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!
