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In a two-part series, tMF will preview the 2008 Summer Movie Season! Part One will explore the May and June releases, and later this weekend, Part Two will finish up with July and August. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

MAY 1 (Thursday)

Iron Man

Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the story of a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Instead, using his intelligence and ingenuity, Tony builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes from captivity. When he uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, he dons his powerful suit of armor and vows to protect the world as Iron Man.

Why you should care:
Iron Man marks the start of the summer movie season. Casting Robert Downey Jr. was a curious move – until the trailer was released. If that is any indicator, the summer will be off to a great start.

Why it could suck:
Great trailers do not always translate to great, or even good movies (*cough*, Spider-Man 3, *cough*). And any movie based on a second-tier comic book character is risky without having a built-in audience.

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MAY 2 (Friday)

Made of Honor

For Tom, life is good: he's sexy, successful, has great luck with the ladies, and knows he can always rely on Hannah, his delightful best friend and the one constant in his life. It's a great set-up until Hannah goes overseas to Scotland on a six-week business trip, and he is stunned to realize how empty his life is without her.

Why you should care:
Fans of Grey’s Anatomy should take note: Patrick Dempsey has been doing romantic comedy for years. He knows the territory well enough to make a successful rom-com.

Why it could suck:
A little thing called counter-programming. Probably not strong enough on its own, even the filmmakers knew its best shot at succeeding at the box office was to release it the same weekend as Iron Man and hope to pick up the female dollar.

 

Redbelt (limited release)

Set in the west side of Los Angeles fight world, a world inhabited by bouncers, cagefighters, cops and special forces types, REDBELT is the story of Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Jiu-Jitsu teacher who has avoided the prize-fighting circuit, choosing instead to pursue an honorable life by operating a self-defense studio with a samurai's code.

Why you should care:
Any time you see “Written and Directed by David Mamet” you are almost obligated to at least check it out to see what he has created this time.

Why it could suck:
This isn’t Mamet’s usual territory. While that may not necessarily be a bad thing, this just happens to sound like an adult version of Never Back Down, which was itself a dumbed down version of Fight Club. So really, it's anybody's guess.

 

Son of Rambow (limited release)

In the early 1980s, two British schoolboys are inspired by the film Rambo: First Blood to make their own action adventure film, which they hope will win them a young film-maker competition.

Why you should care:
A kids' action movie? The premise sounds entertaining and a little dry British wit never hurt anyone.

Why it could suck:
The last kid's action movie I remember was The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D. Hold on, wait… yep, I just threw up in my mouth a little.

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MAY 9 (Friday)

Speed Racer

Hurtling down the track, careening around, over and through the competition, Speed Racer is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized - the legendary Rex Racer - whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill.

Why you should care:
Fans of the TV show will rush out in droves to see how the Wachowski Brothers inventive directorial style handles the source material.

Why it could suck:
After ruining the last one and a half Matrix movies and writing the god-awful V for Vendetta, the Wachowski Brothers brand isn’t as hot as it used to be.

 

What Happens in Vegas...

Joy (Cameron Diaz) and Jack (Ashton Kutcher) meet while on a Las Vegas bender, where their drunken nuptials are only part of a larger problem: what to do when Jack wins $3 million with Joy's quarter, and they are forced to spend six months as husband and wife if they are to see a penny of their winnings.

Why you should care:
Because you are a masochist who despises happiness.

Why it could suck:
So many reasons. So many, many reasons…

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MAY 16 (Friday)

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

With an evil king ruling over Narnia, the Pevensie children are summoned to help restore the throne to the rightful heir, Prince Caspian. The sequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that takes place years after the original movie.

Why you should care:
Having outrun the Lord of the Rings movies, this is the first movie in the series that has a chance to stand on its own without drawing the comparisons. And if we are lucky, Chris Parnell and Andy Samburg will also give us a sequel to Lazy Sunday as well.

Why it could suck:
I’m still not a hundred percent sure Andrew Adamson can direct a decent movie.

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MAY 22 (Thursday)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), who quietly resumed his teaching career during the 19 years since the events of the last movie, is thrust back into adventure against Spalko (Cate Blanchett) and agents of the Soviet Union, who are both after the crystal skull.

Why you should care:
It’s the first Indiana Jones movie in almost two decades. Steven Spielberg is directing, Harrison Ford is back, and it’s the first Indiana Jones movie in almost two decades.

Why it could suck:
Producer George Lucas has said in so many words, “It’s just a movie so don’t get your panties in a twist. The other ones probably aren’t as good as you remember anyway.” Gee, thanks for that…

 

Postal

In the ironically named city of Paradise, a recently laid-off loser (Zack Ward) teams up with his cult-leading uncle (Dave Foley) to steal a peculiar bounty of riches from their local amusement park. Somehow, the recently arrived Taliban have a similar focus, but a far more sinister intent. Uwe Boll directs.

Why you should care:
The same reason you rubberneck at auto accidents – morbid curiosity.

Why it could suck:
Because Uwe Boll is still inexcusably allowed to make movies. Berating him is pointless because he knows how bad his movies are. He even offered stop making movies if a million people signed an online petition. (Yes I have, by the way).

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MAY 30 (Friday)

Sex and the City: The Movie

Sex and the City finds Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda, four years after the HBO juggernaut ended, as the friends who continue to juggle jobs and relationships while navigating motherhood, marriage, and Manhattan real estate.

Why you should care:
If you are a fan of the HBO series (read: a woman), you care because this is the first trip back to these characters since the show ended four years ago. If you are NOT a fan (read: their husbands) you should drive your car into a tree so you have a reason to stay in the garage all weekend.

