Summer movies offer something for everyone
It’s hard to believe the summer movie season is almost upon us. But what to expect? Is there another “Barbenheimer” fad awaiting among an array of comedies, dramas, cartoons and superhero offerings? Only time will tell, but to whet your chops, here’s a rundown of what Hollywood has in store over the next four months:
MAY 3
The Fall Guy: Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt supply the star power for director David Leitch (“Atomic Blonde”) in the story of a Hollywood stuntman (Gosling), who in addition to his day job, is called upon to find a missing movie star, debunk a conspiracy theory and win back the girl he loves. Is that all?
I Saw the TV Glow: If this has a familiar “Ring” to it, it might be because the idea of Justice Smith discovering a supernatural world while watching a late-night TV show is a little too on the nose. Jane Schoenbrun wrote and directs.
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg: The infamous Rolling Stones groupie, who inspired the tunes “Gimmie Shelter” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” is profiled by Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill. Scarlett Johansson provides Pallenberg’s voice for readings from her diaries.
The Idea of You: Anne Hathaway stars as a 40-year-old mom who falls for a 24-year-old rock star (Nicholas Galitzine) in the latest offering from “Big Sick” director Michael Showalter. Did I hear someone mention “Notting Hill”?
Unfrosted: Jerry Seinfeld directs and stars in a comedy about the birth of the Pop Tart. The star-studded supporting cast includes Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer and Hugh Grant. Let’s pray this one is nothing like Seinfeld’s previous scripting effort, the underwhelming “Bee Movie.”
Wildcat: Ethan Hawke directs his daughter, Maya, in the role of author Flannery O’Connor, who at age 24 is headed home to Georgia to visit her estranged mother (Laura Linney) while also processing a recent diagnosis of lupus.
MAY 10
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: Director Wes Ball, the guy behind those “Maze Runner” duds, guides a no-name cast through the usual monkeyshines of a fast-tiring franchise. This one takes place generations after Caesar’s reign but mines the familiar mayhem of its predecessors. Yawn!
Mother of the Bride: Brooke Shields stars in a comedy by director Mark Waters (the original “Mean Girls”) about a mother (Shields) summoned to Thailand for her daughter’s wedding. Problems arise when Mom learns the groom is the son of a guy (Benjamin Bratt) who once broke her heart.
Tarot: Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg wrote and directed this tale about friends unwittingly unleashing a great evil while fiddling with tarot cards. Um, sounds a lot like “Jumanji.”
Poolman: Chris Pine makes his directorial debut with a comedy he co-wrote about a femme fatale (DeWanda Wise) persuading a naive pool boy (Pine) to uncover dirty little secrets involving – a la “Chinatown” – the town’s water supply. Danny DeVito, Annette Bening and Jennifer Jason Leigh co-star.
MAY 17
Back to Black: Sam Taylor-Johnson (“Fifty Shades of Grey”) directs a biopic chronicling the period when pop star Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) recorded her classic album, “Back to Black.” Writer Matt Greenhalgh (“Control – Love Will Tear Us Apart”) has come under fire for soft-pedaling Winehouse’s notorious struggles with drugs and alcohol. But we shall see.
If: A fantasy feature written and directed by John Krasinski and starring Ryan Reynolds about a little girl who can see everyone’s imaginary friends.
The Blue Angels: Paul Crowder’s documentary gets up close and personal with the world-famous military stunt fliers.
MAY 24
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: The fifth entry in the franchise – created and directed by George Miller – stars Anya Taylor-Joy (taking over for Charlise Theron) as the title character caught in a battle with the evil warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) almost two decades before the events of “Fury Road.”
The Garfield Movie: Mark Dindal oversees this animated tale in which the lasagna-loving cat (voiced by Chris Pratt) and his pal, Odie, are mixed up in a robbery scheme.
The Beach Boys: Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny direct a Disney Plus documentary about the legendary band and its leader, the musical genius Brian Wilson.
Atlas: Jennifer Lopez plays a data analyst rightfully suspicious of AI. Sterling K. Brown co-stars and Brad Peyton (“San Andreas”) directs this Netflix production.
MAY 31
Ezra: Bobby Cannavale stars as a stand-up comedian who attempts to bond with his autistic son (newcomer William Fitzgerald) during a cross-country road trip. Tony Goldwyn directs and Robert De Niro and Rose Byrne co-star.
