Summer Not-Busters: K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Peter Sarsgaard
Domestic Gross: $35,168,677

One of the stranger things about growing older, at least in terms of the way that you engage with pop culture, is watching as the icons of your youth and adolescence fade out of popularity. Sometimes this is a process so gradual that you hardly notice it, and sometimes it's so abrupt that you're left scratching your head and wondering how the decline could have happened so fast. When I was growing up, Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise were the movie stars, the two actors who could seemingly do no wrong when it came to box office success, give or take a Regarding Henry or a Random Hearts. Ford was a force to be reckoned with through the 1980s and 1990s, a star of three franchises and a bunch of successful stand alone pictures, but since 2001 he hasn't had a bona fide hit other than an Indiana Jones film that most people wish he'd never made, and the box office disappointments have become the norm. That streak started in earnest with 2002's K-19: The Widowmaker, though in fairness to the film it probably would have sunk at the summer box office even if it had been released in the midst of Ford's hot streak since it was all wrong for a summer movie, particularly a "Harrison Ford summer movie."

Review: They Came Together (2014)

* * *
Director: David Wain
Starring: Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler

She's a quirky klutz, he's witty and "vaguely Jewish," and the city of New York is their constant and beloved third wheel. Theirs is a story that is just like a romantic comedy, which is the first and then most often repeated joke in David Wain's They Came Together, which is not itself a romantic comedy, but rather a send up of the genre. Proceeding in the same spirit as Wain's under appreciated 2001 gem Wet Hot American Summer, They Came Together is a film with its tongue firmly in cheek, and though it isn't as laugh out loud funny as that earlier film, it is nevertheless entertaining and enjoyable. But then, how could it be anything less when its leads are two of the most consistently likeable comedic actors around.

Review: Tracks (2014)

* * *
Director: John Curran
Starring: Mia Wasikowska

In 1977 Robyn Davidson walked 1,700 miles from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean, crossing deserts, hunted by reporters and curiosity seekers, and trying to find herself in the midst of a period of social and political change. That Davidson would go on to write about her experience twice - first for National Geographic and then in the non-fiction book which shares a title with the film - might remove some of the tension from the film but, speaking personally, that tension was replaced by a great deal of anxiety over the fate of the dog she brought with her on her journey (spoiler alert: it was right to be concerned). The resulting film is one which is often visually stunning and solidly anchored by an unfussy performance from Mia Wasikowska, even if it does fail to properly follow through on some of the themes it introduces.

Partners In Crime: Wilder & Lemmon

Celebrating cinema's greatest collaborations:


It's one of the all-time best pairings of director and actor. Over the course of 22 years, Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon made 7 films together, 2 of which are considered amongst the greatest films ever made. Together, they made some of the smartest and most memorable comedies ever committed to film, bringing out the best in each other in the process. Though each would have great success with other artists, the power of their work together cannot be denied.

Review: 22 Jump Street (2014)

* * *
Director: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum

There is no reason at all that 21 Jump Street should have worked the way that it did. At best, it should have been a marginally funny but sort of forgettable way to kill an hour and forty minutes, the sort of movie you watch if it comes on TV and there's nothing else on. Instead it was pretty much awesome, setting a bar for television to film adaptations that is almost impossibly high. Magic happened with the first film, so what were the chances of the follow-up, 22 Jump Street, being anything but an utter disappointment? I don't know what the odds were exactly, but I know that somehow the team behind the franchise has found a way to make lightning strike twice. 22 Jump Street is a great summer movie, an entertainment of the very first order.