Can’t really complain about my April movie month. I enjoyed the Evil Dead remake, had great post-movie discussions with Lindsay about Trance, thought 42 was quite respectable, and was wowed by my IMAX visual experience with Oblivion. Not to mention I got to live out one of my childhood dreams by seeing Jurassic Park in theaters. I still really need to see The Place Beyond the Pines, Mud, and Pain & Gain so there’s still more April enjoyment to be had. May looks like it might be a decent follow up to all the recent success I’ve had at the theaters.
MAY 3
- Iron Man 3 – This marks the kick off to the summer movie season like the Avengers movies have done the past three years. I’m not expecting a movie as fantastic as The Avengers but I’m planning on it being a step up from Thor and hopefully even better than Iron Man 2. Tony Stark is just one of the most likeable, kickass movie characters and I know I’m not slightly in the minority with wanting to see as much of that man as possible. The darker tone of this should be interesting but mostly I’m looking forward to more RDJ one liners.
- The Iceman – There’s a lot to like in this trailer. You’ve got Michael Shannon as the serial killer mafia hitman, Chris Evans as another killer whose nickname is Mr Softee, and Ray Liotta doing his gangster thing. Then there’s Winona Ryder, James Franco, Stephen Dorff, and David Schwimmer rounding out the cast. I thought that dude was riding off into the sunset on Friends residuals and Madagascar movies but here he is and I’m interested in what the hell he is doing in this movie. I do have my hesitations though because Killing Them Softly looked like nothing could go wrong and it apparently didn’t live up to all the trailer promised. Hopefully this fairs better but I’m not setting my expectations too high.
MAY 10- The Great Gatsby – Ah, I am the most conflicted about this movie. I grew up loving Romeo + Juliet and was totally lukewarm towards Moulin Rouge! as far as Baz Luhrmann goes. It looks as over the top as expected but with all the visuals, pop soundtrack, and those frantic trailers I can’t tell if it’s completely gone off the rails. I’m going into it with an open mind though and hoping for the best.
- Peeples -Here’s Tyler Perry ripping off Meet the Parents and all the other significant other meets parents stories that have come before and after. All I have to say is you get that money Craig Robinson and we’ll never speak of this generic shit again.
- Aftershock – After how amazing the Goretorium in Vegas was I’ll be up front that Eli Roth has an all time pass in my book. I’ve liked plenty of his movies and this looks like it could be a pretty fun gorefest. The trailer also doesn’t seem to show too much which is always great when it comes to horror. I can’t decide if this plot seems really played out with the whole white people going to foreign locales where shit goes down, or if the angle of natural disaster brings out people’s evil sides is enough to make it its own beast. Either way I’m going to see this at some point.
MAY 17
- Star Trek Into Darkness -To be honest, I still haven’t seen the first Star Trek (as in the 2009 reboot) so the trailer doesn’t do much for me. I’ve heard so much positive feedback about that movie though that I really have been wanting to check it out. Maybe I’ll get to it in time to see this in theaters.
- Black Rock – I see you Mark Duplass. First you were acting in five movies and directing two more in 2012. Then you show up on one of my new favorite comedy shows The Mindy Project. Let’s not forget you’re still going strong with The League. You are trying to take over everything. I’m still sort of figuring out how I feel about the guy. I’ve really enjoyed some of his movies but sometimes can’t stand his acting. It’s been very off and on. His first project out this year is this horror film, written by him and directed by his wife (you can see them act together in The Puffy Chair). This looks sort of generic and not all that Duplass-y. I’m interested in the way I’m vaguely interested in any horror movie that doesn’t look dismal.
MAY 24
- Epic – The plot of this isn’t really that big of a draw but dammit does that animation look amazing or what? The first trailer featuring little dialogue blew me away. Everything besides the characters faces looks incredibly realistic and fine tuned. I mean look at the girl’s hair in the picture below. You can see all the strands! I know it’s not that much of a leap forward from, say Brave, but I feel like it’s going for less of a cartoon-ish feel which I think is interesting.
- Fast & Furious 6 – These movies aren’t great but where they left off in the painfully bad 2 & 4 (I guess 3 was okay and honestly I haven’t seen 4 but I’m pretty sure the consensus was pretty negative), they sort of turned it around by making Fast Five more fun, taking itself less seriously in the process. I still didn’t think the movie was great, but it wasn’t as egregiously bad as I expected. Let’s just say if the same friends that forced me to see Fast Five were pushing me to check out this sequel it wouldn’t take quite as much coercion.
- The Hangover Part III – Damn, I’m surprised this and FF6 are coming out the same weekend since it’s unlikely both won’t be huge at the box office. I suppose they figure there’s room enough in Memorial Day weekend to accommodate a huge action flick, huge comedy, and an animated kids movie and still rake it in. Although I have given up on The Hangover Part II twice, I did love the first movie. I’m glad they seem to be going for a less formulaic approach for this one and I’m hoping it’s all the better for it.
- Before Midnight – I can’t say much about this because (despite them seeming right in my wheelhouse) I haven’t seen Before Sunrise or Before Sunset. However, Lindsay and I have planned to fix that blind spot in our film watching so that we can enjoy the third movie when it comes to theaters.
MAY 31
- After Earth – I really can’t feel out my excitement for this. On one hand I already got a movie about an apocalyptic Earth this year in Oblivion and I think I will be more impressed by the desolate planet than the one in After Earth. On the other hand if this movie offers a better story than Oblivion I’ll certainly be welcome to it. It seems like there’s a consensus out that Shyamalan will have one of his staple twists thrown in there so if it’s executed well this movie could restore his image a bit. If it fails then people will likely hate it. I guess we’ll see how it plays out in a few weeks.
- Now You See Me – This definitely intrigues me but mostly because the cast is pretty great. I’m wondering if there actually is supposed to be magic at play here, as in how the hell is Jesse Eisenberg getting out of those cuffs, or if it’s all an illusion, as in duh magic isn’t real. I’ve been seeing the trailer for so long that I’m just ready to finally see the damn thing.
- The East – Director/writer Zal Batmanglij and actress/writer Brit Marling team up again for this movie about an agent infiltrating an anarchist group. They also worked together on the somewhat similar Sound of My Voice which Lindsay enjoyed but I still haven’t seen. The trailer for this makes me really excited to see it. It looks like a pretty great thriller that might not add much to the “infiltrating a group” subgenre but should have enough nuance to set it apart. Plus my life has suffered from a serious lack of Ellen Page since Super & Inception in 2010! That’s a long time! I know there has been some stuff in between but not much and nothing that I have seen.
- The Kings of Summer – It’s a tall order comparing a movie to a mix of Superbad and Stand By Me, so I have to say the trailer doesn’t really sell me on the review quote they included. It looks like there could be something special there and maybe the trailer just isn’t revealing much of the personality in there. I suppose there’s always Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, and Megan Mullaly to keep you occupied if those three boys aren’t holding it up. I do have to say that I love the poster for this movie though.
What are you looking forward to watching this month?