The Summer is almost here! What’s coming out?
Is it just me, or does it seem really weird to anyone else that Fast and Furious is coming out this weekend? Now, speaking as a person who doesn’t even like this series and considers Rob Cohen’s original The Fast and the Furious a movie that should have been called The Dull and The Boring, it still surprises me that Vin Diesel’s first real return to action movies isn’t coming out during what is routinely considered the summer movie season. Then again, maybe the movie’s film makers and the folks at Universal would prefer to compete in the usually wide-open April rather than face the big boys of summer.
So with me feeling lazy this week, April looking like a bit of a bust for the next few weeks, and my favorite movie time of the year coming up in a month, I thought I’d go ahead and get a head start on my annual preview of what I’m looking forward to during the dog days. Now, while last year ended up being one of the best summer seasons of my whole life, with the triumphant Dark Knight leading the way, this year is looking more and more like a bit of a crapshoot. I’ve rarely seen a summer where the lineup featured more directors looking to have something to prove and more franchises that looked to bounce back a bit.
2009 has been solid so far (Taken, Watchmen, I Love You, Man), but not bulletproof either (The Unborn, Hotel for Dogs, Miss March), so this summer could really tip the scales either way when we look back at this year. Hopefully, the big guns come up huge, and we’ll have a whole line-up of “go-to” guys for some really great popcorn. Alright, now on with the show…
Rob’s Summer Movie Preview
May 1st
X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Hugh Jackman goes back at least one more time to the franchise that made him a star. If this is his last time as the ol’Canucknucklehead, let’s hope we get to see Wolvie go out with a bang. Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Taylor Kitsch as Gambit at least look good on paper, and Liev Schreiber just plain old looks awesome as the second coming of Sabertooth.
Could this Suck? – Well, after going from good (X-Men) to great (X2), this series went Ratner with its third movie, ended up wasting The Phoenix Saga as well as nearly every bit of good will I had for it. Director Gavin Hood has some decent cred as a film maker, but has never really had a huge summer blockbuster like this before. With X-Men needing a homerun in order to keep this franchise afloat, we’re still waiting to see if this movie is really going to have the goods. I like a lot of the casting and I’ve always been a fan of Jackman’s Wolverine, but what the hell is that white mutant with the blades sticking out of his arms and Cyclops’ eye beams? The last one made money, but lost a lot of this series’ momentum, let’s hope this one isn’t actually The Last Stand for the X-Men.
Could this be Awesome? – The more I see of those trailers, the more I’m excited to get to see Wolverine in action during The Civil War and WWII than I am any other thing in this movie. I can only hope that this is more than just a montage and we get some real character development and awesome action scenes during this period in the movie. Also, I’m hoping this one can really set the bar for this series in terms of superhero fighting. I like the Wolverine/Deathstrike smack-down from the second movie, but other than that, this series doesn’t hold a candle to the costumed battles of the Spider-Man series or the epic showdowns of the Blade movies or Watchmen. With Deadpool, Sabertooth, Wolverine, and the Blob in the mix, this one could really have some memorable fisticuffs.
May 8th
Star Trek – As the summer draws nearer, I find myself getting more excited for this movie than maybe anything else that is coming out. Star Trek runs pretty deep in my geek love, not matching, but hovering around the same area that my obsessions for Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, and 007 all hang out. Star Trek is a show I grew up on, Wrath of Khan is an institution at my house, Star Trek: The Next Generation is one of my favorite series of all time. Then again, who are all these new guys?
Could this Suck? – Well, while I do like Mission: Impossible III, I still have some major problems with it, and J.J. Abrams is a brilliant creator but still untested as a blockbuster director in my eyes. Now the guy is in charge of resurrecting Star Trek for a whole new generation, but who knows how well these casting choices will hold up, and will this still feel like a Star Trek movie? As much as I love Star Wars, I don’t want Trek to become a clone of it either. It’s a series that has always managed to stay its own thing, and I worry that the film makers may not know exactly what that is. Lastly, this is an odd-numbered Star Trek film and we all know what that means.
