Summer Movies I Can’t Wait to See

I am excited! We are fast approaching one of the greatest times of the year. No, not summer; I’m excited for the summer blockbuster movie season. That’s right, in just a couple weeks the best time of year for new movies will begin. Typically movie studios release the movies they believe will be the most popular (and therefore make the most money) during the late spring and early summer when people go out during warm weather, summer vacations and long holiday weekends. Summer 2012 is no different; here are the movies releasing in the next few months that I will be watching on the big screen and reviewing here on Fredericksburg Patch.

The Avengers (May 4) – This is it, the superhero movie to end all superhero movies (in reality it will likely spawn many more sequels and spin offs). If you like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and The Hulk here is your chance to see them all together on one screen battling the latest menace to Earth. The Avengers is hoping to prove that together these super heroes will yield a super box office.

Battleship (May 18) – A movie about the U.S. Navy fighting an alien spaceship in the middle of the ocean based on a board game sounds like a description for disaster. That is what I thought at first, but the more previews I see for this movie and the more I learn about it, the better it looks and sounds. I’m going in with low expectations for acting and high expectations for action and explosions. I doubt I will be disappointed.

Prometheus (June 8) – Discovering an ancient alien civilization in space would be awesome. Finding out those aliens take over the bodies of humans and plan to conquer Earth, not so cool. As the premise to a movie directed by the amazing Ridley Scott (see his hits like Gladiator and Alien) it is a recipe for success. Prometheus is the odds-on favorite to be the biggest blockbuster of the summer.

Brave (June 22) – Brave is the latest offering from Disney/Pixar about young Princess Merida who is thrown into an adventure to save her kingdom. Pixar is famous for its ability to tell a compelling story and breathe life into animated characters. Brave looks like it could be an animated combination of Braveheart and Robin Hood. I’m hoping this will be next in the line of great family films like Finding Nemo, A Bug’s Life, and Toy Story.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (June 29) – G.I. Joe: Retaliation is the sequel to G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra that was a summer blockbuster in 2009 and a fan favorite with everyone who grew up saying “Knowing is half the battle.”  Retaliation promises to be a pure action movie featuring the “Joe’s” you grew up with now literally fighting for their lives against their own government. I don’t expect to see a lot of people who did not grow up loving the cartoon in the theater with me, but for everyone else all I will say is “Yo Joe!”

The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3) – The Amazing Spider-Man is an example of a movie series “reboot”. It was just a few years ago that we were watching Toby Maguire slip on the red and blue spandex and give Kirsten Dunst an upside down “Spidey kiss”.  Well, kiss the good old days of the two thousands good bye and say hello to the new Spider-Man. An all new cast will re-tell the origin story of a teenage boy turned superhero.  No doubt this reboot will be exhaustively compared to the last Spider-Man series, but I am just hoping it lives up to the classic Spider-Man comic and cartoon I grew up loving.

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20) – The Dark Knight Rises is yet another comic book hero come to life but in this case it is the conclusion of a movie series reboot instead of the beginning of one. It is the third and final movie in the trilogy that began with Batman Begins in 2005 and promises to be the climactic conclusion to an awesome adventure.  With Christopher Nolan in the director’s chair again to helm this movie, one can only hope it packs the same punch that the Oscar-nominated The Dark Knight did in 2008.

Are you excited for the summer blockbuster movie season? What movies do you plan to see? Please share your thoughts and opinions with everyone on The Patch. Also, make sure to come back this summer to read my reviews of these and other movies.