My Summer Movie Watch List

Anyone else been really disappointed with the crop of movies lately? Did you skip I Am Legend for some unknown reason? Do you wonder why the last movie you truly enjoyed just happened to be a kids movie, Enchanted, you took your niece to at Thanksgiving?

If you're like me, you prefer to rent the "Oscar-Notables" for your home theater and save the big-screen experiences for blockbusters and outings with the kids (or in my case, my sister's kid.) I still haven't seen "No Country for Old Men" or "Juno," but both will certainly end up in my Netflix queue eventually. For me, the big screen isn't about "quality cinema," it's about getting my fill of summer-blockbuster goodness! That's why I'm rather excited about the upcoming Summer-movie season.

From April to July, here's just a few of the movies I'm anticipating (In order of release):

Forbidden Kingdom (4/18)
With Jackie Chan & Jet Li, this movie is shaping up to be a must-see for kung-fu movie fans. My gut, based on the plot & recent performances from both stars, makes me a bit concerned. What's it about? It appears to be a classic tale of a young kid becoming involved in some mystical threat to humanity. Li & Chan are his "mentors." It'll probably either be too Disneyfied or too Bulletproof Monk...and yet I'm looking forward to it. This is definitely a "tomatometer" watcher. I'll see it if it's over 65%. Anything lower and I'll wait for DvD.

Iron Man (5/2)
Opening weekend anyone? It looks HOT! I am a comicbook fan but an admitted Iron Man detractor. A high-functioning alcoholic who's too smart and too self-righteous for his own good, Tony Stark has an epiphany that makes him turn into a cybor-suit wearing vigilante. Frankly, he'll always be a jackass. Thus, the casting of Robert Downey is perfect. And is that Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper? The special-effects look tremendous. If they avoid the mistakes of Fantastic Four, slow origin story and drawn out Thing's lost humanity story-ine and instead focus on action-beats and Stark's insomniac, high-octane jackass personality I will love this film in spite of myself.

Speed Racer (5/9)
A friend called it Anime NASCAR and I think he's on the money. Remember that hovercraft racing game for the GameCube. Image if someone took the Speed Racer cartoon series and set it to that game. That's what Speed Racer looks like. For some reason, that sounds cool to me. It's also got spot-on casting. That doesn't mean I'm not worried. After the first Matrix movie what have the Wachowski Brothers done? They made those crappy Matrix Sequels. On the other hand, they made the Matrix. It was a revolutionary film. It was like nothing anyone had ever done in film before. Could lighting strike twice? Why might it truly suck? Epileptic seizures anyone? Seriously! I got a headache just looking at the promo.

Prince Caspian (5/16)
Honestly, my enthusiasm for this film is low, but as it draws closer my urge to re-read the book is really high. That's why it's made my list. If they follow closely enough to inspire my imagination, I'll be happy.

Indiana Jones 5/22
Could I have dropped everything else and simply written a post about this one? Hell yeah! Dr Jones is back, baby! Am I crazy or too much of a FanBoy? No matter how hard I try, I can't imagine this being bad. First, Harrison Ford is my film-hero. I've got more DvD's with him than any other actor. Don't doubt the range and skill of Shia LaBouf. And when in doubt, it's got Cate "God Save The Queen" Blanchett! ...gotta stop before I start gushing... Just queue the theme music, baby!

Incredible Hulk (6/13)
It's been promised that the Ang Lee film will be all but erased from memory. That's probably the #1 reason why I'm excited. #2 has to be Edward Norton as Banner. I like that they are using the "helicopter drop" (dropping Banner out of a helicopter to inspire the change) and the "monster-movie" style showdown in the middle of a big city. This is the kind of movie made for the Summer Blockbuster. Who cares if it's well written. Just as long as the fights rock and "Hulk Smash!"

Get Smart (6/20)
I wish I could see this with my father. It's his kind of movie. I expect to laugh a lot. Unfortunately, we won't be together for family vacation until August. "Missed it by that much!"

Hancock (7/2)
Remember when Will Smith owned the 4th of July? Could Hancock restore the magic? Imagine a superhero with all the strength and invulnerability of Superman only imagine he's the kind of crass moron you want to give the finger to in the mall parking lot. That's Hancock. And you know that Will Smith can pull it off. Now, we all know that the movie will be about Hancock being taught a lesson in responsibility, but it still should be fun.

Dark Knight (7/18)
To truly know me is to understand a few essential things. For example: I love my wife, I'm too emotionally attached to Philadelphia Sports and Batman is one of my heroes. And not that campy Batman from the 60's. No, Frank Miller's Batman! The Dark Knight! Why am I most looking forward to it? This best Joker ever was the version presented in "the Killing Joke" by Allen Moore. This is also the inspiration for Heath Ledger's Joker in the film. Get ready for a very frightening psychopath.