PCP in Theaters - Summer Movie Preview

Alright, my blog is finally back from hiatus, so thank you for your patience.  To reward you for coming back, here's a great long post to kick off my summer blogging season.

With the release of Iron Man 3 two weeks ago, it's official, summer movie season is here. So, in the spirit of my fall TV preview posts, I bring you my first ever summer movie preview. I'm going to break the films down into one of three categories:  those I want to see in theaters - i.e. the blockbusters that I am most excited for; those that can wait until home video; and those I'll pass on altogether. Unfortunately I don't have the time or the money to see all of the ones in theaters that I want to see, but whenever I do see one of them I'll be posting a review ASAP.

Disagree with where I put something? Let me know in the comments!

Formatting note:  All dates listed are the Friday of the week they are released, according to the upcoming releases tracker on IMDB.com. I'm sure many of these will be moved around to Wednesday or Thursday releases, but for simplicity's sake I'm just putting the Friday date.

In Theaters movies: (So many blockbusters, so little time. I just hope all of these are good and not a waste of time and money.)

• Iron Man 3 (May 3) - RDJ is the man, best hero in the Marvel film stable at the moment. Can't wait for this one, it has to be better than Iron Man 2.
• Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17) - The Star Trek reboot is my favorite version of Trek. I can't wait to see what JJ Abrams does with the sequel.
• Fast & Furious 6 (May 24) - The 5th film in the series was the best since the first, so I can't wait to see where they go with #6. As a car nut this series is like manna from heaven for me.
• After Earth (June 7) - Will & Jaden Smith's sci-fi action flick looks like it could be really good. Plus, Will Smith is the king of summer action movies, so count me in. On the other hand, this film might be dropped down to the watch at home category, considering it is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who hasn't had a good film in more than a decade.
• Man of Steel (June 14) - A Superman reboot produced by the Dark Knight's Christopher Nolan? Yes please. If this movie is any good, we might get a Justice League film before long.
• World War Z (June 21) - The film looks promising, even if zombies are supposed to be slow. Even in the source book (a great read) this is based on, they're slow. Why did they have to speed them up?
• Pacific Rim (July 12) - Skyscraper sized giant robots fighting giant monsters? Directed by Guillermo del Toro? Oh yeah, this is going to be a lot of fun. Even if it's bad, it'll still be awesome.
• The Wolverine (July 26) - Hugh Jackman once again dons the claws in a standalone film outside of the X-Men franchise. Should be pretty good.
• Elysium (August 9) - Starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, and Sharlto Copley, this sci-fi story from District 9 writer/directer Neill Blomkamp looks like it has a ton of potential. District 9 took me by surprise when it came out for being unexpectedly awesome. Let's hope lightning strikes twice!

After the jump - see what movies didn't make the must-see list!

On Blu-ray movies: (I may wind up seeing some of these in theaters, if the first group's times don't fit my schedule. Some of these look pretty good, but they can wait due to budget and time constraints.)

