June 2016 is the month of sequels. We’ve got 5 coming out!
Sequel 1: When the new Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles remake came out a couple of years ago people were
annoyed because it was another remake. It was produced by mega producer Michael
Bay who stopped caring about quality long before he got in the game and the
turtles just looked really weird. While I’m not going to praise it, I will say
that it was pretty fun and got me excited for more Turtle adventures. Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles: Out of the
Shadows looks to up the ante in a big way, more heroes, more villains and more
ridiculousness. Of its many problems, one of the bigger ones is that the Transformers series takes itself too
seriously, almost as if it doesn’t realize it’s about vehicles that turn into
cool robots. Turtles, on the other
hand, is very aware of how silly it is and embraces it and I respect that. Plus
this new one features Casey Jones, who wears a sweet hockey mask and helps the
turtles, Tyler Perry as a mad scientist who creates Bebop, a mutant warthog, Rocksteady,
a mutant rhino, and the alien Kraang who is an alien brain creature that lives
inside a giant robot to cause destruction and is voiced by the wonderful Fred
Armisen. Length of time since original: 2 years.
Sequel 2: If you want to kill some time, look up the
supposed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. They have been
involved in some pretty popular ghost stories and some became movies, the most
famous of which would probably be The
Amityville Horror. They’ve been in the business of ghosts since the 70’s.
Ed passed in the early 00’s but Lorraine is still alive and even had a cameo in
the film The Conjuring, where she was
played by Vera Farmigia and Ed was played by Patrick Wilson. It’s a pretty fun,
scary film and the sequel, The Conjuring
2, brings them to Enfield, England where they investigate a poltergeist
that has been haunting a single mother and her four kids. The director, James
Wan, started off with the first Saw
film, followed that up with a few horror movies and then made last year’s
biggest movie, Furious 7, so I
appreciate that he went back to his original genre before making another huge
film - which could potentially be Aquaman.
Length of time since original: 3 years.
Sequel 3: Movies about magicians aren’t that popular but
with a solid cast and some fun marketing, Now
You See Me was a pretty decent hit when it came out. In the first one a
group of con artists use illusions and tricks to pull heists and eventually attract
the attention of an F.B.I. agent who chases them around. In the end they ruin
the career of a corrupt business man and the agent chasing them was actually
secretly helping them the whole time because he too is a magician or the son of
a magician or something. It was silly. In Now
You See Me 2, the men they stole from are after them and they get caught up
in a scheme run by Daniel Radcliffe to pull of what is considered to be an
impossible heist. Heist films are all about misdirection but in the last one it
really seemed like these characters can control magic. I think that’s fun and I
hope they capitalize on that. Length of time since original: 3 years.
Sequel 4: After losing nearly his entire family in an attack,
a man goes to great lengths to protect his only surviving son until his son is
kidnapped and he is forced to partner up with an amnesiac to track him down.
That’s the story of Finding Nemo. While
not as dark as I might make it seem that really is the story, It’s also a
really good movie and Ellen DeGeneres voicing the amnesiac Dory really steals
the show, so all these years later we get Finding
Dory. Disney/Pixar productions usually yield some solid entertainment and
for them to take a long time to make a sequel leads me to believe they have
something good in store. Cars 2 is
their lowest rated and was probably their most rushed film- these things take
years to make. The focus in this sequel is obviously on Dory this time around
as she reunites with her family. Length of time since original: 13 years.
Sequel 5: Before destroying NYC in Godzilla, most of the world in The
Day After Tomorrow and all of the world in 2012 (or so I assume, I never saw it) Roland Emmerich focused
mostly on destroying popular monuments in Independence
Day. In the mid 90’s when aliens invaded earth it was up to a computer
programmer, an air force pilot, Randy Quaid and the President to save the planet,
which they did awesomely. The rest of the world’s armies also pitched in. Independence Day: Resurgence finds us
living in post alien invasion world where we have been using alien tech to
update our military and the world is prepared and ready for when the aliens
return! Except we’re totally not ready when massive ships invade and it is once
again up to Jeff Goldblum to save the
planet - since he decided to return and
Will Smith had better things to do. Length of time since original: 20
years.
Anytime Andy Samberg is on screen, I end up laughing. I find
him hilarious and since he is the lead in Popstar:
Never Stop Never Stopping, I imagine that anyone in the theater with me
while this is playing is going to hate me because I will be laughing throughout
the entire movie. In Popstar,
Samberg’s group comedy/musical The Lonely Island finally put together a comedy
based around music, fitting isn’t it? He plays Conner4Real, a grownup Beiber
type who used to be part of a Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch rap group (I’m
guessing), who’s most recent album bombs and he has to re-evaluate his life as
a celebrity and probably wind up doing a reunion tour. I get kind of a Zoolander vibe because he is
playing an over the top character who thinks he’s the greatest and it’ll be
loaded with celebrity cameos playing themselves. I don’t think that’s a bad
comparison, but I think this will be funnier.
Did you know the late great David Bowie has son named Duncan
Jones who is a pretty darn good director? His first two films, Moon and Source Code, are smaller thrillers that have some really smart
sci-fi elements and are both great. His most recent film is a massive film
based on the hugely popular videogame series Warcraft. Admittedly I know nothing about the game, except for what I learned in a South Park episode, so I can’t be sure
how accurate the film is to the game (films are rarely accurate portrayals).
The story here is that ogre like creatures called orcs are being forced out of
their land and enter a human world where they are viewed as a threat, which
starts a war between the orcs and the humans. I’m pretty sure there’s a bigger
villain with whom the orcs and humans have to join forces to fight. The video
game incorporates lots of magic and sword play so comparisons to other popular
book/film series might hold this back.
Right now anything with Dwayne Johnson or Kevin Hart in it
is pretty much a guaranteed hit, the two actors are on a roll. Putting them in
a film together is probably a producer’s dream come true, so that’s what they
did with Central Intelligence. The
story looks like a very typical spy film where the top spy, Johnson, gets
framed and his hunted by his employers and other dangerous people, so he
recruits an outsider, Hart, and the two go on an adventure and try to solve the
case without getting killed in the process. The mixture of the charismatic
Johnson and the manic Hart will help this rise from a generic spy thriller to a
fun summer action hit.
A few years ago no one would take a historical drama
starring Matthew McConaughey seriously, but times change. Based on a true story
the Free State of Jones stars
McConaughey as a Mississipi farmer during the Civil War who leads a fight
against the Confederacy with the help of rescued slaves and other farmers. Why
this isn’t being released closer to awards season is beyond me but maybe they
feel like they have a hit on their hands. The subject matter is interesting and
the trailer does make it seem like this will be an exciting film.
There are weird movies out there and then there’s Swiss Army Man. I wish I could give an
apt explanation but it’s really worth watching the trailer. Paul Dano gets
stranded on an island and a dead body, played by Daniel Radcliffe, washes up.
Dano may be losing his mind and he begins to communicate with the lifeless
Radcliffe and the two begin their journey home together. Its looks very odd but
also strangely charming and I really can't wait to see it.
When was the last time we had a good shark thriller? They
are pretty rare but, as far as shark thrillers go, I have high hopes for The Shallows. From the director of a few
Liam Neeson thrillers comes the story of a surfer, played by Blake Lively, who
has found a beautiful island known as paradise to the locals and soaks up the
sun and catches some waves (is that a thing surfers say?) until a shark comes
by and eats a few fellow surfers and traps her on a rock that is only 200 yards
from the shore. She uses her survival skills to try and outsmart the shark and
make it to safety. The trailer for this is one of my favorite recent trailers. It’s
real tense and exciting and perfect for a little summer movie.
