The Weather Channel's Boat & Beach Movie Report

Well, I for one am excited about the prospects of the autumn movie season. Hey, wait a second! Summer's not over yet, you say. Well, no, it sure isn't, but after enduring an entire season of bloated extravaganzas and failed Hollywood enterprises, I think many of us hope that the end will come faster than the last Labor Day cookout feast with family and friends.

The "summer" started with four—count 'em—four good movies back in May. Austin Powers, Breakdown, The Fifth Element and the little-seen Trial and Error were all seriously decent, well-made pictures, the kind that you wouldn't mind to see again a second time. (In fact, I even saw Austin Powers twice). Unfortunately, The Lost World set the tone that has dominated most of the summer season—movies that look fine but just haven't delivered otherwise. Speed 2 tanked; Con Air was mindlessly enjoyable to a point, but what can more you say about a movie whose best accolade is "well, at least it wasn't as bad as The Rock"; Hercules turned out to be a dud; and Men in Black was like Ghostbusters without the belly laughs and the excitement. (You think director Barry Sonnenfeld has ever heard of the words "suspense" and "climax"?)

I was looking forward to MIB a great deal, but after 20 minutes of clever material and solid laughs, the movie just sort of disappeared in front of my eyes. The aliens weren't very interesting, the story never built up to any kind of conclusion, and what in the world were they doing in creating a movie franchise's first installment by writing out the top-billed actor at the end?! I guess it all boils down to the fact that—unless he has a strong script—Barry Sonnenfeld creates movies that are visually interesting but lack any form or substance. It's all surface gloss in Sonnenfeld's films, and MIB is just another good idea that's not followed through by the filmmakers (see both Addams Family movies). Will Smith generates plenty of goodwill on screen, but not even the Fresh Prince was able to make this any more than a middling summer diversion that few will remember by Christmas time.

The best—and I do mean the best—film of the entire summer, and make it the entire year, for that matter, is Face/Off. A movie that has, for starters, a great script with real character development, intriguing story developments, neat twists and crisp dialogue. It also has tremendous performances, though Nicolas Cage should be commended the most for playing the hero and the villain in their most dramatically demanding sequences—and pulling it off brilliantly. Cage has the harder material between he and John Travolta, and here's hoping he gets rewarded at Oscar time. And, oh yeah, John Woo's direction is also fabulous; the action sequences are the icing on the cake for this thrilling ride. A genre movie that transcends its conventions and becomes a massively entertaining piece of popular cinema. See it on the big screen, and don't be surprised when the movie ends up on some critics' Top Ten lists come January (with some potential Academy Award nominations to follow. No, I am not out of my mind!).

But outside of Face/Off, it's been pretty desperate. I appreciated Contact to a point, but it sort of left me cold. Air Force One was an enjoyable programmer, but it felt like a "too little, too late" addition to the Die Hard/Cliffhanger school of action movies. (And Goldsmith's score is effective enough, though his last-minute effort to get the score done resulted in a main title theme that is more than a little "inspired by" Star Trek: First Contact). I haven't seen Spawn, but do I feel like spending 88 minutes watching some neat ILM effects, no plot, and non-stop metal-heavy music?

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'm going to have much of a choice. Which is why I'm looking forward to the fall. The Game with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, from "Se7en" and "Alien3" director David Fincher, looks intriguing. So does The Edge (previously "Bookworm") with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin battling the wilderness in a script concocted by David Mamet. Add in the supernatural thriller Fallen with Denzel Washington and some big-time extravaganzas come November and December (Alien Resurrection, Starship Troopers, Titanic, Tomorrow Never Dies), and we've got some promising movies to come. Right now, though, the best we can hope for is that G.I. Jane can't possibly be as bad as it sounds and that Kull the Conquerer offers some mildly diverting entertainment along the lines of the worst movies Dino DeLaurentiis has ever made.

The Small Screen

As it has been every year, unless you've got cable, it's been a total disaster over the summer months. TNT scored a winner with John Milius's The Rough Riders a couple of weeks ago, complete with a rousing, old- fashioned score from Elmer and Peter Bernstein. For Showtime subscribers, there has also been some original programming to choose from—in particular, a pair of surprisingly expensive new series based on popular genre films have recently made their debut:

THE HUNGER (Sundays, 11pm EST) is a thoroughly repellent attempt at a "horrorifically erotic" anthology series, hosted by Terence Stamp (the checks must have slowed down) in a bizarre Calvin Klein commercial-type backdrop. This Canadian-lensed show bears no resemblance to the 1983 MGM movie with Susan Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve except that it shares the same title and director Tony Scott as one of its executive producers. Admittedly, it also attempts to copy its source's big love scene (and who will ever forget Sarandon and Deneuve topless in bed), but if you have yet to see Showtime's series, rest assured that there has been nothing remotely arousing about this show's disgusting, unerotic stories, all of which have been clumsily written and acted. (All female leads seem to have been chosen for their busty chests rather than any other sort of talent.) It's hard to imagine that Tony Scott and brother/fellow producer Ridley did this for anything but the money; why Russell Mulcahy decided to jump onboard (to direct several episodes, no less) is less obvious, though with his penchant for picking projects with lame screenplays and little potential, perhaps that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

STARGATE SG-1 (Fridays, 10pm EST) is a step in the right direction, though with the mindlessly enjoyable 1994 movie as its inspiration, the results should have been a lot more satisfying. Richard Dean Anderson assumes Kurt Russell's role here, as he and his band of cohorts zip in and out of different StarGates each week, having lots of adventures derived from other sci-fi movies and TV programs in the process. The 95-minute opener served as a sequel to the original film, and proved to be somewhat entertaining, though its gratuitious sex and violence is definitely objectionable for what ought to be a family-oriented series (the movie was PG-13, so what the hell are these producers thinking?). The effects are pretty elaborate for TV, and while Joel Goldsmith's music recycles David Arnold's film themes to an overly bombastic degree (reportedly there was some serious cue-reediting on the part of Showtime), Anderson acquits himself nicely against the backdrop of some rather hackneyed TV writing. Subsequent episodes—with plots that appear to rip-off Altered States, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and other well-known genre outings—hopefully will improve on the pilot, but given the seemingly second-rate talent behind the camera, I doubt that's going to happen.

Movie buffs will want to note that Showtime will finally unveil the shelf-ridden Snow White: A Tale of Terror on Sunday, August 24th at 9pm EST. This Polyram/Interscope co-production never received a theatrical release, despite starring Sigourney Weaver and Sam Neill! Put that casting together with a horrific twist on the fairy tale and an original score by John Ottman (The Usual Suspects), and it looks like we've got a genuine curio on our hands. Stay tuned!