R0BTRAIN's Top Five Must See 2005 Summer Movies

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The summertime is better than Christmas for movie fans. Every year, the studios roll out their big guns of screen entertainment and we line up around the corner to eat it up. Unfortunately, for the last couple of years, the summertime has meant big screen disappointment. For every Spiderman 2, there were twelve stinkers like Day After Tomorrow and Aliens Vs. Predator. Things are finally looking up this year. This year marks the end of the most successful franchise of all time with Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Sith would actually top this list if it weren’t for a mandate disallowing Star Wars due to the fact that it would have just been on all our lists. I supposed if this feature were called Insidepulse’s Top 5 Star Wars movies we’re looking forward to then it would be on there, but oh well. This summer promises a bountiful amount of great films to peruse in theaters. Just barely missing this list is the new Jet Li film, Unleashed, and The Island, despite that film being directed Michael Bay. All five films below seem to be surefire winners. You get five great directors with strong projects. This summer could be the best ever when all is said and done. Here’s my Top 5.


1: War of the Worlds
Steven Spielberg is probably my favorite living director. He’s given me childhood memories and joys that only George Lucas could even hope to match. From Jaws to Raiders of the Lost Ark to E.T. Spielberg has churned out some of the best Hollywood Entertainment ever. Despite directing some of the most entertaining films of the last few years with Minority Report and Catch Me if You Can, El Spielbergo seems to have lost some of his popularity with audiences. Missteps like A.I. and Hook haven’t helped his cause, but this is the same director of Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. War of the Worlds could end up being the best film of the summer, as it looks to be a mix of both older Spielberg (aliens and an emphasis on regular families) and newer Spielberg (working with top stars, tons of CGI). The studio is keeping the project under wraps as much as possible, but I think Spielberg really has something big in store.


2: Batman Begins
Of all the things I’ve regretted about the new Comic Book movie boom that we’re in the midst of, it’s that D.C. Comics hasn’t made a dent in it. While I’ve loved the X-Men and Spiderman movies as well as Sin City and Hellboy, I’ve always been a D.C. Comics guy at heart. I grew up watching and reading Superman and Batman movies and comics, so I’m stoked that the Caped Crusader is finally coming back to theatres. On top of that, the movie is taking a Batman: Year One-grim and gritty type of tone that the Batman films have always needed. All in all, Batman Begins has the best mix of stars and director since Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner first teamed up in 1978. Why Warner Brothers hadn’t tried to put something so obviously right together before is beyond me.


3: Kingdom of Heaven
One of the great summer movie experiences I’ve had in my lifetime was Gladiator. I hadn’t seen a good sword epic since Braveheart, and Ridley Scott’s film really filled the void. Of course since then, the epics have flowed like wine with good ones such as The Last Samurai and Cold Mountain, and the more recent terrible ones like Troy and the God awful Alexander. I’m hoping Scott gets the genre back on its feet after the bad taste left in my mouth from sword and sandals in 2004. Kingdom of Heaven looks absolutely beautiful and it finally seems like a good film about the Crusades is coming to the screen. Hopefully as far as summertime epics go, lets hope this film is more Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan than Pearl Harbor or The Patriot.


4: Cinderella Man
Every summer seems to have that one drama pop up and give you a great hit. Films like Road to Perdition and Eyes Wide Shut provided a kind of counter programming to big budget summer spectacle. Director Ron Howard and Russell Crowe are doing a proper follow-up to their Oscar winning collaboration with A Beautiful Mind and it looks great. Thrown Paul Giamatti and Oscar winner Renee Zellweggar and we could be looking at this film again come Academy time next year. The film looks fantastic and the type of moving, non-controversial film that Hollywood needs right now. Its nice to see a film coming out with class among the action heavyweights.

5: Land of the Dead
There are those signature films in the Horror genre. Alien, The Exorcist, and Jaws have all been indelible films in Horror that have gone on to spawn several sequels to varying degrees. Arguably one the most influential Horror films of the last 50 years has been Night of the Living Dead. The film is the Citizen Kane of Zombie movies and paved the way for two classic sequels and countless other pictures featuring the walking dead. Now with the reemergence of the Zombie film after the Dawn of the Dead remake, Shaun of the Dead, and 28 Days Later, George Romero returns to his fabled series. Hopefully this film won’t suffer the critical drubbing of George Lucas’ long awaited return. Romero has been trying to get this film off the ground for years. Hopefully now that it’s coming to fruition, Land of the Dead will be worth the wait.

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.