by Daniel Erenberg
Well, it’s only April, but the Summer Movie Season appears to have begun in earnest. Fast & Furious is out and making a ton of bank (over 100 million bucks in its first two weekends) and, in so doing has resurrected the careers of both Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. And thank Christ for that, right? But, meanwhile, the studios have also begun releasing genuinely good films. Adventureland gets my highest recommendation, as a mainstream comedy with an indie feel, some wonderful performances and the best damn Lou Reed-laced soundtrack ever. It’s one from the heart, courtesy of Superbad director Greg Mottola. If you don’t enjoy it, you’re probably stupid. Sorry to break that to you if you’re already hating on it. Also, Observe and Report came out, and it’s got to be the ballsiest mainstream studio comedy film to come out in years. This one, I’m more willing to understand people not liking, because it’s definitely not for every taste. But it’s completely for my taste. And it tastes pretty fucking great. Meanwhile, the Summer Movie Season is actually supposed to start every year in May. So I thought we could take a nice little look at where it’s headed. Month by month.
MAY
The Sure Things:
May is going to end up being one of the best months at the movies this summer, because it’s one of only two that contains three absolutely sure things. May 8 brings Star Trek, which I can’t believe I’m psyched about. I am not a Trekkie or a Trekker, or whatever those assholes want to be called, but this movie looks really, really good, and it’s written and directed by J. J. Abrams, who has yet to steer me wrong with wonderful TV shows like Lost, Alias, Felicity and Fringe. To a non-obsessive, the casting looks spot-on (Zachary Quinto as Spock! Simon Pegg as Scotty!), and the effects work looks top-notch. I can’t imagine a scenario where this will suck. That goes double for the new Pixar effort, Up (5/29), about an old man who gives his house a balloon ride. Pixar films are always a good bet. It’s been almost 15 years, and I’ve yet to not like one of their wonderful films (WALL-E, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, etc.). Finally, we have Drag Me To Hell (5/29), which is Sam Raimi’s return to the genre that made him: horror. The Evil Dead trilogy is an untouchable classic and, after years of hanging out in Spider-Man land, the man is back in the realm that he truly rules at. I can’t wait.
Big Movies I’m Having Trouble Getting Psyched For:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (5/1) seems right up my alley. Wolverine is a brilliant comic book creation, so much so that I read three monthly comic books with his name in the title, including one called Wolverine Origins. But, no matter how many trailers I see for this one, or how many clips of the copy that leaked onto the internet this month, I can’t seem to get excited. I think the problem is X-Men 3: X-Men United, the last X-Movie. It just sucked so darn hard that my confidence in 20th Century Fox’s handling of the franchise is completely shaken. Meanwhile, we’ve got a new Terminator movie, this one a reboot called Terminator Salvation (5/22) starring Christian Bale, who continues to use his hysterical gruff Batman voice, which, coupled with his increasingly prominent speech impediment, is going to be the funniest thing you’re likely to listen to all summer.
Crap:
Eek. Where to begin? You want some rom-com crap? Well, you may want to check out Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (5/1), in which Michael Douglas visits Matthew McConaughey as a ghost, in order to show him where he’s gone wrong in past relationships. And yes. Worst premise of the summer indeed. Not into that? You wanna check out some action crap? Well, how about Ron Howard delivering Tom Hanks in Angels and Demons (5/15), the prequel to the four-star crap-fest that was The Da Vinci Code. Still not satisfied? Well, maybe you want to see Dance Flick (5/22), a street-dancing movie parody co-written by six Wayans brothers, two of which I’ve never heard of.
The Hidden Gem:
What’s a Summer Movie Season without a minimalist Jim Jarmusch picture? The Limits of Control (5/1) will fit that bill this summer, with Jarmusch reuniting with Broken Flowers star, Bill Murray.
JUNE
The Sure Things:
None that I can see. But Year One (6/19), a new history-based comedy by Harold Ramis, looks like it could be quite good, especially with a cast that includes Michael Cera and Jack Black. Also, teaming up Will Ferrell and Danny McBride for a Land of the Lost (6/5) film could turn out to be a stroke of genius, and the trailers seem to indicate that that may be the case.
Big Movie I’m Having Trouble Getting Psyched For:
I really want to like The Hangover (6/5). It’s a new comedy by Todd Phillips, who has previously written and directed such hilarious fare as Road Trip and Old School, and before that had a great career as a documentarian, putting together such classics as Hated and Frat House. In recent years, however, the dude has floundered with such mainstream Hollywood bullshit as Starsky and Hutch and School For Scoundrels. This new one seems to be aiming higher, with a great cast that includes reliably funny people like Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and the brilliant Zach Galifianakis. But that trailer is brutal, and I do not want to be disappointed a third time in a row. Get it together, Phillips. This one better be good.
