Summer 2012 movie thread

The summer box office season is a little over a month away, with "The Avengers" opening May 4, so I thought it was as good a time as any to start talking about what movies everyone is looking forward to, which movies will bomb and which will surprise. Mostly I'm thinking about blockbusters, but feel free to add any thoughts on comedies or whatever else.

I'm looking forward to The Avengers, though I'm concerned there may be too many characters. It seems that since characters like Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk have all had their origin stories explored in previous movies, the upside for The Avengers is that it could be as good as Spider Man 2 or X-Men 2 (which were both significantly better than their predecessors because they didn't have to bog the story down with the characters' origins).

On the flip side, it could suffer the same fate as Spider Man 3 or any Batman movie between Tim Burton's flicks and Christopher Nolan's and be bogged down with too many characters. X-Men probably provides a good template on how to show a team of superheroes working together without overdoing the number of characters.

The movie I'm most excited for, though, is Prometheus, the new Ridley Scott flick due out June 8, which I have a feeling is going to turn into an origin story for the Aliens franchise. I have been staying away from reading anything about it for fear of spoilers, but there's a shot in the trailer that definitely reminds me of a shot in Alien. I have a feeling this will be the surprise hit of the summer.

Other notable movies coming out:
MAY
Battleship (May 18): Looks like shit.
Men in Black III (May 25): I can't put it past Will Smith to be funny, but the time travel aspect has me leaning toward shit. Though Josh Brolin seems like a good choice to play a young Tommy Lee Jones.

JUNE
Snow White and the Huntsman (June 1): Not to be confused with the shitty looking Snow White movie with Julia Roberts, this looks pretty damn good.
Prometheus (June 8 ): See above
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (June 25): Looks pretty shitty, but it's kind of a funny concept.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (June 29): The first one was pretty bad, but I have to admit, the trailer looks pretty good for this one. And Dwayne Johnson in full badass mode is usually not a bad thing (Dwayne Johnson in kids comedy mode usually is).

JULY
The Amazing Spider Man (July 3): I have no clue what to expect with this one, but Andrew Garfield seems like a good choice for Peter Parker (Emma Stone as the blonde Gwen Stacy seems odd, since she's known so well as a redhead, but she's a good actress). I'll definitely be there to see it, though.
The Dark Knight Rises (July 20): Batman, Nolan, Bale, Hardy. Can't. Freakin'. Wait.

AUGUST
The Bourne Legacy (Aug. 3): Jeremy Renner takes over as the leading man in the Bourne franchise. Don't know much about it, but it'll be Renner's second movie of the summer to make $200 million.
Total Recall (Aug. 3): Bold move, and a potentially disastrous one, to open against Bourne. Don't think it can possibly stand up to the original, but there better be three tits on a chick somewhere in this movie.
The Expendables 2 (Aug. 17): Looks like the shit a shit would take if it eaten a plate of shit.

 

The Bourne Legacy is the one I'm most excited about.

I'm colosally sick of Superhero movies.

 

I can see that. I'm a bit fatigued by them now as well, although I think it has more to do with the brilliance of The Dark Knight than the sheer numbers of other movies. I came out of both Thor and Captain America thinking, "Eh. It was a superhero movie." It wasn't like seeing Spider Man swing digitally through New York for the first time, or seeing Heath Ledger explain where he got his scars.

I think some of them have gotten lazy, knowing that whatever they put out is going to make $150 million. They all seem to be following the formula set forth by the first Spider Man.

 

I'm sure I will see The Dark Knight Rises. I'm lukewarm on Spiderman.

I thought Thor sucked. I didn't hate Green Lantern as much as everyone else did, but it still wasn't nearly as good as could have been. I was pleasantly surprised by Captain America.

There really isn't an original idea in that whole group. Promentheus looks good.

Last summer had to be the worst summer of movies I can remember. This year looks to only be slightly better.

 

I'm disappointed that the new Judd Apatow movie, This is Forty — a "Knocked Up" sequel focusing on Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann's characters (with Albert Brooks as Rudd's father) — has been pushed back to December from June in order to not compete with another Universal release (Snow White and the Huntsman).

Then again, by that time I'll be that much closer to 40, so maybe it will resonate more.

 

I was looking forward to that one as well.

I'm trying to think of what the good movies were from last summer. Bridesmaids, The Change-Up, Horrible Bosses were three of my favorites.

I can't remember any of the blockbusters being anything better than mediocre. Hangover 2 was pure shit. Hell, even Cars 2 sucked.

 

Yeah, last summer was the most disappointing year I can remember in a long time. I came out of every movie thinking it was OK. I didn't think any were terrible, but none were very memorable.

Thor's biggest problem was that there wasn't enough of him as Thor. Too much time without his powers.

I thought Green Lantern was better than Thor or Captain America. I enjoyed Fast Five, but I acknowledge how silly it is.

Mission Impossible 4 was easily the best of the blockbusters.

I hated Bridesmaids and Hangover II. Horrible Bosses was hilarious.

I'm cautiously optimistic that this summer has some good blockbusters in store.

 

MI:4 came out around Thanksgiving and was, much to my shock, one of the best movies I saw last year.

 

OK, I'll say it: I cannot wait to go see "The Hunger Games" this weekend.

 

I didn't think it was that good. All the MI movies seem to be big stunt sequences linked together with the most tenuous of plots.

I realize it's an action movie but I still have no clue about Cruise's character or why I should care whether he lives or dies.

 

I thought MI4 was the best of the series by far. I liked the first one. The second was OK. The third one was awful.

It's a popcorn movie. It's not supposed to be great cinema.

 

I thought last summer had a few good comedies, namely Bridesmaids and Horrible Bosses. My favorite movie of the summer was Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I didn't care for much else, though.

I'm most fired up for The Dark Knight Rises. I'm tired of the superhero schtick too but I don't even count the Nolan Batman flicks as superhero movies. Otherwise, not much else I'm looking forward to.