10 Movies We Want to See This Summer (and 5 That Make Us Nervous)
by Brian Tallerico

Thank GOD summer is here. You can keep the chirping birds and baseball games, we're spending the season in the cool air conditioning of the movie theater. And like someone with Seasonal Affective Disorder that's been stuck in Alaska's 30 days of night, we could sure use some movie sunshine. Sure, there have been a few fun movies so far this year - Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Cloverfield, and... um, well... there's been at least two - but there has also been an insane amount of awful at the multiplex. For every marginally acceptable mainstream release like Definitely, Maybe or Cloverfield, it felt like there were at least five One Missed Calls or Over Her Dead Bodys. I mean, we’ve suffered through not one, not two, but THREE Asian horror remakes since New Year’s Day. That's more than any movie season can take. We need summer movies more than we have in any other year. We need something with potential; something with scope; something with toys, video games, and a big budget. And those movies are finally here. Movies don't necessarily get better in the summer, but they definitely get bigger and, after you've sat through movies like 88 Minutes and Prom Night, believe me, size matters. Everyone from Entertainment Weekly to People Magazine has dragged out their predictable summer movie previews, but we like to approach things differently at The Deadbolt. We're ready to play favorites. So, on that note, here are the ten movies we're most excited to see this summer, in order, followed by five biggies that make us nervous.

TEN SUMMER MOVIES WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT:

10. The Midnight Meat Train (August 1st)

Yes, the preview makes us laugh, too. In fact, seeing the trailer was the funniest thing about Good Luck Chuck's run in theaters. But that's why we're excited. That and the rumor that writer Clive Barker apparently came up with the idea under the influence of a pot brownie. Our younger readers (and those who don't read books) may not be able to remember when Barker really mattered as a horror author. Trust us, before Hellraiser 4, 5, and 6, he did. And he has the talent to do so again. Will it be a movie about a serial killer on subway trains whose biggest stars are Vinnie Jones and Bradley Cooper? Probably not, and its schedule shift from the beginning of summer (it was originally scheduled for May) to the end makes us as skeptical as anyone else. But there's one more big reason that Midnight Meat Train makes the cut for our “most anticipated” list ahead of several more high profile films, and that’s director Ryuhei Kitamura. The visionary director of Versus (who you can read more about here) could definitely breathe new life into the more violent subgenre of horror, which appears to have been given a death sentence with the failure of Hostel: Part II. Plus it's called The Midnight Meat Train! There's arguably never been a title that tells you more about what to expect from the final film since Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

9. Wanted (June 27th)

The "guilty pleasure" part of our “can’t wait to see” program continues with Wanted, the story of a normal guy who gets recruited into a super-secret group of assassins that includes Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. (Yeah, we had a dream like that once, too.) We should know better than to get excited by June movies based on graphic novels – particularly since this adaptation is apparently very, very loosely based on Mark Millar’s original comic (like EXTREMELY loosely based) - but there's something about the Wanted preview that triggers our guilty pleasure radar. Why? For starters, Angelina Jolie looks as hot as ever, James McAvoy only gets better as an actor with every film he does, and Morgan Freeman never hurts a project and doesn't seem to be playing the "wise old man" archetype he's trademarked in recent years. (Well, not as much. At least he's not playing God again.) Most importantly, the action looks pretty kick-ass. The director of the Russian sensations Night Watch and Day Watch, Timur Bekmambetov, always had a firm grasp on cool visuals in vampire movies (even if that tricky thing called plot was never his strong suit) and what looks cooler than a scantly-clad Angelina draped over the front of a sports car, White Snake-style, firing a big gun in an action movie? Wanted looks totally ridiculous, but that's exactly what we're going to want after the early season onslaught of sequels and inevitable big-ticket letdowns. Basically, Wanted has the potential to be the most over-the-top diversion of the year, the one that you blog about hating but secretly love.

8. Step Brothers (July 25th)

We really, really hate to admit this, particularly since we’ve been enjoying FunnyorDie.com lately, but John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell need a hit. Fortunately, the Step Brothers preview is funny enough that we think this could be it. Reilly is coming off the massive underperformer Walk Hard and Ferrell's Semi-Pro was one of his biggest bombs to date, but the last time they worked together, comedy equaled box office gold in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Plus Adam McKay, Nights’ writer/director and Ferrell's comedy partner in the great FunnyorDie.com clips, returns as the main creative force behind the scenes. Let’s be honest, Step Brothers looks like a significantly better movie. (Sorry Ricky Bobby fans, but it wasn't that funny.) If you've missed the well-played Step Brothers trailer, Reilly and Ferrell play forty-something losers who still live with their single parents (Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen). When their mom and dad get married, the two unemployed schlubs are forced to move in together. Playing with the rivalry/friendship of step brothers but with grown men instead of cast-offs from Cheaper by the Dozen, Step Brothers is a clever idea and it's got to be better than Semi-Pro. Consider us optimistic.

7. Hancock (July 2nd)

Can Will Smith own the Fourth of July box office again? The man who once ruled the season with films like Independence Day, Men in Black, and Wild Wild West (well, two out of three ain’t bad) returns in 2008 to reclaim his holiday throne with one of the most high profile non-sequel films of the year. A film that has gone through several different leads, directors, and titles, Hancock might have been irreparably damaged by the Hollywood machine along the way, but the concept is so good that it might be able to go the distance. That and the fact that Smith can carry a once-thought-to-be-failed project across the summer movie finish line much more deftly than most actors. Smith takes on the role of an everyday hero in a script that plays with an obvious plot hole that most superhero flicks have failed to address - if the Fantastic Four or the X-Men were to throw down in the city square, who would handle the clean-up? Hancock may be a well-intentioned character (or maybe he’s not), but, regardless, he leaves a wake of destruction from his heroism to the point that Los Angeles starts to wonder if he's doing more harm than good. The movie only has a brief preview, but it displays a darker edge that could be very appealing in the fan-friendliest season of the year. It doesn't hurt that the super-cynical Peter Berg (Very Bad Things, Friday Night Lights) is behind the lens. The superhero genre could always use a send-up. Well, besides the limp Superhero Movie, that is.

6. Pineapple Express (August 8th)

Remember when comedies could be dark and violent? If you're old enough, you can remember the '80s comedies like 48 Hours or Midnight Run, movies that weren't afraid to have realistic gunplay, death, and mayhem existing side-by-side with the madcap buddy comedy. Why don't they make them anymore? Did the Beverly Hills Cop and Lethal Weapon franchises kill them all? There's something so refreshing about the Pineapple Express preview because it's clearly a movie that's going to feel a little different than any other comedy released this season and more like the darker action comedies of the '80s. It feels like the country has turned a bit against the Apatow-verse after the failure of Walk Hard and the disappointing first weekend of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but we think if any man can bring back the Judd-love, it's director David Gordon Green, someone who clearly understands how to mix film styles into something both retro and unique (see All the Real Girls and Undertow if you don't believe us.) It's this simple - Pineapple Express stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as two potheads on the run from Gary Cole, who plays the city's most dangerous drug lord. I don't care how much you think Knocked Up or Superbad were overrated, if that pitch line doesn't get you interested, then you just don't like movies.

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