A loaded summer slate is one of the greatest gifts a massive movie fan could ask for and on paper at least, 2019 has delivered that in a big way. There's hardly a week between now and the end of August where there's no interesting titles hitting theaters or Netflix. Best of all, this annual cinema overload is even more diverse than usual this year with a welcome influx of R-rated comedies (Long Shot, Booksmart, Good Boys), some throwback genre fare (Shaft, Stuber, 21 Bridges) and even an indie zombie movie directed by the guy who made Paterson (The Dead Don't Die) to go along with the heavy volume of blockbusters this time of year is known for. Here are the 10 movies from this very promising stretch of the calendar that I'm most excited to see.
10.Shaft (6/14):
Samuel L. Jackson swearing, shooting people and just generally being a badass motherfucker for 100 minutes made the last entry in the Shaft franchise a blast, so why wouldn't that still be the case when he returns to play the character 19 years later? The old-school '70 feel the trailer gave off as well as the amusing setup of having the title character's estranged son (Jessie T. Usher) reluctantly join the family ass-kicking business further solidified its place as the last entry on this list.
9.Dark Phoenix (6/7):
Several delays along with the confirmation from director Simon Kinberg that the entire climax was reshot late last year has lessened my anticipation a bit, but I've loved every movie in this wave of X-Men movies and I'm not going to abandon the franchise as it stares in the face of its untimely, Disney-induced demise.
8.Stuber (7/12):
It's been a little while since we've been blessed with a frenzied, R-rated action comedy, so I'm hopeful that this odd couple buddy movie about a grizzled cop (Dave Bautista) commandeering an Uber driven by a very calm man named Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) for a case ends up filling a void in the popcorn flick landscape that hasn't been acknowledged since 2017' The Hitman's Bodyguard.
7.Booksmart (5/24):
With its hilarious redband trailer, early reviews that have favorably compared it to genre classic Superbad and a standout cast that has an ideal balance of young scene stealers (Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd) and old pros (Will Forte, Lisa Kudrow, Jason Sudekis), this year's biggest SXSW darling has a good chance of being the finest comedy released over the next four months.
6.Men in Black: International (6/14):
Was it necessary to reboot Men in Black? Probably not. That being said, building a huge sci-fi comedy around a pair of magnetic stars who have an established rapport (Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson) and handing the reigns over to a director in F.Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious, Straight Outta Compton) who has been responsible for a number of great blockbusters over the course of his career leads me to believe that this won't be a waste of time.
5.Toy Story 4 (6/21):
Tom Hanks and Tim Allen have both said in interviews that they struggled to get through the recording process for the final scenes of this without crying uncontrollably. Thanks in advance for this emotionally devastating experience Pixar.
4.Long Shot (5/3):
A seemingly straightforward romantic comedy is an interesting change of pace for both Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron. Throw in a great supporting cast (O'Shea Jackson Jr., June Diane Raphael, Alexander Skarsgard, Andy Serkis, Bob Odenkirk, Ravi Patel, Randall Park, Lisa Kudrow) and some enthusiastic early reviews, and you have yourself a potential early summer home run.
3.John Wick-Chapter 3: Parabellum (5/17):
Fighting off elite assassins from all over the world, dropping said assassins in a variety of new ways (Samurai swords! Leather bound books! On horseback!) and partnering up with an attack dog-wielding Halle Berry sounds like a formula for an outstanding trilogy capper for cinema's most lethal one man army.
2.Hobbs & Shaw (8/2):
Switching Jason Statham from villain to hero then putting him alongside Dwayne Johnson for a large portion of The Fate of the Furious provided the franchise with an additional creative spark that was not unlike when Johnson first joined the series on Fast Five. Capitalizing on their strong chemistry and comic deliveries by giving these two endlessly charismatic action heroes their own spin-off in this gloriously over-the-top cinematic universe is a smart decision by Universal's brass that should yield some really fun results.
1.Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (7/26):
Quentin Tarantino's alleged penultimate project takes place in 1969 right before the start of Charles Manson's killing spree and features a massive ensemble cast of heavyweight actors led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. That small amount of information is still more than enough to have me waiting on edge to see what kind of depraved, darkly comedic madness Tarantino concocts this time around.
Also interested in:
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (5/3)
Detective Pikachu (5/10)
The Hustle (5/10)
Wine Country (5/10)
Aladdin (5/24)
Brightburn (5/24)
The Perfection (5/24)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (5/31)
Ma (5/31)
Rocketman (5/31)
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (6/7)
Late Night (6/7)
The Dead Don't Die (6/14)
Murder Mystery (6/14)
Wild Rose (6/14)
Anna (6/21)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (7/2)
21 Bridges (7/12)
The Art of Self Defense (7/12)
Crawl (7/12)
The Lion King (7/19)
Luce (8/2)
Brian Banks (8/9)
Corporate Animals (8/9)
The Kitchen (8/9)
Good Boys (8/16)
Where'd You Go, Bernadette (8/16)
Angel Has Fallen (8/23)
Brittany Runs a Marathon (8/23)
Official Secrets (8/23)
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