Monsters, Zombies and Maniacs

From a summer blockbuster standpoint, this past weekend was better than average.

While few would argue that "Monsters University" was among Pixar's greatest works, I'd argue that only those with grinch-like tendencies would completely blow it off.

And while this prequel is not as good as 2001's "Monsters, Inc.," it is consistently entertaining, funny, witty and, often, moving without being sentimental. It's my favorite studio summer movie so far.

"World War Z" may not rank with the best of its genre, which would include George Romero's first two "Dead" movies and Danny Boyle's haunting "28 Days Later." But it's a well crafted, frequently intense and thoughtful enough big budget zombie picture.

The excessively gory and gimmicky remake of William Lustig's notorious 1980 cult classic "Maniac" is, on the other hand, relentlessly unpleasant. Its hypnotic electronic score is virtually the only element worth recommending.

I was far from a fan of Lustig's original, but I could at least admire its gritty perception of 1980s New York as hell on earth as well as its riding the coattails of films that came before it, such as "Taxi Driver," and paving the way for such disturbing Gotham tales as "Ms. 45" and "Combat Shock."

This new version, on the other hand, is merely scuzzy and an all-around feel bad experience of epic proportions.

Here are my Patch reviews.

By the way, anybody see last night's "Mad Men" finale. Wowzers. In one single episode, Matthew Weiner may have completely changed directions for the show's upcoming - and final - seventh son. Nicely done, I must say. It was personally my favorite episode of the season.

This coming weekend, I'll catch Pedro Almodovar's "I'm So Excited," Neil Jordan's "Byzantium," "The Heat" and "White House Down."