Looking Toward Summer

It’s been depressing to see news outlets put out doom and gloom articles week after week since the start of summer. Even if I’m not able to see something opening day I still want to look forward to it, but in this capitalist landscape Hollywood reporters have deemed anything a failure if they do not make billions of dollars opening weekend, and then they’ll flood outlets with the death of cinema propaganda where social media discourse will talk in circles as they comment and share the doom and gloom.

It’s exhausting.

Especially exhausting when we all knew this summer was going to be lighter than expected due to the strikes last year. There are plenty of other small reasons that we can speculate, but that’s not what I want to talk about. I’m sick of it. I’m sure you’re sick of it. So instead, I want to look ahead and share what I am excited for this summer to combat all this negative mongering May.

June

Technically a May release, Disney’s latest live-action movie Young Woman and the Sea will be their only non-animated movie this year (I am counting Mufasa as animated no matter what anyone says). The reason I wanted to highlight this particular movie is because originally this was meant to be a Disney+ exclusive, but miraculously it was moved to a limited theatrical run. As a lover of Disney films, their output over the past few years has been spotty at best and I really want to support their non-guaranteed chances, compared to a certain Marvel movie starring two of the biggest cinematic mutants. Young Woman and the Sea is currently in theaters and stars Daisy Ridley as the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die has been the most played trailer I’ve seen in the theaters this year. It’s attached to every movie, and seeing the blockbuster landscape for the next few months I can understand why. Though I’m not a fan of the franchise, still have yet to watch any of their films, I will admit the trailer bombardment may have worked. I am at least curious about some explosive fun if I have nothing else to do.

M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter Ishana makes her directorial debut with The Watchers. I have no idea what the movie is about, but it’s supernatural from my understanding and it has Dakota Fanning. Love both so it’s a must watch for me!

Sliding into ‘get the tissues ready’ territory, an indie film called Ghostlight may break my top 5 movies of the year. Based on the trailer it’s about a construction worker, father, husband, who is having trouble connecting with his family and expressing his emotions. When his daily routine is interrupted his suspicious daughter follows him, thinking he’s cheating on mom, but learns that he joined a theater group. Connections and familial emotions ensue.

Originally scheduled for last year, Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders finally comes out. I’ve been very interested in this film for quite some time and the pushback release date definitely hurt. Starring Tom Hardy and Austin Butler in a biker gang is enticing enough, but throw the amazing Jodie Comer into the mix with revving motorbikes that reminds me of Sons of Anarchy, I’m in.

Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone return in Kinds of Kindness. I am avoiding all details on this project. All I’ve heard is people compare it to Lanthimos’ earlier career, which makes me so excited. While I’ve been enjoying his last few films, they have felt more mainstream than what made me fall in love with his work. If Kinds of Kindness really is a callback to his weirder period then I’ll absolutely love it.

Fancy Dance is the latest film with Lily Gladstone. Loved her in Killers of the Flower Moon and I will absolutely support her moving forward.

Earlier in the year Jason Statham kicked the ass of some scammers in The Beekeeper, this summer there is a new ass kicker in town — Thelma! This 93 year old woman is out to get the scammers who cyber attacked her, and now she’s going around town with her motorized scooter looking for the fuckers. I am definitely taking my grandmother to see this wholesome movie.

Behind Bad Boys, the second most advertised trailer I’ve seen everywhere has been A Quiet Place: Day One. I really liked the first movie. Haven’t watched the second movie. Not entirely excited for this entry, but I’ll get my monster fix so there’s that. Let the monsters fall on me in a hail of shattered glass.

Kevin Costner’s passion project starts releasing this summer: Horizon: An American Saga Part 1. With how scarce the western genre has been I’m excited to give this a try. Having a three hour first-part out of a four-part story comes with some trepidation, but I’m still curious how this massive gamble will pay off.

Closing out the month is a film I’m desperate to watch, starring Dakota Johnson, Daddio. The trailer was attached to Madam Web when I saw that and since then I’ve had it stuck in my mind. There’s something special about the human condition where strangers connect for a short time, in this case a cab ride, and that short time will influence so much even though their time together is a blink. I think I’ll cry and I need a good cry.

July

How can we start July without some Minion action? Despicable Me 4 will be a good time. The other movies I’ve liked to varying degrees, but for the most part the franchise is good fun. I do wish the kids have aged by now, but that’s not gonna break the movie. It’s a comfort popcorn watch which I’ll know I’ll have a good time at.

Fly Me to the Moon is a space rom-com from Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon) starring Scarlet Johansson and Channing Tatum. There’s something about NASA’s space race period that makes stories exciting. There’s an abundance of optimism and hope of achieving the impossible, and having a romance in the heart of this period sounds like a great time.

Let’s now slide to another movie that takes advantage of theater; Sing Sing is the latest film with Colman Domingo, dealing with prison inmates finding themselves and a spark of inner freedom as they explore theater. I’m sure this will be yet another movie I’ll cry at which it (hopefully) will be well deserved.

