Summer of George

Ever since I left my cushy East Harlem middle school teaching gig, I've been deprived of one of life'sgreat joys: the lazy summer. It's one of those things we're expected to give up by the time we reach adulthood. Sure, we've still got weekends, maybe even Summer Fridays. But unlike some of the more ambitious and motivated people out there who can't stand being inactive for more than 10 minutes, I crave multi-hour blocks (if not multi-day blocks) of unadulterated laziness. My only goals involve the number of times I'll have to re-watch Pulp Fiction before I've memorized every line, or the number of BCS championships I'm going to win in NCAA Football 10 before I have to return it to Blockbuster.

In other words, I take lazy summer to its illogical extremes.

Though I haven't had 2 months of inactivity to fill, I have enjoyed a relatively "Summer of George"-esque week. What do I have to show for it?

• The International is a must-rent DVD. I loved Clive Owen as the badass mo' fo' in Children of Men and Shoot 'Em Up!, and he brings that same attitude to this well crafted political thriller. Three words to sum it up: AWESOME. MUSEUM. SCENE. 2.5 PB Jars
  
  
• Interview with the Vampire doesn't hold a candle to more recent pop-culture vampire incarnations. This was my first time seeing the 1994 Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt novel adaptation, and I was hoping for more (especially given Entertainment Weekly's recent ranking of Lestat as the #1 greatest vampire). Cruise and Pitt both provide good performances if you've never seen the film -- and it's funny to watch Kirsten Dunst "vamp" it up -- but HBO's "True Blood" cast puts Lestat and company to shame. 1.5 PB Jars
  
  
• Return of the King's additional content is well worth the extra 40 minutes of your life. As shocking as that might sound, given that the running time of the theatrical cut is over 3 hours, I thought several of the deleted scenes were spectacular. My favorite: the confrontation between Aragorn and a monstrous (perhaps "Guellermo Del Torovian") envoy of Sauron outside the gates of Mordor. 3 PB Jars
  
  
• Speaking of fantasy epics, Willow is still great fun. This 1988 Ron Howard/George Lucas film was one of the defining movies of my childhood and holds up surprisingly well. The first 40 minutes are a great mix of humor, action, sentimentality, and even horror (the dog attack). One of Val Kilmer's best roles, IMHO. Watch the making-of featurette to learn that Willow also played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi (shocker) and see Ron Howard rock the Cosby sweater/goofy mustache combo. 2 PB Jars
  
  
• Push is a new-release DVD that had some things going for it. For a rather played-out concept (individuals with super powers band together against evil g-men), it felt fresh with Fantastic 4's Chris Evans and teenaged Dakota Fanning running the show. Neither of them is a great actor, but they play well off each other. Granted, Push feels like a Jumper re-tread (just substitute Evans's reluctant hero for Hayden Christensen's, and Djimon Honsou dogged pursuer for Samuel L. Jackson's), but it's a decent DVD popcorn flick nonetheless. 1.5 PB Jars
  
  
• I FINALLY saw The Hangover after weeks of hearing the buzz. It didn't live up to my elevated expectations but it provided many laughs. I don't know how I feel about Todd Phillips recycling the same comedy screenplay formula; we've seen these characters and this plot structure in Old School and elsewhere. But what's a lazy summer without a heaping portion of juvenile humor? 1.5 PB Jars