The Weekend Report: Running on Empty

We're now just about at the mid point of the summer box office season, and I can say that things aren't entirely that spectacular from what we've seen. The fact that Thor is thus far the highlight of my blockbuster summer speaks volumes of how deeply disappointed I am. New installments in the Pirates, X-Men, and Hangover franchises have proved dismal, and just as dismal were films like Green Lantern, for which there was no hope heading in. At this point, I'm in deep need of a healthy jolt of optimism. Something to make me say, "Things are finally getting better!" I usually expect Pixar to supply me that, but this sadly isn't their year.

It was never going to be their year, as they were always going to turn out their sequel to Cars this year, and we all knew precisely what that meant. It meant the return of a bunch of characters that we honestly couldn't care less about the first time, only this time John Lasseter is upping the action to the level of spy film. From an audience's perspective, one could be optimistic about the opportunities of this one. Still, reviews have been mixed to negative, which is as much I expected from the start of the project, so why is everyone all that surprised? The film should still do good business this weekend, with kids eagerly heading in to see absolutely anything, but they'll be much more enthused to see Cars 2. Why? Because every kid plays with cars.

It's sad that the favorable option of this weekend is something like Bad Teacher, which made my Dread Locks list where Cars 2 did not. I never expected the film to get good reviews, and I always knew I'd see it anyway. Why? Because it's the sort of film that doesn't rely on favorable reviews. You couldn't watch the trailer and say that it looks like a good film. It looks like a really entertaining comedy in the most basic of ways. I'm not looking for art. I'm not looking for quality. I'm looking to shut my brain off for an hour and a half and chuckle like a doofus. So what are you looking to see this weekend? What did you think of whatever you did see? What's your favorite summer film so far? I'd like to know the sort of people who read my words.