As expected, May was a mixed bag, especially with Infinity War getting pushed up a week. June, on the other hand, looks very promising. Just about every week has a big movie coming out, and there's a variety to the kinds of movies they are. Just as exciting is that all the Sundance movies are starting to trickle in. That gives nearly every week a surprise factor seeing what has expanded.
Interest Level Guide
Interest Level Guide
2018
2017
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2016
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2015
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2016
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2015
2014
2013
6/1
Johnny Knoxville opens an intentionally dangerous
amusement park.
Working For It: Despite years of detesting the MTV series, I've come
around on the
Jackass movies
over the last few years. This looks like a better narrative device to use to
fit in a bunch of crazy stunts than Bad Grandpa. I'm sure I'll
laugh at a few things.
Working Against It: I hated Bad Grandpa and I haven't warmed up to
this narrative Jackass idea yet.
Interest Level: Uninterested
Two people get trapped on a boat alone in the middle
of the ocean without a sail.
Working For It: It's based on a true story, so basically, it's Open Water but with
a boat. The two stranded people are Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin (who they
could switch out with a dozen different British actors and I'm not sure I'd
notice). Woodley certainly has the chops to pull off something like this. This
has the same director as
Everest, so I
trust that he can find the human element in a disaster movie.
Working Against It: The fact that I still haven't gotten to 47 Meters
Down, The Shallows, and All Is Lost means I'm really not in a
hurry to see maritime disaster movies.
Interest Level: Curious
A group of young men looking for thrills try to pull
off a rare book heist.
Working For It: It was one of the movies I heard the most about coming
out of Sundance this year. I'm most excited about it being from the director of
The Imposter,
which is a documentary I adore and has a similar topic. It has young actors
like Evan Peters and Barry Keoghan who I like. Oh, and Ann Dowd is always
great.
Working Against It: I could easily seeing this losing its focus pretty
easily.
Interest Level: Intrigued
A slacker woman watches as her life falls apart.
Working For It: I'd be surprised if this didn't premiere at Sundance or
at least SXSW. It has Noel Wells in the lead role, who has been making quite a
name for herself in indie movies after getting let go from SNL. Aya
Cash, Samira Wiley, Carly Chaikin, and Josh Radnor fill out the "TV All
Stars" cast of this brand of indie movie.
Working Against It: The writer/director is pretty green, and this does look
like one of those movies that could amiably meander for 90 minutes without ever
really being about anything.
Interest Level: Curious
A man gets an experimental computer chip installed
in his brain that makes him a total badass.
Working For It: We're basically talking about if Jarvis was installed
into Tony Starks' brain of if the show Chuck was directed by Quinten
Tarantino. The trailer makes this look like it's a blast. The movie appears to
be pulling no punches. As a shoot 'em up, I'm not sure a better movie will show
up this year. I also have liked Logan Marshall-Green (American Tom Hardy)
whenever I can recognize him in a movie.
Working Against It: Whenever something comes out with a red band trailer
that plays in theaters, I get worried that they are more concerned with
shocking or disgusting people that putting together a good movie.
Interest Level: Curious
6/8
After a woman's mother dies, strange and cryptic
things start happening to the rest of her family.
Working For It: It was the horror hit coming out of Sundance. The last
non-major studio horror movie I remember getting this kind of advanced praise
was The Babadook or maybe The Witch. Either way,
that's a good sign. Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, and Ann Dowd are all great.
Working Against It: This definitely is in danger of getting overhyped. Mixed
in with all the praise I heard after Sundance was a few people saying that
people need to cool it with all the love. That said, it's hard to find good
horror without going into niche markets.
Interest Level: Intrigued
A woman runs a secret, members-only hospital that
comes under attack in a near future Los Angeles.
Working For It: There is no reason for this not to belong in the John Wick universe,
because it fits right in. Jodie Foster runs the hospital and looks absolutely
perfect for a sort of oddball, over-credentialed performance. It's got a
delightfully eclectic cast all looking like they are playing to their strengths
(Dave Bautista, Sterling K. Brown, Jenny Slate, Jeff Goldblum, Charlie Day,
Zachary Quinto). I'm especially excited to see Sofia Boutella be a badass.
