Forrest Gump once famously rambled that life was like a box of chocolates, since you never know what you’re going to get.
Though the phrase may not fit completely with life as a whole, it works beautifully with the summer movie season. Every summer, audiences are given a whole tray of delicious eye candy and have to guess which ones are delectable Milky Ways and which ones are candy corn.
Considering the price of a movie ticket these days, it’s getting a little difficult to just show up at the local cineplex, pick a random movie, and wing it. Therefore, here’s three movies that I can almost guarantee will be worth your time and money, and one that will probably leave you shaking your fist at Hollywood.
When it comes to science fiction, there’s probably nobody I trust more with the genre than Steven Spielberg. Between “E.T.,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and “Minority Report,” the man can do no wrong. And no, I refuse to acknowledge that “Indiana Jones 4” and its Nazi-exploding aliens exist.
Besides that massive lapse of judgment, Spielberg has been behind some of the best science fiction movies in the history of cinema, and “Super 8” looks and feels just like one of those classics. Technically, the film is written and directed by “Star Trek” director J.J. Abrams, but anyone who saw that summer treat from 2009 knows that the man can equally make some stellar visuals and tell a captivating story. It looks like a great science fiction mystery with some classic Spielberg heart
A family drama that follows a boy’s relationship with his father and waxes philosophically about life doesn’t exactly sound like premium summer escapism. With the casting of Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, as well as the dialogue-free trailer, “The Tree of Life” seems more like a movie that should be coming out in December with the other pretentious Oscar bait movies.
However, I can almost guarantee that this will be the must-see movie of the summer. For one, the film comes from famed writer/director Terrence Malick, who’s known for being a perfectionist, making about one film every decade, and generally being brilliant. He’s supposedly been working on this particular film for decades, so there’s a chance that this could be his masterpiece.
Most importantly, though, rumors are swirling that “The Tree of Life” also involves dinosaurs. Admit it, you want to find out how Malick incorporates prehistoric creatures into a 1950s family drama.
Every summer needs its breakout comedy hit, and for the most part, it’s been either an Apatow related film or “The Hangover.” Unfortunately, Apatow is only producing “Bridesmaids,” also known as “The Hangover” with women, and “The Hangover” has gone the way of the sequel. Therefore, the door is wide open for something new to tickle audiences’ funny bones.
I nominate “30 Minutes or Less.” The movie’s plot is completely insane, somehow involving pizza delivery, bombs, bank robberies, and Mark Zuckerberg. Sorry, I mean “The Social Network’s” Jesse Eisenberg, who proved in that film that he is incredibly nimble with clever and fast dialogue. Joining him, however, is Aziz Ansari, who is perhaps one of the funniest men currently working in Hollywood. Those two, combined with the director of the crazily inventive “Zombieland,” makes a potential triple play of cinematic hilarity.
Disappointment: “The Hangover: Part II”
I think we can all agree that “The Hangover” was exceptionally funny. The movie combined an interesting mystery with some lovably goofy characters and became one of the highest grossing R-rated movies of all time. However, I think we can also all agree that sequels not named “The Dark Knight” tend to be disappointing. I want to like “The Hangover: Part II”, but the trailer implies that the plot and jokes are going to be exactly the same. If that’s the case, audiences might as well skip “Part II”, pop in the DVD of the original, and pretend the characters are in a very glitzy part of Bangkok.