Summer Movies We Want to See

by AJ and Lani

If the robin is a harbinger of spring, then the first superhero sighting of the year must be a sign that spring has given way to summer. And so, with the arrival of Iron Man 3 in theaters last weekend, summer movie season has officially begun. We've looked at all the  films scheduled for release from May through August and picked out a few that we can't wait to see.

Star Trek Into Darkness (May 16)
A.J.: Large chunks of the internet bemoaned the delay of the next "new" Star Trek movie due to script problems, but I would always rather wait and have a good movie. I'm less suspicious and more excited about Star Trek Into Darkness than the 2009 reboot. Into Darkness follows the crew of the Enterprise as they track down a rogue Starfleet officer (that may or may not be Kahn) played by Benedict Cumberbatch. J.J. "lens flare" Abrams is in the director's chair again and with Star Trek and Super 8 he has proven himself to be a solid filmmaker. From the trailers it looks this is sequel has been given the same care as 2009's Star Trek. I suspect that the action sequences and special effects won't upstage the story and characters. 

Now You See Me (May 31)
Lani: The story follows an FBI agent and Interpol detective as they struggle to make a case against magician supergroup The Four Horsemen, who carry out elaborate bank heists while performing on stage, then give the loot to needy people in the audience. The assembled cast sounds great: Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent, and Michael Caine. Plus, director Louis Leterrier, the man behind The Transporter and Transporter 2, knows how to combine action with unabashed foolishness. The moment in the trailer that got me was when Jesse Eisenberg is being interrogated by Mark Ruffalo and Eisenberg magically "throws" his handcuffs onto Ruffalo, then looks at him smugly and says, "First rule of magic, always be the smartest guy in the room." It was so ridiculous that I laughed out loud. I may be alone on this one, but this film looks so silly, so beyond all sense, that I have to believe it will be entertaining.




The Internship (June 7)
Lani: Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn star as salesman who made their careers during the analog age, but find themselves out of job in today's digital landscape. They manage to land internships at Google and find themselves competing with tech-savvy college students for a coveted permanent position. Some of the jokes in the trailer were a bit stale, but it made me laugh, too. Remember Wedding Crashers? Remember Old School? Those were funny movies, right? I'm optimistic that the formula of Vince Vaughn + a Wilson brother will equal comedy once again.

The Bling Ring (June 14)
A.J.: This movie is based on the true story of a group of not-too-bright, fame-obsessed teens that broke into different celebrities' houses and robbed them. The Bling Ring is written and directed by Sofia Coppola; her last film, Somewhere, was big step towards the, unfortunately, dull end of the "art house" movie spectrum. However, The Bling Ring looks like it has more of the lively spirit of Coppola's previous movies. Coppola also brings out the best in the her female leads, so I'm excited to see Emma Watson in this movie, especially after her great performance in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

The Lone Ranger (July 3)

A.J.: Despite the dubious casting of Johnny Depp as Tonto and way, way over-the-top action sequences in the trailers, I'm still interested enough to give Disney's big budget, big screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger a watch. I'm interested in seeing Armie Hammer in his first leading role in a major movie. He definitely has the screen presence to carry a movie, and I hope that the material doesn't let him, or the audience, down. It's the summer, so big action-packed movies can't be avoided, but with any luck this will be the right kind of summer action movie: pleasant to look at and listen to, and entertaining.

The Wolverine (July 26)

Lani: I'm fully aware that with each pick my cred as a serious cinephile continues to diminish. However, I will not apologize. X-Men Origins: Wolverine wasn't that good; however, this film has kept what worked about the last one -- Wolverine as a character and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine -- and changed everything else. The setting is modern-day Japan, where Wolverine meets someone from his past who offers him mortality at long last. The trailer has ninjas, katana swords, Yakuzas (maybe?), weird medical equipment, a blond mutant lady, and, of course, Jackman waving his claws around and yelling. I think these are all good things. Maybe I'm just a Jackman fan, maybe I want the X-Men to take back the spotlight from the Avengers; nevertheless, I remain cautiously optimistic.