The June Lineup!
We’re just weeks away from the kickoff of the summer movie season, and from the looks of the box office over the weekend, audiences could be gearing up to invade multiplexes for this year’s offerings. Even with terrible reviews, Vin Diesel’s return to action cinema seemed to go off without a hitch, so it looks like he may still have some star power after all, even if this movie is pretty much the same quality as his last few sequels. With Observe and Report, State of Play, and Crank 2: High Voltage, April still has flicks that look to make some noise as we get ramped up for this year’s popcorn extravaganza.
Speaking of the big summer flicks, it was revealed this week that a work-print for X-Men Origins: Wolverine was leaked onto the net, and if I were Fox I think I would pretty much be going crazy at this point. Wolverine represents the big tent pole release for Fox this year, and if it tanks I would say the studio is in big trouble, and whether the movie is twenty minutes short or not, I’ve got to say that this thing being out there can’t really help it at all. I mean, I’m waiting to see the movie on the big screen, but I’m sure many will not, especially with this thing being DVD quality.
This is on top of 20th Century Fox getting some pretty bad press as of late due to their dispute with Regal Cinemas over whether they should pay extra for 3-D movies, getting lambasted for not including special features on new rental DVDs and then sending many of those copies instead of the regular extra-laden copies of Slumdog Millionaire to retail stores last week. To make matters worse, the only prominent journalist to review this pirated copy of Wolverine was Fox News columnist Roger Friedman, who doesn’t work for the movie studio, but was an employee under the umbrella of Fox nonetheless. An employee who was subsequently let go.
It’s a pretty interesting story, especially considering that it seems that Fox is in a bit of a tailspin lately, with 2008’s big offerings like Australia and The Day the Earth Stood Still absolutely falling flat at the box office. Wolverine still seems to be a surefire hit for the studio, but it remains to be seen whether this will impact the movie’s box office appeal or not. Also, is this some kind of karmic justice for making us all sit through the two awful Fantastic Four movies, Daredevil, Elektra, and X-Men: The Last Stand? I guess we’ll see.
Well, onto this week’s installment of my preview. Now, off the bat, I’ll say that June doesn’t seem to come anywhere close to the possible caliber of movie we could see in May, but there’s some interesting releases nonetheless.
Rob’s Summer Movie Preview, Part 2
June 5th
The Hangover – Todd Phillips has made a career of making movies about men behaving badly, with Old School, Road Trip, and Starsky & Hutch under his belt (Remember that weird “dragon” cameo by Will Ferrell?), and The Hangoverlooks to be more of the same, but so what? If this movie is half as funny as Old School, then bring it on.
Could this Suck? – I hate to say this, but yes, and the main reason why is co-star Zach Galifianakis. Now don’t get me wrong. I love Zach Galifianakis. The guy is absolutely hilarious and his stand up is some of the best I’ve seen in a long time, so I really want this to be great. On the other hand, the movie career of Galifianakis has been a wasteland so far, with flicks like What Happens in Vegas, Out Cold, andCorky Romano making the actor about as solid as finding oil after a nuclear holocaust. Again, I think the guy is as talented a comedian as you can find, but he’ll do anything to be in a movie. Anything.
Could this be Awesome? – Did I mention Zach Galifianakis is in this thing?! Sure, he hasn’t had a solid movie outing yet, but there’s a first time for everything! Seriously though, I’m a fan of Bradley Cooper, Jeffrey Tambor, and Ed Helms, all of whom appear in this thing and look to all be hilarious. Helms especially has been killing lately on The Office, and I’d love for him to have the type of breakout success that his Office costar Steve Carell was able to have with Anchorman and 40-Year Old Virgin.
Land of the Lost – Will Ferrell has been less than consistent since he hit it big, with movies like Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy, Step Brothers and Talladega Nights being some of my most often quoted movies of the last few years, but others like Bewitched and Kicking and Screaming being less than forgettable.
Could this Suck? I honestly can’t say which category this one is going into, but I’m afraid it’ll end up in the latter. I’m not sure Ferrell is the kind of comedian who can pull off the family friendly movie, and really, do we want him to? Also, this thing has Danny McBride in it, but I assume he’s not going to be the awesomely foul mouthed version we usually get to see.
