Hot fun in the summertime

I've had a lot on my mind I wanted to post about in the past week, but let me start with a couple quick movie reviews.

On Saturday we went with the Hyattsville Boys to see The Devil Wears Prada. It stars Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway.

In a word - delicious.


The reason to see this movie is Meryl Streep. She is the ultimate bitch, saying and doing things that make you positively cringe! (The best comparison I could come up with was the feeling I had watching Meet the Parents - everything that happens makes you feel so uncomfortable, but you also relish every moment.) And it's not like Meryl is out there chewing up scenery or anything - she's just quietly cool and calculated. Thanks to her performance (which is certainly Oscar-worthy), this film is destined to become a camp classic in the gay community!

Anne Hathaway is also terrific, showing that she has grown up and matured as an actress, fulfilling the promise I saw in her after Brokeback Mountain. She really holds her own agains Meryl Streep, which is no small feat.

And can we talk about the clothes? FAB-ulous!

This was a great movie, and I highly recommend it. There are some minor flaws, but I feel it deserves a solid A.

Then on Tuesday we saw Superman Returns. It's the kind of movie that's pretty hard to screw up, and I'm happy to say director Brett Ratner (who did X-Men 2, which I loved) didn't fail us. Granted he didn't have to try too hard - I mean, have you SEEN Superman 3? Stinky!

Brandon Routh easily steps into the role of Superman. He plays it a bit differently than Christopher Reeve, which is certainly a good thing.

Kate Bosworth is good as Lois Lane, which is nice. (I never really enjoyed Margot Kidder.) Kevin Spacey is strong as maniac Lex Luthor, and Parker Posey (as always) is great as his girlfriend. But I have to say - one of Luthor's thugs was one of these two guys - it was pretty hard to take him seriously.

Now for the criticism. First of all, you MUST suspend disbelief if you're going to enjoy it. If Lois actually survived all the things that happened to her in this movie, she would be in intensive care for months.

Also the movie "chokes the kitten" a bit too often. EVERY time Superman does something major (like lift a boat, a plane, etc.) he is empowered by the mighty theme song of John Williams. I started to wonder if that was in fact the source of his powers and not the sun!

Still, for a summer popcorn flick it's a bit long but great fun. I think it deserves a B+ for restoring a stalled franchise.