She's fine in other roles, but few actresses have her physicality. It's nice
when she gets to use it. And it has Brian Tyree Henry, which furthers my
opinion that all summer movies should have someone from Atlanta in them.
Working Against It: It's very possible that this has too much going on in
it, especially for a first time feature director.
Interest Level: Curious
Eight women team up to rob the Met Gala.
Working For It: Sandra Bullock in the George Clooney role. Cate
Blanchett in the Brad Pitt role. Anne Hathaway in the Andy Garcia role. Mindy
Kaling getting to do her thing. Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna,
Awkwafina. I love this cast. Ocean's Eleven is a top five all-time movie
for me, so anything close to it is enough to get me excited.
Working Against It: Do not underestimate how key Stephen Soderbergh's
direction was to the success of Ocean's Eleven. I've liked director Gary
Ross' other movies (Pleasantvile, Seabiscuit, The Hunger Games),
but making an Ocean's movie work is a whole different thing. I have so
much love for Ocean's Eleven, that I'm not sure if I'll be able to
separate it from my assessment of Ocean's 8. I'll try though.
Interest Level: Excited
A father and and his daughter in college start a
band.
Working For It: That's what I'm talking about! Sundance movie. Nick
Offerman and Kiersey Clemons are the father/daughter pair. Ted Danson and Toni
Collette are in there too. The music even sounds pretty good.
Working Against It: ...I'll get back to you.
Interest Level: Intrigued
A Documentary about the life and work of Mr. Rogers.
Working For It: This was the documentary hit of Sundance. This isn't
about exposing the childhood icon as anything but a fine individual. I don't
have the same affection for him that seemingly everyone else does, but I like
the idea of a feel good documentary like this.
Working Against It: There's a chance this might move a little too far into
hero worship. I'm fine with this being about "he's really as great as you
remember". I'm hesitant about it becoming "he's basically a god among
men".
Interest Level: Intrigued
6/15
Mr. Incredible gets left watching the kids while
Elastigirl gets a new job saving the world.
Working For It: The Incredibles has quietly established a
reputation as a top-tier Pixar movie. Brad Bird is back to direct. Given that I
even loved his divisive
Tomorrowland, I
couldn't be more excited about his involvement in any movie. The core cast is
back and the premise works well for sequels.
Working Against It: Outside of Toy Story, none of Pixar's sequels
have matched the originals. Perhaps it would be better to leave this one alone.
Interest Level: Excited
A hustler tries to get one last score so he can
retire and get out of his dangerous life.
Working For It: The trailer looks cool and that's the main goal when you
are remaking Superfly. I like the supporting cast, including Jason
Mitchell (Straight Outta Compton) and
Michael Kenneth Williams.
Working Against It: I don't know enough about Blaxploitation to be sure, but
I always figured that belonged to a specific era. I'm not sure how it would
work now. The director goes by the name "Director X." which is one of
those names that begs me to dislike him. He's mostly known for music videos,
which is a route with a spotty track record (On the good side, Spike Jonze. On
the bad side, McG or worse). I'm also not crazy about Trevor Jackson in the
lead role. I've only seen him in Grown-ish and he didn't make an
impression there.
Interest Level: Uninterested
A group of friends play an elaborate, 30 year game
of tag ever May.
Working For It: The premise is incredibly simple and has room for
countless gags. Jeremy Renner, Isla Fischer, Rashida Jones, Leslie Bibb, Jake
Johnson, Jon Hamm, Ed Helms, Hannibal Buress. This cast is ideal for this kind
of comedy. And they stuck with the R rating. PG-13 isn't a death sentence or
anything, but the R-rating is one less feter holding it back.