Robot Dreams: You won’t want to miss this wonderful, Oscar-nominated, dialogue-free cartoon about a dog and his robot companion accidentally becoming separated to devastating effect.
Summer Camp: Diane Keaton, Alfre Woodward and Kathy Bates star as friends who met as children and are excited about attending their summer camp reunion. Director Castille Landon also wrote the screenplay.
Jim Henson Idea Man: Ron Howard’s documentary profiles the life of the puppet master behind the classic TV series “Sesame Street” and “The Muppet Show.”
The Dead Don’t Hurt: Viggo Mortensen wrote, directs and stars in a Civil War-era Western, playing a returning vet whose immigrant wife (Vicky Krieps) stirs up hard feelings with a corrupt local land owner (Danny Huston).
Young Woman and the Sea: An Olympic swimmer (Daisy Ridley) makes a name for herself at the turn of the last century by traversing the 21-mile-wide English Channel. Joachim Ronning (“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”) directs.
JUNE 7
Bad Boys: Ride or Die: Will Smith, 55, and Martin Lawrence, 59, are getting a little long in the tooth for action movies, but if Tom Cruise can do it … Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah from “Bad Boys for Life” are back to direct.
Hit Man: Glen Powell and Adria Arjona star in Richard Linklater’s dark comedy about an undercover cop (posing as a hired killer) coming to the rescue of an abused wife.
I Used to Be Funny: Writer-director Ally Pankiw makes her feature film debut with a dramedy about a nanny – and an aspiring stand-up comedian (Rachel Sennott) – haunted by the disappearance of a teenage girl under her charge.
JUNE 14
Inside Out 2: The follow-up to Pixar’s 2015 Oscar-winning toon takes us back inside the mind of Riley, a young girl who hears voices, each representing a distinct emotion. Amy Poehler (Joy), Phyllis Smith (Sadness) and Lewis Black (Anger) return, but Bill Hadar (Fear) and Mindy Kaling (Disgust) do not, replaced by Tony Hale and Liza Lapira. Maya Hawke joins the cast as a new emotion, Anxiety.
The Watchers: Ishana Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night Shyamalan, makes her directorial debut with this horror offering featuring Dakota Fanning as one of four victims stalked by mysterious forces.
JUNE 21
Thelma: The always delightful June Squibb (“Nebraska”) gets her first starring role as a 93-year-old grandmother seeking revenge after being fleeced by telephone scammers. In his final role, the late Richard Roundtree rides along aboard a Lark as reinforcement on Granny’s crusade. The buzzy film marks the debut of promising writer-director Josh Margolin.
Janet Planet: Theater veteran Annie Baker makes her writing-directing debut with the story of an 11-year-old girl (Zoe Ziegler) whose adoration for her mother (Julianne Nicholson) ebbs during a summer retreat in 1991.
Firebrand: Karim Ainouz directs Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander in the tale of Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII.
JUNE 28
A Quiet Place: Day One: John Krasinski and Emily Blunt are conspicuously absent from the third entry in the horror franchise they made a massive hit. For this origin story, writer-director Michael Sarnoski and star Lupita Nyong’o take their places.
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1: Kevin Costner stars, co-wrote and directs a two-part Western (Part 2 arrives Aug. 16) about families, friends and foes divided by the Civil War. Sam Worthington, Jena Malone and Sienna Miller co-star.
Fancy Dance: Lily Gladstone stars as a hustler who kidnaps her niece from the child’s white grandparents in hopes of preserving her family’s indigenous heritage. Erica Tremblay co-writes and directs.
JULY 3
Despicable Me 4: Chris Renaud returns as director after sitting out the third entry in the critically disparaged but financially successful franchise about a curmudgeonly supervillain (voiced by Steve Carell) and his precocious nieces. For this go-round, Gru welcomes a son to the family. Also lending their voices are Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell and Sofia Vergara.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F: Eddie Murphy puts his faith in rookie director Mark Molloy in a revival of the now 40-year-old franchise in which his iconic Axel Foley rejoins sidekicks Billy (Judge Reinhold) and John (John Ashton) to put the kibosh on conspirators threatening the life of Axel’s niece (Taylour Paige). Joseph Gordon-Levitt joins the cast as Detective Bobby Abbott.
JULY 5
MaXXXine: Horror maven Ti West (“Pearl”) wrote and directs the tawdry tale of a rising porn actress (the great Mia Goth) whose life is threatened by a serial killer targeting Hollywood starlets.
