Popcorn Pick- June 2012

The summer trucks on, and with it comes the largest variety of films I think I've ever had on this blog. Sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, even musical- every genre seems represented in my list this month. Now, May had The Avengers, and July has The Dark Knight Rises, so while June may seem like just the middle month (indeed, while most of these movies will probably be hits, none of them look like they're going to break any records), allow me to convince you to spend your well-earned money this month on what promises to be some top-notch entertainment for all ages and tastes. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you June.

Friday, June 1st
Snow White and the Huntsman

Charlize Theron Summer Movie #1
The big news story surrounding this movie was, of course, the fact that it's the second Snow White movie this year, following March's disappointing comedy Mirror Mirror. However, this film looks so dramatically different that I think hardly any comparisons need to be made. (This is the dark action version of the fairy tale.) I think most people miss the real news story about this movie- that even though Kristen Stewart is in it- indeed, that she plays the title character- she is hardly in the advertisements at all! All the trailers and TV spots are focused on the evil queen, played by a delicious Theron. Methinks that after her bad rap starring in all those god-awful Twilight movies, the studio (or possibly the director!) seriously regretted putting young Stewart in their movie...and are trying to make people forget that she is.
What do you think it is? Her unconvincing accent? The fact that Snow White spends half her screen time biting her lip? Or is it just that no one would buy her hooking up with a guy that's not pale? (Observe the burly Huntsman, played by the now-famous Chris Hemsworth.) Only watching the movie will answer those questions.
However bad Stewart may or may not be, the film looks kick-ass, a seriously twisted and visceral take on an otherwise very familiar story. This ain't Disney's Snow White.

Friday, June 8th
Prometheus

Charlize Theron Summer Movie #2
(Yep, two movies, two weeks in a row!)
The big news story surrounding this movie is whether or not it's a prequel to Alien. (Viral promotional videos has shown that it does, in fact, take place in the same universe, but it looks like it has little to do with the original series, plot-wise.) It's too bad that most people will be going into Prometheus with that old movie rattling around in their heads, because they should be focused on this movie instead. This looks like the (original) event movie of the summer, the one with the biggest stakes and the possibility to wow the most viewers.
The plot is strangely kept tightly under wraps, but we do know it's a futuristic space thriller about a group of astronauts who travel to a distant planet looking for the secrets of the origin of life on Earth. What they find there is scary...and that's about all we know. However, the trailers are some of the best I've seen in years, and director Ridley Scott returning to the sci-fi genre after three decades is certainly a welcome sign.
The film stars Noomi Rapace (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), Michael Fassbender, and Theron. Her again! This woman's gonna have a good summer.

Prometheus is rated R, so take the kids to see Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted instead. This sequel finds the four zoo animals still trying to get back home to New York, but finding themselves in Monaco instead. Wacky adventures ensue.

Friday, June 15th
Rock of Ages

Based on a Broadway musical, this film fills Hollywood's quota of one movie musical a year. (I would say it's a dead genre except for that one-film-a-year thing that nobody plans but happens anyway. Instead I'll go with "endangered.") Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a fan of musicals, but this one is decidedly different from the rest- and that's the point. Set in the '80s, and featuring actual hit songs from that decade, this is one movie where stopping the action to have the characters bust out in song might actually be forgivable. In a word, it looks like it rocks.
An all-star cast includes Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Russell Brand (he looks like he was born to be in a movie like this), and in an against-type, surely Oscar-worthy performance, Tom Cruise as the biggest rock star of the age.





Friday, June 22nd
Brave

After last summer's disaster Cars 2 (a movie that earned the undistinguished position of #1 on my Worst Movies of the Year List), Disney/Pixar is going with something completely different for this year's movie: the studio's first fairy tale, and their first heroine as lead character.
The animation juggernaut (the minds behind the Toy Story trilogy, WALL-E, and Up) are returning to form with Brave, the amusing and exciting tale of a princess who rejects her fate of being sold off to marry a man she doesn't love, and takes her trusty bow and arrow to go on an adventure to find some magic that will help her change her inevitable doom. As usual, Pixar is keeping plot details quiet, but it looks like it has equal doses action, humor, and heart. As a long-time fan of Pixar, I am very excited for this one.
Our heroine, Princess Merida, is voiced by the excellent Kelly Macdonald (No Country For Old Men).




A note must also be made about the other big movie opening this week, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. This seems destined to go the same way as Cowboys and Aliens: it's a serious movie with a silly title, and thus bound to confuse and bore audiences. Unlike last summer's misfire, this one actually looks awesome, and is, at least to me, worth a look, even if it does throw history out the window.

Friday, June 29th
Ted

To a certain group of people, this is the event movie of the summer. The mastermind behind TV's Family Guy (and the less successful sister shows American Dad! and The Cleveland Show) is breaking through not only into live action, but into movies. Ted has a simple premise: a young boy makes a wish that his teddy bear would come to life, and it does. Thirty years later, it's still alive, and living with his boy, now a grown man, like a roommate. The catch: the bear is foul-mouthed and horny. This movie is very dirty (one poster actually shows only Ted the bear proudly holding up the R rating), because it's always where Seth MacFarlane has wanted to go on television, but has never been allowed to go. That's why this is more than just a feature-length Family Guy joke. (I can totally see them doing this idea on the show in, like, 30 seconds.)
I may sound like I'm criticizing the film before I even see it, but au contraire- it looks hilarious, and definitely one to see with your buddies. (If you haven't, check out the riotous red-band trailer online.) Starring Mark Wahlberg (after The Other Guys, this guy seriously needs to do more comedy), Mila Kunis (who's been the voice of Meg on Family Guy for years), and MacFarlane himself as the voice of the CGI Ted.

July awaits, and while that month holds the real treasures of summer, June has more than enough to tide you over until then. What are you excited to see? The space adventure? The dark fairy tale? Or the randy teddy bear? Or all of the above?