want.
Awesome moments:
* Hulk kicking the bad guy like he’s a soccer ball
* The 26 Minute fight scene between Hulk and Abomination
Skadoosh! Our hero Po the Panda knows how to use his overweight size to his advantage and give some serious beatdowns! For a Dreamworks animated movie, the jokes in this one are actually funny and the fight scenes are pretty cool. Plus, I got to meet Jack Black at the screening of this movie… awesome! Yes, I like to brag.
Awesome Moments:
* Po the Panda uses his belly to bounce the enemy all the way to the sky
* Climbing the stairs
Finally, a scary movie that’s really scary. You see… when I watch horror movies, I expect to get terrified, to find myself with my hands covering my eyes but a few fingers open because part of me wants to see what happens next.
Awesome moments:
* Mistaking a friend for a foe
* Liv Tyler’s character just standing there and in the background you see the bad guy standing there too, watching her in a very stalking-ish, creepy way.
A movie that’s heavy metal and rock n’ roll all at once. It’s hardcore entertainment not for the faint of heart.
Awesome Moments:
* The warden’s ultimate armored truck gets destroyed
* The way each criminal dies
I remember exiting the theater after seeing the whole thing and all the children were happy and they tried doing the robot’s voice “Wooaaall-Eeee!!” Truly an amazing movie watching experience. Pixar has outdone itself!
Awesome Moments:
* WALL-E touching the little rocks that make the ring around the planet Saturn
* WALL-E stomps his foot on M-O, the cleaning robot’s face.
The movie that makes us wish we could be just like Tony Stark. One of the most well reviewed movies of the year has scenes that will take your breath away… eat my shorts, Top Gun!
Awesome Moments:
* Iron Man goes supersonic and then deploys flares and then deploys flaps
* The hot flight attendants in Tony Stark’s private plane
The throne, the honor, the glory for the most awesome movie of the summer 2008 goes to THE DARK KNIGHT which also has become one of the highest grossing films of all time. Heath Ledger’s brilliant performance as THE JOKER will forever be remembered as iconic, borderline perfect, the stuff of legends!
Awesome Moments:
* The Joker’s Magic Pencil Trick
* The Joker in a nurse outfit walking out of the hospital and the remote got busted
SUMMER 2008: Top 10 Lamest Movies
From the Israel agent turned hairstylist to the action star who gets to be a science teacher, from a drunk, washed up, superhero to some of the worst sequels ever made, from sci-fi flick to another sci-fi flick, this is my list for the lamest movies of Summer 2008. I hope mistakes like these will never happen again next year. God help us all…
If genre Sc-Fi Action flick was a person, he’d be covering his face with both hands, head down and shaking in embarrassment because this movie gives him a bad name. The last time he felt this shameful was when John Travolta made that crappy movie Battlefield Earth
Lamest Moments:
* The girl miraculously gets pregnant
* Vin Diesel walking in the field with two little children
9. YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN
Adam, Adam, Adam… you’re better than this. It breaks my heart to see anybody with so much potential and talent just wasting it all away.
Lamest Moments:
* Suggestive sex scenes with the elderly
* Singing in loud tenor voices to defeat the bad guy
It’s decent but for a guy like Will Smith who, through his star power alone, can draw lots of box office money for each of his movies, he should’ve been able to do more than just decent.
Lamest Moments:
* Will Smith’s character flying along side an eagle
* The moon painted on with a logo.
Thank God the music is catchy! ABBA’s great classic music is the only thing bearable about this movie version. If the songs weren’t around, then we could imagine the worst case scenario
Lamest Moments:
* The dance choreography
* The Greeks keep popping up and they’re not funny
Not a very entertaining follow up to their previous collaboration in Talladega Nights. After Semi-Pro and Step Brothers, you begin to wonder if Will Ferrell’s hilarity is slowly going downhill. He’s gonna need to come up with ANCHORMAN 2 just to redeem himself
Lamest Moments:
* Balls on the drum set
* The job interviews
Remember Eddie Murphy back in the days of Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America movies? When he used to be funny. Remember those days? Good times!
All I can say is… at times, history does not repeat itself.
Lamest Moments:
* Dancing in the club
* The crew walks out of Dave’s mouth
4. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
There were times when I was watching this movie that I just wanted to walk out of the theater and not finish it at all. I was feeling disappointment, upset, anger, all at once. I’m surprised I didn’t turn into a Hulk and tear the screen apart. I couldn’t bear seeing my hero Indiana Jones ruined like this.
Lamest Moments:
* Shia LaBeouf’s character swinging from one tree to another like a monkey
* Alien Spaceship
3. THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR
Even Brendan Fraser would probably go “what the hell was I thinking?”
Wanna put the blame on somebody? Blame it on Director Rob Cohen, writers Alfred Gough & Miles Millar, and the casting of Maria Bello instead of Rachel Weisz … not a smart move!
Lamest Moments:
* 3 Yetis slide down from the mountain to help them out
* Jet Li’s character’s shape-shifting ability
When will this madness end? I doubt that Star Wars fans would classify this as one of their favorites. Why the hell did it even have to hit the big screen? Damn you, Lucas!
Lamest Moments:
* Obi Wan Kenobi stalling time by having tea with the enemy
* Anakin Skywalker and his apprentice crawling inside a box
M. Night Shyamalan used to be one of my favorite directors. Now I’m not so sure anymore. Has he lost his mojo? What was he smoking when he came up with the idea of plants making humans commit suicide?!
Lamest Moments:
* Mark Wahlberg’s character talkin’ to a plant
* The epidemic hits the second time around in the last scene
All work and no play makes the Young & Successful feel unbalanced! To rescue our overworked souls, YSN member and movie aficionado Rama Tampubolon discusses the latest hot topics and movie reviews every other Thursday on the YSN Blog. He runs the movie review and discussion blog, Rama’s Screen, and was featured in “United 300,” which won for “Best Spoof” at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards.