I don’t know too much about National Anthem. What I do know from the trailer is that it’s queer and deals with life on a ranch. I’m sure the first thought for many will be ‘Brokeback Mountain?’ but it doesn’t look like that. I’m very curious to see how this one does with audiences.

Since Anyone but You, I’ve become interested in Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. The latter of which had puzzled me until the trailer of Twisters. I’m not a fan of the original movie, but the new one seems exciting in the same way I couldn’t put my finger on why Glen Powell puzzled me, and I came to the conclusion it’s because he has an older type of screen power. There’s something about the way he looks and the way he holds himself on screen that reminds me of a time long gone. Old fashioned, if you will. So naturally I’ll give this a chance for him. Bring on the popcorn!

Speaking of popcorn buckets…

Deadpool & Wolverine. Of course, it’s on my list! As much as I’d love to be a hater on the latest populist movie, I just can’t. I like the characters. I like the director. From what little we know it sounds like it’ll be a great time in the cinematic blender. I’m not tired of this schtick yet, and I’m gonna have a fun zany time. Plus, this is a proper team-up movie. Reminiscent of team-up comics, both characters are on the title and their relationship is going to be why we go.

Not much in July compared to June, but I think this is a good balance of movies. And there’s definitely going to be some that weren’t on my radar that I’ll check out.

August

I try my best to be as positive about movies as possible. But that outlook is really hard to keep together when faced with Harold and the Purple Crayon. Truly, I am baffled by the attempt but I feel like I need to witness this movie in order to believe. Whether it sinks or swims doesn’t matter. This adaptation of a childhood classic feels 15 years too late, and yet I’m morbidly curious.

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is finally upon us. I’ve enjoyed the previous SpongeBob movies and I don’t see any reason not to see this one. Sandy was always a fun character that didn’t get a lot of screen time when I was a kid. It’ll be good to see her star in her own movie after all these years. Hi-ya!

Borderlands wasn’t a video game I played, but the movie looks bonkers and fun. Outlaws, planets, crazy gadgets. There isn’t a lot of science fiction happenings this year so I’ll eagerly gobble up this Pop Rocks type of blockbuster when it comes out.

Following his daughter Ishana, M. Night Shyamalan returns with Trap. Again, I’m going in without knowing any context of the film. Haven’t watched a trailer. Will avoid all critical buzz around it. Whether his films are great or not, Shyamalan has been an interesting director that will have my interest each time.

I was going to say it’s been awhile since we’ve had a Paul Feig movie, but apparently I didn’t realize The School for Good and Evil was a movie… I always assumed it was TV. Anywho, Jackpot comes out this summer and I’m ready for this action-comedy. It has some sort of race with money at the finish line and evil people and stuff. I hope it’ll be a good time.

Diving into horror-science fiction, Alien: Romulus comes out from the director of the Evil Dead remake and Don’t Breathe. There are a lot of films this summer where I am avoiding all marketing as I can; this too is one that I’m trying to go in completely blind. I’m a big fan of the Alien franchise and I am very curious where this new entry takes us. I’m just crossing my fingers for some good moodiness and creature designs. Let the face huggers free!

Naturally I already talked about part one, but Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2 comes shortly after the first! They may be in theaters still when this comes out. I think that’s super cool and my thoughts on enjoying a western again remain the same after all these paragraphs.

Interestingly, the movie Stream seems to have been made partially by crowdfunding. Low-budget horror movie about a family vacation being surrounded by killers.

I won’t say I’m excited for The Crow remake. Over the last 30 years there have been lots of comics pushing the idea in new directions and new protagonists. One takes place in Japan, another Nazi Germany, and there’s a more grounded story that seemed to take inspiration from David Fincher’s Seven. So when news came out about this remake going back to the original well — I wasn’t thrilled. But I am still going to see this because I love comics and I am curious how they’ll adapt this for a modern audience. Whether I’ll like it or not is up in the air.

Blink Twice is the directorial debut of Zoe Kravitz, and no I did not pick this movie because it has a character named Cody in it (although Cody representation is appreciated). I’m recommending this movie because it has creepy Channing Tatum and an island of rich people where weird shit happens. Am I going crazy? Wasn’t this person doing that? What is reality? Bring on the nail biting terror of rich island boys.

Jason Schwartzman had a stellar 2023 with all his incredible roles. It was a treat to root for him all year. Naturally I’ll show up for Between the Temples, which sounds like a crisis of faith type of film.

Aaaaaaand I think that’s all I got. August was a bit tough since lots of the later titles either don’t have trailers or their stories are barely known. But I think this is a fairly good list to have a decent summer.

There are a couple obvious movies that did not make the list for one reason or another. If you didn’t see any that you were looking forward to then I’d love to hear what you got your eyes on in the comments.