It’s getting hot here on the East Coast along with the rest of the country as temperatures seem to be rising every day. You can see it in people’s faces, in the conversations they are having and in the harried worried look their body language shouts out. And then of course there is also the weather.
Thank God for summer right? The kids are home from school, beaches are open and Hollywood releases all of their tentpole big summer movies. It all makes for fast fun. Well, at least it used to.
Sitting in a theater last week trying to get excited over at least one coming attraction for this year’s summer films proved to be exhausting. Especially when nothing you are looking at looks good. Not much original stuff to be seen. A sampling of what has just opened and what’s coming include Deadpool 2, Ant Man and the Wasp otherwise known as Ant Man 2, Equalizer 2, Fast and Furious 9, Bad Boys 4, The Lego Movie 2, Avengers 27, X Men 41, Mission Impossible 15, Fantastic Beasts 2 and of course Mamma Mia 2, Incredibles 2, Hotel Transylvania 3 and the granddaddy of them all Solo or as I call it Star Wars Infinity!. That my friends is a mouthful.
And just plain crazy.
There are some hopefuls as well with films like Sicario:Day of Soldado, Mary Poppins Returns (both sequels), BlackkKlansman by Spike Lee, Peter Berg’s Mile 22, Christopher Robin and Sorry to Bother You. They will fight to find the screens they need to succeed.
And while we’re at it. The best film of the year is a kindly look at one of our nation’s most gentle soul. Morgan Neville’s Won’t You Be My Neighbor looks at the life of Fred “Mister” Rogers and shows us a time that once was. A time when a television host taught the power of love for one another and acceptance for all. He taught this to our children, all of our children. His kind does not exists any longer and when I survey the landscape out there I can only hope that someday someone will come back to television with the caring and love that Fred Rogers had for our children. This is an emotionally engaging film that deserves to be seen. So put the light sabers, spaceships, gargantuan battles and green screen effects aside and see what great storytelling is all about. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” should be seen by everyone!
See you next time!
