Summer Movie Preview Graphic
Maleficent: Opens May 30
In continuing with the recent trend of big budget CGI reimaginings of classic movies no one really wants, we have Disney’s Maleficent. A vanity project several years in the making, the movie tells the story of Disney’s 1959 animated version of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of its villain, the evil fairy Maleficent.
There’s no doubt the film’s strength is going to be its lead. The part seems almost tailor-made for Angelina Jolie, if the promotional photos of Jolie in the iconic horned headdress have been any indication. Regardless of the content of the film, Jolie has already proven herself in this role and will definitely steal the scene.
Though the trailers make it appear that the movie borrows liberally from the recent Chronicles of Narnia films and Tim Burton’s dark Alice in Wonderland, it’ll likely be a visual treat and a fun, nostalgic trip for hardcore Disney fans.
A Million Ways to Die in the West: Opens May 30
Nobody expected Ted to light up the box office, but, somehow, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s live-action, feature-length debut was a smash hit and pretty funny to boot. His follow-up, cheekily titled A Million Ways to Die in the West, ups the ante: MacFarlane is making his very own live-action Western, complete with sets, bad facial hair and duels.
MacFarlane stars, in corporeal form this time, as a cowardly farmer in the old West who looks to woo a lady (Charlize Theron) by dueling her outlaw ex (Liam Neeson).
Trailers haven’t been kind to the movie or MacFarlane’s performance, bringing back some painful memories from his stint as Oscars host. Still, the supporting cast for the film is stellar, featuring Sarah Silverman , Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi and more.
The Fault in Our Stars: Opens June 6
Nerdfighters, rejoice: The wait is almost over for John Green’s bestselling young adult romance novel, The Fault in Our Stars, to make its big screen debut.
Fans of Green’s books or YouTube videos are no doubt already sold on the film, which Green has had a major role in producing. In the first clips and trailers shown of the film, the movie seems loyal to its source material, which follows the story of two cancer-stricken teens, Hazel Grace Lancaster, played by Shailene Woodley, and Augustus Waters, played by Ansel Elgort, who fall in quirky, awkward love, despite their tragic circumstances.
With its built-in audience, the film is likely to perform decently at the box office, but the biggest challenge the adaptation will face is marketing itself to outsiders to Green’s work. Erring more on the side of The Perks of Being a Wallflower than The Notebook, the movie is likely to be golden with younger audiences but a harder sell for pure romantics.
Edge of Tomorrow: Opens June 6
If nothing else, Edge of Tomorrow, the movie version of a novel much more interestingly titled All You Need is Kill, has a pretty killer hook. Tom Cruise (Oblivion) plays a soldier who dies in battle during the early stage of an alien invasion only to wake up before the mission has started. He charges into battle once more, dies and wakes up just before the mission again. And again. And again. And again.
So yes, Edge of Tomorrow is Groundhog Day with exosuits, aliens and a healthy dash of gritty war action. Director Doug Liman has plenty of experience with stylish action flicks, having also directed The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but trailers for this film have thus far been disappointingly bland and generic.
Watching Cruise get killed over and over again, however, may be well worth the price of admission.
The Signal: Opens June 13
Whoever marketed The Signal deserves immense credit: The film’s trailers and posters are filled with astonishingly evocative images. The film is an interesting beast, a curious collision of District 9, classic dumb-teenagers-go-into-the-woods horror and art-house sensibilities; a group of college hackers venture into rural Nevada in search of another hacker, only to find themselves in captivity as a sinister conspiracy emerges.
Though the movie looks promising, director William Eubank’s previous film, Love, was a catastrophically pretentious misfire. Fortunately, The Signal appears to be operating on a less grandiose, more human register, a movie more about relationships and ever-increasing dread than navel-gazing pontification.
Early word from Sundance Institute has been decent, though muted. Regardless, The Signal should make for a welcome palette cleanser among the loud and bombastic summer blockbusters.
The Rover: Opens June 20
Australian director David Michôd burst onto the scene with his pitch black crime drama Animal Kingdom back in 2010. His eagerly anticipated follow-up, The Rover, promises to be just as intense.
Guy Pearce stars as Eric in this minimalistic take on a Mad Max-ian post apocalypse. When a violent gang steals the last of his possessions, Eric attempts to track them down and extract revenge, using an injured, left-behind gang member as his guide.
Even though post-apocalypse is rapidly becoming a tired genre, Michôd’s take appears more captivating and haunting than most, making good use of Australia’s desolate outback. At the very least, Pearce and Pattinson make for a fairly compelling pairing. Look for first reviews to come out when The Rover premieres this weekend at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Transformers: Age of Extinction: Opens June 27
It’s a movie you never knew you wanted — OK, maybe you still don’t want it. But here it is: another Transformers film directed by the legendary master of explosions, Michael Bay.
