May

Endgame will probably stay #1 at the box office for a few weeks but maybe one of these new releases will be the film that unseats it. I'm hoping it's John Wick 3, the movie I'm looking forward to most this year (but it'll probably be Aladdin).

I'm sure 20 years ago Seth Rogen would have found the idea of him starring in a movie with Charlize Theron quite the Long Shot, let alone romantic comedy, but here we are. Theron is on the road to being the next President and Rogen is a journalist. She also used to be his babysitter. They reconnect years later and she invites him to be her speechwriter. This is a romantic comedy, so of course there's more than just a professional connection between the two leads. This could be good because the director also did 50/50, The Night Before, The Wackness and Warm Bodies, which each take a subject that's been done before, and his casual approach makes it all more endearing.

I was just old enough to enjoy Pokemon, that or my friends were too old for it but enjoyed it anyway. I, on the other hand, just never connected with it. I knew it was about a bunch of creatures who humans collect and then force into battle and they can only say their own names (or some variant of it, for example Pikachu can say Pika as well as Pikachu). Typing it out, it kind of sounds messed up. Since I never got into it as a teen I never thought I would be excited about a movie based on these characters, but Detective Pikachu has my attention. Taking place in the world where humans and Pokemon co-exist, a man’s mentor goes missing. While on the trail he comes across a Pikachu, a little yellow creature who shoots lightning, who is also investigating the disappearance and it he finds that he, and only he, can understand the creature.  To appeal to everyone not interested in Pokemon, it's voiced by Ryan Reynolds. The creatures look pretty great and it looks like the movie is full of them. I'm not familiar with all of their powers but I have to imagine fans of the card trading/video game series will be looking forward to seeing their favorites on the big screen.

Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson take over for Michael Caine and Steve Martin in the remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (itself a remake of Bedtime Story) entitled The Hustle. The first two iterations focused on two con men, one rich and one not, trying to steal from a rich woman. In each, the two con men are in competition. This remake does have Hathaway living the high life and Wilson hiding out in a pile of trash bags, but it does away with the competitive nature and has the two team up to take down rich men who have it coming.  

In John Wick, Keanu Reeves plays a retired and recently widowed assassin who goes on a warpath after some criminals break into his house, steal his car and kill his dog. After taking out those responsible, and their army of body guards, it becomes clear to the underworld that John Wick is no longer retired. Because of this, an old acquaintance forces him into carrying out an assassination in John Wick: Chapter 2. After carrying out the mission, he is betrayed and has to survive against every killer after the multi-million dollar bounty on his head. In the end he takes out everyone out to kill him and the man who betrayed him. Unfortunately he killed the man on Continental grounds, the private assassin club and hotel where no violence is allowed, and now every other assassin in the world who wants $14 million is after him in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. In 1 and 2 Wick had friends and resources to rely on but after breaking Continental rules, those friends and resources become slim and the chance of dying becomes high. I really enjoy this series. I originally predicted this would be the last Wick movie but I hope we get more and more.

I have yet to see any of the Disney live action remakes (unless you count The Jungle Book and 101 Dalmatians from 20+ years ago) but I hope Aladdin revives Will Smith's and Guy Ritchie's careers. To me it looks like a shot for shot remake (much like the upcoming Lion King), which is frustrating because it is literally a world full of magic and wonder so there is plenty more to do than follow the familiar story beats. The director got his start making British crime comedies so I'm hoping there's more attention paid to Aladdin's time as a thief on the streets. If that isn't the case then I'm just glad the genie is played by Will Smith. He's been in so many straight and serious roles recently that it will be nice to see him in something where he can be charismatic and energetic.

