2008 Summer Movie Extravaganza

Ever see that martial arts anime Dragonball where the characters charge up their powers all the time and every fourth episode is reserved for, you know, actually fighting? That's how my summer's been so far. Watching movies, charging up. Watching more movies, charging up some more. But now it's time to fight, and by fight I mean lay out the Good, the Bad, and the Delicious for 2008's summer movies.

(And in case you hadn't heard, they're also making Dragonball into a movie. Go figure.)

Fist up, the May movies:

Iron Man

The Good: Robert Downey Jr. was born to play the wisecracking, billionaire playboy genius who fights crime in a mechanized suit of armor.

The Bad: My inner pyro would've enjoyed a few more explosions.

The Delicious: The way Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepperidge Potts helps Downey Jr. fix up his suit's power source by digging her hand through his mucus-y chest cavity.

Speed Racer

The Good: Of the film's three races, the second, which is the most entertaining, feels like a cross between the Twisted Metal video game franchise and the Cruisin' World arcade game. All three races are possible epileptic attacks in waiting, but the other two races are too confusing to be half as entertaining.

The Bad: The tired plot. It made me nap until my next seizure.

The Delicious: Roger Allam as the oily Mr. Royalton.

What Happens in Vegas

The Good: Virtually painless romantic comedy with likable leads and cute story.

The Bad: Virtually painless romantic comedy that's as riveting as those What Happens in Vegas ads.

The Delicious: The hilarious banter of sidekicks Lake Bell and Rob Corddry.

Redbelt

The Good: Director David Mamet's latest film follows his tried and true "everything falls apart around an innocent dude" theme but this time the innocent dude is a badass martial arts instructor.

The Bad: Not much actual martial arts.

The Delicious: The denouement doesn't make much sense, but righteous ass kicking can be very satisfying to watch.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The Good: Graphic fairy tale battles make the adventures of adolescent Brits much darker and much more palatable for adults.

The Bad: Ben Barnes is British, so I can understand the need to change Prince Caspian's accent. But why did he have to choose one that sounds like he's talking with underwear stuffed in his mouth -- and dirty underwear at that?

The Delicious: Judging the sexual tension between Prince Caspian and High King Peter.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The Good: Harrison Ford still has the physique and the charm to pull off a fedora.

The Bad: Unfortunately, everything else is a drop off from previous films as the Russkies stand in for the Nazis and a hokey crystal skull replaces the holy grail.

The Delicious: Shia LeBeouf's greaser character is too lightweight to carry on the Indy torch, as Spielberg has hinted is possible, but Shia's charismatic enough to put his own spin on the franchise.

Next up are the June and July summer movie breakdowns. Visit the Large Association of Movie Blogs for more movie potpourri but without the woodsy aromas.