East Coast Musings 04.12.09: Summer BlockBuster's To See

Posted by James Craig on 04.12.2009

Inside, a look at the Summer Blockbusters I think will be worth the time and effor to go see.

Last week's box office for Fast and Furious was surprising to say the least, but I think that it may have kicked off the Summer box office/blockbuster season early. While I'm not surprised that the movie wound up on top of the box office pile last week, I am very surprised that it brought in $72 million in box office revenue. That's very impressive numbers at any time of the year, and when you consider that before last week, the highest grossing April opening weekend was that of Anger Management back in 2003 with just a tad over $42 million, it's tremendous. So as those numbers settled in, I began to think of which movies will be coming out this summer that I would consider to be blockbuster contenders and a couple movies in particular came to mind that I plan on seeing, as well as some others that I don't plan on seeing but can see having their own time at the top of the box office. So here are the 3 summer movies I'm looking most forward to. Not to say these will be the best, or that they are the only one, just the ones that have me most excited.

While Fast and Furious was the kick star to the season, we're going going to have to wait pretty much a solid month until the next big blockbuster comes along. Any Marvel comics' fanboy (or girl) worth their salt is going to have May 1st circled on their calendar for the opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I've been looking forward to this since the project was announced and as time has passed and more has been released about the movie, I've only gotten more excited for it to come. Really, this movie looks like it is going to kick all sorts of ass. Throw into it that fact that Liev Schreiber's Sabertooth appears to be more in the vein of the interpretation of that character that I like it myself, and it looks like it is a sure fire fire success. I think you need to look at the movie as interpretation of the mythos surrounding the character and put aside the tendency of some fans to lean towards presenting a purist telling of the story in order to really get revved up for the movie. I've seen some complaints here and there, and it seems, to me, that of all the complaints, there is some sort of backlash about Deadpool being unmasked. Not even so much that Ryan Reynolds was cast as Deadpool, (It makes more sense the more you think about it, RE: Nearly every movie he's been in) but that he is unmasked. I'll be honest, this struck me as odd, but I set it aside and said, this movie is still going to kick ass. I'm not going to comment on what I've seen from spoilers or postings from those that watched the leaked version of the movie about our favorite Weapon X alum merc with a mouth, since I know some of you put a lot of effort in to not having the movie ruined in any way, so I won't. Long story short, I think that this is going to be a movie that is just going to build and build from the start all the way to the end, continually amping up the adrenaline, and it is going to be a very fun ride. There's not a whole lot more you can ask for in a movie all about Wolverine.

I was a tough pick for the second movie for this list as both Terminator: Salvation and Transformers:Revenge of the Fallen have me equally interested, but the more I sat back and thought about it, I think that Terminator is the one that has me the most intrigued. I know what I'm going to get with Transformers, more specifically, Michael Bay, and while I do really want to see Devastator on the big screen, it doesn't quite draw me in like Terminator does. I've only recently come into the Terminator fan club. I've always liked T2 but never really had the desire to watch the movies that book ended it. That all changed last year when Terminator;The Sarah Connor Chronicles came to FOX. I was hooked from the start, and the more I watched of the television series, the more I wanted to look into the film parts of the cannon. I'm still fuzzy on how, or if Salvation intends on building from the television series, and I can only hope that tit does, somehow, it really doesn't matter so much as throughout the history of the franchise, especially in the tv series, it has been made clear that since it is a story of time travel and the paradoxes that story telling like that is apt to create, the writers are allowed to work around where some story threads have gone, but still remain faithful to the groundwork set down by the first two movies.

The trailers for the movie have also been able to show, hopefully, just enough of what the story will be about to make me want to see how it will turn out. I'm still on the fence about McG as director. I know that he can handle action with the best of them, but this is a franchise that requires a fair amount of storytelling to go hand and hand with the action. We Are Marshall showed glimmers that he can tell a story, but I'm still not going to hold my breath. My reservations about the directing are, however, leveled out by the hope that the casting will make up for any deficiencies coming from McG's chair. Chrisitan Bale is certainly capable enough to take on the role of the grown John Connor and the rest of the cast is solid enough to surrounding him. This could end up being more like Transformers once all is said and done by only having big robots blowing the hell out of each other, but my hope that it's deeper than that puts it on this list.

The final movie of the summer season for this list is Inglorious Basterds. This is perhaps the film that has me most excited to hit the theaters this summer as I am a huge Tarantino fan. Couple my love of all things Tarantino with my love for World War II films and it is no wonder why I'm so excited for this film. Let me also say that I may have fudged the guidelines for making this list a tad to put this film on here as I'm not convinced that Inglorious Basterds is going to be a true blockbuster as it's rating may keep a certain number of those who want to see it out, but I can't help myself. This film has been talked about and talked about for what seems like forever now, and once the release date was finally set, I was sure to mark it down. Then along came the trailers and I must say, I'm not sure I've ever seen a World War II film that has delivered the same sort of action and storytelling that Basterds promises to deliver, but I certainly can't wait to see it. The whole concept of a spaghetti western set in the second world war is just something that sounds too good to pass up.

Also, take into account that when Tarantino takes his time with a film, and labors for years in the development of even just the story, the end result is usually nothing short of great. The man is a film geek, to be sure, but he takes the passion he has for all these genres that he spent hours watching when he was a clerk at a movie store and it easy to tell that it is a labor of love for the man. All of this, and I haven't even gotten into the cast, which is also something to be excited for. It is the casting and the lead in particular, that I think gives Inglorious Basterds a chance at getting at least one week at the top of the box office. I think the for some, Brad Pitt in a Trantino film will be enough to get them out to see this, even if they know nothing about the film itself. Then once you look at what is opening with it, at this point two limited release films, the chance are pretty good, unless something from the week before holds one or by some immense fluke, G.I. Joe manages to make a run at the top, there should be at least one week, maybe for the Basterds.

So there you have it, the 3 movies I look most forward to seeing this summer. I know that there are other movies that are going to challenge at least a couple of these for the summer box office crown, namely Harry Potter, it will be these that I'll be heading out to see before all the rest.