As summer comes to an end, the studios throw the last of their blockbusters into theatres hoping for a fast buck before the prestige season sets in and good to great films start populating the theatres.

Right now, the pickings are pretty slim as it seems there is nothing but garbage polluting the theatres at the moment. For the record, I refuse to review Bratz on basic principal so you will not see it here. It was bad enough I had to sit through this trio of trash. Right now it is a depressing time to be a film critic.

The one thing I can never get back is the time wasted watching a bad film. Sitting in the dark with other members of the press, no one laughing, no one leaving (not allowed), but all wondering how in God’s name the film we are watching was ever made in the first place and which young suit at the studio green-lit the thing in the first place? Bad movies make me appreciate the good ones, of that there is little doubt, and almost always have me running for the DVD shelf to remind myself that indeed good movies still exist.

Last week three stinkers were dropped into theatres and should make an early exit.
 

Underdog is just that... a dog of a movie. Based on the cartoon series of the 60s and 70s, the film explores a dog attaining super powers and becoming a super hero in the mode of Superman. Bad one liners, every possible stupid dog joke and lame special effects dominate this mess of a movie that looks more like a dog’s breakfast than a movie. Not once did I laugh, not once did I even think the film was remotely charming because all the while I was reminded by the terrible acting, directing and writing how truly terrible it is.

A few years ago actor Cuba Gooding Jr. won an Academy Award for best supporting actor in Jerry Maguire (1996) a film that also should have earned Tom Cruise that elusive Oscar. Gooding Jr. made one of the most impressive and beloved acceptance speeches in years, memorable now because that seems to be the last great performance he has given. In the years since the Oscar we have watched his career go steadily down the toilet. So now he takes over for Eddie Murphy in Daddy Day Camp, a sequel of sorts to Daddy Day Care (2003), a mildly successful movie made a few years ago. Upon discovering that the camp of his childhood has been run into the ground, Charlie (Gooding Jr.) decides to take it over. We then run into all the stock movie problems in a comedy of this nature, including the bank move to foreclose, a swankier camp run by someone Charlie despises, and of course nature and every sort of potty joke you can imagine. Dumb, dumb, dumb and not even once funny. Gooding Jr. is a good actor, of that there is no doubt, but what has happened to him? Is this really the best he is being offered?

And finally we have an attempt at a love story called No Reservations which deals with feuding cooks who, of course, fall in love with one another against all odds. Could be cute right? Nope and that is one big nope. There is no chemistry between Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart at all, not a spark, not a flicker. They bomb and washout the film. Not even Abigail Breslin, the bright light from Little Miss Sunshine (2006), can save this under cooked mess of a movie.

Running from the theatres I entered the sanctuary of my home and grabbed Cold  Mountain (2003) on DVD to remind myself that indeed there are good films out there. I then watched Mystic River (2003) for further proof and settled down to prepare for the Toronto International Film Festival where movies are good again.