May is upon us and you know what that means, children? We are officially in the summer movie season! Even better news, the lineup this year looks fairly promising. There are still a lot of sequels but even those seem to be bringing something new to the table for their respective franchises. With that, let’s take a look at the top 10 movies that I am most looking forward to seeing this summer.
10. King Arthur (May 12) Look. At the very least, Charlie Hunnam. On top of that, though, Guy Ritchie makes a fun movie and I have always been a fan of the Camelot mythology. The trailers weren’t getting me super pumped, but the early rumblings are that this is a surprisingly great movie and should be a good time at the movies. Plus, Charlie Hunnam.
9. The Big Sick (June 23) I always have to have at least one Sundance darling. This film is about a Pakistani stand-up comic who falls for a white girl and struggles with telling his parents about her. He further has to navigate his feelings when she becomes sick and falls into a coma. Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon wrote this movie together based on their own relationship and they are utterly charming together on their podcast The Indoor Kids. I think this one will be a nice reprieve from all the shoot ’em, blow ’em up we have on the docket this summer.
8. Dunkirk (July 21) This one doesn’t look it will be particularly fun to watch, but I am excited to see Christopher Nolan bring his touch to a war movie. The approach that he is using to tell the story of this event by showing it from three different POVs of land, air, and sea has the feel of a mini Band of Brothers to me and that only further intrigues me.
7. Baywatch (May 25) Could this be a trainwreck? Yes. But I think it is more likely to be a pretty fun summer comedy. Some recent TV spots that I have seen with Zac Efron in drag going “undercover” have me a little worried about the caliber of comedy we will be dealing with, but I am hoping it goes more in the direction of 21 Jump Street with irreverant and self-aware comedy. You sort of have to with Baywatch, right?
6. Alien: Covenant (May 19) I am not always huge on “scary” or jump scares. Even though this looks like it will deliver both of those in spades, there’s no denying it also looks awesome. Prometheus was both a hit and a miss with audiences, but this looks like it will be getting back to more of the intensity that Alien(s) delivered. I may be watching with my hands over my eyes for half of it, but consider the ticket bought.
5. War for the Planet of the Apes (July 14) Both Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (don’t ask me which came first) were huge surprises for me. What could have been quick money grabs on a pre-existing franchise ended up being very thoughtful films on the essence of “humanity” and a group of apes fighting for their right to it.
4. Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 7th) I think it is safe to say that I have developed into quite the Marvel fangirl over the past 15 years, so to see Spider-Man getting his “homecoming” is pretty exciting. After seeing Tom Holland make his debut as the (age appropriate) web-slinger in Captain America: Civil War, I was even more excited. Add a dash of John Hughesian high school comedy with a pinch of RDJ’s Iron Man and you have what should be a great addition to Marvel’s roster.
3. Wonder Woman (June 2) Diana, don’t let me down. This movie might have taken my top place if not for the DCEU’s less than stellar showing thus far. My faith is still with Wonder Woman, though. The trailers seem promising and Gal Gadot was one of the few redeeming qualities about BvS: Dawn of Justice. I’m rooting for you, so please, please don’t screw it up!
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5) I don’t know if I have made this clear yet, but I love Marvel movies and the first Guardians is my favorite Marvel movie, ergo, I am dang excited for this movie. Early reports seem to indicate that this is not as great as the first, but not as great as the first is still pretty dang great in my book. Already have my ticket to see it on Friday.
1. Baby Driver (June 28th) It’s always a safe bet that a new Edgar Wright movie will be number one on my list. After SXSW, it is being touted as the action movie La La Land. So, yeah, I’m in. The premise of getaway listening to music to block out his tinnitus allows for the action sequences to all be set to music. Did I already mention that I’m in?
-Ellen
Most superhero movies (actually, most movies in general) are more than willing to do the ethical legwork for you. The bad guys (easily distinguished by facial scars, a dark color pallet, or customary bad attitude) are always wrong, and the good guys (identifiable by their steely-eyed commitment to the greater good and general dishy-ness) are always right. Even those films that dip their toes into moral relativism always eventually find their way to the safer, more solid narrative ground of Righteous Hero v. Dastardly Villain. But what happens when everybody looks like a good guy? What is expected of us as an audience when everyone’s actions, including the guy in spandex we came to see, can be understood as right or wrong? For once, maybe the question of morality is open to our interpretation.
you’d expect: good guys going after bad guys. But when the good guys (here represented by Cap, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and Falcon) make a mistake with fatal consequences, there is a global outcry for a little accountability, in the form of UN sanctioned panel that would oversee the Avengers from here on out. Some, like Iron Man, Black Widow, and Vision, see this as a necessary compromise. Others, namely Cap, Scarlet Witch, and Falcon, see it as an undermining of what the Avengers are supposed to be- a group a super friends with the autonomy needed to keep the world safe from handsome alien conquistadors and shapely, artificially intelligent robots. The result can only be described as a, ahem, civil war.
If you’re worried that this movie sounds too much like a talky political drama, rest easy. Civil War has even more than the usual amount of ass-kicking. But what’s really cool about this movie is how the Russo Brothers managed to take out almost all the cartoonishness of superhero violence. There’s a scene, pretty early in the film, where Captain America falls from a ledge and gets beaten around like a rag doll before making an uncharacteristically graceless landing. And, even more surprising, he doesn’t immediately bounce back. Right away we get the feeling that, in this film at least, violence has consequences. And unlike many other action movies of it’s kind, it feels as though the fight scenes are built around the set pieces, and not the other way around. The characters have to adapt to and use their surroundings in a way that makes the idea of a super-soldier and a guy in a cat-suit going at it feel a little more grounded.
everything I want to say can be summed up in one onamonapia: meow. Seriously, don’t change a thing.
go along for the ride. You feel obligated to choose a side, and for once, it might not be the same side as the guy with his name on all the posters. Right and wrong is a matter of perspective and actions have far reaching consequences. Does that sound a little familiar?
But I knew something she didn’t. I knew she would walk into the theater a bored moppet, but would emerge a card-carrying superfan of the galaxy’s newest mamma jamma, Rey.
and Lisbeth Salander and Black Widow is unavoidable. For as long as I can remember, we’ve been conditioned to think that a female protagonist couldn’t be compelling if she wasn’t sexy, damaged, or vulnerable, preferably all three. Enter Rey, a woman whose sexuality is irrelevant. Her past, though tragic, doesn’t define her. She puts the needs of others before her own interests and is unambiguously good. In short, she’s everything that a little girl (or, what the heck, boy) should want to pattern themselves after.
doesn’t resent being occasionally shown up by a girl because he admires her strength and smarts, too. A bad-ass in his own right, Finn is confident enough to recognize Rey’s value without letting it threaten his own.
Fangirly 