Crap:
Oh, there is a host of crap in June. First and foremost, there’s Imagine That (6/12). It’s an Eddie Murphy kids movie so we already know for a fact that it will be terrible. Then there’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (6/24), the Michael Bay helmed sequel to 2007’s dreadful Transformers. We’ve also got The Proposal (6/19) for your viewing pleasure, in which Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds pretend to be husband and wife for convoluted reasons before, presumably, actually falling in love. The list goes on. Just check out John Travolta’s facial hair in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (6/12).
The Hidden Gem:
Tetro (6/11) is Francis Ford Coppola’s first original screenplay since 1974’s The Conversation. Whoa. And Vincent Gallo is in it. Whoa. Can’t miss. Finally, June will also contain Away We Go, another can’t-miss from the always-reliable Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road), this one about a newly pregnant couple road-tripping across America.
JULY
The Sure Things:
Ah, July. The month of my birth. And the day of my birth, July 31, this year, brings Funny People, the third film to be written and directed by Judd Apatow, the guy who previously brought us The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, as well as the TV series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Adam Sandler (yeah, he can be good sometimes) plays a stand-up comedian who, believing he’s dying, befriends a young up-and-comer, played by Seth Rogen. The cast also includes reliable talents like Jason Schwartzman, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill and Eric Bana. It’s been described as being a more serious effort than Apatow is usually known for, but the trailer still manages to be gut-bustingly funny. Speaking of gut-busting laughs, July also brings us Bruno (7/10), Sascha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to the instant classic, Borat. This one promises to be even more out there and hilarious, if the Red Band Internet trailer is any indication. And, if those aren’t enough, July also brings us Public Enemies (7/1), a new Michael Mann film, in which Johnny Depp plays John Dillinger.
Big Movie I’m Having Trouble Getting Psyched For:
I really love the Harry Potter books, and I’ve liked all of the films a lot from the third one on. Now, here we have the sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (7/17), based on one of the stronger books in the series, and directed by David Yates, who helmed the wonderful fifth installment. But, now that the book series is done, I feel like I’m sort of done with Harry Potter and his pals. I’ll see this flick and everything, but when it was postponed from last November all the way to July, I kind of didn’t really care.
Crap:
A double-dose of romantic comedy crap this month with the always-charming Katherine Heigl hooking up with the never-charming Gerard Butler in The Ugly Truth (7/24) and Hayden Panettiere hooking up with some poor sap who’s about to learn a big life lesson in the high school graduation picture, I Love You Beth Cooper (7/10).
The Hidden Gem:
500 Days of Summer (7/17) looks like a pretty stock indie rom-com, especially with the presence of Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead roles, but it looks completely charming on that level. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, and I’m sure that my more cynical hipster-y friends will rip on me for it. The same way they did for Juno and Little Miss Sunshine.
AUGUST
The Sure Thing:
Quentin Tarantino is finally putting out his labor of love World War 2 effort, Inglourious Basterds (8/21), starring such strikingly odd names as Samm Levine, B.J. Novak and Eli Roth, alongside Brad Pitt. It looks insane. It looks like a Quentin Tarantino film. It looks fucking amazing.
Big Movie I’m Having Trouble Getting Psyched For:
I feel like a film about celebrity chef Julia Child starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams should pretty much be a sure thing. But, Julie & Julia (8/7) is written and directed by Nora Ephron, who just sucks beyond words. Her last four films have been Bewitched, Lucky Numbers, You’ve Got Mail and Michael. Wow. I hate Nora Ephron more than I hate most filmmakers. It’s pretty unreal.
Crap:
Besides Nora Ephron in general, we have a G.I. Joe (8/7) movie, which looks like the worst thing ever, and H2 (8/28), Rob Zombie’s sequel to his Halloween remake, which really was the worst thing ever.
The Hidden Gem:
Taking Woodstock is a new Ang Lee film, starring untested actor/wonderful stand-up comedian Demetri Martin, about the family that loaned their grounds out for the original Woodstock festival. It looks hilarious and, seemingly, heartrending, and it’s bound to have some pretty kick-ass music.
Tags:
summer movie preview
April 15, 2009 at 5:12pm ∞
