Going home for the summer? Worry not. The Lantern previews the blockbusters coming to theaters while you’re away from school. Nick Chordas, film critic for The Columbus Dispatch, and Melissa Starker, sales and marketing manager for Gateway Film Center, weigh in on this summer’s slate.
“The A-Team” – June 11
NC: I’m kind of tired of seeing all these properties from 20 years ago, 30 years ago, remade (or re-imagined as they call it these days). But the trailer kind of swayed me a little bit because it just looks so incredibly goofy. It looks like they’ve taken it in a direction that’s not entirely realistic. It looks completely over-the-top and (has) exaggerated cartoon-like violence. And done well, that could be sort of fun, especially during the summer months. It does look like it’s built to be kind of a joyride.
MS: I’m really curious about it. A lot of people that maybe are the summer movie demographic aren’t really old enough to remember the original series, but everyone knows who Mr. T is. I was in the lobby the other day and I heard a few college students walk by and one of them said, “A-Team, what’s that?” I’m really curious to see if it sort of transcends that generation gap.
“Toy Story 3” – June 18
NC: Very much looking forward to it. I’d say that’s probably one of the films I’m looking forward to the most this summer. There’s no reason not to be optimistic, just because Pixar has, for the past 15 years since the original “Toy Story” came out in 1995, just done it over and over again. They’re on an incredible streak.
MS: Pixar generally can do no wrong, from a box office, critical and audience standpoint. One particularly interesting thing about this in terms of the way Disney has been bringing it out is that they are going very strongly for the college audience. You combine that with the fact that there are a lot of people that have a very strong personal connection to the films, and the fact that it’s going to be in 3-D, I would see this film possibly doing really well.
“Jonah Hex” – June 18
NC: They haven’t done much to advertise it. I haven’t seen much of anything on it, and it’s coming out soon. I actually wonder if they’re trying to bury it. In concept it’s cool. I like James Brolin and I like the idea of kind of the old west with a little bit of the supernatural. I guess it’s one of those wait-and-see things. Early word is not so great on the Internet, but the Internet’s been wrong before.
MS: Graphic novels and comic books are kind of the bread and butter of summer movies, and this one has that some sort of gritty, graphic novel basis that something like “Kick-Ass” did.
“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” – June 30
NC: I don’t expect great things from “Eclipse.” As far as I can tell, it’s pretty much more of the same thing. What I’m more excited about when it comes to the “Twilight” series is the fact that they hired Bill Condon to direct the fourth film, which will be split up into two parts.
MS: This is the first “Twilight” movie to open in the summer, so we’re really curious to see if we are going to see the kind of business that “Twilight” films have brought to the theater in the past. It has a very, very strong connection with its audience, and they’re going to come out in droves.
“The Last Airbender” – July 2
NC: (M. Night Shyamalan) has taken a movie we would not expect to see from him. It appears to be special effects driven. It’s based on a very popular anime series, so it’s not something you would expect this guy to be doing, but he does need a hit and I’ll be interested to see if it’s more of a workman-like approach from him or if he uses more of his style.
MS: M. Night Shyamalan is a very strong visual stylist, so from that perspective, it should be a great spectacle on the big screen.
“Inception” – July 16
NC: I really like the idea of sitting down in a theater and watching a Christopher Nolan movie, and Christopher Nolan’s track record speaks from itself. Given the fact that it’s Christopher Nolan, I’d show up for it. What we’re seeing looks pretty cool. It looks pretty terrific, and I just hope that they can continue to keep it under wraps and not give away too much in the marketing.
MS: (“Inception”) is the movie of the summer. Our facility tends to do really well with films that saddle the line between mainstream and arty or independent and Christopher Nolan is one of the best filmmakers going when it comes to doing that.
“The Expendables” – August 20
NC: I’m more interested than I think maybe most people would be. I’m hoping it will be fun. I like the theme of getting the old guys together for one last mission. I think it’s going to be rated R, which is nice to see action movies not get neutered like the last “Die Hard,” which was PG-13. I’m remaining optimistic.
