Our Most anticipated Films of Summer Movie Season 2013

Lines for Summer blockbusters will be forming soon at a theater near you.

     It's that time a year again; the temperatures are rising, the AC units are cranking, and pretty soon the movie theater will be the number one destination to frequent for a respite from the summer heat.  Soon lines will be forming for midnight, opening weekend, and even the casual matinee show as Hollywood rolls out its biggest tent pole blockbusters and comedies for summer movie season 2013.  Before all the EPICness begins, we wanted to take the time to let you know the films we are most looking forward this Summer after the break…..

#10: The Wolverine, July 26th, Directed by: James Mangold

Hopefully The Wolverine will restore Hugh Jackman's version of Logan to it's former glory!

Before Darren Aronofsky left what was looking like a potentially R-rated Wolverine film this one would have been higher up on our the list. As it stands now it barley cracks our top 10 (Speak for yourself- EDITOR).  Aside from his cameo in X-Men: First Class, since the last two Wolverine film appearances (X-men 3, Wolverine Orgins)  have been a bit of a dud, Wolvie fans are left wondering what to expect from director James Mangold's take on arguably Marvel's most popular character.  At this point Hugh Jackman is Wolverine in the eyes of audiences, so as always his performance will probably yield some classic Wolverine action moments and one liners, but one has to wonder if Wolverine's journey to Japan will amount to much more than that.

#9: Pacific Rim, July 12, Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro

  

This could be as close as we get to seeing a Megazord on screen, people!

This film will at least compete for the title of most original film this summer.  The movie centers around manned giant mech robots that defend their respective nations against a group of giant monsters that have risen from the sea.  Some believe Guillermo Del Toro will give us the closest thing we will ever see to a Power Rangers Megazord on film; others believe this movie could potentially be this generation’s Godzilla.  The only thing that is worrisome about this film is while it could be potentially Epic, I don't know if it can reach wide audiences. We could once again have "Sucker Punch Syndrome" on our hands, meaning a certain niche of people may believe Pacific Rim is the best film they have ever seen while general audiences are like "WTF"! None the less, it will be very interesting to see how this unconventional film fairs with both critics and audiences.

#8: The Hangover Part 3, May 24th, Directed by: Todd Phillips

The Wolfpack is back!

On Memorial Day weekend the Wolfpack will be back for supposedly the last time.  As lackluster as many found the Hangover 2, they may be wondering why this film is on our top 10.  The answer is simple: it's a Hangover film and we get to see the Wolfpack be “F-ing” hilarious!  No, but despite the fact that the Hangover 2 was almost a complete rehash of the 1st film, it was still pretty damn funny.  Since all indications are that this film has added a twist to the now classic formula director Todd Phillips used for the first two films, then maybe the Wolfpack can recapture the magic of the original Hangover, which was one of the greatest comedies of all time. Just the potential of that happening makes The Hangover Part III worthy of making our top 10.

#7: White House Down, June 28th, Directed by: Roland Emmerich

Nothing rings in the 4th of July better than an overly patriotic disaster film!

Nothing says 4^th of July weekend or mummer movie season in general more than a Roland Emmerich disaster film.  The man that brought us: Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012 will now give us White House Down.  The big budget action film centers around Channing Tatum playing a hot shot secret service agent who is trying to get the President (played by Jamie Foxx) away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue after an unprecedented attack on the White House.  Ok, maybe unprecedented is the wrong word; after all we did just see something very similar to this in Antoine Fuqua’s Olympus Has Fallen earlier this year.  However, Emmerich’s version looks like it will be the more realistic, more expensive, more overly emotional, and more overly patriotic film of the two.  All of these somewhat cliche but classic action movie tropes should make for one of the most exciting films of the Summer.

#6: Star Trek Into Darkness, May 17th, Directed by: J.J. Abrams

By the end of the Summer, at least we will know who the hell this is!

