The Official Blockbuster Buzz Summer Movie planner
Times are tight. You might not want to blow your limited movie ticket funds on seeing Christian Bale fight a bunch of robots when Shia LeBoeuf will be dealing with his own cybernetic menace a couple of weeks later.
At the suggestion of reader Raj Awasti (and in the noble tradition of the mighty Times Agenda) I’ve pulled together a quick list of Summer movie highlights for the Blockbuster-minded. I’ve deliberately omitted a number of movies that I think fall outside our collective aesthetic, and more details will be added to this post as release dates change and new productions come onto the radar but be sure to let me know if you spot something I’ve missed.
MAY:
Still currently on release we have Angels & Demons, memorably described by our reviewer Nigel Kendall as “a video game masquerading as a thriller" and JJ Abrams’s unmissable re-think of Star Trek.
Pixar’s ambitious and thoughtful CGI animation Up is out in the US this month, but delayed until October in the UK: I don’t know whether that’s a simple scheduling problem or if the suits at the House of Mouse using Up as a test bed for how well 3D movies resist online piracy.
Still, for younger viewers there’s always the agreeably daft ‘Night At The Museum 2’ due to hit this week.
The big movie to wait for, though, has to be Terminator Salvation: Released in the USA on May 22 and due for UK release at the beginning of June. McG finally brings the long-awaited Future War chapter of the Terminator saga to the big screen.
It’s a thin month for DVD releases: Frank Miller’s Spirit movie is probably the only Buzz-compliant item on offer. A disappointment on the big screen it’s unlikely to gain much appeal on its way to your front room.
JUNE:
Once you’ve seen Terminator Salvation you have almost a month to save up for more popcorn: Transformers 2 premieres on June 15 and opens nationwide on the 24th. Expect silly dialogue, colossal robots, and some of the most jaw-droppingly gratuitous pyrotechnics in cinema history. Definitely one to see on the biggest screen you can find.
For those rare individuals who inexplicably don’t want to see lots of things blow up in slow motion, there’s always Jack Black’s prehistoric road movie Year One.
It’s a particularly strong month for DVDs too, with much-discussed social commentary Slumdog Millionaire vying with Brad Pitt’s reverse aging fable The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button for domination of the quiet night in.
JULY
The hottest month for movies, as well as barbecues, with my personal top tip for the year Public Enemies opening on the 3rd. Miami Vice creator Michael Mann recruits an impressive cast including Christian Bale and Johnny Depp to recreate the violence and villainy of that first Great Depression of the 1930s.
A fortnight later sees the release of the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in which the usual cavalcade of Britfilm stalwarts sees the boy wizard delve into Lord Voldemort’s past.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest comedy creation Brüno sneaks in between those two big hitters on July 10th. Liable to see more action as a DVD rather than in cinemas it’ll still get lots of exposure once the creator of Ali G and Börat hits the publicity trail.
At the end of the month classic Seventies crime caper The Taking Of Pelham 123 gets a retread courtesy of John Travolta and Denzel Washington. What seems on the surface to be a rather superfluous remake will probably win through by dint of director Tony Scott’s indisputable flair.
The month finishes with Will Ferrell in Land of the Lost: Based on a popular US kids TV show that (unless you know different) never aired on British TV it’ll probably struggle to gain much traction in a crowded cinema Summer.
AUGUST
In August we have brain-in-neutral special forces actioner GI Joe (based on a cartoon spun off a range of toy soldiers) and The Time Traveller’s Wife (based on Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling novel).
Buzz fans, though, should be waiting for Quentin Tarantino’s subeditor-baiting Inglourious Basterds. Everything Tarantino does is a little bit 1970s, and this is no exception: Following in the footsteps of war-sploitation flicks like The Dirty Dozen it’s the story of a squad of military misfits given one last chance to redeem themselves in a series of daring missions behind enemy lines.
SEPTEMBER
September treats for the month include Bruce Willis in futuristic drama The Surrogates and the as-yet fairly obscure Citizen Game.
Like James Cameron’s hotly-anticipated Avatar The Surrogates is a story about a future world where humankind employs remote-conrolled alternate bodies to interact with the world. Expect Blade Runner style dystopian thrills.
Citizen Game offers us 300 star Gerard Butler and Heroes heartthrob Milo Ventimiglia starring in a sci-fi action flick about the future of computer games. Expect a lot of chatter on the internet.Really: A lot.
AUTUMN/WINTER
Looking further ahead, the highlight for October is (naturally) the Times/BFI London Film Festival. At the end of the month we also have Spike Jonze’s long-delayed Where The Wild Things Are.
November sees the release of the latest Robert Zemeckis synthespian epic A Christmas Carol before Roland Emmerich destroys the world again in 2012. There’s also Planet 51 on the horizon, and of course December brings us Avatar.
There is, I hope you’ll agree, a lot there to be excited about – and I haven’t even started my list of movies for 2010, which looks like bringing the richest crop of action-packed silliness in years
