Joe's weekly film news

Carol Burnett. (Credit: AP photo)

North Central High School graduate Ali Bell’s new film “Post Grad” opens this week. The film stars Alexis Bledel, Michael Keaton and Carol Burnett, and Bell served as associate producer on the film. She seems to be building herself a nice solid future in Hollywood, so keep an eye out for her name in the credits!

On another note, did anyone catch local filmmaker Christopher Allen’s screenings at Gen Con? Several of his movies were screened together. You might know Chris from fanfilms “Star Trek Vs. Batman” and “Quantum Leap: A Leap to Di For,” and the film “A Time for the Heart.” If you missed the Gen Con screenings or just want to check out his films, take a look at them at the RACSO Films website: http://www.racsofilms.com/

So am I the only one who thought 2009 was just about the worst summer movie season ever? Sure, the movies made some money, but in terms of quality the best films of the season were “Star Trek,” “Up,” (both of which came out in May), and “The Hangover,” which was something of a sleeper hit. It seems like everything from “Transformers,” “Wolverine,” “Terminator” “G.I. Joe” and even the previously untouchable “Harry Potter” films had more negative buzz than usual. My count is three really good movies, and most everything else was middling to bad.

I’m blaming last fall’s writer’s strike for the mess, especially since the issues with most all of those films were in the screenplay. Writers weren’t allowed to work during that time, so most of those scripts languished as the summer clock was ticking down, leading to a rash of bad movies.

Anyone think I’m off base here? Anyone agree?