Some may wonder how I could not have Star Trek into Darkness at the top of my list; honestly I am just not a huge Star Trek fan.  That being said, what J.J. Abrams has done with this franchise has been absolutely EPIC as he has been able to create an action packed Star Trek franchise that is appealing to the non Trekkie while at the same time not screwing with the original continuity of the series.  While the first film established this franchise for a new generation, it looks like this film will push Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Enterprise crew to limits they have never faced in the history of the Star Trek franchise, most likely by pitting them against a new take on one of the most iconic villains of all time: Kahn.  At this point, it is just speculation that Benedict Cumberbatch’s character is Kahn. Hell, knowing Director J.J. Abrams and screen writer Damon Lindeloff, there is a real chance that we will never truly find out who Cumberbatch’s character is in the film.  One thing is clear: the destruction and havoc this mystery character will wreak is real. The feel Abrams looks to be going for in this film is that of a futuristic terrorist putting the world through hell by targeting real world targets like London with Star Fleet being the only thing standing in his way.  That description alone speaks volumes of where Abrams has taken this property, and it's even enough to get the non Trekkie’s blood pumping!

#5: Kick-Ass 2, August 16th, Directed by: Jeff Waldow

It doesn't get much more EPIC than Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars and Stripes!

     Watching the development and evolution of the Kick-Ass franchise in both the world of comics and film has been a fun ride.  A ride that on the film side of things has launched and cemented the careers of both director Matthew Vaughn and probably the best young actress in Hollywood today, Chloe Grace Mortez.  With Vaughn not returning to direct because he is taking on the film adaptation of another Mark Millar book, The Secret Service, it has been left to Never Back Down director Jeff Waldow to fill the director’s chair to the sequel of a film that has become somewhat of a cult classic.  What makes the Kick-Ass franchise work are it’s hard R-rating mainly because of the sheer violence and language of the Hit-Girl character and the fact that fan boys and girls get to see their fantasies of becoming a “realistic” super hero play out on film.  Since both Mark Millar’s Hit-Girl series and his actual Kick-Ass 2 series are being used as the basis for this film, maintaining those aspects of the series and then some shouldn’t be a problem, because both the Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass 2 comic series are vastly more violent than their predecessor.  Combine that with fact that we get to see Jim Carrey as Colonel Star as Stripes and Christopher Mintz-Plasse evolve into the “M-fer”,and as long as Waldow give fans the core elements of the series and stays true to the source material there is no reason Kick-Ass 2 cannot be a truly epic sequel. 

#4: This is the End, July 12th, Directed by: Seth Roegn

Who wouldn't mind spending the end of the world with these guys?

      This is the End is a who’s who of today's comedians, many of whom are often referred to as the “Apatow Mafia” (because filmmaker Judd Apatow is directly responsible for most of their fame):  James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Christopher “Mclovin” Mintz Plasse, Michael Cera, Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Martin Starr, Aziz Ansari: and Craig Robinson all playing themselves during an apocalyptic event.  This end of the world film has seemed to come out of nowhere to become one of the most anticipated movies of the summer.  What puts the “Apatow Mafia” a step above all other comedic troupes is they have a rapport among their entire group in the way that only the leading members of the Frat Pack, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, do, so getting the chance to see how they would actually handle the end of the world, combined with the fact that this movie is Seth Rogen’s directorial debut, should make for one EPIC Summer comedy!

#3:Elysium, August 9th, Directed by: Neill Blomkamp

Elysium has all the makings of a science fiction classic!

Our 3^rd most anticipated movie looks like it has all of the ingredients for a science fiction classic rivaling the likes of films like Blade Runner and Alien.  From the mind that brought us the truly original modern sci-fi classic District 9, Neill Blomkamp, comes the much anticipated Elysium.  The film takes place in the year 2154.  Earth has become a wasteland due to social injustice.  Lower class citizens inhabit the cesspool that is now Earth while millionaires and billionaires live in the disease free utopian society known as Elysium, presumably above the Earth’s atmosphere.  The film will follow Matt Damon’s journey to get to Elysium at all costs for a pressing, but as of now unknown, matter.  In addition to being the first truly original film since Christopher Nolan’s Inception in 2010, it also looks like Elysium will be the quintessential film commentary on social inequality in our world.

#2: Man of Steel, June 14th, Directed by:Zack Snyder,

Story by:Chrisopher Nolan (Executive Producer) and David S. Goyer

Is the world truly ready for a good Superman movie?

