Summer of '08: Tropic Thunder, Mirrors, Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Our final week.

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Welcome to the final week of Summer of '08! After taking a little break last week (the only missed week all summer, coinciding with my summer vacation week on the site), I've had some time to reflect on how I wanted to wrap up this series. You see, so many movies were released in these "last" two weeks of summer, many of which would be eligible for this column: Tropic Thunder, Fly Me to the Moon, Mirrors, Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Rocker, Death Race, Hamlet 2, The House Bunny, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and The Longshots. Yeah, I bet you forgot about at least half of those movies.

And I am, after all, only one man. Trying to tackle all of that would be ridiculous. I decided that I wanted to choose three that would be representative of the Summer of '08, perhaps as a culminating piece. So that's what I have for you this week: a they-don't-make-'em-like-this-anymore comedy, a forgotten genre flick, and a tentpole universe-expander that helped change the way we make and see movies.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film ever. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.

August 13, 2008

Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise
cinematography by John Toll
music by Theodore Shapiro
screenplay by Justin Theroux, Ben Stiller, Etan Cohen
produced by Stuart Cornfeld, Ben Stiller, Eric McLeod
directed by Ben Stiller