Summer blockbuster preview
May 12, 2015
This yearâs summer blockbuster season kicked off with a vengeance, with prolific big budget ships like âFurious 7â and âMarvelâs Avengers: Age of Ultronâ both breaking box office records in the U.S. and overseas, successfully catching the attention of moviegoers and their wallets as well. This phenomenon isnât going to lose steam any time soon either, with films sure to catch your attention being released well until the temperatures die down. Grab a ticket and some popcorn, these big screen stories are a canât miss.
âPoltergeistâ â May 22
âTheyâre heeeeere!â â again. In a remake of the 1982 film, Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie Dewitt star as parents desperate to protect their daughter from evil spirits â the poltergeist of the title namesake â that are sc– aring their family and home. Steven Speilberg produced the original film, with the reboot calling on Sam Raimi to produce this time. And if Raimi’s producing resume on horror namesakes such as â30 Days of Night,â âThe Grudge,â âDrag Me to Hellâ and the 2013 remake of his own classic “Evil Dead” are anything to go by, fans of the original have nothing to fear. The reboot promises to retain elements (the static-y TV, a weird psychic and a creepy clown) from the original, all while scaring a whole new generation of moviegoers.
âAlohaâ â May 29
Cameron Crowe used to be the undeniable king of the romantic comedy genre, penning and directing classics about finding yourself such as “Jerry Maguire,” “Almost Famous” and “Say Anything …” But after duds at the box office that failed to capture critical acclaim much less garner attention or ticket sales (“Elizabethtown,” “We Bought a Zoo”), Crowe seems poised for a comeback. Bradley Cooper stars as a military defense contractor who returns to Hawaii to redeem himself after a professional humiliation. A workaholic and lone wolf, as many of Crowe’s characters have been, Cooper gets a second chance at love and life caught in a love triangle with Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams. Bill Murray also stars.
âJurassic Worldâ â June 12
Twenty-two years after the original, âJurassic Worldâ takes off where its visionary John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) left off. Hammondâs dream of a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, has finally materialized, but after 10 years of operation the park sees visitor interest and ticket sales declining. To cope with the decline, the park creates and introduces a new attraction to re-spark the popularity it once had, which of course, in the grand scheme of things in the movie series, backfires and goes horribly wrong. Steven Speilberg, âJurassic Parkâsâ original director, serves as producer on the film, which stars âGuardians of the Galaxyâsâ Chris Pratt, and Bryce Dallas Howard.
âInside Outâ â June 19
Youâve got to hand it to Pixar. They have a knack for making you feel things by giving things feelings. Donât believe it? The studio had the idea of giving toys feelings and successfully captured the bittersweet reality of growing up and moving on with âToy Story.â The same can be said for how they successfully secured the same sentiment to other ideas â give monsters feelings (âMonsters, Inc.â) and robots and cars (âWall-E,â âCarsâ and âCars 2â). Now the studio aims to give feelings, feelings with the release of âInside Out.â The lovable pixie-like Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler) lives inside the mind of 11-year-old Riley. Since she was born, Joy has been the guide of a quirky group of emotions that include Anger, Disgust, Fear and Sadness. With Joy in control, Riley is upbeat and optimistic, but as puberty hits, she turns moody, forcing Joy and the gang to begin their own journey as they try to navigate her through a new city, house and school, as well as other benchmarks of growing up. The emotional ride is a personal one for the film’s writer and director, Peter Docter, who also directed “Up.” “When my daughter grew up, she became a different person. It’s wonderful, but it’s different. It fundamentally changes the way you speak to her, relate to her,” Docter said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
âTerminator Genisys,â âMagic Mike XXLâ â July 3
The competition for this yearâs Fourth of July weekend seems like a hilarious toss-up between what men want versus what women want. On one hand you have a new installment of the âTerminatorâ franchise, starring âGame of Thronesââ Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor, and brings back Arnold Schwarzenegger as an aging terminator as they try to stop the one thing about the future that they both fear “Judgement Day.”
