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Fall lineup looks like summer all over again

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Story: Media Critic Tom Maurstad's picks for fall

In this age of global warming, we're used to hearing talk about bigger, more powerful storms and longer, hotter summers. And now that trend seems to be hitting movie theaters. Traditionally, summer was the hot season of big movies, full of action and special effects, while fall was the cool season of small movies, full of stars and award-winning acting and filmmaking.

But this looks like the year that Indian summer hits Hollywood, turning fall into a second summer of big, noisy films. As cable networks push the small-screen industry into a new model of year-round television, the boom in media platforms and sources of entertainment appears to be pushing Hollywood toward an all-year summer mode. Just look at what's coming.

Eagle Eye is an action thriller starring Hollywood's latest Young Prince, Shia LaBeouf, that has all the flash and heat of a summer movie. Max Payne is an action-hero film based on the popular video game and starring hunka-hunka Mark Wahlberg. Then there's the third installment of that fireballs-and-fistfights franchise, Transporter 3. And while November has become the traditional release month for new James Bond installments, the Nov. 7 release of Quantum of Solace (worst title ever?), with its spectacle of high-speed chases and screen-filling explosions, will certainly have the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving feeling a lot like July.

Adding to the summerization of fall, look for a couple of family-friendly, school's-out releases. If you've been to a movie lately, you've no doubt seen the trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua, the talking-dog comedy coming Oct. 3, about a socialite Chihuahua that gets stranded in Acapulco. And on Nov. 7, parents who couldn't get a baby sitter can skip Quantum of Solace and take the kids to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

Published in The Dallas Morning News: 08.29.08