Leonard Maltin's Summer Movie Preview

By Leonard Maltin

Once again, Hollywood has usurped the power of the vernal equinox and declared that summer begins on the first day of May. That's when 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' kicks off what's known as the summer movie season--even though summer is a month and a half away. The other studios aren't far behind, front-loading the season with their biggest guns, each one hoping to establish a stronghold that will see fans returning for double and triple-dips at the box-office.

Naturally it's large-scale action and science-fiction movies in the lead--and, not surprisingly, each one is either a remake or a sequel, mining audiences' pre-tested enthusiasm for the material. Of these the chanciest is 'Star Trek,' which opens May 8. The stakes are high, as Hollywood's officially anointed genius J.J. Abrams (creator of "Felicity," "Alias," and "Lost," and director of 'Mission: Impossible III') has taken on the challenge of reintroducing the classic characters from Gene Roddenberry's legendary TV show (and subsequent movies) to a new generation. Will young viewers hop on the bandwagon--and will diehard Trekkers join in? That's what everyone's waiting to see. Savvy film critic Todd McCarthy, who writes for the show-business industry's Bible Variety, weighed in with the first major review and it's a rave. I can't wait to see this one myself.

It's likely that a slightly older demographic is waiting for Ron Howard's production of 'Angels & Demons' starring Tom Hanks and based on author Dan Brown's best-selling prequel to 'The Da Vinci Code.' And that's how the rest of the seasonal lineup shapes up, with something for everyone.

For fanboys there's plenty to choose from, starting with 'Terminator Salvation,' opening May 21. It's also a prequel--to the 1984 movie that brought the Terminator (and John Connor) into our popular culture. Christian Bale stars, and the effects-laden movie is directed by McG, a visually-oriented director who cut his teeth on music videos. Will the story stand up to the CGI? That's what I'm curious to see. (Remember, the original movie came out of nowhere. At the time it star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was something of a joke, and its director, James Cameron, was an unknown quantity. I happen to think 'The Terminator' is one of the great action movies of all time, but it was a lean, mean movie built on a giant burst of creative energy; the sequels struck me as over-budgeted bloat.)

Then there's the 'Transformers' sequel, pretentiously subtitled 'Revenge of the Fallen,' which opens on June 24. In the hands of director Michael Bay, whose name has never been uttered in the same breath as the word "subtle," I expect we'll have lots of rock-em, sock-em CGI action to please the crowds that cheered for his first movie based on the popular robotic toys.

It's quite possible that these straight-faced action yarns will be eclipsed by 'Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,' which opens the day after 'Terminator' and has the potential to reach a much wider family audience. It comes with the good will generated by the 2006 Ben Stiller movie, which found a way to integrate cutting-edge visual effects into a funny and ingenious story premise. This time security guard Stiller--and the artifacts from Manhattan's Museum of Natural History--are transplanted to Washington, D.C., which opens the door for lots of possibilities. The same team that made the first film has reunited for this one, so let's keep our fingers crossed that they don't drop the ball.

I'm especially eager to see Pixar's 'Up,' which has great word-of-mouth; in fact, I've heard from more than one reliable source that it's the animation studio's best film to date, and that's really saying something. I'm also curious about 'My Sister's Keeper,' an emotional domestic drama starring Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin and Abigail Breslin. And I have hopes for 'The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,' starring Denzel Washington, John Travolta and James Gandolfini, about the hijacking of a New York subway train, although anyone who remembers the original 1974 movie (with a screenplay by the great Peter Stone) may be skeptical about it being topped here, especially under the direction of Tony Scott, a show-offy filmmaker who never met a helicopter shot he didn't like.

Whatever your taste the studios have something to offer in the early-summer season, from romantic comedies like 'The Proposal,' starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, and my current crush, Malin Akerman, to family-friendly animated features like 'Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs' (let's hope it's better than the last Ice Age sequel) and live-action fodder like 'Land of the Lost,' putting a comedic spin on the vintage TV series with Will Ferrell in the lead.

If there's a "sure thing" in the summer mix it's 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,' which millions of fans of all ages are waiting to see, and if there's a wild card it's 'Bruno,' the new comedy from Sacha Baron Cohen, the perpetrator of the outrageously funny 'Borat.'

For those moviegoers like me who prefer small-scale, offbeat films to a lot of the mainstream fare there's no shortage of possibilities, from the movie that's broken box-office records in Mexico, the hilarious 'Rudo y Cursi' (opening May 8) which reunites the breakout stars of 'Y Tu Mama Tambien,' Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, to Jennifer Aniston's latest indie comedy, a charmer called 'Management' (opening May 15) costarring Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson.

This survey only scratches the surface of what's in store. The only thing I can say with certainty is that whatever your taste, you'll have lots of choices in the late-spring/early-summer months...and that's the way I like it.

Posted May 11, 2009 3:30:00 PM
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