Could this be Awesome? – I really just don’t know. Ferrell and McBride have almost made me piss my pants laughing before, but still I’m not sure how much potential is here. Then again, the 8 year-old me does love dinosaurs, so there’s a plus.
June 12th
Dead Snow – This is a limited release, but how many Swedish made Nazi Zombie movies do we get every year?
Could this Suck – Now I’ve looked high and low, and I have yet to really find a really satisfying Nazi Zombie flick. You would think this would be a slam dunk, but no one’s seemed to really put the definitive Nazi Zombie movie together, even Shock Waves, which features Gran Moff Tarkin himself, Peter Cushing. It could be that a really entertaining Nazi Zombie movie is impossible to make.
Could this be Awesome? – I really hope so. The trailer for this thing looks awesome, with a bunch of teenagers skiing for the weekend only to be interrupted and terrorized by these undead fascists. Combining the best two types of villains in movie history, Nazis and Zombies, eventually one of these movies will have to be awesome.
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 – This remake of the solid 1974 Thriller does reunite Tony Scott with Denzel Washington, the star of some of the director’s best films, including Man on Fire and Crimson Tide. Denzel plays an NYC subway dispatcher who is on the job when one of his subway trains gets hijacked by John Travolta.
Could this Suck? – Tony Scott isn’t my favorite of the Scott brothers, with Ridley being the one who has directed some of my favorite movies of all time, and Tony being the guy who has worked with Jerry Bruckheimer a lot over the years. Also, this thing has John Travolta in it, and when was the last time this guy made a really good movie? Honestly, hasn’t it been close to a decade?
Could this be Awesome? – I actually revisited Man on Fire recently, which ended up being way better than I remember, and I remember liking it quite a bit. Denzel Washington is a hell of a leading man, and the guy just keeps putting out one good movie after another, even in smaller flicks like Out of Time which is really solid. With Washington in the movie, I can’t see this being a total failure.
June 19th
Year One – Jack Black and Michael Cera get to goofball it up as prehistoric men who go on an epic journey after getting banished from their village. Director Harold Ramis doesn’t have a 100% track record or anything, but he does have some legit comedy classics under his belt, from co-writing the Ghostbusters movies to directing Groundhog Day and Caddyshack.
Could this Suck? – I love Jack Black, but the guy can really be hit or miss with his schtick. I liked School of Rock and Tropic Thunder, but movie’s like Be Kind Rewind, Nacho Libre and Envy are all a big pile of “meh” in my opinion. When all is said and done, I don’t know that Black has ever really topped his performance in High Fidelity.
Could this be Awesome? – It seems like Michael Cera can’t be stopped, and Ramis looks like the type of director who can really get Black to play to his strengths and maybe reign him in when he needs to. Also, this flick has a supporting cast featuring the likes of Paul Rudd, Vinnie Jones, Hank Azaria, David Cross, and Ramis himself, so we’re talking about a cast that is pretty fantastic all around. I think this one’s a winner.
June 24th
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Alright, let’s face it, we all thought the first movie was going to be three shades of awful, but then turned out to somehow be really watchable. Somehow, Michael Bay turned in one of the least despicable movies he’s ever made, the movie had some of the best special effects I’ve ever seen, and now he’s promising more action and more giants robots.
Could this Suck? – Who knows? Ordinarily, I would say this was almost a definite. Bad Boys II, Pearl Harbor, and Armageddon all represent some of the most atrocious summer blockbusters I’ve ever seen. They can be gorgeous to look at, but can also be some of the most insulting excuses for entertaining ever committed to celluloid.
Could this be Awesome? – I would really like it to be. The trailer for it looks awesome, and I can’t help but love the sight of giant robots fighting it out. With the inclusion of Devastator, this thing could be one of the most rock’em sock’em good times of the summer, and be Bay’s best movie since The Rock. Giants robots fighting is all we need, and hopefully this movie knows that.
Alright, well that’s it for this week, see you guys next time.
