SUMMER MOVIES?!

With midterms and the beckoning of beautiful weather, there comes the beautiful anticipation of summer movies. This summer proves to be an intriguing one in terms of comic book movies, anticipated sequels, sci fi, and CGI.
Many friends of mine think that my excitement for a few of these ones is a bit unwarranted, especially in terms of the comic book movies and the sequels. A pox on them.

#1) Iron Man - May 2nd
Dir. John Favreau, Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and SAM JACKSON.
Ok, Robert Downey, Jr. fits Tony Stark perfectly. Call it typecasting in terms of Downey's partier past, but I think that some method acting in terms of Stark could get some interesting results. I also get some good vibes from Favreau, though I'm pretty easily won over by the fact that he directed an episode of Undeclared in the long long ago.

#2) Speed Racer - May 9th
Dir. The Wachowski's, Starring Emile Hirsch and a pretty interesting cast.
I'm not as excited for this one as some of my friends are, but that would stem from the fact that I wasn't a particularly avid watcher of the cartoon during my childhood. BUT, I must say that I'm excited for another feature film by the Wachowski's. They rarely disappoint with their cinematography, and the creation of full focus camera work should be a really cool new effect for the film industry. The intense color saturation that is present in the previews also catches my eye as a fan of cartoons and that general aesthetic. It also just genuinely seems like its going to be a fun movie going experience.

#3) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - May 22nd
Dir. Steven Spielberg, Starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, and Shia LaBeouf.
I felt a little ill writing "Shia LaBeouf" just now... but that aside, I'm hoping that this one will be fun as well. The cynical side of me looks at the preview and says "If they make one more goddamned 'I'm getting too old for this' joke, I'm going to throw something."
On the good side of it though (my optimism often rules out, especially with series' that are so close to my heart), they've cast my favorite Jones girl, Karen Allen (Marion Ravenwood), who I felt had very good chemistry with Harrison, not to mention that her character could drink him under the table and go toe to toe with him in a battle of witticisms. Cate Blanchett looks like she's going to be a pretty great addition to this, especially because I just really dig her in dominating female roles (I probably shouldn't have said that). And lastly... it's Harrison Ford. The first crush I ever had during my childhood was on Han Solo: his cynicism, wit, devil-may-care attitude, and dashing good looks won me over even when I was 6 and more interested in eating dirt than in boys.
I have tons of friends that say that this movie has a huge chance of sucking, but to them I proclaim, "Never tell me the odds."

#4) The Incredible Hulk - June 13th
Dir. Louis Leterrier, Starring Edward Norton, Liv Taylor, Tim Roth, and William Hurt.
I'll keep this short and sweet: Ed Norton > Eric Bana, Liv Taylor > Jennifer Connely, Tim Roth > Nick Nolte, but William Hurt < Sam Elliot... but few men can claim to be greater than Sam Elliot.

#5) WALL-E - June 27th
Dir. Andrew Stanton
I'm a sucker for robots and Pixar. Need I say more?

#6) Hancock - July 2nd
Dir. Peter Berg, Starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman.
It's pretty obvious to say that I love superhero movies, so this one just kinda turned me on when I saw the preview. I also really like the idea of superheroes being fallible. It gets a little boring to see heroes portrayed as such fundamentally good people, so I find it refreshing to see a superhero who seems to be a notorious fuck up.

#7) Hellboy II: The Golden Army - July 11
Dir. Guillermo del Toro, Starring Ron Perlman (EEEE!), Selma Blair, Doug Jones, and John Hurt.
Guillermo del Toro, Ron Perlman, demons, cool special effects makeup and one of my all-time favorite comic books? Count me in.

#8) Dark Knight - July 18th
Dir. Christopher Nolan, Starring Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine... and ON AND ON WITH THE GREAT CASTING, GAH!
I'm not going to lie. I drooled, cried, yelled, and almost peed when I saw each preview for this. I should probably feel ashamed for those things, but I most certainly am not. Batman was always my favorite comic book character: his troubled past, his willpower, his passion, and his tormented soul just made him so much more interesting than any other comic character I've ever read. When the first Christopher Nolan directed Batman movie came out, I was a bit skeptical. After watching Tim Burton's versions (which were interesting in their darkness, but completely untrue to canon, not to mention that Michael Keaton wasn't the best Bruce), and then being RAPED by the Joel Schumacher ones, ("chill" "uncah alfred!" "holy rusted metal, batman!" and BATNIPPLES?!) I was on my gaurd. But then Christopher Nolan just... opened his arms, gave me a hug, and made me truly believe just how awesome Batman could be in film form. I love all of the casting choices that were made, (apart from Katie Holmes and her ever visible nipples) I enjoyed the costume, and though the new Batmobile just isn't the same, I still appreciated it. Christian Bale is an amazing actor as well. No one that has been cast in the past has been able to adequately play both Bruce and Batman (Val Kilmer did relatively well), but Bale portrays both in such an incredible manner. I'm dying for this to come out and wish that I could just hop into my Delorean, gun it to 88, and get to July 18th right now. *sigh* Patience. Patience is a virtue.

#9) X-Files sequel?! - July 25th
Dir. Chris Carter, Starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.
Wait... what?! I hope it's true. I hope it's not IMDb lying to me.

Anyway. Hope I didn't bore you 2 readers with my rant. Come see these movies with me this summer!