Summer Movie Extravaganza

As I've mentioned, I LOVE summer movies. I define summer movies as, "ridiculously over-budgeted movies with even more ridiculous plots." The summer movie season began a couple of weeks ago with the release of Iron Man on May 1st, but until this past weekend I had yet to see any summer movies (although I still want to see Iron Man and Speed Racer). However, over Memorial Weekend I went to see Indiana Jones with my family. I was very nervous about seeing this movie. I wanted it to be spectacular, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. George Lucas even warned me. He told Entertainment Weekly:

"We're only going to get aggravation. The fans think it's gonna be the Second Coming. And it's not the Second Coming. They've already written the story [in their heads], and lemme tell ya, it's not that story. So they're going to be very disappointed. I went through this with Phantom Menace. Believe me, I've been there, I've done it, I know exactly the way they react. And they're very vocal about these things. We're not gonna have adoring fans sending us e-mails saying how much they loved the movie. We're gonna have a bunch of angry people saying, 'You're a bunch of assholes, you should never have done this. You've ruined my life forever. I loved Indiana Jones so much and now it's ruined.' And all that kind of stuff."

Yikes!! But then I also heard that during the premier at Cannes it was greeted with a 3 1/2 minute standing ovation. Needless to say, I didn't know what to expect, but I hoped I'd be pleased. Well, I was. Don't get me wrong, it's not going to be chosen Best Picture of the Year, nor was it as good as the ones of the past, but it was an entertaining movie with a ridiculous budget and a ridiculous plot. I won't say more because I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it. Anyway, here are the other upcoming summer movies that I'm most excited for:

• May 23: War, Inc. (It's a limited release and it's rated R, but I'm planning on seeing it)
• Why am I excited to see it? It's been compared to Grosse Point Blank (one of my all time favorite comedies) and has a lot of the same actors in it - John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Dan Aykroyd. It also has Hillary Duff (which usually would be a turn off), but the critics say she's fantastic in it so I'm definitely intrigued. Besides it's a dark political satire - Yes!!


• June 13: The Happening
• Why am I excited to see it? Two words: Markie Mark. Okay, for all my young readers, Mark Wahlberg. Besides that, it's a M. Night Shyamalan Sci-Fi movie. Enough said.


• June 20: Get Smart
• Why am I excited to see it? Although I'm not a huge fan of TV shows that have been turned into movies, I think this one has a lot of potential and will be fairly amusing. If all else fails, at least it has Steve Carell.
  

• July 18: The Dark Knight
• Why am I excited to see it? I loved Batman Begins (I thought it was the best Batman movie to date) so I think I will love The Dark Knight. With the same writer, director, and Batman star, I'm hoping it's a sure thing.


• July 18: Mamma Mia
• Why am I excited to see it? Uh, let's see: It's a musical . . . with ABBA songs . . . featuring Colin Firth. Yea, that's why I'm excited.

• July 25: The X-Files: I Want to Believe
• Why am I excited to see it? Honestly, it would be easier to list reasons why I'm not excited to see it. This is the movie I'm most excited to see. Most of the reasons are sentimental so I can understand why others may not be so excited, but The X-Files was my favorite TV show throughout my high school and college days. The thing I'm most excited about - I will be seeing this movie opening weekend in Pennsylvania with one of my nearest and dearest friends (and fellow X-File fan) Ruthie.