You better get your fuzzy slippers of happiness on, the time of magic, the time of excitement, the time of cinematic bliss is upon us. Within a few short weeks the “summer movie season” will be in full swing. Hence, if I were to pick a national or world monument that I could use as a metaphor for this summer’s movies, that could encapsulate what this summer’s entertainment value will be, 
I would say this summer is like the Eiffel Tower. Instantly recognizable, like the tower, with movies such as Harry Potter and Transformers 2, but really a toss up if it is worth it to fly all the way to France just to see some iron rods bolted together. Yes there are some exciting movies on the horizon, but it really seems that this summer could either be fantastic or it could be a catastrophic disappointment. So bolt yourself down and lets go for a wild ride through summer 2009!
Release Date: May 1st 2009
A prequel to the X-Men movies, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the history of how Wolverine came to be. If you are familiar with his story from the original movies then you will remember that he is indestructible, that he will heal instantaneously. Hence, the story takes us over a hundred years into the past to show us why there is such great animosity between himself and Sabertooth and also how he got those really cool claws.
This movie really could be a mixed bag. I truly want to like it, but I am worried that the filmmakers are going to try and plug in too much into the movie and it will be a 90 minute special effects marathon. I hope I am wrong, because I really liked X-Men one and two.
Release Date: May 1st 2009
This movie starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner 
pays homage to the old Charles Dickens Classic about Ebenezer Scrooge, but instead of a wretched miser, the scrooge character is played b a womanizing man candy who is God's gift to women. Eventhough he is everything they want visually, he has a problem with relationships and hence he must be taken on a trip into his past to realize what a wonderful opportunity he has with Jennifer Garner's character. I like both these actors so we shall see how it turns out. It will have a hard time finding an audience being paired up against Wolverine and then precluding the blockbusters following soon there after. However, it might be just what the fairer sex needs to get through these opening weeks of summer action movies in May.
Release Date: May 8th 2009
Wow I am a geek! I am really looking forward to Star Trek and I really hope that the director J.J Abrams doesn’t screw the pooch on this one. I really like that they have taken us back in time with the story, very similar to what they did with Batman Begins. The story starts with Kirk, Spock and all the rest coming out of Star Fleet Training and having their initial adventures on the Enterprise. The film looks grittier and nastier, which I think would serve the series well. Some of the reasons why Batman and The Lord of the Rings did so gangbusters is that the subject matter was given a dose of reality and “dirt under the fingernails”. I have high hopes for this one. We shall see!
Release Date: May 15th 2009
You may or may not know it, but this film is actually a prequel to the movie “The DaVinci Code”. It is the story of Robert Langdon fighting a secret society from blowing up the Vatican. Now, I actually had the pleasure of reading both The Davinci Code and Angels and Demons before the release of the first film and the actual storyline and excitement of Angels and Demons far exceeded DaVinci. There is greater suspense and overall the story was better, however it did not drop the “Jesus was married” bomb, hence it did not get the same publicity as DaVinci. Unfortunately there hasn’t been much buzz about this film, so it might slip in to summer obscurity. I however have high hopes as I am a big fan of the book, Tom Hanks and also Ewan McGregor.
Release Date: May 21st 2009
There is only one reason why I would even give this one a chance. After the third Terminator, which was utterly horrible, I completely wrote off this series and thought it had gone the way of The Matrix series, Beverly Hills Cop series and The Godfather trilogy. The first two excellent, the third, a blemish upon the entire memory of the series.
So when I heard they were releasing a fourth Terminator movie, I immediately regulated it to a DVD rental at best a TNT watcher at worst. However, when I heard that Christian Bale was going to be playing John Conner it made me stop and take notice. He rarely takes missteps in his career so this might actually be a well done film.
It is the story of John Conner battling the robots of Skynet. It is also the story of the evolution of the Terminator and how it moved from model to model, until eventually arriving at the Schwarzenegger model. I have reservations, but I am optimistic that this might be a good movie.
Night At The Museum 2: Battle Of The Smithsonian
Release Date: May 22nd 2009
Now this movie is actually a sequel instead of a prequel like many of the films above. The story revolves again around Ben Stiller trying to cope with a museum coming to life on his watch. However this time he is in the museum of all museums, the Smithsonian. From what I have read, no other film has ever been allowed to be shot inside the actual Smithsonian until this one, so I am quite excited for the insanity that should follow. All of the main stars return and it looks like this movie is going to be a great one for the kids and hopefully they can take it into new directions instead of just rehashing old jokes and old predicaments. A good family movie none the less.
Release Date: May 29th 2009
Pixar is the heavy weight champion of the world when it comes to computer animated films. Not only are they visually stunning, but their story lines are always top notch. It is as if the ghost of Walt Disney has reemerged into the body of John Lassiter, top dude at Pixar, to provide for us a conduit into the past of Disney’s prominence.
Now we are getting into the realm of my personal opinion, but I though Wall-E, although a wonderful film, didn’t quite have the same magic as some of it’s predecessors. The box office receipts showed that as well as it did not do as well as its digitally processed brothers. However, if a studio has a misstep and still makes a film as remarkable as Wall-E then there is obviously some pretty talented individuals working at Pixar.
Up is the story of Carl Fredricksen a 78 year old man setting out to fulfill his life long dream of exploring South America. How is he going to explore South America? By tying thousands of balloons to his home and having them carry him there. There is a snag. A young explorer scout inadvertadly gets caught on the porch during lift off and he is now a part of the adventure amongst the clouds. This movie could truly be magical.
Coming up Next! JUNE!
WALL-E was amazing and has been hailed as the best animated film ever not to mention the best film of 2008 by many many critics groups. It had magic and then some. Up will also be great, but WALL-E was perfection and only those trying to be "different" ever try to say otherwise.
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