Not that I'm complaining.
At least a couple of the year's most anticipated movies open this month. At least one of them I'm going to the midnight premiere of. (Three guesses which one that is!) And at least one of them will break box-office records, forever.
Enough with the unnecessary introduction stuff. Let's look at July.
Tuesday, July 3rdThe Amazing Spider-Man
First off, why is this opening on a Tuesday? Wednesday would make more sense, especially since that Wednesday is the Fourth of July. Even that Thursday would make sense. The studios are getting very greedy with a six-day opening weekend.
And second of all, the big news story surrounding this movie is obviously the fact that it's a reboot that is happening way too soon. So soon that a lot of moviegoers don't even truly know what this is. (I heard one girl actually refer to this as Spider-Man 4. How wrong you are!) Like Batman Begins and Casino Royale before it, Amazing presses the restart button on a popular franchise to bring a different vision of the same story to the screen. And yes, it is too soon: it's only been ten years since the original Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire- and only five years since the last movie, Spider-Man 3! The reasons are very simple: the last film sucked spider-ass, but it made a lot of spider-bucks. Therefore they decided while that specific franchise would end with a trilogy, that the superhero himself was not yet dead.
Well, strangely enough, it seems to have worked out. Stepping in as director is Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer), who sends Peter Parker back to high school, gives us a new origin story, and a new girlfriend in Gwen Stacy (instead of Mary Jane). While there is a new villain in the Lizard (a fan favorite), the story seems more focused on Peter's dead parents, and the secrets they left behind. This one looks funnier and more intense than the original, and even though I disapprove of the project, the film itself looks worth it.
Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) plays the webhead, while Emma Stone (love her!) plays Gwen and Rhys Ifans (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1) plays the bad guy.
Friday, July 13thIce Age: Continental Drift
20th Century Fox is milking its one animated franchise hit for all it's worth, making yet another unnecessary sequel. Regardless, these movies have been reliably entertaining, especially for the small fries, and let's face it, most everyone really just wants to see the continued adventures of Scrat, the little acorn-loving rodent.
This film's plot (the fourth in the series) has something to do with getting captured by animal pirates, I'm not really sure, it's just another pickle our three heroes have to get out of.
As usual, Ray Romano, Denis Leary, and John Leguizamo return to lend their voices to the talking animals.
Friday, July 20th
The Dark Knight Rises
Without a doubt, one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. Christopher Nolan brings us his third and final Batman film to complete the trilogy.
After the immense success of the second film, The Dark Knight, still considered by many to be the best superhero movie ever made, this movie leaves us with many questions. Will the bad-guy combination of Bane and Catwoman possibly live up to the Oscar-winning role of the Joker? Will Batman die at the end of this film? Is he really flying a hovercraft in the trailer?
As usual, plot details are being kept very tight-lipped- as they should be- and so we only have to wait a little while for all the questions to be answered. What we can for sure expect? Loud music. Christian Bale's gravelly Batman voice. And that this will be one hell of a wild ride.
From what I can tell of the plot, it's many years later, and involves the terrorist Bane coming to Gotham City to cause mayhem, forcing Batman to come out of retirement, despite the people hating him after he was framed for murder.
Returning cast members Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman are joined by Tom Hardy (Inception), Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Marion Cotillard.
Friday, July 27thThe Watch
An original comedy/action film. It's basically a buddy-cop movie with a twist: four guys started their own neighborhood watch program, and they take their volunteer jobs way too seriously. But then when aliens attack, they find a powerful weapon and a cause they can actually fight for. This experienced a small PR fiasco earlier this year after the shooting of Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watchman, which involved them changing their title and advertising campaigns. Looks stupid but funny.
The four guys include Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, the newly fit Jonah Hill, and newcomer Richard Ayoade.
Hooray for summer films!! And in case you missed the news, there is reason to celebrate in Movie Land because May's The Avengers has now become the third-highest grossing movie in American history! Something tells me things will change this month...
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