Summer Movie Preview

First off, I'm having trouble figuring out how the summer movie season can start in May since that's considered springtime but that's a story for another day. The story for today is which movies are worth seeing and which you should wait to make it a blockbuster night for.

Must Sees:

1. MI3: Some people might be boycotting Tom Cruise right now but aside from that there's no reason not to see this movie. It has every element of a summer blockbuster from star actors to special effects to a crazy plot. And considering that Lost producer J.J. Abrahams is behind the cameras of this film you just know it's going to be good.

2. Pirates of the Caribbean 2: I'm actually worried about this movie since in my mind they can only ruin the greatness of the first one by making a crappy sequel. And since they weren't originally planning to make any sequels I'm really worried about what can happen when you reverse engineer two of them. However, if it's even half as good as the first one it'll still be great. Plus how can you go wrong with a cast of Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp, and Orlando Bloom?

3. The DaVinci Code: This could set all kinds of box office and protest records at the same time. For me, like most guys, it's a must see since we can find out what all the hoopla is about without having to read the book. I'll gladly trade three hours of my life for three weeks.

4. Nacho Libre: Make a movie starring any of the frat pack (Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Jack Black, etc.) and you are guaranteed to have a hit. And while there probably won't be any combination blockbusters like Wedding Crashers this summer there still will be several solid individual efforts. None better than Black starring as a pro wrestler to try and raise money.

5. X3: Comic book movies have proven to be huge winners at the box office with the first two XMen movies and the two Spidermans amongst others as proof of that. This movie, the final in the trilogy, will be a huge success as well capitalizing on the success of the first two and the genre in general.

6. Miami Vice: Starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx you know that this remake is going to be done right with lots of action. Should be a combination of Bad Boys and SWAT.

7. John Tucker Must Die: Only because Brittany Snow is going to be starring in it. Although it may actually be a successful teen flick ala Ten Things I Hate About You.

8. Pulse: Only because Kristen Bell is going to be starring in it. Although it may actually be a successful horror film falling somwhere on the horror spectrum between Final Destination and Saw.

Busts

1. Posedion: When I first heard about this movie I thought it had blockbuster written all over it. However, upon further review I think it's going to be a colossal bust. Waterworldesque. First off, the timing sucks since it's competing with MI3, DaVinci, and X3 amongst others. Secondly, the premise sucks since how many times can you have a bunch of people trying to survive a sinking ship? (Titanic, Speed 2, etc.) And while it may be a decent movie it's going to fall short of it's massive expectations.

2. Superman: Don't get me wrong it'll still be a huge hit. But just like King Kong it won't live up to it's billing since I just don't think that people care about this story. And while the idea sounds good I just don't think that it will fulfill people's cravings for a Superman fix. Kate Bosworth is a plus but some no name actor in tights is a major turnoff. And Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor just doesn't do it for me. It'll still make a lot of money and come with a promotional campaign at Burger King but I just can't put it in my must see list.

3. The Breakup: Take everything that I just said about Nacho Libre and reverse it. The reason being the inclusion of Anniston in the equation. Mixing her with Vaughn is a recipe for disaster. Either Vaughn will be so good that it won't matter. Or he'll go down to Anniston's level. This could be the bigget disaster since Gigli. Let's just hope that Vaughn still has a career afterwards unlike Ben Affleck.

4. RV: I think that Robin Williams' star has faded because this movie looks god awful. Decent premise but with Williams overacting and trying to be funny when he's not it's going to replace I heart huckabees as the worst movie in recent memory.

5. See No Evil: This is the first movie produced by WWE entertainment and it stars Kane so right there you know that it's going to have worse acting in it than Raw. In fact considering that everything that the WWE touches fails (see the XFL) it's a sure fire disaster waiting to happen.

6. You me and Dupree: With Owen Wilson it might actually be worth seeing but that doesn't mean that it's going to be good. In order for it to work I think they needed one more frat packer and by not having that I think it's going to fall short of expectations. Kate Hudson's also in it which begs the question, 'where's Matthew McConaughey?"

7. The Fast and the Furios-Tokyo Drift: One too many for this once proud franchise. Who knew that Vin Diesel moving on could have this kind of effect?

8. Talladega Nights-The Ballad of Ricky Bobby: With Will Ferrell as a NASCAR driver this movie will open big and then drag after word gets out about how disappointing it is. I just don't think that NASCAR jokes will go over in the big cities of the Northeast although if anyone can pull it off it's Ferrell.


All in all, it looks like it's going to be a great summer for movie fans since there are a lot of good movies coming out. Aside from the ones I mentioned there's also the Groomsmen, World Trade Center, Clerks 2, and My Super Ex Girlfriend amongst others. I'm just wondering though where Will Smith is throughout all this since you can't have summer blockbusters (Bad Boys, Men In Black, IRobot, Independence Day, etc.) without him. Although I think that the presence of Matt Dillon will more than make up for that. Expect Dillon to be this year's Jude Law and be in 20 movies at once.

Enjoy the summer movie fans, I'm off to find promotional pictures of Keira Knightley from Pirates of the Caribbean 2.