There’s not a lot of gaming news going on this week – but who says we have to talk about games all the time?
In the past, one of the (many) things I always loved about summer was going to the movies. These days, my grumpy old penny pincher tends to come out when it comes to seeing blockbusters on the silver screen, but this year seems to have more movies worth seeing than the last few years combined. While I missed both Thor and X-Men: First Class (both of which I’ve heard great things about), I did happen to see Pirates 4 a few weeks back as well as Super 8 this past weekend. The latter of those two really impressed me.
While it’s by no means a perfect movie, Super 8 is a rarity among adventure movies in this day and age for one simple reason – it’s got a lot of heart. Helmed by Steven Spielberg and J. J. Abrams, it reminds me of all those old school classics like The Goonies, E.T., Jaws and a bit of Jurassic Park thrown in for good measure. It’s seriously a ton of fun, but also delivered with great care.
Over the next few months, I hope to see the final Harry Potter film as well as Captain America. So what about you guys, what movies are you looking forward to this summer? Did anyone happen to see Super 8? Go!
My girlfriend and I are REALLY excited for Harry Potter. Like, really, REALLY excited. More excited than Mitch is for Battlefield 3.
We plan on seeing X-Men on friday and Pirates soon before it’s gone from the cinema forever. I missed Thor but I’ll no doubt rent it when it’s out and I hear many a good thing about it.
The only definite for me will be the final Harry Potter film, which I get chills just thinking about. Although when it’s over, it’s quite the era that goes with it. We’re talking ten years of movies and books, characters a lot of us learned to love.
Other than that, though, nothing’s definite. I want to check out Super 8, and Tree of Life is supposed to be excellent. I hope Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is good (Guillermo Del Toro is exciting), but I’ll hold out to see what people say. And Circumstance is supposed to be excellent. Most of these, though (if not all), I can wait for the Blu-Ray.
Super 8 was Mint.
Honestly a great story and one of those movies that sticks out from all the rest in theaters. Defiantly a good one to go see.
Im looking forward to Harry Potter. I want to see a bunch of the others but honestly I just dont have time for the movies, which is a shame considering I can see a movie for $4 here and go see a 3D movie for under $10.
I hope Captain America isn’t bad :C
I actually really like the Pirates movies, probably more than I should, but I haven’t seen 4 yet. Can’t decide if I’ll see it full price, wait for the bargain theater, or just buy it on blu ray.
I am definitely curious to see how much of Tim Powers’ On Stranger Tides ended up in the movie… probably not much more than the title. It’s a fantastic book on its own merits, though.
Nice article JJ…Wait Eddy what are you doing writing about movies?!?
Movies that are already out that I want to see are, 13 Assassins, Super 8, The Tree of Life, Thor, and X-Men
movies I want to watch this summer are, Another Earth, Cars 2, Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh (Come on you know you secretly want to watch it too).
Movies I want too see this “holiday session” are, The Adventures of Tintin and Sherlock Holmes.
Most of these I will wait until they are out Blu-Ray
Since high school me and my friends have made a tradition of going to a movie pretty much every weekend. You summed everything up pretty well, Super 8 didnt blow me away story/acting/visual wise, but there was something special that just elevated it above the average movie.
I know gaming news is slow but I hope you occasionally do movie articles in the future, Im genuinely interested in your guys take on some of this years blockbusters.
Thor was really awesome, it was a fun movie that reminded me a lot of the first Iron Man. Not quite as good as Iron Man, obviously, but it was still a quality summer action movie.
X-Men: First Class was much, much better than I anticipated. Michael Fassbender made a great Magneto. It was a little uneven at some points, but it’s definitely a must-see.
Super 8 was “mint” as most people have already said. Really fun movie, but J.J. Abrams needs to cool it with the lens flare.
I kind of want to see 13 Assassins, I’ve heard that’s really good. Other than that, I hope that Captain America can continue Marvel’s hot streak this summer. I also really want to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The trailer looks really impressive, but so did the ones for Revenge of the Fallen. I do hear that the Twins die in the first ten minutes though.