On the other hand, you have a sequel to Channing Tatumâs surprising wildly successful and semi-autobiographical story about male stripping. The film takes place three years after Tatum’s Magic Mike bows out of the stripper life, and watches as he and the remaining Kings of Tampa hit Myrtle Beach to put on one last performance. Jada Pinkett Smith, Amber Heard and Donald Glover join the cast that includes returnees Joe Manganiello and Matt Bomer.
âThe Gallowsâ â July 10
Tired of the found footage horror film genre? “The Gallows” begs you to give it one last try, and if the creepy tone of the simplistic trailer (which features a girl crying in a crumpled heap on the floor, and a close up of deep, bloody rope marks around her throat before a dark figure holding a noose grabs her from behind) is anything to go by, it’s going to be worth it. The production is a team effort by the horror aficionados at Warner Bros., New Line Cinema and Blumhouse Productions who have created horror classics such as “Scream,â âThe Purge,â âInsidiousâ and âSinister.â 20 years after a horrific accident during a small-town school play, students attempt to resurrect the failed show in a misguided effort to honor the anniversary of the tragedy, but soon discover some things are better left alone.
âAnt-Man,â âMr. Holmesâ â July 17
Marvelâs second helping this summer comes in the form of Paul Rudd, who stars as a con-man with the ability to shrink in scale and size, but double his strength and of course, his very own super suit. Determined to embrace his inner hero, and help his mentor Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Ant-Man must plan and pull off a heist to save the world. “Lost’s” Evangeline Lily also stars.
Ian McKellan stars as the enigmatic detective Sherlock Holmes, who when the movie picks up is 93 and losing his memory, as he looks back on his life and recalls a case from 35 years earlier. McKellen, who is 75, was aged with prosthetics for the film, which is directed by Bill Condon (âChicago,â âKinsey,â âThe Twilight Saga – Breaking Dawn Part 1 and 2â).
âPixels,â âPaper Towns,â âSouthpawâ â July 24
This weekend has something for everyone. âPixelsâ is for the family-friendly crowd. The action-comedy sees 1980s video games come to life and reimagines Pac-Man as, of all things, an extra-terrestrial villain of Godzilla like proportions ready to eat the world. Nintendo favorites âDonkey Kongâ also star alongside Peter Dinklage and Kevin James.
âPaper Townsâ is for the indie romance and young adult crowds. Based on the John Green novel of the same name, and by the same team that helped bring Greenâs tearjerker âThe Fault in Our Starsâ to fruition, the mystery-romance follows Quentin (Nat Wolff), a teenager who sets off on a road trip to find out whatever happened to his mysterious girl next door, Margo (Cara Delevigne).
Finally, âSouthpawâ stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a hot-tempered boxer trying to regain his leverage on a personal and professional scale after the murder of his wife (Rachel McAdams) and losing custody of his young daughter. Kurt Sutter (of âSons of Anarchyâ fame) originally wrote the script for Eminem, designed originally as a sequel to â8 Mile,â but when plans with the rapper fell through, director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) sought out Gyllenhaal for the title role.
âFantastic Fourâ â Aug. 7
Do you have superhero fatigue yet? With their third and last helping of the season, Marvel is hoping you arenât. In this reboot of the comic book series, four young outsiders teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, and don’t come out unscathed. With their physical forms altered in different ways (weâll let you figure out what a character like the Human Torch means), the four must learn to harness their new abilities as they try to work together and save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.
âStraight Outta Comptonâ â Aug. 14
With racial tensions rising in the U.S., it seems like a perfect time to look back at an equally poignant time in history and N.W.A, the rap group that made musicians Dr. Dre and Ice Cube household names, and the same group who were bombarded with threats of boycotts and criticisms for releasing tracks like âF**k Da Police.â Directed by F. Gary Gray (âFriday,â âThe Italian Jobâ), the film looks back on N.W.Aâs emergence in music, following their rise from Compton, and the way the group revolutionized entertainment and popular culture with their rhymes.