Monday, May 5, 2008

The calendar still says spring, but the multiplex begs to differ

The first weekend of May is over so obviously the summer movie season has already begun. I contributed to Iron Man's $100 million opening weekend and wasn't disappointed. Here are a dozen other summer releases that I'm hoping won't disappoint either besides the two obvious ones (The Dark Knight and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull):

The Happening (June 13) M. Night Shyamalan is back, and he left the mermaids and villagers behind thank goodness.

WALL-E (June 27) I'm convinced that Pixar can do no wrong.

Hancock (July 2) Will Smith will prove once again he owns July box office, portraying an alcoholic superhero in a new film from Peter Berg.
Step Brothers (July 25) Will Farrell plus John C. Reilly equals funny movie.

The Rocker (August 1) Rainn Wilson finally gets to be the star in this film about a failed drummer given a second chance at fame, directed by Paul Cattaneo (The Full Monty).

Choke (August 1 limited) Actor Clark Gregg (another Iron Man cast member) directs his own adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel with a cast led by Sam Rockwell.

Towelhead (August 8 limited) Alan Ball, who won an Oscar for the American Beauty screenplay before creating Six Feet Under, directs his own adaptation of Elicia Erian's novel about a young Arab-American girl struggling with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist and her strict father during the Gulf War.

Tropic Thunder (August 15) Robert Downey Jr.'s studio comeback season continues with a high concept big budget industry-insider comedy from costar Ben Stiller, as part of a great cast that also includes what is supposed to be a fantastic comedic performance from Tom Cruise.
Hamlet 2 (August 27 limited) Steve Coogan (also in Tropic Thunder, above far right) plays a high school drama teacher who writes a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeare's tragedy in what has the potential to be one of the funniest movies of the year.

Traitor (August 29) Steve Martin is responsible for the plot behind this spy thriller involving the CIA and a terrorist group, and the film stars Guy Pearce, Jeff Daniels and Don Cheadle.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (August 29 limited) I don't know which makes this new romantic comedy-drama from Woody Allen more promising: that recent Oscar winner Javier Bardem is in it, or that Woody Allen is not.

Tonight at 11 pm eastern time (that's 8 pm pacific for people who have a problem subtracting three) a new monthly feature will debut on the Oscar, Oscar blogtalkradio broadcast called 3 Guys & The Movies, in which host Jason O'Brien will be joined by myself and Jamey Duvall of Movie Geeks United. Tonight we will be discussing the summer movie releases in greater depth. Here is the link if anyone is interested in tuning in and/or wreaking havoc in the chat room during the broadcast.

Also, if you like the idea of a free online fantasy game where you create your own movie studio based on real life box office performance, be sure to check out Fantasy Moguls. If you join the Ultimate Movie Moguls game be sure and join the "UMMpire" league to compete with both myself and Red. The Box Office Moguls league I created (Dick in a Box Office) is already full.

11 comments:

Red said...

I am looking forward to all of these (save Step Brothers. I'll wait for DVD on that one).

I'm so glad it's Summer Movie time!!!

Dave Harrington said...

Will "Tropic Thunder" be similar to "Thunder Down Under" ?

BeckEye said...

Marky Mark's character is REALLY DEAD!! Mwaaah hahahahha!

Liz said...

I'm a little nervous about the new Indiana Jones. Am I alone in that?

Falwless said...

I'm a little nervous about Beckeye's comment. Am I alone in that?

Red said...

I cannot imagine a scenario where Indiana Jones will be bad.

Liz said...

I don't know, while he looks great for his age, I'm not sure Harrison Ford will look as sexy as a whip any more. And unlike you, I don't get all cougar over Shia LeBoug ;-)

Red said...

mmmm...Shia...

Speaking of, there was a great joke on The Simpson's this week about him.

Falwless said...

red--You go to all these movies, watch all these TV shows (Shia reference on The Simpsons? I didn't even know you watched that show!), listen to all kinds of music, hang out with your real life friends, blog every day, and (I'm assuming) work Monday through Friday and always leave the house looking drop-dead gorgeous. What am I doing wrong that I cannot keep up? Do you ever sleep? Are you on uppers? What's your secret, lady?!

Red said...

hmmm. Interesting questions, Fal. I'd say the secret to my success is Netflix, a DVR, and a boss who's also one of my closest friends and lets me spend 75% of my time at work screwing off.

feathers said...

The drop dead gorgeous thing just happens naturally!