This film is the first in Bay’s disgustingly profitable live-action toy commercial franchise not to feature any of the original human cast. Instead, Optimus Prime lands in the hands of struggling mechanic/dad Mark Wahlberg, while humanity must decide what to do about the menacing Decepticons.
The movie still boasts big names, such as Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer, but let’s be honest: It’s a Transformers movie. The human actors are only props to the super CGI robot action that makes the series such a moneymaker in foreign and domestic box offices.
From the trailers, it seems you only need basic knowledge of the series to follow this one, so if you’re in the mood for explosions and cool robots — including dinosaur ones — this is your movie.
Boyhood: Opens July 11
In the midst of making movies such as School of Rock and Before Midnight, director Richard Linklater somehow found time to make Boyhood, an ambitious project filmed over the course of 12 years, chronicling the life of a young boy growing up in Texas.
Remember the ending of the last Harry Potter film, when you’ve suddenly realized you’ve been watching these actors grow up for a decade? Boyhood is like all that crammed into almost three hours, a portrait of adolescence through the shaggy, amicable lens of America’s greatest slack-teur.
Linklater kept the same cast, consisting of mostly first-time child actors, with Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette playing the parents, over the entirety of the film, a remarkable feat of filmmaking and planning that makes for an instantly compelling hook.
Advanced word from Sundance has been overwhelmingly positive, suggesting the film is much more than mere gimmick. Get ready to feel incredibly old this July.
Jupiter Ascending: Opens July 18
The Wachowskis have spent the last decade repeatedly failing upwards. Despite what fans of The Matrix follow-ups, Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas might say, nothing the two have made since the first Matrix made much of an impression on pop culture.
Yet they keep doing bigger and bigger projects. After Cloud Atlas’ new age-y take on every genre ever, the sibilings are back with their attempt at making the next Star Wars in Jupiter Ascending, bringing with them their habit of giving their characters atrocious names.
Mila Kunis stars as, sigh, Jupiter Jones, a poor maid on Earth who turns out to be the heir to some galactic fortune or something when, ugh, Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) shows up to protect her from the forces of … Balem Abrasax? That’s a name?
OK, so forget the plot. All you need to know is this: The Wachowskis said in an interview that Jupiter Ascending contains something that tops The Matrix’s “bullet time” slowdown technique. Find out if they’re full of crap this July.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Opens Aug. 1
It’s summer, so naturally there is an influx of superhero blockbusters. However, this summer’s Marvel flick, Guardians of the Galaxy, is a bit of a dark horse, especially when compared with recent summer superhero flicks such as The Avengers, which had been built up for years with other summer releases, and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
Though its comic series certainly has a fan base, this team is not the most popular Marvel has to offer, making it a bit of a hard sell. However, the movie has a lot going for it.
Instead of being a repeat of Marvel’s last ambitious team-up project, this movie will throw audiences right into the film without too much buildup. The trailer has already done a pretty good job of introducing the star-studded team. Chris Pratt will be playing the cocky group leader, Star-Lord, with no small amount of gusto. Zoe Saldana will be green-skinned alien Gamora. Vin Diesel will be tree-man Groot. Bradley Cooper lend his voice to Rocket Raccoon. And those are just some of the characters featured in the trailer.
The movie is selling itself as more fun than the usual superhero offerings; with a trailer that features the song “Hooked on a Feeling,” you can tell this will be a fun action flick that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
The Giver: Opens Aug. 15
I was first introduced to the concept of a dystopia through Lois Lowry’s 1993 novel, The Giver, which tells the story of Jonas, a special boy who has the unique ability to gain the memories of the world beyond his city. In many ways, it was a precursor to modern young adult dystopian novels, though it seems the film’s producers are pushing the parallels between this movie and others in the genre a bit too hard.
Just as Jonas slowly learns that not all is as perfect as it seems in his town, readers also slowly learn that this utopian city has a dark side. However, judging by the trailers, the filmmakers have taken a different approach in building the world of The Giver. The trailers present a high-octane world of intrigue and secrets a la The Hunger Games rather than the sleepy town Jonas inhabits in the books.
I hope the trailers are just spinning the film to make it look more like the other blockbuster dystopian flicks and that the movie still retains the spirit of Lowry’s book. I trust the cast will do a good job, but hopefully the filmmakers don’t dwell too much on the melodrama and lose sight of what made the books so great.
Leprechaun: Origins: Opens August 2014
Ignore every other movie on this list. Clearly the only movie you need to see this summer is Leprechaun: Origins. In the wake of last year’s Carrie and Evil Dead, this horror reboot seeks to bring a beloved horror series into the 21st century.
With WWE wrestler Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl set to star as the titular leprechaun, get ready for the first of two films in the rebooted franchise that will likely carry on the proud Leprechaun name with all the dignity of the original series.
Order your tickets now, folks. It’s going to be tough to get your hands on them when August rolls around.
