Blockbusters Revisited

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Well, almost. Summer is rapidly approaching, bringing with it the promise of unbelievable special effects, incredible action sequences, and ginormous robots. It's time, once again, for a preview of the upcoming summer blockbusters.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - May 1
There's been a lot of controversy over this movie already. Mostly because the unfinished product was somehow leaked to the internet. No, I haven't seen it yet. I'm planning on waiting for the finished product in all its digital glory. So yeah, I'm looking forward to this one. I still say the first X-Men was the best of that particular trilogy, but I'm intrigued nonetheless. I'm curious if they'll explain why Sabretooth and Wolverine are so familiar with each other in a prequel while they acted as if their encounter in X-Men was their first meeting. I don't really expect to get those kind of answers, but it'll be in the back of my mind the whole time I'm watching.

Star Trek - May 8
I'm not the kind of person that goes to sci-fi conventions dressed up like a Klingon. I'm not even the kind of person that goes to sci-fi conventions period. But I'm kind of looking forward to this one too. For as long as I can remember, I would go to the theater to see each new Star Trek movie with my Dad. I think the fourth one was probably the first that I was old enough to remember seeing. So I definitely want to see this, and the whole time I'll be wondering how Dad would feel about it. Is it something he'd like or not? I know he'd have been psyched to see it though. I mean, the man watched reruns of Next Generation and Deep Space Nine every day, even though he'd seen every single episode multiple times. So yeah, I'm in.

Angels & Demons - May 15
I read The Da Vinci Code, but not this one. From what I understand, the book that this movie is based on was written before Da Vinci. But I think the movie is being treated as a sequel. I'm not sure if I'll rush out to the theater to see this one. I wasn't all that impressed by the previous installment. Tom Hanks is still one of my favorite actors, but I'm pretty sure I'll be waiting for the DVD.

Terminator Salvation - May 21
I've never seen a Terminator film in the theater. I don't think I'm going to start now. I couldn't get into The Sarah Conner Chronicles, and it looks like that series has been canceled. So was it really a good idea to make this movie? It'll make a lot of money, I'm sure. But it won't get any of mine. This will be another one I'll get from Netflix in a few months.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - May 22
The first one was cute. But was it really worthy of a sequel? I guess when you can make a movie by putting very little thought into the story and you know it will appeal to families and could even be construed as slightly educational, it's a no-brainer that it's gonna be greenlit. Or is that greenlighted? Whatever. Another DVD.

Land of the Lost - June 5
There was a time when I was all over a Will Ferrell movie. Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and even Blades of Glory were enough to crack me up. To this day I haven't seen Semi-Pro but Step Brothers, though incredibly raunchy, was hilarious. It seems his movies are hit or miss. I was never into the old TV show, so I'm not in a rush to see this one either. I'm sure eventually I'll give it a chance.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - June 24
Without question, I'll see this opening weekend. I mean, did you even see the first one? I've said before, it's as if Michael Bay was somehow able to capture two hours of pure awesome on film. I don't want to say that I'll be disappointed with the sequel, but there's a good chance I will be. I'm just getting my hopes up way to high to be good for me.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - August 7
Another childhood toy brought to life on the big screen. The trailer that was shown during the Super Bowl was a whole lot of let down. I was expecting something huge, but the ad revealed nothing special. The only reason we knew that it was G.I. Joe was because of the title shown at the end. We didn't get any recognizable names of the action figures that I tortured as a kid. When I found out this movie was being made, I just kept hoping that it would be half as awesome as Transformers was. I have a feeling I'll be disappointed, but I'm seeing this when it comes out.

There are many other films coming out this summer, but the rest of them don't really appeal to me, even in a DVD kind of way. So that makes approximately four movies that I'm thinking of paying money to see. I'm sure I'll see more as plans develop in the months to come. But you know, times are tight. Money doesn't flow as freely as it once did. I'm thinking of getting rid of cable. Cable! It's a crazy world we're living in these days. It's time to make the tough decisions. Happy viewing everyone!