Summer Movie Preview 2009

This Friday X-men Origins: Wolverine opens and will start the summer of big blockbuster action movies. If last summer could be considered the summer of the superhero, this summer can certainly be considered the summer of 1980’s nostalgia. And this 80’s kid couldn’t be happier.

As I did last year, I will only preview movies that I know I’ll be attending in the theater because, well, why would I preview movies I probably won’t see? Anyway, tune in again when these movies come out, because I will do a review of each of them.

X-men Origins: Wolverine   (May 1)

Read my review here.

Despite being probably the worst title for an action movie since Rambo: First Blood Part 2, the trailers show a lot of promise for this film. I will see pretty much any Marvel movie in the theater (the sole exception was Elektra), so I will see this movie. But, I’m not as excited about it as I was when I saw this movie the first three times when it was called X-men, X-men 2, and X-men 3. Seriously, Wolverine was the star of all three of those movies so now he gets his own movie and they still feel the need to put X-men in the title! I’d be more excited I guess if it didn’t feel like we’ve told this story before.

But, like I said it does show promise. I like the whole journey through time element that Wolverine and Sabertooth go through. That’ll be fun to watch. And they have Gambit. Four movies in and X fans get their biggest wish fulfilled. Everyone’s up in arms about Deadpool’s look, but that’s fine with me. I think Deadpool’scostume looks cool in the comic, but I never got into him much so I don’t care that they change him for the movie. Emma Frost is who I’m most concerned with. In the comic, Emma walks the fine line of hero and villain and has a lot of sass about her. I just don’t know if they’ll get her character right in the movie. She seems… vanilla.

Expectation: Above average, fun to watch at least once in the theater.

Star Trek   (May 8th)

Read my review here.

Here come the 80’s. Yes, I know Trek started well before that, but it was the 80’s that made them popular. The 80’s spawned six movies and another very successful follow-up TV series (Next Generation). JJ Abrams (of Alias fame) is in the director’s chair and has shown a lot passion for wanting to do right by the fans. It will be very interesting to see what direction they take this prequel. Will it be a Gene Roddenberry-esque intellectual trope or will it be more like Star Wars Episode VII? I guess we’ll find out.

Expectations: Very high. May watch more than once in the theater, depending on how complex the storyline will be.

Terminator Salvation (May 22)

Read my review here.

So Batman is now going to take on terminators. Christian Bale apparently isn’t satisfied with just one legendary hero role under his belt, he has to have two- John Connor being the other. The days of only getting glimpses of the bleak, bismal future are gone and we get to see once and for all, in a three-movie epic, how the terminators rise to power and how they are defeated. 

Some aren’t too sure about this movie, because McG is directing. McG’s biggest accomplishment thusfarare the two Charlie’s Angels movies. But, I’m not worried. Mostly because Christian Bale is in it. We all know now that Bale can be something of a diva with his off-screen antics, but the man flat knows how to pick good movies to star in. When he was offered the role of John Connor, he read the script, handed it back, and told them: “Rewrite it in such a way that it would be compelling to watch, even if it was a theater production and I’ll think about doing it.”

They did rewrite it and he liked it. That makes me think this is going to be an action movie with brains.  Wait, what does that remind me of?  hmmm… Oh that’s right, the first two Terminator movies!

Expectations: This movie will surprise even the most skeptical McG haters out there. I think it will be my favorite movie of the summer.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June 24)

Read my review here.

A direct sequel to the first movie that came out two years ago. And just like the first one, you’ll either love it or hate it. I really don’t like Michael Bay’s movies. In fact, other than Bad Boys and The Rock (which both OK, but not great) I don’t like any of his movies. Except Transformers. I had issues with it, but overall it was enjoyable.

I am skeptical of this sequel, though. They’re introducing almost a dozen new robots with many of the ones from the first movie thrown in. And even though it is a Decepticon-centric story (hence the title), they’re supposedly going to show Devestator, Megatron (back from the dead), and The Fallen. ONE of those three would be enough to have as a climactic ending. Three is pushing it. And I’m also hoping they’ll keep the gutter humor out of this one. Transformers is about a kid’s line of toys. No reason to have OBVIOUS adult humor in it.

Expectations: It will easily be the highest-grossing movie of the year, topping out at 400 million. But, unless Bay slows the action down some, doesn’t do as many quick-cuts, keeps the story centered on the robots this time, and keeps it clean then I may be jumping ship in the same way I did with Spiderman 2 and Pirates of the Carribean 2.

Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (July 15)

Read my review here.

I have slowly, but surely come around to admitting that I am a fan of Harry Potter. I didn’t like the first two movies at all- fell asleep during the second one. Didn’t like them, that is, until I read the books. I didlike Prisoner of Azkaban and since, from that point on, I was married to a big fan of the Potter series, I’ve seen all the other movies and read most of the books. Now I have to admit: I have come around to liking the little lightening-bolt toting guy.

You Potter purists are going to hate me, but I jumped ahead and read the last two books so I can read them before the movies come out. So, I know what happens in the upcoming story. I don’t have much to say about it except that I like the fact they’re keeping the same director from the last movie and will keep him for Deathly Hollows. I also like the look of this movie. You can tell, with the use of color tone that they’ve put more thought into how the movie should look. I just hope they don’t cut out too much content to keep the running time short. I don’t care how long a movie is, just as long as it’s entertaining.

Expectations: It will be the best movie of the six out so far. And it will also make my wife happy, which makes me happy.

G.I. JOE  (August 8th)

G.I. JOE (I refused to use the full name, it’s just too cliche) wraps up the 80’s nostalgia for the summer. To me and to most other men my age, Joe will always play second fiddle to Transformers when it comes to trips down memory lane. That is why they’re releasing Transformers in June and GI Joe in August.

That’s not to say I didn’t like Joe growing up. I did. That’s why I’ll see this movie. And that may be the only reason why I see it. The trailer looks slick, but other than Snake Eyes, there’s not much in it that looks like GI Joe. Gone are the commando style clothes and in are the all-black leather uniforms. Black leather in action movies is so overused, it’s becoming a cliche in and of itself. I have yet to see Destro in his metal-head form nor have they shown me Cobra Commander in his hooded form. And again, choice of director is causing many to wonder if it will be a high quality action movie. Stephen Sommers is known for his disastrous take on Van Helsing and a mediocre sequel to The Mummy. But, I’ll give it a shot… if anything because it falls on the day before my birthday.

Expectations:  I will see it for it’s mindless fun and so I can write a review on it, comparing it to the old cartoon. Not expecting much else. I hope I’m wrong.

And there is my movie preview for this summer. Those who know me and live around me are welcome to join me for any one of these movies. I’m going to try and see each of them on their opening weekend.

Again, come back for the reviews.  I’ll leave you with a few movie trailers: