May 2nd
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (ACTION/SCI-FI)
Directed by Marc Webb; Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Sally Field, Paul Giamatti
Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence.
As far as mega-budget summer blockbusters go, this one is very much a wild card. The fifth installment in Sony Pictures' Spider-Man franchise, and the second part of their first reboot, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (not to be confused with SPIDER-MAN 2) finds Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) balancing his dual lives as Spider-Man and a high school student as he discovers that the ominous OsCorp is behind a whole new set of super-powered criminals, headed up by Electro (Jamie Foxx), with definite intentions toward Spider-Man himself. The film has three known super-villians so far (Electro, the Rhino and the Green Goblin), although director Marc Webb maintains that only Electro plays a major part in the film (probably misleading), and the last time Spidey went up against more than one in SPIDER-MAN 3, the results were overcrowded and unfavorable. The screenplay is also written by Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci who, outside of STAR TREK (2009), have a pretty abysmal screen record with multiple Michael Bay films and crappy sequels. Furthermore, some of the advertising looks like little else than a (partially) live-action cartoon. Those are the strikes against it, but on the more optimistic side, more recent advertising has highlighted awesome action and sharp humor, plus, hopefully Webb has more clout this time around to get his way, considering how Sony came in at the last minute with disastrous edits on the last film. I really want this to be good, but it's high-risk.
Update: Early reviews so far have been primarily positive!
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| Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) vs. Electro (Jamie Foxx) in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, opening May 2. |
May 9th
CHEF (COMEDY)
Directed by Jon Favreau; Starring Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Sofia Vergara, Dustin Hoffman, Emjay Anthony, Gary Shandling, Oliver Platt
Rated R for language, including some suggestive references.
In this independent comedy, writer-actor-director Jon Favreau stars as a four-star chef whose prestigious Los Angeles restaurant goes under, so he opens a food truck along with son and ex-wife in hopes of reclaiming his creative spark. From the director of great movies like ELF and IRON MAN, as well as the more recent and disappointing COWBOYS & ALIENS, this could be considered something of a meta career move. Either way, both as food porn and feel-good entertainment, this looks promising- one of the most exciting-looking independent films of the summer.
May 9th
LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY'S RETURN (ANIMATED/CHILDREN'S)
Directed by Will Finn & Dan St. Pierre; Featuring the Voices of Lea Michele, Martin Short, James Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Kelsey Grammer, Megan Hilty, Hugh Dancy, Oliver Platt, Bernadette Peters, Patrick Stewart
Rated PG for some scary images and mild peril.
Although it premiered in France a whole year ago, this low-profile animated film has wisely waited until May 2014 to be released in a landscape absent of any family films newer than a month prior. It's the kind the film that families go to on a whim, just because it's the only one that won't make little kids soil their pants. Unfortunately it won't be as deliriously, hilariously dark as the 1985 Disney cult classic. This is cheaply rendered, little kid friendly entertainment where the cinema serves a babysitter, and the only escape for adults is picking out the various celebrity names in the voice cast.
May 9th
MOMS' NIGHT OUT (FAMILY/COMEDY)
Directed by Andrew Erwin & Jon Erwin; Starring Sarah Drew, Trace Adkins, Sean Astin, Patricia Heaton
Rated PG for mild thematic elements and some action.
A Christian independent feature from the Bible Belt region, this film nonetheless is hiding all of that behind its advertising, which highlights an extensive collection of family-friendly misadventures as a group of friends, married mothers all, attempt to have a rare night out on the town while the husbands watch the kids. As the official website's synopsis queries: "What could go wrong?" Ha. Well, I bet their intentions are good.
May 9th
NEIGHBORS (COMEDY)
Directed by Nicholas Stoller; Starring Seth Rogen, Zach Efron, Rose Byrne, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Rated R for pervasive language, strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, and drug use throughout.
The summer season is typically the season of big-budget special effects action gluttony, but since the success of Judd Apatow and THE HANGOVER (NEIGHBORS comes from alumni of the former camp), the summer has had an injection of hard-R frat comedies. From the director of FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL and starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron as a couple of neighbors who wage a war of exaggerated and often crude pranks on one another, NEIGHBORS looks like one of the funniest comedies of this summer. Rogen stars as a new dad who moves with his family into a seemingly peaceful suburban neighborhood, until a raucous fraternity helmed by Efron moves in next door.
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| Zac Efron and Dave Franco having a Robert De Niro party (because shut up) in NEIGHBORS, opening May 9. |
May 16th
GODZILLA (SCI-FI/ACTION-THRILLER)
Directed by Gareth Edwards; Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, Ken Watanabe, David Strathairn, Sally Hawkins, CJ Adams
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of destruction, mayhem and creature violence.
Hollywood is taking another crack at the most iconic kaiju of cinema, following the much-maligned last attempt by Roland Emmerich in 1998. This time around, as per usual in our post-9/11 world, the tone is darker, grittier and ominous. This appears to have more of the chilling "thriller" to it, than the destructive science fiction action. Plot details have been kept pretty thin by Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, with the advertising focused primarily on the devastation, the threat of mankind's belligerence toward nature and haunting but obscure shots of the titular beast; it has been suggested in Legendary's press releases though that Godzilla will ultimately factor into the humans' salvation against more malevolent monsters. Director Gareth Edwards is best known previously for the independent sci-fi thriller MONSTERS, which bears some similar themes, but a low-profile director suggests that Legendary and Warner are exercising some stronger studio privilege. The cast they've lined up is great though, as is the crew of Oscar-nominated production members, and the previews are great.
May 16th
MILLION DOLLAR ARM (SPORTS DRAMA)
Directed by Craig Gillespie; Starring Jon Hamm, Lake Bell, Aasif Mandvi, Suraj Sharma, Bill Paxton, Alan Arkin
Rated PG for mild language and some suggestive content.
It's been a while since Disney has turned out one of their signature family-friendly, star-driven, inspirational, fact-based sports drama (the last was SECRETARIAT in 2010). Directed by Craig Gillespie, who directed the less family-friendly but warm and low-key 2007 dramedy LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, MILLION DOLLAR ARM tells the story of Pittsburgh Pirates' pitchers Rinku Singh (played by LIFE OF PI star Suraj Sharma) and Dinesh Patel who were recruited for the MLB by sports agent J.B. Bernstein (Mad Men star, Jon Hamm) after appearing on the Indian reality television show Million Dollar Arm. Think of it like a cross between SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and THE ROOKIE.
May 23rd
BLENDED (ROMANTIC COMEDY)
Directed by Frank Coraci; Starring Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Terry Crews, Bella Thorne, Joel McHale
Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and language.
Adam Sandler, the king of lazy and lame "comedy", reunites with his THE WEDDING SINGER/50 FIRST DATES leading lady, Drew Barrymore, for another film directed by his frequent collaborator Frank Coraci, whose helped Sandler's Happy Madison Productions churn out travesties like HERE COMES THE BOOM and THE ZOOKEEPER. Sandler and Barrymore star as a couple of single parents who find themselves stuck at the same African family resort after previously meeting on a disastrous blind date. Those who enjoy the self-abuse sensations of Sandler's contemptible schtick will be pleasantly unsurprised while the rest of us lament their ill-spent dollars sure to bring about yet another Happy Madison atrocity.
May 23rd
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (ACTION/SCI-FI)
Directed by Bryan Singer; Starring Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Michael Fassbender, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Lawrence, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Halle Berry, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Lucas Till, Shawn Ashmore
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi violence and action, some suggestive material, nudity and language.
With the unqualified success of MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS in 2012, every film studio wants to have a comprehensive superhero film universe, which is why 20th Century Fox is breaking the bank to help their mostly moderately successful X-Men franchise make the leap into the billion dollar club. Bringing back Bryan Singer, the man who started the series with X-MEN and X2: X-MEN UNITED over a decade ago, and reuniting those earlier films' illustrious cast of veterans along with the young and sexy cast of the excellent prequel X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, the X-Men send their headliner, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), back in time to the 1970s to team up with young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Mystique (Academy Award-winning superstar Jennifer Lawrence), along with a colossal cast of household names, to prevent an alternate timeline where drones known as "Sentinels" systematically eliminate all mutants and eventually mankind. RottenTomatoes.com's user polls have deemed this the most-anticipated movie of the summer, and I don't think they'd be far off for me personally. It looks incredible, and I'm very excited.
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| Hugh Jackman returning as his signature character, Logan/The Wolverine, in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, opening May 23. |
May 30th
MALEFICENT (FANTASY/ACTION-ADVENTURE)
Directed by Robert Stromberg; Starring Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copely, Brentan Thwaites, Miranda Richardson, Juno Temple, Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville
Rated PG for sequences of fantasy action and violence, including frightening images.
For in-house live-action tent-pole productions (not counting subsidiary Marvel Studios), Disney has an unfortunate habit of churning out hugely expensive, style-driven fantasy epics that have enormous potential but regularly ring hollow, i.e. ALICE IN WONDERLAND, JOHN CARTER, TRON: LEGACY and THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ, none of them especially bad, but they fall apart after the initial viewing. MALEFICENT was fast-tracked for production soon after 2010's ALICE IN WONDERLAND became a surprise mega-hit, but the original director Tim Burton abandoned the project (not necessarily a bad thing considering his more recent work) and ALICE's production designer, Robert Stromberg was put in his place, which guarantees the strong visuals but enhances the possibility of a hollow final product. SAVING MR. BANKS director, John Lee Hancock, was brought in to assist on re-shoots of the more story-centered scenes. Despite the evident visual panache and suggestion of production troubles, the budget reports are considerably restrained for a Disney tent-pole, which certainly makes things interesting, and ALICE and THE LION KING screenwriter Linda Woolverton seems to have combined The Mists of Avalon with the story of Sleeping Beauty to make Maleficent sympathetic. Angelina Jolie, who's been attached to the project invariably from the start, is obviously invested as well, so however it turns out, it seems worth a watch at least.
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| Angelina Jolie as the title character in MALEFICENT, opening May 30. |
May 30th
A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST (COMEDY/WESTERN)
Directed by Seth MacFarlane; Starring Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Neil Patrick Harris, Sarah Silverman
Rated R for crude and sexual content, language throughout, some violence and drug material.
Family Guy-creator Seth MacFarlane's 2012 film TED was a huge success, so with even more financing, he's back to blend his brand of frenetic and hopelessly raunchy comedy with a western genre and an all-star cast, led by none other than himself in his live-action acting debut (he played the CGI character Ted in TED). Set in 1882 Arizona territory, he plays a sheepish sheep farmer who loses his girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) after backing out of a duel. He then meets a gunslinging woman (Charlize Theron) who helps him discover his confidence, which he'll need when his new girlfriend's husband, a notorious outlaw (Liam Neeson), shows up for payback. As in TED, MacFarlane seems to display a messy lack of discipline and an abundance of subplots, but also lots of riotously depraved R-rated humor and maybe even some cool western action.
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| Charlize Theron and Seth MacFarlane (holding the duck) in A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST, opening May 30. |
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