James Gunn may be known for writing and directing Guardians of the Galaxy, but he's been in the movie superhero business for nearly 20 years. In 2000 he wrote low budget superhero movie called The Specials, which has a pretty decent cast but was quickly forgotten. Then in 2010 he wrote and directed his own superhero movie simply called Super. It came out when PG-13 superhero movies were really taking off and got some attention for being different as it was hard R and as funny as it was violent. This lead to him getting the Guardians gig, which was a hit, as was its sequel. I'll skip over all the gritty and disappointing details but he was then fired from Guardians 3, then hired to do Suicide Squad 2 and then re-hired to do Guardians 3. In between all of this he produced a dark version of the Superman story written by his brothers. Brightburn plays with our expectations by having a baby from another world crash land in middle America, raised by loving parents, grow up in a small town, learn his powers as a young man but then use them to be evil. This will be the superhero movie that people who don't care for superhero movies might want to see this summer. 

Godzilla and friends have been ruling the cinemas for 65 years. The gigantic creature from Japan is probably one of the most iconic movie monsters ever. 20 years ago, America took a crack at it with the silly Matthew Broderick starring Godzilla that is remembered only for its awesome soundtrack. America gave it another shot back in 2014 and that had a more dramatic, yet equally destructive, approach than the '98 mess. In it, Godzilla is a monster but he's not out to harm humanity, in fact he is protecting humanity from a giant flying creature that is feeding on nuclear material. It's a pretty good movie but people wanted to see more monsters. In the end credits of Kong: Skull Island, it was revealed to be a prequel to Godzilla and we saw glimpses of  creatures like Mothra, Rhodan and King Ghidrorah, who will do battle in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The movie will have catastrophic events occurring world over and it is discovered that underneath the ground, there are monsters waiting for their time to rise and only Godzilla can protect us. This will feature some epic battles with some legendary and beautifully rendered creatures and if all goes to plan, we will have Godzilla vs. Kong next year! 

The popularity of Bohemian Rhapsody was certainly going to kick start an interest in biographical movies about other musicians. Dexter Fletcher, once British character actor now director, was brought on to Rhapsody when the original director was fired. Unfortunately the original director is still credited, but on the upside Fletcher was given the job of directing the Elton John biopic Rocketman. The actor playing Elton John will be Taron Egerton, who actually acted alongside Elton John is Kingsman: The Golden Circle, where Sir Elton played himself in a comical role as a famous kidnap victim. Like Rhapsody, this will focus on the artist’s rise to fame, family, friends and contributions to music history. 

After winning an Oscar for The Help, it wouldn't be too hard to believe that Octavia Spencer would work with the same director again. What it surprising is their new movie is a horror movie from a writer of the show Workaholics and produced by Jason Blum, whose career has been going strong since the Paranormal Activity series was a hit. The back to back Oscar nominations for BlacKkKlansman and Get Out didn't hurt either. When a group of young teens ask Ma, Spencer, if she'll buy them alcohol for a party, she's reluctant but gives in. She then invites them back to her place as a place for them to drink and hang out where they have less a chance of getting in too much trouble. Soon all the local kids are hanging out and everyone loves Ma, but for some reason no one is allowed upstairs. And then she suddenly has all of their phone numbers. And potentially drugs them. And things only get weirder from there. I like when actors take a step out of their wheelhouse and do work in horror or action and Spencer looks like she's having a great time in this horror role.

High school party comedies are nothing new, but that doesn't mean that there isn't something to add to the genre and Olivia Wilde's directorial debut about two Booksmart teens looks fun. After years of playing by the rules and getting accepted to the colleges they wanted to get into, two best friends realize that the night before they graduate will be  the night they do things differently. They'll go to parties, steal cars and get arrested. Maybe not what everyone does before they graduate but it certainly would make for a memorable time.

April

Marvel/Disney probably thinks it has April on lock down with its Avenger's Endgame release, but there are other interesting movies coming out this month.

