By Emanuel Perez
The pandemic killed the 2020 summer movie season. It was for many of us the biggest loss in our personal lives, not being able to see the new movies as they come out during the summer. Just as the pandemic closed the theaters many of us were waiting to see Godzilla versus Kong. The studios kept pushing back the release dates of blockbuster movies, but in the end they never came, and the couple that did arrive were released on home streaming devices. Let us be frank, it is not the same. There is no substitute for going out to the movies with your friends or that special someone.
Now that movies are back for this summer, let us take a look at the best of the best. Already released is the Disney movie, Cruella. If you are a fan of the 101 Dalmatians movies, then this is for you. If you have not seen the trailer, it looks like a really fun and stylish movie. Emma Stone plays a young Cruella who is just getting her start in the fashion industry in the 70’s.
If Cruella is not creepy enough for you, another movie released the same day is the long-awaited sequel to A Quiet Place. The first movie made $340 million, and so a sequel was never in question. The sequel already made $60 on its first weekend. It is great to see people finally going back to the movies. The first one was great and the second one looks as good.
A personal favorite is the new Ghostbusters movie. It has the potential to be really good or really bad, but the trailer suggests the former. The original cast of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts are back in this sequel from the first two 80’s movies. The only ones who are not present are Harold Ramis, who has passed, and Rick Moranis, who is retired. It is not clear from the trailer how big a role the original cast has, but it certainly looks like a fun action ride. Strap in on June 11.
The action continues in June because on the 25th the Fast and Furious franchise gets its next installment. F9, yes there have been nine of these movies, promises to be an explosion-filled action storm with Vin Diesel and his team. Even though John Cena is not sure if Taiwan is a country or not, he is in this movie, playing Dom’s Brother, and the battle looks awesome.
One of the first movies to be postponed and then canned in 2020 was Black Widow. Has it really been over a year without a new Marvel movie? It is set to release, again, on July 9. One has to wonder if the movie will not be hurt by the long-awaited release. As Natasha Romanoff (Scarlet Johansson) figures out the secrets of the KGB Red Room. The rumor is that Iron Man is in it. Let’s hope so.
Basketball fans and cartoon fans will have another installment of the Space Jam series. The competition between team Michael Jordan and team LeBron James will have film as well as the court to support their favorite. On July 16, Space Jam: A New Legacy is released with LeBron James leading the Toon Squad against the Good Squad in an alternate universe.
July also gets another Disney movie, when The Rock, with Emily Blunt explore the Amazon on the 30th, in Jungle Cruise. Jesse Plemons plays a crazy German villain who drives a submarine up the Amazon. This is unlikely but it will certainly make for a great ride, as well as an amusement park ride.
For those of you who are always disappointed with the DC Universe movies – and there are a lot of you – there is hope. They have decided to take a cue from Marvel, hiring one of their best directors, James Gunn, who directed Guardians of the Galaxy, to helm The Suicide Squad. This movie is not for young kids, but for the rest of us this movie looks like a total blast. The conflict between Peacemaker (played by John Cena) and Bloodshot (Idris Elba) is worth the price of admission. Of course, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn will be there too, leading the Suicide Squad. This is certainly gory and off-color so don’t bring your little brother.
On August 13, Free Guy, starring Ryan Reynolds, who is a bank teller in a video game, who gains self-awareness and decides that he will be a hero. Sounds pretty interesting, but with Reynolds’s humor it will be great. Look to laugh out loud in August.
That brings us to the end of the summer and hopefully the start of a new school year, where we go to movies, go to class in-person, and get back to some sort of normal.
