Thoughts on Summer 2011 Releases

I don’t often talk about movie news because even though movies are sorta my thing, I tend not to watch NEW movies.  However, there are several releases that are either in theaters or will be later this summer that I’m actually pretty interested in (and quite a few I’m not).  MY THOUGHTS LET ME SHOW YOU THEM:

Bridesmaids (In theaters)- I have a report from a friend that this isn’t a bad movie at all, and it’s not a Hangover remix like it was sort of advertised as.  I don’t have any pre-thoughts for the movie, really, other than I hope that it’s the kind of funny that I can stand.  I’m really quite picky about ‘funny’ and I think most movies that have come out with the intent of being funny suffer the sin of trying too hard.  I dislike things that are funny because it’s uncomfortable- the whole awkward funny genre just isn’t my bag.  That being said, I’m willing to watch this one, but I’m gonna catch it on a week day matinee when Greg’s working, I think.

Priest (In theaters)- I fully plan on watching this in the next couple of weeks based solely on the preview I saw when Paul Bettany was on Conan.  I don’t think it will be all that great but I’m getting a Blade 2/Van Helsing vibe off it.  Neither of those movies were spectacularly great but I have a fondness for them anyway.

Hangover 2 (In theaters)- I have heard this was just like the first one.  I did not, in fact, find the first one all that hilarious.  Funny on a first pass, but mostly just kinda idiotic.  Again, I’m particular about funny, but I’m gonna give this one a miss in theaters.  I will probably end up watching it on DVD at some point.

X-Men: First Class (June 3)- I loved the first and second X-Men movie.  I loooooathed the third.  Still do.  I liked the Wolverine movie in spite of it kind of sucking (and the lack of actual Deadpool, which is crazy because Ryan Reynolds is perfect for him).  Having seen the commercials for this, it looks like it’s part period movie, part origin story, part awesome.  I’m hoping to be right.

Super 8 (June 10)- You know, the advertising for this movie has actually really turned me off to it.  It was the same thing about Cloverfield- I have yet to see that movie, because the way they advertised just didn’t do anything for me at all.  It’s based 90% off hype, and there’s just no way the movie can be as interesting as all that.  Having seen an actual trailer, I’m struck that the story (at least, according to the trailer) sounds like something Stephen King would write.  All it needs is to be set in Maine.  I may end up watching it, but it probably won’t be the theater.

Green Lantern (June 17)- I love comic book movies even though I have only read a small handful of comics.  (Full disclosure: 90% of them have been Buffy comics.)  I like the stories, but I read so quickly in general that a comic book seems like a waste of money to me (5 bucks for bout 15 minutes of entertainment is a little steep), and I’m such a complete-ist that I don’t like picking things up in the middle.

With that all said, I am SO looking forward to this movie.  I love Ryan Reynolds (he’s the only reason I even bothered to watch the third Blade movie) and know next to nothing about the actual Green Lantern mythos.  I know that there are a lot of fans who are quite uneasy about the whole thing, but I’m going to go into it hoping for an entertaining movie that looks really cool.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins (June 17)- I realize this is a kid’s movie, but Jim Carrey needs to put the film career down and slowly back away.  I saw the trailer and thought “this is Liar, Liar with penguins” and nothing in the preview proved me wrong.  He’s trying to resurrect his career and this is not the jolt that particular monster needs.

Cars 2 (June 24)- Not happening.  A: I think Larry the Cable Guy oughta be set on fire.  B: while Pixar sequels generally go well, the first Cars wasn’t all that strong, in my opinion.  It falls under the “so not interested” category.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (June 29)-  Soooooo I have a bit of a confession.  I watched the Transformers movies just recently (I hadn’t watched either of them until about a month ago) and I kinda liked them.  I mean, some of the characters were super annoying and I could have done with more giant robots hitting each other, but they’re watchable.  I’m not super super interested in this movie but I’m wondering if they’ve corrected some of the visual problems with the first two.  The action being hard to follow, the robots being hard to distinguish from each other, that sort of thing.  I think this is a matinee/dollar theater candidate.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II (July 15)- Watching the first showing in town. Heck yes.

Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22)- So. Excite.  I love the previews for this and fully expect this movie to be awesome.

Cowboys and Aliens (July 29)- So what I know from the previews is that this movie features Indiana Jones and James Bond as Cowboys who have to fight Aliens.  It doesn’t have to do much right to be awesome.  And, let’s be honest, I’ll watch just about anything with Harrison Ford in it.

The Smurfs (July 29)- This is one of those where I am kinda not interested because there’s no possible way it could be good, but it stars Neil Patrick Harris and whats-her-name from Glee, who is totally funny and awesome in Glee.  This will probably be a dollar theater/rental movie.

Conan the Barbarian 3D (August 19)- Having never seen the original (yep!) I totally plan on catching this in the theater.  Especially since it’s an August release, everyone’s saying that it’s because the film company doesn’t think it will do well.  I think it’s just that there’s so much coming out this summer that they don’t think it will do well against that.  (Like, say, Harry Potter or Captain America or X-Men or Transformers or Super 8 or Green Lantern.  I think this is fair.)  So I’m not going to judge it for being released when some of the bigger stuff has already been out for a while, and I have liked the previews so far.

Movies I’ve seen:

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides– I really liked the latest Pirates sequel but it’s one of those things: I can’t defend it as being a good movie.  I thought the 3d was well done, and I thought that it was fun to watch, but I won’t swear it was particularly great.  About as good as sequel number 2, only featuring more of Captain Jack Sparrow (which is how it always should be imo).

Thor: I’ve already done a quick write up on this but I still say it’s a solid story that was handled well, and while some people think it could have been better I try not to judge movies on how awesome they could have been but how awesome they are.  And I still think this movie was fully awesome.  (Also, I watched The Spoony One’s review and he explained that there’s a leather strip on Mjolnir’s handle that Thor was using to helicopter around with, which didn’t even occur to me.)

I’ll definitely add movies as I see them, I think Priest or Bridesmaids are likely next on the ‘to-see’ list right now, so look for those coming soon.  I also have a few BMLT to post, and I definitely need to do another one soon, I have so many bad movies in my queue, and I now have Hulu Plus, which gives me a whole bunch more options.