It’s time to think about summer movies, and I humbly submit some (most of them smaller films that could get lost in the shuffle) films for you to consider…
Most Anticipated…
10. “The East” and “Shadow Dancer”…Two smart, sleek looking indie-thrillers. “The East” is about corporate espionage, and “Shadow Dancer” stars Clive Owen as a British spy who recruits a woman to inform on her own, IRA-connected family.
9. “Kick-Ass 2″…One of the few sequels I’m looking forward to, which is even more surprising since, really, I didn’t like the first Kick Ass that much. Still, who isn’t rooting for Jim Carrey (hear playing a deranged version of Captain America) to make a proper comeback?
8. “Only God Forgives”…This is probably going to disappoint but it has Ryan Gosling re-teaming with his Drive director and has one of the strangest trailers I’ve ever seen. If nothing else, it should be an interesting failure.
7. “Before Midnight”…The final installment of the “Before Sunrise”/”Before Sunset” trilogy, and if you’re a fan of those films, then who isn’t curious to see whether or not Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy can live happily ever after?
6. “The Spectacular Now”…The rare high-school movie that has heart. Supposed to be this year’s “Perks of Being a Wallflower” featuring a breakout performance from Miles Teller as a high-school senior trying to break his addiction to alcohol.
5. “Pandora’s Promise”…Every summer, there’s at least one great documentary that nobody watches and this year’s contender looks like this film about environmental activists that have changed their mind about nuclear power. If there’s one film that can change the way you view an issue, it’s probably this one, and I’m a sucker for docs that can lay-out a case for something.
4. “Man of Steel”…Also every summer there’s one mega-blockbuster that’s actually good (we’ll call it the Dark Knight affect) and this year’s strongest candidate is this updated, new-and-improved Superman. Bonus points for casting the always-terrific Michael Shannon as the villain.
3. “Dallas Buyer’s Club”…Matthew McConaughey’s performances have never been better (he’s on a role with Bernie, Killer Joe, Magic Mike, and the just-released Mud) and his role as a real-life Aids-afflicted homophobe who has to break the law to smuggle in drugs from Canada (vs. the toxic Aids-treatment drugs in the US) might finally land him his first oscar nomination.
2. “This is the End”…Watch the red-band trailer and tell me this won’t be the funniest movie of the summer. An A-list cast of celebrities playing themselves as the world ends. I can’t wait.
1. “Elysium”…The follow-up from District 9’s visionary director, and this time he’s substituting illegal immigration/apartheid for the weighty theme of income inequality. In the future, the rich literally live on a different planet (an ultra-deluxe space station called Elysium) while the rest of humanity suffers on a crime-infested, polluted Earth. Matt Damon’s ex-con is exposed to lethal radiation in a work place accident and must break into Elysium to save himself, but Jodie Foster’s government honcho is hell-bent on stopping anyone from getting in. This should be the best big-budget movie of the summer.
The mediocre class…Iron Man 3, After Earth, Monsters University, The Heat, White House Down, World War Z, Great Gatsby, The Internship, Despicable Me 2, Pacific Rim, R.I.P.D….It’s not that any of these movies will probably be bad, it’s just that I’m not especially looking forward to them. There’s a “been there, done that” vibe coming off all of them.
Least Anticipated Movies
5. Meet the Peeples…Tyler Perry’s latest where a loser (who, per usual for Tyler Perry movies, isn’t really portrayed as a loser so much as a great guy that a black woman should settle for) must impress his fiancee’s “snooty,” upper-class black family. This would be just a regular cruddy flick (I’ve seen this plot a hundred times) except for the very real resentment Tyler Perry’s movies usually project towards black people that want something better for themselves.
4. Fast and Furious Six…Who could be looking forward to this movie? The Fast and Furious movies started out sleek and small-scale, with believable action. This new one looks like monstrous CGI-overload.
3. Lone Ranger…I’ve been waiting for the Western to make a comeback, but this isn’t it.
2. Smurfs 2…Horrible
1. Grown-Ups 2…I hated the first one. There’s no reason to think this will be better.