A Fistful of Summer Anticipation 2012! (Matt’s Picks)

    It’s been a year since our first try at this subject, and in keeping with this year’s kind of meh-ness, I actually had to work to come up with a list.  Oh, sure, there are a bunch of movies I want to see, but that I’m truly ‘anticipating,’ not many.  Still, here it goes…

5)  The Dark Knight Rises:  Look, I love Batman Begins.  It’s my favorite theatrically released Batman ever.  But while the nation and the world went crazy for The Dark Knight, I was left kind of cold.  The last half hour sucked, and the movie focused FAR too much on the villains, and not enough on the guy I was going to see…Batman.  Yes, Heath Ledger was great as The Joker.  Between him and Mark Hamill in the Animated Series, I think they’ve done all they need to do with that character and never need to revisit him again.  But Batman took too much of a back seat.  So, I hope The Dark Knight Rises spends some actual time with …I don’t know, The Dark Knight.  I’m looking forward to it.  I am.  But I’m wary.

4)  Moonrise Kingdom:  I’m always up for whatever nutty stuff Wes Anderson does.  I don’t know much about this one and that’s fine.  Bill Murray pretty much means I’ll be there.

3)  G.I. Joe: Retaliation:  The first G.I. Joe film straight up sucked.  It was one of the worst films of that year and a true dreadful steamer.  Not even worth a watch as a joke, because on top of everything else, it’s boring.  So, why is the sequel among my most anticipated?  1. Dwayne Johnson.  He just makes everything (except The Tooth Fairy) better, especially sequels (see: Fast Five and Journey 2).  2.  It looks like the filmmakers listened to the fans’ complaints about the first film.  Which leads me to 3.  It actually looks like a GI Joe movie, not a Power Rangers film.

2)  Brave:  Pixar has very rarely missed the mark, and Wall-E is one of my favorite science fiction films, nay films, of the last decade.  And I love stories about heroic women.  And the medieval setting looks good.  I’m wondering if this will manage to reach the emotional levels of some previous Pixar efforts.

1)  Prometheus:  All right.  Yes.  Ridley Scott has been making movies for a long time, and some of his recent work hasn’t been up to snuff.  Still, the man behind two of my favorite science fiction films of all time, Blade Runner and Alien, getting back into the game with this semi-prequel/expansion to Alien has certainly earned my attention.  An awesome cast and seemingly great production design get my blood pumping.

-Matt