Thursday, May 01, 2014
Upcoming Summer Films
These are 15 of my most anticipated upcoming summer films, presented in the order that I wrote them down in my notes when coming up with the list.
I haven't seen the director's highly-acclaimed previous film, Animal Kingdom, but the trailer has me very, very interested. It almost looks like a spiritual sequel to The Proposition, complete with a grizzled Guy Pearce as the lead. With any luck, this may also be the film that convinces people that Robert Pattinson is worth keeping around post-Twilight (he was good in Cosmopolis, but we need an Exhibit B to confirm that it wasn't just a fluke).
Word out of the festival circuit is a bit mixed on this one, though everyone seems to agree that the film picks up at the end and is beautiful throughout. The trailer is easily enough to convince me to give this one the benefit of the doubt.
Probably my most anticipated movie of the summer. Word from Sundance was overwhelmingly positive, and I've been a fan of director Jim Mickle for years. Maybe this will finally be the breakout film he always seems so close to having.
I'm tired of found-footage style movies. But I have yet to grow tired of director Ti West, and I'll likely never grow tired of the amazing Amy Seimetz and AJ Bowen. So I'm in.
This has so much potential to be a flop. But the trailers have all been solid, I loved director Gareth Edward's previous film (Monsters, a much smaller film about giant rampaging beasts), and the cast is stacked with talent. I really, really want this to be good. At the very least it has to be better than the 1998 one, right?
I like stories with time loops. It's that simple. Also Emily Blunt appears to kick all of the ass, which I am comfortable with.
With enough luck, this small comedy will generate enough positive word-of-mouth to become a sleeper hit like Bridesmaids, and provide a Kristen Wiig-like breakout for the very funny Jenny Slate (also a former SNL cast member). Festival buzz so far suggests that just might happen.
21 Jump Street was surprisingly good. The sequel has all the key players returning (stars, directors, writer), and the trailer suggests that they're taking the same meta-attitude that made the first one so endearing. Hopefully it will be the rare sequel that succeeds at justifying its existence as something other than a cash-in.
I'm excited every time that Joe Berlinger (the Paradise Lost films, My Brother's Keeper) releases a documentary. I don't even care what it's about, because I know that, by the end, Berlinger will have made me care.
Filmed over the course of 12 years by Richard Linklater, this film should play like a condensed version of Michael Apted's acclaimed Up series. Even if the drama falters, it should at least be worth watching to see the child actors literally grow up on camera.
Great documentary filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters) chronicles the life of a great man who I have admired for my whole life, Roger Ebert.
The Wachowski's may not always make good movies, but they always make interesting ones (say what you will about Cloud Atlas, but you can never say it wasn't unique). This film may not turn out to be good either, but I'm guessing it also won't be a waste of my time.
Given its premise and source material, this film may not be quite as bound to fall in line with the typical Marvel Universe film template as Marvel's other cinematic properties. Hiring James Gunn (Slither, Super) as director is an interesting choice, and I'm extremely curious to see what happens when a guy who came up through Troma Entertainment is given the task of kickstarting a blockbuster franchise about space criminals. Also Vin Diesel plays a tree.
Brendan Gleeson is a consistently underrated actor. Writer/director John Michael McDonagh is the brother of Martin McDonagh, who made the stellar In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths. This film has my interest in a big way.
For the first time in many years it looks like Luc Besson is actually directing something that looks like a Luc Besson film (I did a double-take when I saw his name on the credits for a piece of crap like The Family). Plus ScarJo is having a stellar year (I want to see Under the Skin soooooo badly), so hopefully this will be another winning notch on her 2014 Queen of Cinema championship belt.
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