This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: August 11, 2008 - Maybe the calendar says that there are five weeks or so before the end of summer, but anyone whose life is affected in any way by the school year knows that summer is almost over, autumnal equinox or no autumnal equinox.
And how will we look back on the movies of the summer of '08, the hits, the misses, the embarrassments?
Over the next few days, I'm going to look back (or, in most cases, take my first look) at the major releases of the last few weeks - or as many as I can take. (I've already put my two cents in on the subject of "The Dark Knight" and "Mamma Mia!" ).
Let's start with something of a surprise. Take a 45-year-old superhero who probably didn't have a place on anyone's list of favorite comic-book heroes, a relatively untested director best known for having written the independent comedy "Swingers" (no CGI there) and cast a brilliant, underappreciated actor who's received more publicity over the last decade for his personal troubles than for his acting. The result, "Iron Man," may not be the most ambitious or groundbreaking film of its type, but it was a sharp and witty variation of the usual comic-book heroics, thanks entirely to Robert Downey Jr. and to a script that brings a touch of real-world political science to the Marvel character.
By keeping the CGI bus-throwing to a minimum and concentrating on the character of Tony Stark, an egotistical war profiteer who ends up near death and forced to build the armored suit that keeps him alive, "Iron Man" turned into an unexpectedly clever superhero film, and one of the few that rests less on our preconceptions about the hero than on the strength of the actor playing him.