April has come and gone. It gave me one of my favorites so far this year in The Cabin in the Woods along with two enjoyable comedies in The Five Year Engagement and American Reunion. May looks… not as promising. Let’s take a look.
MAY 4
- The Avengers – Lindsay wrote a review here. I initially didn’t expect too much from this, having not gotten tons of enjoyment out of any predecessors save for Iron Man, but obviously this is good stuff.
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (limited) – I don’t hate movies about old people. I thought It’s Complicated was delightful and am down with Jack Nicholson and/or Diane Keaton doing old people stuff in movies but this doesn’t really appeal to me. Maybe I’ll catch this sometime down the road but I certainly won’t go out of my way for it.
MAY 11
- Dark Shadows – You know, I don’t completely dislike what I’m seeing here. Yes it’s Tim Burton and Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. But there’s also Chloe Moretz, and a few chuckles, and it might not be so bad. Obviously, I am not very convincing, even to myself. My apathy will probably lead me to missing this in the theater.
MAY 18
- The Dictator (Wed 16) – Rewatching Bruno the other day with Lindsay and Rob, we were all reminded of how wickedly hilarious Sacha Baron Cohen can be. Of course this is missing the high stakes, jaw-dropping aspect of the real-life approach, opting for a scripted story (he might be too famous at this point to get away with that despite his knack for assuming identities). The first trailers for this made me roll my eyes, but the most recent ones actually made me laugh. Even if it’s scripted, watching Baron Cohen doing wacky shit is still plenty entertaining. This is also the only comedy in May that I’m actually interested in seeing.
- What To Expect When You’re Expecting – On the other hand, this comedy does not make me feel much of anything. It just doesn’t seem to be working at all. It doesn’t help that this film seems geared towards a female audience, yet every time a woman is on screen she seems to be screaming and the main focus is on this pack of men in the park. I see what it’s trying to do, but maybe I just can’t relate to this demographic? I will be skipping this.
- Battleship – I really don’t like Rihanna. Like at all. Why are Alexander Skaarsgard and Liam Neeson in this? The real question we’ve been pondering this whole time is why was this even made? I guess the Transformers-at-sea approach was the best direction they could go with this. Like Taylor Kitsch’s John Carter this luckily has a decent overseas cushion before it even opens in the US.
MAY 25
- Chernobyl Diaries – I suppose it’s not foreign territory to use a real life tragedy to base a story for entertainment but it is a little off-putting. We are well removed from the 1980′s Ukranian nuclear disaster but I’m certain it strikes a nerve to those closer to the incident. That said, if it’s executed well it could still deliver some decent scares. Nothing terribly new to offer so I’m not sure if it’s worth the effort to see in theaters.
- MIB 3 – Let’s just say I was not in the group (they’re around somewhere I guess) that was demanding a revisit to this franchise. The only thing that sparked any interest during the trailer was Josh Brolin doing Tommy Lee Jones. That could be entertaining–the whole movie could be–but we’ll see.
- Moonrise Kingdom – Saving the best for last, obviously. I love everything Wes Anderson has touched and expect more of the same well-crafted execution, signature character/style, nuanced performances, and clever script work that he has delivered every few years since 1996. Nick is convinced this will be his masterpiece, and I absolutely cannot wait to find out!
What are you looking forward to watching this month?
Once again, you’ve summed up all my feelings, especially on Dark Shadows. It seems like a movie I would enjoy a lot if I was a bit younger so I might be just a little out of the target audience now.
Also, just go see The Avengers. I’m sure you will have fun with it, you Buffy lover you.
I am completely ready to The Avengers. Any doubts I had are certainly out of the picture at this point!
The Avengers scores, but we’ve been over that already.
Out of this lot, I think I’m really only looking forward to Moonrise Kingdom. I have doubts that MIB3 will be able to justify its own existence, I think Chernobyl Diaries looks like any other found footage movie ever made (and plus, after seeing V/H/S at IFFBoston this year, I’m not sure that there’s really any reason to keep making formulaic found footage movies in the first place apart from money), and Battleship looks flat-out horrendous. I didn’t much care for Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Dark Shadows represents the sort of self-marketing/branding mediocrity we should expect from Burton at this point.
Not a great month, but June should make up for it.
Moonrise Kingdom was one of my most anticipated films of the year, so it certainly is for this month! Everything else looks incredibly blah, except for The Avengers. I even saw a screener of The Dictator last night and it was pretty mediocre so there goes that.
Is there an echo in here?
I’m with you (and Linds and Andrew) on just about all of these. Of course to Avengers, meh to Dark Shadows (though good point to Lindsay about maybe being interested if we were younger), meh to Marigold and What to Expect and Chernobyl, curious interest in The Dicatator (though Bruno was a big letdown for me), fuck off to Battleshit, and hells yeah to Moonrise Kingdom.
I might be taking crazy pills, but I get the feeling that MIB3 might actually be good. It’s not high stakes or anything, but Smith rarely acts anymore, Brolin hasn’t done many comedies, and Sonnenfeld’s star is way, way down from where it was in the mid-90s, so I feel like the effort is definitely gonna be there. And it’s got Bill Hader! I’m hopeful for it, even if the “let’s time travel/give TLJ a break” angle looks really tired.
You know the MIB3 trailer definitely doesn’t offend me in anyway. It could be alright and at the very least worth the watch. Finally seeing The Avengers tonight though!
About damn time! Hope the insane hype hasn’t driven your expectations up too high, though that hasn’t seemed to hurt many others that went in two weeks ago with them.
I’m a busy bee, Dylan! I didn’t have high expectations at the start so now I am just pumped to see what everyone is raving about. I don’t think I am hyping it up to myself though.
Dylan and Andrew, go watch Battleship. I can offer a legitimate guarantee that you will not be disappointed. You’re probably thinking “but Will, I think it will be shit, so disappointment is impossible, what good is your guarantee?” And to that I say, if you are convinced it will be terrible, you will be impressed. If you are on the fence, you’ll probably like it. If you’re expecting the next Godfather, ok maybe you’ll be disappointed. I’ll be putting up a review some time today, so keep an eye out.
Sorry, Will…not gonna happen. But hey, I had your back on the whole “what to do when invisible” thing, if that makes you feel better.
The Avengers more than exceeded my expectations, Dark Shadows not so much. In fact it was so bad I couldn’t subject myself to reviewing any of the rotten films released this weekend.
Looking forward to checking out Moonrise Kingdom !!!! Loves me some Wes Anderson
I though Dark Shadows wouldn’t be fantastic, but I have seen a lot of people seriously hated it. Glad I didn’t chance it.
Also glad that I waited to see The Avengers so that I don’t have to wait quite as long for another movie I want to see come out. At this point I can’t fathom Moonrise Kingdom being a let down!