This Week's PCR Movie Review

	The End of Summer Commentary by: Michael A. Smith

LA FLORIDIANA Doors Closing and Doors Opening: Part Three   by William Moriaty

THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEW The End of Summer   by Mike Smith

ODDSERVATIONS Simple Minds, New Order CDs On The Way!..."Red Eye" Soars, "...Thunder" Blunder....Bob Denver Dies   by Andy Lalino

MATT'S RAIL Nolan And His Leg Up....Hurricane Bush....Hammer Horror Series DVD....Masters of Horror Update  by Matt Drinnenberg

MIKE'S RANT Aftermath....Please Donate....Our Little Buddy....Jaws: The Story, Part 32  by Mike Smith

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Labor Day has past and that means that the summer movie season is officially over. In spite of cries of poverty from theatre owners and the studios, the top 10 grossing films so far this year have earned more then $2.1 BILLION. That's not a typo. But once again, an industry that has become much more a food and advertising business cries poverty. As of today, almost 12,000 films have been released in theatres and on home video so far this year. A little overkill, wouldn't you say? I'm going to list 10 reasons where I think Hollywood went either right or wrong and 10 films that support that notion:

REMAKE A WELL-REMEMBERED FILM WELL (good)
Example: "The Longest Yard." Adam Sandler and Chris Rock for the youngsters and Burt Reynolds for those who remember the original fondly.

REMAKE A WELL-REMEMBERED FILM BADLY (bad)
Example: "The Bad News Bears." Sometimes it's best not to mess with the past. I will say that the current political correctness of Hollywood hurt the story. Billy Bob Thornton can usually make anything bearable. Usually.

DID SOMEONE SAY "STAR WARS?" (good)
Example: "Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." Even though "Phantom Menace" blew and "Attack of the Clones" wasn't the greatest, George Lucas could pretty much film Darth Vader reading the phone book and make money. While "Sith" dragged some, the last 30 minutes was exactly what those of us raised on "Star Wars" waited almost 30 years to see.

RELEASE AN OSCAR CONTENDER IN EARLY JUNE (usually bad)
Example: "Cinderella Man." You would think if you combined the talents of (3) Oscar Winners (Russell Crowe, Rene Zellwegger and director Ron Howard) and one future winner (Paul Giamatti) that audiences would come in droves. Not when school has just let out and the kiddies want some excitement. I've always felt that had "Titanic" come out as originally planned in June 1997 that it would have done well, but not the business it did. Coming out in December it went from a summer adventure film to a Christmas romance. Also, coming out then relegated it to the "must see" class that most mid-November to late December films command. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Seabiscuit" and "Forrest Gump" are only a very few of the films that were released in the summer to critical and box office success and both of those came out in July of their respective years. I would think Universal is already working on a plan to reissue "Cinderella Man" around Thanksgiving, offering theatres that play the film a better deal on "King Kong" when it comes out in mid-December.

REVIVE AN OLD FRANCHISE (usually good)
Example: "Batman Begins." While many people simply wrote off the "Batman" franchise after Joel Schumaker added his special touches to it, the powers to be at Warner Brothers decided to take a risk with an actor and director not very well known in the fantasy field. Lucky for them, unlike Ang Lee, Eric Bana and "HULK," their combination of Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan paid major dividends.

SOMETHING FOR THE KIDDIES, PART 1 (good)
Example: "Madagascar." Funny characters and familiar voices:here penguins, zebras, Ben Stiller and Chris Rock, can make for some big time bucks, even with all of those kid tickets.

SOMETHING FOR THE KIDDIES, PART 2 (bad)
Example: "Valiant." Same as above, only this time it's pigeons and Ewan McGregor. Word to the studios: don't release a kids movie the same week school starts.

BLOOD AND GUTS SELLS (good)
Like last years "Dawn of the Dead" remake, this summer's "Land of the Dead" had the right amount of scares and blood that made people scream. When done right, horror can still find a place.

TIME FOR LITTLE MOVIES TO SHINE (always good)
Examples: "Murderball," "March of the Penguins," "Hustle and Flow." OK, some adult themed films did find success. Mostly small independent features and documentaries, which have seemed to find an almost mainstream popularity.

GET STEVEN SPIELBERG TO DIRECT YOUR MOVIE (so good it should be illegal) (Having the world's biggest movie star in it doesn't hurt)
Example: "War of the Worlds." Ever since his 2nd feature, "JAWS," introduced the summer blockbuster, a film helmed by Spielberg has almost always been money in the bank. The "Indiana Jones" trilogy. "E.T." "Jurassic Park." Time to hire extra staff.

ROMANCE, IMAGINED OR REAL, BETWEEN STARS - PART 1 (low key - good)
Example: "Mr and Mrs Smith." Were Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie an item? Who knew? The two certainly played it low key, resulting in the best opening weekend for either of them. It helped that the two obviously have chemistry and that it shows on screen. When it doesn't (Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan in "Proof of Life") you can hear the crickets chirping in the auditorium.

ROMANCE, IMAGINED OR REAL, BETWEEN STARS - PART 2 (jumping on Oprah - bad)
Examples: "War of the Worlds" and "Batman Begins." Sure, both movies made a shitload of money. But even their success was dampened by the crazy antics of Tom Cruise and his beard, Katie Holmes. Director Steven Spielberg was publicly peeved when TomKat led the entertainment news instead of "War of the Worlds." Warner Brothers was so upset that they've already announced that Holmes won't be in the next "Batman" film.

Well, those are my reasons. Here are 10 movies to look forward to NEXT summer: "Mission Impossible 3," "Poseidon," "The Da Vinci Code," "X-men 3," "Cars," "Fast and Furious 3," "Superman Returns," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men's Chest," "Miami Vice" and "Ghost Rider." Let's see how long it takes for Hollywood to whine next year.