Before anyone mentions it in the comments, yes, the summer doesn’t officially begin until June 21. But when it comes to the Summer Movie Season it begins when the first big blockbuster shows its face and this year that makes May 7 the official start of Summer with Paramount’s release of Iron Man 2 (5/7), which is only one of this summer’s sequels sure to challenge the box-office records, but is one of this summer’s sequels your most anticipated movie?
Other sequels include REC 2 (7/9), Sex and the City 2 (5/27), Shrek Forever After (5/21), Step Up 3D (8/6), Toy Story 3 (6/18) and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (6/30). There’s also the prequel/reboot Predators (7/9) and The Karate Kid (6/11) and Piranha 3D (8/27) remakes.
REC 2 is one I can’t wait for after seeing the excellent Spanish-language original. I’m interested in seeing Toy Story 3, though I can’t say I’m chomping at the bit, and while most people will poke fun at it, I expect Step Up 3D to be as fun as it is unnecessary. Don’t look for me to get excited about the geriatrics going on in Sex and the City and the Twilight franchise has disappointed me twice so far so I’m not raising any expectations for sparkly vampires and jealous werewolves.
Iron Man 2 is one to get excited about although the ending of the original, I felt, was a total bailout on a really fun film. From the little I’ve seen in the trailers for this sequel it looks like there is a lot of noticeable CGI, which never does much to move my expectation dial, that is until James Cameron decides to deliver Avatar 2.
Of the remake/reboot variety, Predators has some potential thanks to an interesting cast, though it’s one franchise that hasn’t done much to inspire confidence over the last few years with the failed attempts at Alien vs. Predator. Attempts that will hopefully be completely forgotten with Predators as well as Ridley Scott’s upcoming Untitled Alien Prequel.
I have no interest in The Karate Kid, but early screenings brought good buzz so it could be fun for the families. The one film in the remake/reboot stable I am truly anxious to see is Piranha 3-D. I really hope it lives up to my expectation as it’s the only 3D movie of the year I will make certain to see in 3D. Perhaps a Step Up and Piranha double feature is in order.
The Last Exorcism (8/27), Splice (6/4) and Survival of the Dead (5/28) join Piranha as the group of horror features over the next four months. While another exorcism film and another zombie movie from George A. Romero doesn’t really interest me, Splice is supposed to be excellent as it stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as the muck around with the genetic code and create a monster. I didn’t watch the new trailer in hopes of being entirely surprised in theaters, but you can right here.
This summer’s comedies need look no further than Get Him to the Greek (6/4), a film I’ve already seen and can tell you is quite funny. Also, and I am shocked by this, but I’m looking forward to MacGruber (5/21) and that’s only based on seeing the green band trailer, I haven’t watched the restricted stuff yet. No telling when I’ll be seeing it though as it hits theaters while I am in Cannes so I guess that review’ll have to wait.
I didn’t watch the trailer but reader and online reaction to the Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell trailer for The Other Guys (8/6) seemed to insinuate that was going to be a great cop comedy and the dramedy Cyrus (6/18) gives Jonah Hill a starring role in a film that came out of Sundance with a lot of buzz.
Speaking of Sundance, The Kids are All Right (7/7) and Winter’s Bone (6/11) got picked up out of the festival, both with good great reviews and both earning summer slots. Kids sounds like a solid dysfunctional family comedy and has something in common with Winter’s Bone with the “search for the biological father” theme, but Bone sounds like a far darker and less humor-filled drama.
The best of this summer’s dramas, however, I am expecting will be Get Low (7/30), which was recently announced as the closing night film at the Seattle Film Festival, and stars Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek. It was also at Sundance, but it was picked up much earlier than that and actually generated a lot of Oscar buzz at the end of 2009, which has now carried over to 2010 with Robert Duvall seeming to be the beginning of the year Best Actor front-runner.
Now we come to a selection of seven big titles I’ve yet to mention. The A-Team (6/11), Inception (7/16), Jonah Hex (6/18), Knight and Day (6/25), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (5/28), Robin Hood (5/14) and Salt (7/23). Of those seven films only Jonah Hex with Josh Brolin and Megan Fox looks like a real stinker. I can’t wait to see Tom Cruise in Knight and Day, though Cameron Diaz’s inclusion is a bit of a turn-off. The A-Team looks like a blast and director Joe Carnahan always seems to put something together I will like.
The videogame adaptation, Prince of Persia features Jake Gyllenhaal strutting his stuff, getting the ladies interested while the guys are showing up to see their digital protagonist come to life. Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe sounds like a must see no matter the film, and the fact it’s Robin Hood makes it sound even better and Angelina Jolie doing her bad-ass chick thing in Salt also sounds very appealing, especially with Philip Noyce in the director’s chair.