Why it could suck:
This movie is marketed to a particular sector of the general population that will be impervious to its flaws. Everyone else prepare for nails on a chalkboard.

The Strangers

After returning from a wedding reception, a couple staying in an isolated vacation house receive a knock on the door in the mid-hours of the night. What ensues is a violent invasion by three strangers, their faces hidden behind masks.

Why you should care:
The premise is just simple and creepy enough to be effective. The trailer was a good start and anyone not interested in seeing Sex and the City now has something to hang their hat on for the weekend.

Why it could suck:
Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman may not have the ability to sustain a full movie on their own.

The Fist Foot Way (limited release)

A low-budget comedy about an inept karate instructor struggling with marital troubles and an unhealthy obsession with fellow karate enthusiast Chuck "The Truck" Williams.

Why you should care:
A funny enough premise that has the potential to be the sleeper comedy of the season. The Apatow crew has even publicly praised this movie. That’s gotta be a good sign, right?

Why it could suck:
Having the potential to be a sleeper and actually being one are vastly different concepts. That, and Tae Kwon Do isn’t terribly funny to begin with.

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JUNE 6 (Friday)

Kung Fu Panda

Po (Jack Black), a reluctant panda bear, is recruited by a team of Kung Fu masters and trained in the ways of the ancient martial arts in order to protect the Valley of Peace from an evil snow leopard.

Why you should care:
A pretty stellar voiceover cast and a panda bear that does Kung Fu. What more do you want?

Why it could suck:
DreamWorks Animation is either hit (Shrek) or miss (Bee Movie). Luckily it has a three-week head start on Wall*E.

 

You Don't Mess With The Zohan

Zohan (Adam Sandler) an Israeli commando who fakes his own death in order to pursue his dream: becoming a hairstylist in New York.

Why you should care:
It was written by Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel (Triumph the Insult Comic Dog) and Judd Apatow.

Why it could suck:
An un-funny trailer and Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel had a hand in writing it.

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JUNE 13 (Friday)

The Happening

M. Night Shyamalan directs a paranoid thriller in which a family attempts to survive a global environmental crisis as a mystery substance kills everything with which it comes into contact.

Why you should care:
M. Night Shyamalan has made some decent movies and with this being rumored as his first trip into R-rated territory, it may give him some room to shine.

Why it could suck:
Once we all caught on to his modus operandi (weak story, twist ending) the movies stopped being good on their own merits, we all just started looking for the curveball.

 

The Incredible Hulk

Geneticist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) takes flight in order to understand -- and hopefully cure -- the condition that turns him into a monster. Complicating his situation is the military initiative that wants him captured and controlled, as well as the arrival of a more-deadly nemesis: The Abomination.

Why you should care:
Because they are treating this like Ang Lee’s Hulk never happened.

Why it could suck:
Because Ang Lee’s Hulk DID happen and I’m still not over it. And the trailer(s) are terribly underwhelming.

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JUNE 20 (Friday)

Get Smart

Inspired by the classic television series, Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrell) is on a mission to thwart the latest plot for world domination by the evil crime syndicate known as KAOS.

Why you should care:
Steve Carrell, Alan Arkin, Anne Hathaway, and The Rock. Carrell should be able to nail the role of Maxwell Smart.

Why it could suck:
Carrell can either be really funny or really annoying and this is written by the same people who graced us with Failure to Launch so it’s a coin flip.

 

The Love Guru

Pitka (Mike Myers) is an American who was left at the gates of an ashram in India as a child and raised by gurus. He moves back to the U.S. to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help and spirituality, where his unorthodox methods are put to the test.

Why you should care:
Mike Myers stars in his first original live action character since Austin Powers.

Why it could suck:
Looks like it should have been titled Austin Powers: Into India.

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JUNE 27 (Friday)

WALL*E

After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL*E discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL*E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans.

Why you should care:
Cute movie robots + Pixar magic = surefire hit.

Why it could suck:
One of Pixar’s last offerings, Cars, was the weakest entry from the studio to date.

 

Wanted

When Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) discovers his recently murdered father was an elite assassin, the young man is recruited into his father's old organization and trained by a man named Sloan (Morgan Freeman) to follow in his dad's footsteps.

Why you should care:
It is loosely based on the comic book series of the same name and the trailer looks like a trippy, over-the-top, balls out action movie.

Why it could suck:
The release date was moved from March to June, possibly because it worked better as a summer movie entry and possibly because re-shoots mandated. Either way that is rarely a good sign.

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Check out Part Two of tMF Summer Movie Preview [ here ]!

x

Comments (4)Add Comment
...
written by Elle, May 02, 2008
Great previews, Jeremy! I'm tickled that the new Shyamalan movie is opening on Friday 13th!! Wonder if that was deliberate? Other than that, the Indiana Jones movie and Get Smart look cool!
...
written by kellagood, May 03, 2008
Great preview, Jeremy. [please don't let Indy suck...please don't let Indy suck...]
Great list!
written by jedmed, May 03, 2008
Indie lovers have been raving about Son of Rambow, so I'm definitely going to see this, at all cost! I also want to see if Norton should be worried about the artistic merit of Hulk, as it seems he's commenting on the final version of the latest Hulk movie.

Great article as usual Jeremy! smilies/grin.gif
...
written by yiddidea, May 03, 2008
Wow Jeremy, this is awesome! I am bookmarking this and Part 2 so I can make my summer movie viewing schedule. smilies/smiley.gif

I cannot wait for Son of Rambow as every time I se the preview I cannot stop laughing. Indy is of course at the top of my list as is Iron Man.

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