JULY 12
Fly Me to the Moon: Conspiracy buffs who’ve long theorized that the Apollo 11 voyage was a hoax, will devour a tale proffering the notion that Nixon ordered NASA to stage a fake landing in case the real mission failed. Scarlett Johansson stars as a NASA flack who gets under the skin of the launch director (Channing Tatum) in more ways than one. Greg Berlanti (“Love, Simon”) directs.
National Anthem: Charlie Plummer stars as the newest member of a gay rodeo in Luke Gilford’s directorial debut.
JULY 19
Twisters: “Minari” writer-director Lee Isaac Chung gets the mega-budget film he always dreamed of in helming the tale of a traumatized former storm chaser (Daisy Edgar-Jones) lured back into the field, where she kicks up a storm of a different kind with a reckless social media star played by Glen Powell.
Find Me Falling: Writer-director Stelana Kliris casts Harry Connick Jr. as a fading rock star confronted by his unsavory past.
JULY 26
Deadpool & Wolverine: Shawn Levy of “Night at the Museum” fame directs this mash-up of superhero franchises starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.
The Fabulous Four: Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler, Meghan Mullally and Sheryl Lee Ralph headline a road-trip comedy about college friends driving to Florida for another former classmate’s surprise wedding. Jocelyn Moorhouse directs.
Didi: A Taiwanese-American boy (Izaac Wang) learns some life lessons in a conventional coming-of-age story written and directed by Sean Wang, a recent Oscar nominee for the documentary short “Nai Nai & Wei Po.”
AUGUST 2
Harold and the Purple Crayon: Director Carlos Saldanha brings to life Crockett Johnson’s beloved 1955 children’s book with Zachary Levy in the title role of the now grown-up boy with the magical ability to make everything he draws come to life.
My Old Ass: Just what we needed, yet another variation on “Big” and “13 Going on 30.” In it, Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella play older and younger versions of the same character meeting face to face, allegedly with comedic results. Megan Park (“The Fallout”) wrote and directs.
AUGUST 9
Trap: M. Night Shyamalan directs his daughter, Saleka, and “Oppenheimer’s” Josh Hartnett in a thriller about a serial killer attempting to escape the authorities while attending a pop concert with his daughter.
Borderlands: Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis star in director Eli Roth’s superhero comedy about a woman attempting to settle a debt with a drug cartel. Kevin Hart and Jack Black co-star.
It Ends with Us: Actor-turned-director Justin Baldoni delivers his follow-up to the underwhelming “Five Feet Apart” in presenting a love triangle between three Bostonians (Blake Lively, Brandon Sklenar and Baldoni) that takes an unexpected turn.
The Fire Inside: Acclaimed cinematographer Rachel Morrison (“Black Panther”) makes her directorial debut working from a script by Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins about the life of Olympic boxer Claressa “T. Rex” Shields (Ryan Destiny). Brian Tyree Henry co-stars.
Cuckoo: Hunter Schafer plays a teenager who comes to live with her father (Dan Stevens) and his new family in the German Alps. But as she settles in strange noises and bloody visions begin to torment her. Tilman Singer directs.
AUGUST 16
Alien: Romulus: Cailee Spaeny, so good in “Civil War” and “Priscilla,” headlines the latest chapter in the long-running space-monster franchise; this one directed by “Don’t Breathe’s” Fede Alvarez.
Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 2: Kevin Costner’s Civil War-era Western concludes.
AUGUST 23
The Crow: Bill Skarsgard takes the place of Brandon Lee in a remake of the infamous 1994 thriller about a resurrected man on a mission to exact revenge on the people who killed him and his beloved fiancee, Shelley (FKA Twigs). Rupert Sanders directs.
Slingshot: Casey Affleck plays an astronaut struggling to maintain his sanity during a botched mission to Saturn’s Titan moon. Laurence Fishburne co-stars and Mikael Hafstrom directs.
Blink Twice: Zoe Kravitz makes her directorial debut with a story about a young woman (Naomi Ackie) invited by a billionaire (Channing Tatum) to join him and his friends on a private island where strange happenings unfold.
AUGUST 30
Kraven the Hunter: “Margin Call” director J.C. Chandor commands a Spider-Man spinoff about a Russian immigrant (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) determined to prove he’s the greatest hunter the world has ever known. Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose co-stars.