Of course, like I am sure many people out there, my most anticipated film of the summer is Chris Nolan’s Inception. I base this on the mystery surrounding the film as well as Nolan’s pedigree and the cast he has assembled.
It’s hard to go wrong when you are coming off The Dark Knight and you assemble some sort of mind-bending thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy and Lukas Haas. Is there anyone out there not interested in seeing what this is all about?
Inception may be my most anticipated, but it is closely followed by The Expendables (8/13) as Sylvester Stallone has somehow managed to get together a crew of action stars like no film ever has before. Along with himself serving as writer, director and star, Stallone has brought in Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, Terry Crews, David Zayas and Bruce Willis in a film that will surely blow up the world and leave behind a considerable body count. Can’t wait.
I already saw, and enjoyed, Casino Jack and the United States of Money (5/7) so it’s sort of hard to say I am anticipating it. Same with Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs (5/28), though while a decent watch, it doesn’t live up to your Jeunet expectations.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (8/13) has onliners excited and the fact it’s directed by Edgar Wright means I’ll have an eye on it, though being someone that hasn’t read the source material that’s about where my interest ends until the night it screens for press. Same story with The Last Airbender (7/2). Sorry M. Night, I’m not at home watching Nickelodeon so I have no connection to your elemental actioner, but the fact this is a Shyamalan film already has me in the seats. Despicable Me (7/9) looks like it could be a fun animated film. The R-rating for the Drew Barrymore and Justin Long feature Going the Distance (8/27) has me wondering if there is something more to this rom-com than the rather generic plot tells us. Justin Long is also in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (7/16) with Nicolas Cage, but that one hardly has my attention.
On a smaller scale films like Agora (5/28), Babies (5/7), Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky (6/11), Holy Rollers (5/21), I Am Love (6/18), I Love You, Phillip Morris (7/30), The Killer Inside Me (6/18), Lebanon (8/13), Life During Wartime (7/23), Mother and Child (5/7) and Solitary Man (5/21) give audiences interested in art house and independent fare a little something to look forward to.
The Killer Inside Me stars Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba and is the year’s Antichrist with its questionably violent material. I Love You, Phillip Morris has struggled to find a release slot and you may struggle to see Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor perform their big screen kiss, but word on the film is that it’s pretty good so you may want to try your best. Babies I’ve seen and it’s cute, but won’t blow you away. Mother and Child I’ve also seen as it serves as the Crash of the adoption genre and is all quite good up until the ending.
I Am Love has Tilda Swinton getting tons of attention and I am actually seeing it this week as it too is a part of the Seattle Film Festival and Lebanon looks quite interesting as Sony Pictures Classics will release that later this summer.
Films I’ve failed to mention out of a lack of interest or simply in interest to save you time from reading include Beastly (7/30) (looks like it should be on the CW), Dinner for Schmucks (7/23) starring Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, Julia Roberts’s Eat, Pray, Love (8/13), Killers (6/4) with Kutcher and Heigl (bleh), Letters to Juliet (5/14), Lottery Ticket (8/20), Marmaduke (6/4) (looks like it may possibly be the worst movie of the year), Luke Wilson took time off from AT&T commercials to make Middle Men (8/6), Nanny McPhee Returns (8/20), Ramona and Beezus (7/23), The Switch (8/20) and Takers (8/20), which honestly looks like it may be one of those “it’s so bad, it’s good” films.
So there you have it. I hope that’s enough to get your mind moving and hopefully generate a little bit of chatter in the comment section. What are your most anticipated top five or top ten films of the summer? If I had to rank them I think I would go with:
- Inception (dir. Christopher Nolan – July 16)
- The Expendables (dir. Sylvester Stallone – August 13)
- Splice (dir. Vincenzo Natali – June 4)
- Robin Hood (dir. Ridley Scott – May 14)
- Knight and Day (dir. James Mangold – June 25)
- REC 2 (dir. Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza – July 9)
- Get Low (dir. Aaron Schneider – July 30)
- MacGruber (dir. Jorma Taccone – May 21)
- Get Him to the Greek (dir. Nicholas Stoller – June 4)
- The A-Team (dir. Joe Carnahan – June 11)
When it comes to summer, big names and explosions always get me more excited than smaller film fare and it’s nice to actually be looking forward to some comedies for a change, though I am sure once the summer is over the films we least anticipated will bubble to the top and become our favorites. It’s just the way things work out. Of course, I’m not counting on seeing Marmaduke or Sex and the City 2, so if that’s the case with those two, I’ll just have to take your word for it.
