The Sunday Drive: 7/3/11

3. Cars 2
Join Lightning McQueen and his rusty buddy Tow Mater as they travel the world, visit exotic places, meet new faces, and even save the world a time or two. Pixar's biggest globe-trotting adventure yet.
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
I don't believe in "shut your brain off" flicks, but I do believe in summer "popcorn movies". Michael Bay is the master of such things, forgoing script to bring us an event driven utterly and completely by action and special effects. But what special effects they are! Bay's use of 3D brings the scope and size of the Autobot/Decpepticon war into stunning focus. And did I mention Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is a definite upgrade over Megan Fox?

1. Beginners
Writer/director Mike Mills approached the subject of arrested development in his last film, Thumbsucker, but with Beginners it's just one of a myriad of ideas that comprise a beautiful, heartbreaking, and hopeful story. Ewan McGregor plays Oliver, a man struggling to understand  his recently deceased father(Christopher Plummer), who came out as homosexual at the age of 75 and lived the last few years of his life to the fullest.  As Oliver attempts to find his own happiness, he meets a flighty young actress(Melanie Laurent) who helps change his perspective on life, and to move on from the past. From the start, Beginners is clearly a deeply personal story, based on the life of Mills' own father. But there's also a surprising amount of deeply informed humor and not a small amount of quirkiness(Oliver's dog speaks in subtitles). A welcome respite from the superheroes and giant robots. 

DVD Pick of the Week: Sucker Punch
Misunderstood? Misrepresented? Or is Zack Snyder's often confusing mix of genres a legitimate disaster as some would say? I think those who are quick to shun the film as little more than fanboy fantasy with big robots, big guns, and big tits aren't looking closely enough. And yet if that's how you want to enjoy as just escapist fare, then it works on that level as well. This is pure untapped Zack Snyder, with crazy insane visuals and some scenes that look like they were pulled out of his weirdest fever dreams.