Sean Collins-Smith and Jeremy Clemmons
Staff Writers
It’s almost summer at the movies, and that means two things: sequels and explosions. No fewer than 20 sequels will be gracing the silver screen in the next four months: From the the 3D kids’ films “Shrek Forever After” (You have to be kidding) and “Toy Story 3,” to the more grownup “Sex and the City 2” and “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” this season offers plenty for those seeking more of the same.
There is hope, though, for those yearning for some originality. “Inception,” writer/director Christopher Nolan’s first film since the critically-acclaimed “The Dark Knight,” puts an all-star cast into a mind-bending journey in which dreams are stolen. “Grown Ups,” a comedy starring Adam Sandler and every comedian you’ve ever heard of, looks to get big laughs as well as big numbers, while “Knight and Day” attempts to continue Tom Cruise’s comeback after his solid performance in “Valkyrie” last December.
Despite whiffs of varying trends – blue people fighting Marines in December, the Queen of Hearts of doing her march in, erm, March, etc.— summer is still the time of year when it is best to take refuge from the sticky outdoors and enjoy a nice movie with your Pepsi-Cola. So, here’s a sneak peek at some of the flicks hitting cineplexes over the next 12 weeks.
“Iron Man 2” (May 7) – Not summer yet, you say? Well, Tony Stark has two tons of steel to prove you otherwise. Robert Downey Jr. returns as the infinitely sardonic Stark, having just revealed his identity to the world. This of course leads to big baddies like Sam Rockwell, as an ambitious entrepreneur, and Mickey Rourke, as the villain Whiplash, gunning for Stark’s weaponry. Director Jon Favreau is at the helm again, though Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard as Stark’s number two guy. The last film was met with critical and commercial success, so consider this one to be 100 percent critic-proof on opening weekend. Scarlett Johansson and Gwyneth Paltrow co-star.
“Robin Hood” (May 14) – The men in tights return to deprive riches to the masses. Just teasing, that’s “Wall Street 2.” The last time Ridley Scott directed an epic action movie starring Russell Crowe the result was the Academy Award-winning “Gladiator.” That was nearly 10 years ago to the day that “Robin Hood,” a retelling of the famous English folk hero’s exploits, comes to theaters. With a $130 million budget and a spotty recent track record — their last film, “Body of Lies,” fared mediocre at the box office — all eyes will be watching to see how this performs in its first weekend. “Gladiator” started a trend in sword-and-sandal epics, and if “Robin Hood” does poorly, that trend might be over.
“Shrek Forever After” (May 21) – For the last decade “Shrek” movies have filled the coffers at DreamWorks Animation, with the first three films netting more than a billion dollars in domestic grosses alone. This final film sees Shrek (again voiced by Mike Myers) making a wish that goes so wrong it creates an alternate world in which Donkey (Eddie Murphy), Fiona (Cameron Diaz), and Puss ‘n’ Boots (Antonio Banderas) have never met him. It will be the final “Shrek” film, and it’ll also be in 3D. Julie Andrews and John Cleese provide addition voices.
“MacGruber” (May 21) – The Saturday Night Live parody of MacGvyer has been extremely popular on sites like Hulu and YouTube, and it follows in the footsteps of many other SNL skits-turned-movies. “MacGruber” hits theaters with enough buzz to draw the coveted 18-25 age group in droves, more than earning back its comparatively slim $10 million budget. Will Forte stars as the title character, a special operative who has been fighting crime since the tragic (comic) death of his fiancée 10 years earlier. Val Kilmer and Ryan Phillippe co-star, with several WWE wrestlers making cameos.
“Sex and the City 2” (May 27) – Miley Cyrus, Penelope Cruz and Liza Minnelli? On the same screen with the Fabric Four? In the desert? It’s about as puzzling a cast and setting as there’s ever been for a film about a group of “middle-aged” (Hollywood standards) ladies since “Beaches.” There aren’t a lot of blockbusters aimed squarely at women, but rest assured that “Sex and the City 2” is one of them, and it will be one of the biggest movies of the year (we’ll look past the fact that it’s both written and directed by a man). Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda return for another round of sexual hijinks as they travel from New York to Dubai (actually Morocco).
“The Karate Kid” (June 11) – When in doubt, remake a classic. At least this remake has some solid changes: The kid in question is played by Will Smith’s son Jaden, his mentor is now Jackie Chan, and James Horner, of “Titanic” and “Avatar” fame, is scoring the music. Jaden Smith has been fairly successful in the past, having had costarring roles in “The Pursuit of Happyness” and another remake, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” If “Karate Kid” does well, expect to see a lot more of Jaden in the future.
“Toy Story 3” (June 18) – Fifteen years after the first film launched Pixar into the animation stratosphere, “Toy Story 3” is returning with the same cast and crew that made fans fall in love with the first two. In their latest journey, shown in full 3D, Buzz and Woody are hauled away to a daycare center where they immediately seek ways to go back home. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, John Ratzenberger, Joan Cusack and Don Rickles all return to voice their characters. One of the must-see family films of the summer.
“Knight and Day” (June 25) – Tom Cruise tries his hand at a comedic-action role in this spy thriller opposite Cameron Diaz. The script went through several rewrites – and several actors and directors – until producers finally settled on Cruise and director James Mangold (“3:10 to Yuma”). The trailer is high on both stunts and hilarious one-liners (Cruise holds a gun to Diaz’s head screaming “Anyone moves, I kill myself and then the girl!”), indicating it might be one of the more enjoyable films of the summer.
“Grown Ups” (June 25) – Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Kevin James and Rob Schneider – among others – star as former high school buddies who get together after the death of their basketball coach. Not much happens in the trailer, though it manages a few chuckles. The question is whether all this comedic star power will yield a genuinely funny movie or merely a movie that gets laughs because of the celebrities who are starring in it.
“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” (June 30) – When the “Twilight Saga: New Moon” premiered last November, it had the highest-grossing single day in film history. The buzz has only gotten louder in the six months since. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart return as the vampire/girl love-duo, investigating mysterious deaths occurring in Seattle. Interestingly enough, David Slade, the director of the violent vampire film “30 Days of Night,” takes over for Chris Weitz in an effort to make a darker, more visceral film.
“Inception” (July 16) – One of the most buzzed about movies of the summer is “Inception,” a film so secretive in nature that the official trailers give us only glimpses of what its about. “Your Mind is the Scene of the Crime,” the posters tease, and indeed, that’s really all that is known: Dreams are at the center of the film. Christopher Nolan, whose previous films include “Memento,” “The Prestige” and “The Dark Knight,” directs, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page (“Juno”), Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“500 Days of Summer”) and Ken Watanabe starring. It was conceived as a small, independent-type film in between Nolan’s Batman pictures, though it eventually ballooned into a $160 million epic. Early reviews indicate this might be a front-runner for a best picture nomination in 2011.
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