This has been a really good summer for movies, and I haven’t seen one that I really hated (yet). These are ranked by quality and in order of my personal preference, from top to bottom.
***** The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – A smart, adult thriller with the best character, Lisbeth Salander, of the year
***** Inception – Brainy SciFi caper, what it lacks in character it makes up for in style & SFX
***** The Girl Who Played with Fire – Not as good as Tattoo, but characters you can care about make this one of the best
***** Toy Story 3 — Proves that plastic, and computer animation, can have heart than most live action features
***** How to Train Your Dragon — I didn’t expect this to be great, but it is, on every level
****- Machete — Action flicks don’t get much more fun, or funny, than this
****- Piranha — Great monster-gore-exploitation flick (might have been even better if I’d seen it in 3D)
****- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World — Smart and funny with fun video-game SFX
****- Predators — Superior SciFi action & effects with great characters & acting
****- Salt — Great action flick hampered by a predictable twist
****- The Karate Kid — A superior remake with good acting from Jackie Chan & Jaden Smith
****- Splice – Solid genre monster flick with some disturbing, thoughtful undertones
***– Alice in Wonderland — Depp is amusing, Burton wacky, and Alice heroic
***– Knight & Day — Cruise is funny and Diaz is sexy in this breakneck action-comedy
***– Resident Evil Afterlife — Solid zombie actioner (might have been even better if I’d seen it in 3D)
***– Robin Hood — Great actors and sincere performances lift a sometimes muddy script
***– Iron Man 2 — Not as good as the first, but still plenty of fun, & I love the Black Widow
***– Shrek Forever After — Far better than the last and a fitting end to the series
***– Despicable Me — If the previews hadn’t given so much away, I’d have liked this better
***– The A-Team — I love it when a movie is better than I expected, good action fun
***– The Expendables — Great action, great stars, a better script would have moved this up
***– The Sorcerer’s Apprentice — Family fun with some very cool magic SFX, but annoying young hero
***– Twilight Saga: Eclipse – The best of the series, but still needs 2 better main characters
**— Jonah Hex — would have been better with a smaller, more western-style scope
**— Prince of Persia — Close to being good, but annoying characters & predictable plot
**— Avatar: The Last Airbender — Clumsy script hamstrings this, and the SFX can’t save it, but I didn’t hate it