When DC started with their film franchise they wanted to distance themselves from Marvel as much as possible. Not just in content but in tone. Marvel films were lighthearted and funny, so DC was going to do dark and serious. Problem is they went too dark and the bleakness of Batman v Superman, a massive tent pole for their franchise, was not getting the rave reviews they hoped for. So, to appease the masses, they tried to inject a bit of humor in their next couple films, but Suicide Squad and Justice League just didn't come together. Then Wonder Woman and Aquaman came out. They were fun, colorful, adventurous, the humor worked and they were very personal stories and avoided the now Marvel movie custom of being a puzzle piece in a much bigger story - which DC had tried earlier and it did not work out. Now with the release of Shazam!, it seems they have truly distanced themselves from their grim film origins, going back to the Superman-destroys-the-city-and-cares-not-for-civilian-casualties of 2013's Man of Steel. Shazam! tells the story of young Billy Batson, who is granted powers by a wizard to grow to a full size adult (played by Zachary Levi, who appeared in a couple Thor movies and seems to be born to play a man-child) and harness superpowers when he yells the word 'Shazam!' The movie focuses on him learning just what his powers are and how he is to use them when a supervillain presents himself - which Batson finds more exciting than threatening at first. The film looks like a lighthearted good time and a reminder that DC comics is more than a couple guys grieving over their deceased parents.

Throughout the 80's and during the early 90's, if a horror or thriller film was being produced there was a good chance it was based on a Stephen  King story. Then there was a bit of a drop off in the early 00's, but now we are witnessing a resurgence. After It was a massive success companies, including Netflix, started producing movies based on Stephen King stories. Much like the 80's and 90's stuff it was a mixed bag, but expectations are high for the remake of Pet Semetary. The misspelling is on purpose, as it's about a pet cemetery where kids would congregate and when a new family moves in and their cat dies, the father of the family buries the cat and when it returns he learns he should have listened to the old local who informs him, "sometimes, dead is better." The trailer for this is extremely spooky and while it may not be a faithful adaptation to the original film or book (and really, that's fine as long as it's good) the response from early reviews are that it is a great horror movie.

After 1989's Batman studios spent the next decade trying to replicate that success, usually just reverting back to Batman. There were a few hits like The Crow, Men In Black, The Mask and Blade and several unique failures like Tank Girl, Barb Wire, Steel and all Crow sequels. Batman and Robin killed the Batman franchise for a while also turning studios off from producing big comic book movies until 2000's X-Men, which followed a similar trend of 89' Batman where many comic book movies went into production and some were hits and some were misses. One of the hits was 2004's Hellboy, about a demon raised by a secret government organization dedicated to stopping evil in it's many, and monstrous, forms. He had massive horns on his head that he shaved down so he would look more human and his right hand was larger and seemed to be made for smashing. 15 years later Hellboy is still pretty popular and now we're getting a reboot with one time character-actor now charming Stranger Thing's lead David Harbour donning the Hellboy headpiece and massive right hand. It looks fun but from what I'm seeing it doesn't look all that different from the del Toro/Perlman ones. The tone and action looks just the same but that not a bad thing, it could still be good.

So far each animated film that I've seen from Laika Entertainment has been great. ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Coraline are all beautifully made films where all the time and effort behind the scenes is up there on screen. They are delightful stories with fun characters and sometimes can be genuinely affecting and scary - rare for a kid’s movie. Missing Link is their latest and looks to be up to par with the rest. When an explorer (voiced by Hugh Jackman) finds a Sasquatch like creature named Susan (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) in America, he helps the creature travel to the legendary Shangri-La and locate the yeti who Susan believes are his last living relatives. These stories tend to include a deep emotional family element, so expect some water works from a movie about a giant hairy creature voiced by the guy from The Hangover.

(say in radio announcer voice) Last we saw in The Avengers: Infinity War Thanos is now the most powerful being in the universe and things are not going well for the defenders of Earth! It's been 11 years and 20 movies since Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury welcomed Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark into The Avenger's. Since then we've been introduced to heroes played by Brie Larson, Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Olsen, Mark Ruffalo and 3 guys named Chris - among many others. They are all joining forces to avenge those who perished during the Infinity War, where half of all life was vaporized in instant when Josh Brolin's Thanos snapped his fingers. If you haven't been following - there are these magical stones called Infinity Stones, previous entries have dealt with characters trying to locate them and now the bad guy has them all and he's super powerful. They have a plan to avenge and maybe save the world and it's all part of the Avengers: Endgame. This is a big deal.