24. The Great Gatsby (5/10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rARN6agiW7o Originally slated for release this month,
The Great Gatsby had too much competition between
The Hobbit,
Les Miserables, and
Django Unchained. In a smart move, the distributors moved it to a summer release instead. That also shows the confidence the studio has in the picture, considering it's not an action film or anything typically blockbuster-y. The adaptation of the classic novel is in the hands of Baz Luhrmann, director of
Moulin Rouge! and a previous collaboration with star Leonardo DiCaprio,
Romeo + Juliet. His lush and lavish visual style is a perfect companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald's world of extravagance. The world shown in the trailer looks wonderfully realized, and the performances of everyone involved look to be pitch perfect. In an age where comic book adaptations rule the silver screen, it'll be nice to see a classic novel get the same treatment as other tentpole films. Plus, just watch DiCaprio in that trailer. Pure gold.
23. Star Trek Into Darkness (5/17)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diP-o_JxysA It's undeniable that JJ Abrams breathed new life into the dormant
Star Trek franchise, and it looks like he's continuing his signature style in the sequel. Although fan theorizing is currently at a fever pitch, I'm happy to just wait and see what the crew of the Enterprise has in store for next summer. Though plot details are thin right now, we know that Starfleet will be under the attack of Benedict Cumberbatch's revenge-filled antagonist. It also looks like he'll be gunning for James Kirk specifically. As long as the film doesn't rely too much on past iterations of the property,
Star Trek Into Darkness definitely has a chance at repeating the kinetic fun of the first film.
22. Kick-Ass 2 (5/28)
Kick-Ass may not have been the best superhero movie ever, but it was one of the best teen comedy films in a long time. The humor and violence meshed together perfectly to make one of the more fun deconstructive genre pictures in recent memory. The sequel looks like it'll be attempting to up the ante on both counts. The story seems to be about the respective heroes and villains forming their own groups in order to fight crime or perpetrate it, and naturally the two camps will have to duke it out. Pretty much everyone from the first film is returning, but the big news is newcomer Jim Carrey, playing a wacko military type called Colonel Stars and Stripes. All this movie needs is to be excessively violent and relentlessly self-depreciating and it will succeed in its goals. Any chance Nicholas Cage could show up for a flashback cameo?
21. After Earth (6/7)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZIt20emgLY M. Night Shyamalan is not a bad filmmaker, he just seems to be attached to stories that don't translate well to the screen.
After Earth looks to change all that, as its story seems like the most interesting part of the picture. A father and son investigate an abandoned Earth, but from the looks of the trailer, the son will be left to fend for himself. Casting the father/son team of Will and Jaden Smith seems like it could be inspired (it worked well enough for
The Pursuit of Happyness), and it looks like this will be more a vehicle for the son rather than the father.
I want to like M. Night Shyamalan. He isn't the incapable idiot most people make him out to be, and it's obvious the guy is a true fan of genre efforts. He just needs to deliver a hit and maybe we'll see there's more to him than corny twists.
20. Now You See Me (6/7)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE5XcjTpsdo I have to admit that I actually think
Now You See Me will not be a "good" movie. It looks like someone sat through a double feature of
Ocean's Eleven and
The Prestige and had the brilliant idea of smushing those films together. However, it's the shamelessness and abandon on display in the trailer that makes me think it will at least be fun to watch. The premise of a group of magicians pulling off a huge heist sounds like it could be stupid fun. The cast list also helps add some credibility to the proceedings. When you have the likes of Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, and two of Christopher Nolan's Batman alumni (Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine), things start to sound a little more interesting. As far as so-bad-it's-good movies go,
Now You See Me looks to be a solid contender for next summer.