Believe it or not, this year's crop of summer movies aren't all about spaceships, mutants with superpowers, or your favorite childhood toys. Hidden between the explosions and the CGI are a few quirky comedies and offbeat dramas that will also be vying for your attention. I'm not suggesting you should entirely forego the typical summer blockbusters. I'm looking forward to a few of them, too. But if you feel you can spare one weekend a month to devote to less commercial fare, here are my recommendations:

MAY: The Brothers Bloom

I've watched the trailer for this con-artist comedy at least a dozen times now, and still I'm not sure how to describe it. Wes Anderson meets Guy Ritchie, perhaps? I just don't know how to categorize this one, except to say that it looks completely original and totally fun. And having Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, and Rachel Weisz as the leads sure doesn't hurt.

JUNE: Away We Go

This dramedy from director Sam Mendes almost appears to be an inverse of his last film, Revolutionary Road. John Krasinski (sporting a serial killer-ish beard) and Maya Rudolph (dead serious for once) play a couple of expectant parents traveling around the country in search of the perfect place to settle down and raise their child. Along the way they share adventures with a stellar assortment of friends and relatives played by the likes of Maggie Gyllenhaal, Allison Janney, Catherine O'Hara, and Jim Gaffigan. Hopefully the film will do a better job of balancing the humor with the heart than the overstuffed trailer does.

JULY: 500 Days of Summer

This is not a love story. It's a story about love. This is unquestionably the most original rom-com trailer I've seen since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And when you add in all the good buzz that followed this one out of Sundance, I'm finding it hard to imagine a scenario where it turns out to be a disappointment.

AUGUST: Taking Woodstock

Sure, it looks like something that Cameron Crowe should have directed, but I'm curious to see what Ang Lee has come up with here. I think this is the rare film that can sell itself based on the subject matter alone. Who wouldn't be interested in learning the true story of a man who, in a desperate attempt to save his parents' struggling Catskills motel, agrees to host a music festival which turns out to be the defining moment of a generation? And on top of the valuable lesson in pop culture history this movie is providing, it might also make a star out of the immensely talented Demetri Martin (provided he can act even half as well as he tells jokes).

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us