• The Iceman (May 3) - You can see Man of Steel's villain as a real life hit-man in this true story biopic a month before Man of Steel comes out.
• The Great Gatsby (May 10) - Leo is a great actor and I'm sure this will be excellent, but nothing about this screams "see in theaters."
• The Hangover Part III (May 24) - At this point, what possibly could these guys do that they haven't done before? That was one of my chief complaints about Part II, let's hope they fixed that problem.
• Now You See Me (May 31) - A great cast highlights this crime/magic thriller. The trailers make it look quite good.
• Much Ado About Nothing (June 7) - I'm not a huge fan of Shakespeare movies, but it's a modern adaptation written and directed by Joss Whedon, & the cast includes Whedonverse actors Amy Acker, Nathan Fillion, Alexis Denisof, Fran Kranz, & Clark Gregg. Whedon = I'm gonna watch it.
• This Is the End (June 14) - A dark comedy about the end of the world striking while a party is happening at James Franco's house, with real life actors playing outlandish versions of themselves. The cast is ridiculous & this could be hilarious. Or it could suck majorly.
• Monsters University (June 21) - This might get bumped to the in-theaters category if I hear it is worth it to see it in 3D. Looking forward to visiting the Monsters' universe again.
• White House Down (June 28) - The 2nd film this year (Olympus Has Fallen) about an attack on the White House, this one stars my wife's favorite actor Channing Tatum as a secret service agent protecting president Jamie Foxx, so she might drag me to this in theaters if she can't wait for the DVD.
• The Lone Ranger (July 5) - Is Johnny Depp's over the top oddball characters shtick wearing on anyone else's nerves yet? On the other hand, this reunites him with POTC director Gore Verbinski, so that's promising. I could see this bombing at the box office like John Carter though.
• Despicable Me 2 (July 5) - Gru & his minions are back. I already can't wait to watch this, and I can't wait until my son is old enough to watch it so I can see it with him again.
• Red 2 (July 19) - The first Red was a lot of fun. There's something entertaining about seeing Helen Mirren killing people while acting like Martha Stewart. I hope the sequel is as good as the first.
• R.I.P.D. (July 19) - Undead cops, based on a goofy comic book, and starring Ryan Reynolds. I love him in films, so this should be fun. But what is this, his 4th different comic book role? 
• 2 Guns (August 2) - Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, and a crime thriller. Count me in.
• Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (August 9) - The first PJ film was a fun kids intro to Greek Mythology. This looks like it will be a lot of fun as well. Oh, and Nathan Fillion joins the franchise, so that always makes a film worth watching in my book.
• We're the Millers (August 9) - A drug comedy with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudekis? Could be good. I'll give this one a shot eventually.
• Kick-Ass 2 (August 16) - One of the least appreciated comic book adaptations of recent years, the first Kick-Ass was a very entertaining film. Based on the trailer, this one dials things up to 11.
• The To Do List (August 16) - A raunchy female comedy starring Aubrey Plaza as well as a bunch of other funny people. This could be either really good or really awful.
• The World's End (August 23) - Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, & Edgar Wright, aka the guys behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, team up for a third time. I loved their first two team-ups, so this better be good.
• Closed Circuit (August 30) - An intriguing legal thriller about attorneys for an international terrorist, written by the guy who wrote Eastern Promises (which I just reviewed here yesterday). I'll give that a shot.

I'll pass, thanks: (I may move films off of this list and onto the Blu-Ray category if the professional reviews or word of mouth are good enough, or if I get bored enough and have nothing else to watch.)

• Peeples (May 10) - While I loved Craig Robinson in Hot Tub Time Machine, I don't necessarily want to see him in the lead role of a Tyler Perry produced film.
• The Purge (May 31) - I'm not a huge fan of horror films that look like they might verge into torture-porn territory, even if it is starring Cersei from Game of Thrones.
• The Internship (June 7) - Vince Vaughn's last few movies have really sucked. Even though he's re-teaming with Owen Wilson, this one might continue the trend.
• The Heat (June 28) - This Sandra Bullock flick looks like a retread of Miss Congeniality, and I'm not sure Melissa McCarthy can save it.
• Grown Ups 2 (July 12) - As bad as Vince Vaughn's films have been lately, Adam Sandler's films have been worse.
• Turbo (July 19) - Not really sold on the concept of a high-speed snail, but on the other hand, it is voiced by Ryan Reynolds (& currently is slated to release the same weekend as his other film R.I.P.D., so that will make his press touring convenient).
• Blue Jasmine (July 26) - I'm not a huge Woody Allen fan, so I'll probably skip this.
• 300: Rise of an Empire (August 2) - A prequel to 300, not starring Gerard Butler and not directed by Zack Snyder, and not really drawing my interest all that much. Turns out they just announced last week that this is being pushed back to March 2014, so never mind for the purposes of a summer preview.
• Smurfs 2 (August 2) - Never saw the first one, and probably won't see this either.
• Planes (August 9) - Disney is expanding upon the universe of Pixar's Cars, the weakest of the Pixar franchises. This is a merchandising cash grab for Disney, but doesn't look all that appealing.
• The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (August 23) - Any movie starring Lilly Collins results in my being incredibly distracted by her super thick eyebrows. For the love of all that is holy, get a tweezers already.
• One Direction: This is Us (August 30) - I can guarantee you that this film will never be bumped out of this category. You'd have to pay me to watch this concert documentary film. What I can't figure out is why in the world did Morgan Spurlock agree to direct?

There you have it. What movies top your list of must see blockbusters? Disagree with where I put anything? Well, that's what the comments are for!