The Year So Far: Is This It?

By Katey Rich

The trend in the last week, perhaps because it's been a horrendously slow news period, is to look back on the movies of the first half of the year and make any kind of value judgment. Variety did it, Nathaniel at the Film Experience did it, and others, like In Contention, are even trying to make Oscar calls. It's no easy task, though, given that 2008 looks to be as bottom-heavy in terms of quality as any other year on record. Common conclusion has it that, with the exception of Wall-E, virtually no serious awards contenders have come out in the first six months of 2008.

So, what in God's name have I been seeing this whole time? Most of the movies I've seen range from forgettable-- Definitely, Maybe, Leatherheads, The Foot Fist Way, even Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull-- to positively loathsome-- War, Inc., Finding Amanda, Drillbit Taylor, and, oh God, Zombie Strippers. To be fair, any number of these movies have had a lot of interesting and even insightful aspects, from Russell Brand's hilarious performance in Forgetting Sarah Marshall to the quiet realism of Stop-Loss. And there are a few supposed gems I've missed, like In Bruges and The Visitor.

But if I'm hunting for one movie that will stick with me, or even have a shot at making my top 10 list at the end of the year, I'm coming up completely short. Well, except for Wall-E, that late entry, but there's no need for me to further praise it here. But even the fireworks and spectacle of the summer movies, which feel so exciting in May but start to lose their novelty come this time of July, have provided plenty of entertainment but not much content. Iron Man, for all its fizzy, sardonic qualities, is really just a better version of a movie that's been done a hundred times before.

I love the insanity of Oscar season as much as anyone else, but all that competition has come at the expense of seeing any actual attempts at serious filmmaking come out in the first half of the year. Well, for now at least. Once a movie once again breaks out from an early release date to reap major awards glory, like Silence of the Lambs or even the more recent Gladiator, the hubbub may die down and give us something to chew on while waiting for most of the big guns to arrive over the holidays.

Or, if the success of I Am Legend last December and this year's planned holiday release date for The Day the Earth Stood Still are any indication, the fall might be turning into as much of a popcorn season as July is. Which leaves us... when for good movies? The Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival? Prestigious movies aren't always the best movies of the year, or even the most interesting, but they definitely have their place. If only their place weren't a few months of a long, long calendar year.