The Movie Story of Summer 2008

"Iron Man?" Nah.
"Sex and the City?" A very big deal for its audience, to be sure, but not the No.1 item on the list.
"Get Smart?" "Journey to the Center of the Earth?" "Kung Fu Panda?" Surely, you jest.
"Wall-E?" A wonderful movie, but hardly the big movie story of the summer.
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?" It wasn't even the movie story of the summer the first time around.
The box-office flopperoo of "Speed Racer?" Nope. It was a radical enough movie in its way to make it more than possible the first time anyone laid eyes on it.
The movie story of the summer has long seemed to be Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight." His death in January insured that.
See today's story leading off this week's Spotlight Section. And tell us what you think.
--Jeff Simon