With the cost of the movies, I can not just get behind going to them unless I heard from friends that they were some of the best films of the decade or something. Taking an Art of Film class my senior year of high school made it even worse. Maybe it had to do with seeing most the classic movies that had stood the test of time and all recent films just seem trivial.
Despite this I went to see X-Men: First Class. I must say I still enjoyed it for the character interaction but it seemed to lack depth, but it was a good summer movie. I just think that people should just wait till the movie comes out to netflix because the movie theater just adds overpriced popcorn.
@ Gadfly Jim
Thanks for reminding about 13 Assassins…definitely want to see that!
However, I do not, secretly or openly, want to see Winnie-the-Pooh.
[quote comment=”16822″]Thor was really awesome, it was a fun movie that reminded me a lot of the first Iron Man. Not quite as good as Iron Man, obviously, but it was still a quality summer action movie.
X-Men: First Class was much, much better than I anticipated. Michael Fassbender made a great Magneto. It was a little uneven at some points, but it’s definitely a must-see.
Super 8 was “mint” as most people have already said. Really fun movie, but J.J. Abrams needs to cool it with the lens flare.
I kind of want to see 13 Assassins, I’ve heard that’s really good. Other than that, I hope that Captain America can continue Marvel’s hot streak this summer. I also really want to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The trailer looks really impressive, but so did the ones for Revenge of the Fallen. I do hear that the Twins die in the first ten minutes though.[/quote]
I agree with all of this. Green Lantern, Harry Potter, Captain America and Crazy Stupid Love are all on my list.
I could not disagree more about X-Men first class. i was expecting a bit much of it, maybe, but it never managed to impress me. The only superhero i was impressed with power-wise out of the new heroes was Darwin, and he wasnt there for very long. i wont nitpick all of my problems with it, but it was my least favorite X-men movie.
i cannot wait to see Transformers, because even though Revenge of the Fallen was trash, giant badass transforming robots appeals to me on the most basic level of my being.
Just saw Super 8 today, and absolutely loved it. Had a great Goonies and ET feel to it.
@Skuba – I’m with you on Harry Potter. I’m so freaking excited for it, but at the same time I can also feel the same creeping depression that came with the release of the final book. Knowing that this really is the end of an era. Has there ever been a series of books that have captured the imaginations of so many people, old, young, male and female?
But I digress, I’m also loking forward to X-men and Super 8. I’ll probably get dragged by my friends to see Transformers at some point, even though I’ve never liked the other ones.
A question for you people in the USA (and maybe europe?), did anyone see Hanna? I really liked the look of it, but it never got released here in Australia. Is it worth trying to track down when the DVD gets released?
Just saw Green Lantern at the midnight showing earlier this morning. It was a pretty good movie, albeit just as inaccurate with the comic book story as most other comic book movies are. To me it was about as good as Thor, which I enjoyed but didn’t think it was excellent.
Want to see Super 8 and Pirates 4. Looking forward to Captain America. Not so much HP7, but I’ll go see it anyway. I was really disappointed with HP6 and HP7 p1 didn’t really impress me enough to make up for 5 and 6. Hopefully this last one will.
BTW movies in 2012 have me much more excited…LOT coming out.
[quote comment=”16834″]@Skuba – I’m with you on Harry Potter. I’m so freaking excited for it, but at the same time I can also feel the same creeping depression that came with the release of the final book. Knowing that this really is the end of an era. Has there ever been a series of books that have captured the imaginations of so many people, old, young, male and female?
But I digress, I’m also loking forward to X-men and Super 8. I’ll probably get dragged by my friends to see Transformers at some point, even though I’ve never liked the other ones.
A question for you people in the USA (and maybe europe?), did anyone see Hanna? I really liked the look of it, but it never got released here in Australia. Is it worth trying to track down when the DVD gets released?[/quote]
It’s worth seeing for sure. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s not as action packed as you might think, but it’s pretty good.
I just came home from watching Super 8, and I’ve got to say, it’s one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s got film nerdery, guns (Sako bolt-action .30-06 lol), great writing, aliens, zombies…EVERYTHING! Haha, It’s definitely JJ Abram’s best work. Also, there’s an Alias reference in “The Case”. Great stuff!