While great movies can be released at any time of year, there's just something about the summer season that hits different. Every studio from the majors to the indies are hurling out slates of diverse product to attempt to bring people together in a (hopefully) air-conditioned building and it routinely leads to great big screen experiences with packed, enthusiastic crowds.
In my eyes at least, the 2023 slate is considerably more exciting than the past 2 years. There's some massive blockbuster franchise finales (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny),indie flicks that lit up the festival circuits this past fall/winter (Sanctuary, Past Lives, Talk to Me), a unique opportunity for any cinema diehard to pull off a whiplash-inducing double feature starting on the weekend of July 21st (Barbie, Oppenheimer) and the long overdue return of an old summer staple: the theatrically-released R-rated comedy (Strays, The Blackening, No Hard Feelings, Joy Ride, Please Don't Destroy). Movie fans haven't been fed this balanced of a diet in the summertime since 2019 and I couldn't be more excited to start digging into this feast this upcoming weekend. Here are the 10 movies I'm most excited to see this summer movie season.
10.Hypnotic (May 12):
The long journey to the screen for Robert Rodriguez's passion project that was originally conceived in 2002 then indefinitely put into limbo once it wrapped shooting in the fall of 2021 after initial distributor/funder Solstice Studios folded is just about over. This sci-fi mystery thriller about a cop (Ben Affleck) who stumbles upon a strange supernatural conspiracy as he searches for his missing daughter looks to be an interesting change of pace for the veteran director and although I am a bit concerned that it will be overstuffed given its short running time (93 minutes), Rodriguez's track record outside of his kids movies is strong enough for me to have faith in his ability to make it work.
9.Talk to Me (July 28):
Australian twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou (aka as retired Youtubers RackaRacka) stunned audiences at this year's Sundance with their narrative feature debut and after a heated bidding war, A24 won the North American distribution rights and promptly handed it a prime summer release date. Talk to Me looks to be an inspired, deeply disturbing take on the demonic possession horror genre and I'm excited to finally get a chance to see it at the end of July after hearing so many good things about it since January.
8.Joy Ride (July 7):
Of the aforementioned large cluster of R-rated comedies arriving in theaters this summer, Joy Ride tops my list of most anticipated. The redband trailer is hilarious and the reviews following its premiere at SXSW in March as well as its screening at CinemaCon last week were very enthusiastic, which indicates that longtime screenwriter/producer Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians, Raya and the Last Dragon) made one of hell a transition to the director's chair.
7.Extraction 2 (June 16):
Extraction was a gift from action movie heaven during the early days of the COVID lockdown in April 2020. While I'm not dumb enough to expect that a bigger budget will allow director Sam Hargrave and star Chris Hemsworth to make a sequel that improves upon the original, the confirmed inclusion of a 14-minute one take action scene-which would top the original's 11-minute car chase/apartment complex shootout/street knife fight sequence and a teaser trailer that showed off about 75 seconds of an insane sequence where Hemsworth's Tyler Rake fights off a large group of assailants with a riot shield is a very promising sign that they were able to do just that.
6.Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30):
Indiana Jones deserves a better send-off than the cheesy, uneven Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll get it with The Dial of Destiny. James Mangold (Ford v. Ferrari, Logan) is an excellent choice to succeed Steven Spielberg as director, both trailers released so far have been impressive and most importantly, I don't think Harrison Ford would have returned to play a character that he has such a deep love for if he didn't believe in the project.
5.Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June 2):
Into the Spider-Verse was a heartfelt, deeply entertaining movie with a groundbreaking animation style that melded together hand-drawn art with CG. The sequel seems poised to be another emotional, visually breathtaking adventure and the additions to the voice cast (Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya, Karan Soni, Andy Samberg, Oscar Isaac in an expanded role after being introduced during a post-credits scene in Into the Spider-Verse) are awesome.
4.Barbie (July 21):
Warner Brothers hiring Greta Gerwig to make the Barbie movie rules so hard. I wasn't exactly sure what direction she was going to take this movie in when she was announced as the writer/director back in 2019 (and quite frankly, I'm still not 100% sure), but Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and an absurdly loaded supporting cast (there's far too many to list, but the headliners in terms of screen time seem to be Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrara, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu and Will Ferrell) getting the chance to be goofballs while playing live-action versions of iconic dolls is a home run sales pitch that could lead to some incredible results.
3.Mission-Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (July 12):
The beginning of the end for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team (Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg) means that Cruise is going to push his love of flirting with death in the name of entertainment to new heights. On top of that excellent selling point, there's a whole bunch of new actors joining the fold (Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Wigham, Mariela Garigga, Cary Elwes, Greg Tarzan Davis, Rob Delaney, Indria Varma, Mark Gatniss) as well as the return of Henry Cznery as Hunt's former boss Ethan Kittridge from the first film and Vanessa Kirby as arms dealer Alanna "The White Widow" Mitsopolis from Fallout that should help elevate the espionage intrigue between the jaw-dropping stunt/action work that this series has become known for of late.
2.Fast X (May 19):
Putting a movie that had such a strange, troubled production with original director Justin Lin leaving after a week of shooting and being quickly replaced by Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me, The Incredible Hulk)-who was then tasked with reworking the bulk of the movie on the fly-this high on the list is flat-out reckless-especially when the previous film was the franchise's weakest entry in over a decade. However, I just can't quit my love for Fast and Furious and even if the opening half of this franchise's grand finale ends up not delivering the over-the-top action goods, the opportunity to see Jason Momoa have the time of his life in a hammy villain role should make the film at least somewhat enjoyable.
1.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 (May 5):
Despite finding Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 to be a massively disappointing follow-up to one of the MCU's best movies, I firmly believe James Gunn will be able to give these great characters the grand, powerful finale they deserve after seeing how much he's grown as a storyteller with The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker.
Also Plan on Watching:
BlackBerry (May 12)
Fool's Paradise (May 12)
The Starling Girl (May 12)
Sanctuary (May 19)
White Men Can't Jump (May 19)
Kandahar (May 26)
The Wrath of Becky (May 26)
You Hurt My Feelings (May 26)
The Boogeyman (June 2)
Past Lives (June 2)
Flamin' Hot (June 9)
Strays (June 9)
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June 9)
Asteroid City (June 16)
The Blackening (June 16)
Elemental (June 16)
The Flash (June 16)
No Hard Feelings (June 23)
Oppenheimer (July 21)
They Cloned Tyrone (July 21)
Haunted Mansion (July 28)
Meg 2: The Trench (August 4)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (August 4)
Gran Turismo (August 11)
Heart of Stone (August 11)
Blue Beetle (August 18)
Please Don't Destroy (August 18)
Lift (August 25)
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