Groovy movies from summers gone by

Ah, summertime. That magical time of year when the gods of intelligence forsake us and turn a blind eye as such horrors as Scary Movie and The Patriot are unleashed. For those who have grown tired of staring at the perfectly chiseled features of Heath Ledger or into the utter vacancy of his eyes, don't waste your hard-earned money on more of the same in theatres. Instead, try renting some of these gems from summers past.

About A Boy

Toni Collete plays a liberal, offbeat, depressed single-mother, Fiona. Nicholas Hoult plays her son, Marcus, an odd 12-year-old boy with the freakiest eyebrows ever seen. Hugh Grant, as always, plays himself. Comedy is in the air.

Grant's character is Will, a conceited man whose only goal in life is to be as useless as possible to everyone and avoid any kind of serious commitment while still shagging lots of hot women. After his idea of a perfect relationship with a single mother ends, Will gets the idea that single moms are the dates of the future. He fabricates a two-year-old son and joins Single Parents Alone Together (SPAT), where he meets Fiona, Marcus and the end of his superficial existence.

The quirky screenplay adapted from Nick Hornby's brilliant novel isn't as laugh-out-loud funny as the book. The comedy is more subtle than forthright. Will sets out to transform Marcus from school misfit to a conformist "sheep." Through Marcus' coolification, however, some of his depth rubs off on the befuddled Will. Their interplay is charming, and their scenes are often very amusing. About A Boy is an atypical comedy that deserves a place in every home movie collection.

Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge is one of the most creative gems to emerge from Hollywood in years. It's artistic, captivating, exciting and tragic, not to mention intelligent, a rarity among summer films.

Moulin Rouge borrows elements from both history and pop culture. Though the songs featured in the film are by contemporary artists, including Nirvana, The Police and David Bowie, the plot harkens back to operas like La Traviata and La Boheme. From this hack 'n slash of past and present emerges a whirlwind of color and vivacity.

Ewan McGregor plays Christian, a writer who comes to Paris for inspiration and falls into the decadent underworld of a nightclub called the Moulin Rouge. There, he falls in love with the courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), and they engage in a passionate love affair while he writes a play to be performed at the club. But the requisite bad guy (Richard Roxburgh) forces Christian and Satine to conceal their romance.

The production design for Moulin Rouge is incredible. Director Baz
Luhrman, once again displaying the adeptness at visual appeal he showed with Romeo and Juliet, fills the screen with colors and jewels (not the least of which are the fairly attractive leads) that bedazzle the senses. The fast-paced camera keeps the tension high even when the movie's plot slows down.

Though lacking the most powerful voices in the land, Kidman and McGregor display enough earnestness in their scenes together to carry their roles and not be swamped by the extravagance surrounding them. Moulin Rouge affords the rare opportunity for an audience to witness the coming together of a film in all its elements, both technical and performance-based.

Minority Report

While George Lucas may have lost his gift for science fiction, Stephen Spielberg still manages to churn out a good one. Minority Report is based on the short story by Phillip Dick. Like Blade Runner, another movie based off of a Dick story, Minority Report is about a dystopic world and the complacent people who accept its wrongs. Unlike Blade Runner, it's a good movie.

Tom Cruise is John Anderton, a cop in an agency that uses psychics to stop murders by arresting the perpetrators before the deed is done. Of course, all sorts of moral questions are raised about whether preemptive arrests are justifiable, but Anderton isn't concerned with such petty details. Unfortunately for Anderton, the tables turn when the psychics predict that he will murder a man he doesn't know. He goes on the run, leading the Pre-Crime team across one of the best science fiction landscapes in recent memory. Cars go up and down buildings, cereal boxes are animated. No idea is too big, no detail is too small for Spielberg to have included in his film. There are some simply amazing scenes that pull together the futuristic and human elements of the film. It's one of the coolest, most organized screenplays from Spielberg, and with a trick ending, it keeps the audience guessing the whole way.

X-Men

Every summer needs a new superhero save the world and their token female love interests from its resident evildoers/belligerent gelatinous blobs, and the X-Men are some of the grooviest superheroes to come out of Marvel. First, there are lots of them, so the movie doesn't get boring with repetitious action sequences. Second, there's a purpose to the movie beyond eye-candy.

The idea of X-Men is that humanity is advancing to the next stage of evolution; people are being born with genetic mutations, like super-strength, healing powers and the ability to shoot death beams from their eyes. Unfortunately, normal humans are frightened by mutant presence, and a bill is being put to Congress to register all mutants and restrict their activities. Bad mutants want to kill off humanity. Good mutants want to stop them. Conflict ensues.

Surprisingly, X-Men does a fairly good job of sticking with the issue of rights versus security that is at the center of the film's conflict. While this conflict does take a second seat to Hugh Jackman running around without his shirt, it doesn't just vanish.

Another bonus for X-Men is that producers Lauren Donner, Ralph Winter and Richard Donner figured out one very important element: acting. Patrick Stewart (Professor X) and Ian McKellan (Magneto) could make a dish detergent commercial and it would still sound like Shakespeare. X-Men keeps enough of the comic books' style to provide some fun campiness, but doesn't sacrifice the entire film to it. It also distinctly paves away for the smashing sequel, in theatres now.