Working Against It: If the jokes aren't good, the movie won't be. Not enough
of the actors, as much as I love them, are the kind that can generate a laugh out
of anything (only Jake Johnson and Hannibal Buress). The writers and the
director lack any stand-out credits - the best one is that one of the writers
wrote Waiting...
Interest Level: Curious
A journalist starts dating Pablo Escobar.
Working For It: Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz both have Oscars for a
reason.
Working Against It: Simply put, how many stories about Pablo Escobar can
there be?
Interest Level: Apathetic
6/22
Owen and Claire try to rescue some of the dinosaurs
before a volcanos errupts on the island.
Working For It: I like Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. Jeff
Goldblum is returning to the series. A lot of my problems with Jurassic World had to do
with how the park was run, which isn't going to be a problem here. I'm
cautiously optimistic about this.
Working Against It: When a movie does really well, the filmmakers and
producers tend to treat it like they did everything right the first time, so
the sequel ends up the same but bigger. I worry that the problems with Jurassic
World are just going to be ignored.
Interest Level: Curious
A man becomes obsessed with finding a girl he likes
who disappeared under suspicious circumstances.
Working For It: This movie is either going to be brilliant or a complete
mess. I don't see much room for something in between. It's built on Andrew
Garfield uncovering a massive conspiracy. It appears to be filled with odd
characters and quirky humor. There's a lot of Inherent Vice to
this. It's overflowing with familiar faces who are difficult to name at the top
of your head. It's from the director of It Follows, going
in a very different direction. I'm optimistic.
Working Against It: As I said, it's not difficult to how this could be a
complete mess. I'm really relying on the reputation of the distributor (A24) to
tell me this is good. I can't fault it for its ambition.
Interest Level: Excited
6/29
A female remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Working For It: I'll start by saying that I'm not convinced that this is
really being release this weekend. There isn't even a trailer for it yet. It's
the second female remake of a con-woman movie with Anne Hathaway this month.
She's pairing with Rebel Wilson in this. I really like Dirtry Rotten
Scoundrels. If they can pull off the same tone as that, this could be enjoyable.
I'm pleased to see veteran Veep director Chris Addison behind this one.
Working Against It: There's no trailer that I could find, which is very
worrisome. I have a hard time seeing how Rebel Wilson doesn't steamroll Anne
Hathaway. It took an entire Bella crew to prevent it in Pitch Perfect
and Hathaway is only one woman.
Interest Level: Apathetic
More fun with the drug war on the US-Mexico border.
Working For It: Taylor Sheridan returns to write the script. The cast
still has Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro.
Working Against It: This sequel feels like a mistake. I think they are
severly underestimating how key Emily Blunt was as the stabilizing core of the
first movie and how much director Denis Villeneuve brought to it.
Interest Level: Curious
A man assembles a crew of old men (all played by NBA
players) to win a street basketball tournament.
Working For It: Yeah, Kyrie Irving's Uncle Drew Pepsi ads are being
turned into a movie. He puts together a team of Shaq, Nate Robinson, Chris
Webber, and Reggie Miller. This is the closest spiritual sequel to Space Jam
that we've seen yet.
Working Against It: I just don't think that the combined comedic efforts of
LilRel Howery, Tiffany Haddish, J.B. Smooth, and Nick Kroll will be enough to
make up for the non-basketball deficiencies of the rest of the cast.
Interest Level: Apathetic
A father and daughter living in the wilderness get
sucked back into the "real world" when they are discovered living in
a state park.
Working For It: It's from the writer/director of Winter's Bone
and seems to have a similar tone. It looks like Thomasin McKenzie could be a significant
discovery.
Working Against It: I didn't care for Captain Fantastic
and this sure looks similar to that.
Interest Level: Curious
A documentary about three men in the 70s who find
out that they are triplets separated at birth.
Working For It: I don't know much about the true story and I don't want
to until I see this. Everything I've heard about this is that it's a mystery,
full of twists.
Working Against It: Documentaries have a habit of promising "stranger
than fiction" twists that don't end up that. I don't get that vibe here,
but I've been wrong before.
Interest Level: Excited
