The Other Summer Movies

Maybe it is the byproduct of working at an art house theatre and seeing the attendance drop off year after year as the "Summer Movie Season" begins, but I'm starting to get fed up. Regulars who come to the theatre week after week disappear for a few months as they soak up all the latest and "greatest" Hollywood has to offer. Once they finally return, conversations always take place about how bad these event films continue to be.

Sure, there are some exceptions to this statement, The Dark Knight comes to mind, but most of the "Summer Movie Season" goes through the same cycle year after year. It's similar to the "Fall Movie Season" in which there is buzz about how amazing and award worthy films are. Remember last year when The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Doubt were "shoe-in's" for all the major awards? All the hype leading up to X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Terminator Salvation telling us how huge and awesome they are going to be, I'm sure they will end up with terrible reviews and generate only a handful of die hard fans.

So, while the Hollywood box office is covered as if it were news and films grossing $80 million in one weekend are looked on as "disappointments", there are always great films that go by unnoticed. There is a whole host of interesting, if not downright amazing films, that are being independently released and not finding the audience they deserve, until the DVD's are passed around. Here are some recommendations that range from interesting to downright mind-blowing. They are sure to give you a much better film diet over the next few months.

The Other Summer Movies.

The Brothers Bloom
Away We Go
Tyson
Moon
Lemon Tree
Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Outrage
Food Inc
500 Days of Summer
In The Loop
Paper Heart
Dead Snow
The Hurt Locker
The Cove
Precious