Ah, summer. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the lake is… being a lake. For three months at least, the world is bright and beautiful. What’s a better way to spend them than by shutting yourself into a dark room with a collection of strangers to be distracted by light and sound for a couple hours?
Should you choose to spend your summer this way (and really, why not?), you have a more than ample selection of films from which to choose—so many a portion spilled over and kicked off the festivities a bit early.
So, technically, I guess “movie summer” started a few weeks ago with the release of “Iron Man 3,” the latest component of the mega-money-generating explosion machine that has been the Marvel work horse.
And so far that, along with early summer action blockbusters “Star Trek: Into Darkness” and “Fast & the Furious 6” have been relatively well received, while other big time releases like “The Hangover Part III” and “The Great Gatsby” have been more widely panned.
Quick aside: I don’t have much space, but I can’t emphasize how little I liked “The Great Gatsby.” Like… serious, serious rage was felt in the theater, total disappointment and just badness all around.
Moving on, I’m going to try to cover as much ground as I can, so please bear with my rambling and we’ll get through this. Thank you.
Following the “weirdly, fascinatingly bad” film that was “The Hangover Part III,” mainstream comedies don’t look to have a particularly strong summer ahead of them.
The Vince Vaughan vehicle “The Internship” and “The Heat,” which teams Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock as a pair of seriously out of step cops (hilarity ensues, probably?) look to be the most traditional, out and out comedies of the summer, with “Grown Ups 2” being savagely, remorselessly unleashed upon the world slightly later in the season.
However, hope can still be found slightly off the beaten path. The summer is bookended by two “This is the End,” and the more British “The World’s End.”
The first features James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and others, playing exaggerated versions of themselves through the end of the world. The second is the latest offering from the “Sean of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” team of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
It’s interesting we get two buddy-type comedies about the apocalypse in one year, and it’ll be even more interesting to compare the two once they’re released.
However, the most exciting comedy of the summer, which is a comedy in both the contemporary and classic sense of the word, is Joss Whedon’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” I’ve already ranted about it once post-Wisconsin Film Fest, but it’s incredibly entertaining—one of the smartest films being released this year, and extremely high on my must-see movies list.
As long as we’re on indie comedy/drama type things, “The Kings of Summer” looks like it might actually be the perfect summer movie; it’s been called our generation’s “Stand by Me” based on early screenings and has been compared to the amazing “Moonrise Kingdom,” but with less quirk. If you can see it, do it.
Noah Baumbach, Wes Anderson collaborator and director of “The Squid and the Whale,” keeps the quirk coming as well; his new movie “Frances Ha” features co-writer Greta Gerwig in the lead role and looks like it should be on par with his excellent early outing.
And holding onto the indie and drama, but less on the comedy, “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” has been compared to Terrence Malick’s work, featuring a talented cast headed by Rooney Mara and will likely be the most artistically beautiful movie coming out this summer.
Of course what summer is “really” about is big time, action-y blockbusters, and 2013 has them aplenty, including two heavy hitters that hold a lot of promise.
Will Smith’s “After Earth,” also starring his son and directed by M. Night Shyamalan looks like it’ll be most memorable for the insane interviews the father/son duo has given in support of it (apparently the Fresh Prince is a meta-physicist… go figure). “World War Z” will have Brad Pitt fight zombies in what is apparently the loosest adaptation of a book ever. And “White House Down” has Jamie Foxx in it. Honestly, that’s the most interesting thing about it.
“The Lone Ranger” will be worth seeing, if only to see how Johnny Depp handles another revisionist western. The last time he did something like this was Jim Jarmusch’s “Dead Man,” which was an excellent deconstruction of the genre, and the success of “The Lone Ranger” will hinge on whether they can balance that sense of reinvention and subversion with the big production sensibilities of Jerry Bruckheimer.
Hugh Jackman will also reprise his role as “The Wolverine” (now with 50-percent more samurai) in standard summer action nonsense, but by far the most exciting big time films of the summer will be “Man of Steel” and “Pacific Rim.”
Fresh off the insane financial success of “The Dark Knight” trilogy, Christopher Nolan is stepping into the producer’s role for his Superman re-boot, “Man of Steel,” and handing the directorial reins to Zak Snyder.
Snyder has some experience with comic book adaptations (notably “300” and “Watchmen”), with varied results, so early reactions were understandably tentative and anxious. But the first few rounds of trailers have pretty easily dispelled these worries.
Nolan’s guiding hand seems to have led the film in the right direction, poising it to be the biggest film of the summer. However, if there’s one film that can challenge “Man of Steel” for this genre, it’s “Pacific Rim.”
A movie with a stupidly simple premise, “Pacific Rim” can be summarized as follows: Giant monsters fight giant robots. But then consider it’s being directed by Guillermo del Toro, who made the brilliant “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “The Devil’s Backbone,” proving he can handle fantasy and horror elements, and who demonstrated his action film chops in the “Hellboy” films.
His pure childlike enthusiasm, a cast featuring Idris Elba and Charlie Day, and a script rumored to be based on one of the most insane pieces of anime out there (like, insane by anime standards) makes me want to believe “Pacific Rim” can challenge “Man of Steel,” if not financially, then, at least in terms of quality, to be the biggest movie of the summer.
Of course if you’re into less “mainstream” action flicks, “Elysium,” Neill Blomkamp’s follow up to “District 9” looks to deliver on action and follow in its predecessor’s politically charged footsteps. “RIPD” combines the supernatural and Jeff Bridges with action and Ryan Reynolds for cult-ready goodness. And “Kick Ass 2” will attempt to live up to its very enjoyable forefather (although, sadly, sans my boy Nic Cage).
And, perhaps the most controversial film of the summer, “Only God Forgives” has been getting smashed by critics, was booed and walked out of at Cannes and absolutely has to be seen. It almost definitely won’t live up to “Drive,” but will doubtlessly be one of the most discussed films of the year and should be seen if possible.
Sadly there does’t seem to be any kid friendly movies that will actually be excellent films a la “Wall-E.” That is, unless my hope that “Planes” is just a direct remake of “Top Gun” turns out to be more than just hope.
Also they made “The Smurfs 2.” So that’s a thing. That’s happening.
Finally, if you’d rather not pay to see new movies, WUD film is showing a great series of movies every Monday night at 9 p.m. at the Memorial Union for free. So please, enjoy summer, stay inside and watch movies.
Suggest some movies to Austin at wellens@wisc.edu.