Could this be Awesome? – Have you seen that trailer? Star Trek looks to be the biggest, most awesomely exciting movie to come out all summer. This thing is epic, and getting to see huge space battles, giant monsters, as well as seeing Kirk and Spock kick ass again will being an amazing treat. Through the failure at the box office of the last two movies, and the cancellation of Enterprise, the franchise has been adrift for some time, and it’s just going to be nice to see a Star Trek entry of any kind right now. Hopefully this will lead to more movies and more TV shows in no time. Frankly though, there was a part of me that always wished to see the original Star Trek crew back together again on screen, but as the years and original actors started to pass, this has become more and more an impossibility. Well hopefully, this will be the next best thing.
May 21st
Terminator: Salvation – As a series, this franchise is all over the place. Starting small and then jumping to one of the biggest sequels ever, the series has jumped studios, directors, writers, from movies to TV show and back again, and now we get this new film starring Christian Bale, but possibly without Arnold Schwarzenegger. Set in the unavoidable future where man and machine fight for domination of Earth, new series director McG tries to set the stage for a whole new fan base of Terminator fans.
Could this Suck? – I have to say, when I first heard the prospect of this movie, I wasn’t very excited to hear the name McG attached to it. Versions of female terminators doing kung-fu and dancing to M.C. Hammer tunes filled my mind. Seriously though, have we had enough of this series? Terminator 3 isn’t actually beloved and the TV series seems to be on its last legs right now, plus without Arnie in it, is this actually a Terminator movie? The rest of the cast isn’t exactly filled with veterans either, and we just don’t know how much steam this series really has. Again though, McG is really unproven with an event movie like this and I just don’t know if he’s up to the challenge.
Could this be Awesome? – It was an odd moment hearing about this film at first, because at the same time I felt dread about McG, my mind exploded with the possibility of Christian Bale playing John Connor. Sure, he’s got some offscreen problems, but the guy is a bonafide movie star and I can’t think of better casting than his for this role. I’m also really REALLY excited to see this type of movie. We’ve seen post-apocalyptic movies before, but apparently nothing on this scale. The footage so far looks like this movie is going to do for Robot War flicks what Lord of the Rings did for Fantasy epics. This thing is huge, and the possibility of the film combining motifs from The Road Warrior and The Terminator is a combo I find hard to resist. By the end of this thing, The Matrix Trilogy could be a distant memory.
May 22nd
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian – I’ve avoided the first movie like the plague, so I’m probably not going to check this out.
Could this Suck? – I’m going to say yes.
Could this be Awesome? – I don’t really think so.
May 29th
Drag Me to Hell – I can’t really be the only one that’s been waiting for Sam Raimi to director something other than a Spider-Man film. I’m happy he’s found giant financial success, but I’m hoping this movie gives us back the Raimi that made us fans of his work to begin with. This supernatural horror has a young girl getting cursed and hopefully brings the sort of thrills that Raimi brought to Evil Dead 2 and The Gift.
Could this Suck? – Well Spider-Man 3 didn’t go so well, and that movie and this film were both co-written by Sam’s brother Ivan, whose real profession is to be a Practicing Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Mind you, he also helped write Army of Darkness but still this doesn’t really instill me with confidence.
Could this be Awesome? – The real reason to get behind this is Raimi coming back to the genre that made his name in the first place. Raimi is a horror movie master and film’s like A Simple Plan also show the guy can be an absolute genius behind the camera as well. Drag Me to Hell seems right up his alley, and I can’t wait to see the results.
Up – You ever get tired of seeing these awesome PIXAR movies? Yeah, me neither. Here we’ve got another surefire hit, but will their luck finally run out with this tale of an old miser who goes on a flying adventure without leaving his house?
Could this Suck? – I don’t really think so. Then again, until the last trailer they really didn’t show a lot as to what this movie is about either.
Could this be Awesome? – Coming from the most consistent studio on the face of the Earth, I would say it’s a high probability. I’m actually really curious to see this movie, because I’d like to see if co-director Pete Docter can make a follow-up to Monster’s Inc. that really shows that he has a bit of his own style when it comes to these movies. For years, I just kind of considered PIXAR movies to kind of all run together under this one banner of greatness, but if nothing else, entries from Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton have showed me that even amongst the mad geniuses at PIXAR, you can still have your own voice. I’d like to see Docter really get to show his own stamp this time out.
That’s a pretty great line-up for May. I’ll go ahead and stop here, but I’ll be back next week with a look at the next batch of blockbusters.