Superman is one of the hardest characters to get right both in film and comics.  Many people wonder about the real appeal of an all-powerful, god-like character with literally only one weakness.  In fact, you could say getting the Superman character right has been Warner Bros' kryptonite over the years. However, it looks like the Nolan team minus Jonah Nolan (Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, and David S. Goyer) and with the help of director Zack Snyder, has finally cracked the code for arguably DC’s most iconic character.  Rather than simply focusing on Superman’s sheer power, the film is not only going to deal with the question of, "Is the world ready for Superman?" but if he is ready to be the so called savior of mankind he can potentially be. Nolan, Snyder, and company have also made the wise decision to put Superman up against a villain as powerful as he is: Zod, portrayed by the excellent casting of Michael Shannon.  Anyone who is familiar with Michael Shannon’s work will tell you no one does crazy like Michael Shannon, so it should be pretty EPIC to see him play Zod.  Henry Cavill looks like he will finally fill the red boots that have truly been empty since Christopher Reeves left the iconic role and cement himself as the modern day Superman.  Amy Adams also looks like she will bring some life back into the role of Lois Lane following Kate Bosworth’s dead pan performance in 2006’s Superman Returns.  In addition to so many EPIC moving pieces, it’s also rumored that this film could be the launching pad for the DC cinematic universe. Let’s just hope Man of Steel can do for DC what Iron Man did for Marvel.  Is the world truly ready for Superman? We will have to wait until June 14^th to find out!

#1: Iron Man 3, May 2nd, Directed by: Shane Black



Could Iron Man 3 finally be the true evolution of Tony Stark?



Once again, probably the best film of the summer will be the first movie of the summer.  The hype and anticipation going into Iron Man is different from that of any other standalone Marvel film to date because it is the first post Avengers Marvel movie.  Once again, Marvel will trust Shell Head to lay the ground work for another phase of their cinematic universe.  In addition to all of that, this the first non Jon Favreau directed Iron Man film with brilliant film writer and now film maker Shane Black stepping into the director’s chair, and it looks like Shane Black has chosen one EPIC story to start off with. 

The Extremis story is one of the most iconic and beloved Iron Man stories of all time, despite only first being published in 2005 and 2006.  Extremis deals with Iron Man taking on Nanotech powered foes; to combat them, Tony Stark must inject himself with a part of the Extremis nano tech.  In doing so Stark fuses parts of his body with the inner layer of his suit which can now be stored in his skin.  The Extremis allows Tony to control his new lighter weight armor with his mind, as we have seen him doing in parts of the trailer as he suits up mentally so to speak.  In addition to that, Stark is able now plug his central nervous system into things like satellites and cell phones and he also has a bit of a healing factor and added strength essentially making him a superhuman cyborg.  Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 will not be a straight adaptation of Warren Ellis and Adi Granov’s Extremis story but the Extremis storyline will serve as the film's primary source material. 

     While Black chose a great story he also chose a great villain, choosing to finally put Tony Stark up against his all-time arch nemesis the Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley.  Rather than having Mandarin be a magical character like in the comics, in which he gets his power from ten magical rings, Black chose to make Mandarin a pure terrorist who leads the terrorist organization "The Ten Rings" that kidnapped Stark in the first Iron Man.  It will be refreshing to see Iron Man finally face off against a non repulsor based villain!

In Iron Man 3 it looks like Shane Black will use aspects like Tony’s newly discovered love for Pepper Potts to finally evolve the Tony Stark character above his narcissism complex into the truly well rounded character he eventually becomes in the comics.  The utter hell that Iron Man will face in this third installment should finally elevate Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Strak/Iron Man into the kind of man capable of  leading not only the Avengers, but potentially one day SHIELD, which is why it is our most anticipated film of the Summer!

Try to at least  experience one summer movie at the drive in this Summer!

While this Summer doesn’t offer blockbusters that had years’ worth of anticipation leading up to them like last Summer’s The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises, overall Summer 2013 does offer a pretty consistently EPIC looking line up at the box office with a vast array of high quality choices across multiple genres.  This Summer looks like it will be one that offers something “Good” to “Great” every single week, rather than a month of “EH” to “Good” movies with 1 or 2 “Epic” films along the way.