School's Out! What's next?

For High School seniors, schooling has reached its conclusion. For some, it is a moment of personal triumph, relief, or even liberation. For others, it is a commemorative event, a milestone in the road of life and success, the markings for the ending of an era; and with that comes the departure of close friends. School has been twelve years of an educational process that has cultivated not only academic success, knowledge, awareness and aspiration, but a note-worthy collection of memories, both of the grief schoolwork and grades instigated, and the luxury of spending the majority of every year with our friends. As the formal graduation ceremony draws ever nearer, the celebration and jubilee of our accomplishments is only beginning. Within the next couple of weeks various graduation parties will occur. These will lead up to the central moment when each and every graduating senior will shake hands with the principle and receive into their pencil-weary hands the rolled-up paper stamped with the bold and italicized cursive ink that will allot them the key into the multifarious opportunities that life will propose. Many seniors will have mixed feelings, sad that the academic and social experience they have grown accustomed to for, as of now, the entirety of the lives, comes to a final close; marked by the final goodbyes held with friends and all we hold most dear to our hearts. How does this relate to movies, you may wonder? Well, as this summer marks the ending of an era of schooling, this summer also signifies the finale of another era. For ten years the Harry Potter movie adaptions, each one expanding and perpetuating the effect and legacy of Rowling's literary one-day-to-be classic series, have rolled across movie screens and our imaginations. Audiences have been captivated by the wonders of the magical world, but more specifically many of which are seniors this year. A wide majority of, at least from my class, graduating seniors have grown up reading the book series, and subsequently waiting in long lines to relive the fantastic adventures on the big screen. For ten years, today's seniors have been growing up with school, and Harry Potter. Many spent their days studying in school, then coming home to read the next chapter of the at-the-time latest Harry Potter book. This summer will be a summer like no other. The era of school ends at Graduation this summer, and the era of Harry Potter ends this summer as well, only weeks after Seniors become Graduates. I can only imagine that for some, this summer may be emotional. However, is also serves as the grand opening of a chapter for the beginnings of a new era: college.

An Apparant Comeback

In 2007 the rave was for Michael Bay's Transformers. Produced on a budget of $151 Million, this whopping epic adaptation of the original cartoon series The Transformers, drew an equal number of unsatisfied skeptics and awe-struck fans and moviegoers alike. It received a well-earned 7.2 out of 10 (general consensus) and literally transformed people's opinions and expectations for the series. Worldwide gross revenue totaled up to $706,471,251. Transformers was filmed on standard 35 mm film, and the majority of the cameras used were Panasonic. After a roaring success, film legend Michael Bay (director of Pearl Harbor and Armageddon) teamed up again with Transformers screenplay writer Roberto Orci, along with Ehren Kruger and Alex Kurtzman, for the much anticipated sequel: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. Once again starring Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox, the Autobot gang reunited to fight against the Decepticons. Although in the plot the extra-terrestrial robotic heroes scored big against their mechanical archenemies, they forgot to score big with their audience. Although it was filmed on a substantially larger budget ($200 Million) and drew up a worldwide revenue of $836, 297, 228, people's opinions of the film quickly deteriorated. Fans were disappointed, movie-goers felted cheated, and even Shia LeBeuof who stars as protagonist Sam Witwicky admitted "We got lost. We tried to get bigger. It's what happens to sequels. It's like, how do you top the first one? You've got to go bigger. Mike went so big that it became too big, and I think you lost the anchor of the movie. You lost a bit of the relationships. Unless you have those relationships, then the movie doesn't matter. Then it's just a bunch of robots fighting each other." (**VLADTV.COM) Basically, he said it sucked. And in reality it did. Revenge of the Fallen averaged out with a 5.9 out of 10, falling behind its predecessor. Many people lost hope in Michael Bay. Whenever the director’s name came up immediately people thought of countless big explosions coupled with rushed and barely audible dialogue, along with giant robots fighting over a plot as confusing as the move title itself. To make it worse, Revenge of the Fallen was accused of racism and mysticism. The only Autobots representing African Americans were a pair of clumsy twins known as Mudflaps and Skids. These characters can be caught having dumb expressions on their faces, gopher-sized golden teeth, and are observed spending most of their time doing absolutely nothing except making jokes (accompanied with slanged cursing) and wrestling; in their dialogue they openly admit they are incapable of reading Cybertronian runes (language of the robotic aliens) because they "don’t do much reading”. But, Michael Bay decided to give Transformers one last jolt from his defibrillator before letting the series slip away into the back of people’s minds. With only one writer remaining from the original crew that wrote Revenge of the Fallen, and with new members in the cast (like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, a Victoria's Secret model replacing Megan Fox's character), Transformers is ramped up with the latest installment: Dark of the Moon. The trailer, I admit, is intriguing, intense, and stunning! Just watching the trailer makes me want to drop everything and run to the movie theaters to reserve myself a ticket. As it appears right now, this film is not only an awesomely epic movie, it seems that it will correct all of the mistakes made with Revenge of the Fallen. If this film pulls out like Revenge should have, then Dark of the Moon will become the true sequel to the 2007 Transformers. With continuous announcements from Michael bay and Shia LeBeouf that Dark of the Moon is more centered around a well-grounded story and that “Transformers 3 won’t suck”, I think a lot of people are actually listening and willing to give the giant fighting robotic aliens another chance. With eye-popping visual effects and with a plot focused on the Decepticon invasion of Planet Earth, Dark of the Moon might be the saving grace that keeps Transformers alive for another generation of young people. I admit that I am excited for the third installment of Transformers and will give the movie franchise a second chance. Check out the epic trailer and be swayed yourself!

New Upcoming Films

So perhaps you have heard of several upcoming movies that will be released this summer, such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Super 8, even Cowboys and Aliens. This summer affirms to provide a huge bang, with a promising start already with the release of Limitless and Source Code. Summer is one ideal target for the film industry, usually for a huge harvest in gross income as students, set loose for the summer, crowd theaters to engage in the timeless awe and excitement that only movies can provide. But, there is one particular film that has caught my eye. Although I admit that at first I considered this upcoming film to be a waste of money, I have been swayed over after taking a closer look. Rise of the Planet of the Apes, directed by Rupert Wyatt, head of Picture Farm productions (a small production company that has for the 8 years of its existence produced shorts and documentaries) seems to be stepping out into the limelight. Taking on a monumental challenge for reviving interest in a series that fell flat on its face with the 2001 version of Planet of the Apes, directed by Film Phenomenon Tim Burton, Wyatt certainly has big shoes to fill, considering the expectations from an older audience that was familiar with the TV series original The Planet of the Apes and the expectations from a younger audience hungry for a great summer flick. So far the picture is in Post-Production, the final phase for any film. Already it looks promising. The released trailer looks great, and I believe that Rise has some potential. Starring seemingly over-used actor James Franco, Andy Serkis (better known as Gollum)  and Frieda Pinto, who made her big splash with Slumdog Millionaire, this film has a great cast and hopefully a great crew to top it off. With engaging shots and suspenseful music the trailer is fun to watch and at the very least, addicting. As a concept the basic idea the movie is putting across seems far-fetched, even silly. But you can't judge a book by its cover, and you surely can't judge a movie by its trailer. I will give Rise a chance and will definitely mark my calendar to watch this movie. It seems exciting, interesting, and perhaps a great start for successive and hopefully even greater sequels. August 5, 2011 is the official theatrical release date. Be there or be.... not there.