May 1st is when The Avengers: Age of Ultron opened and began the summer movie season, but June 19th will be my most anticipated weekend for movies this summer. Why? Because both Pixar’s Inside Out is opening and the Sundance hit Dope will receive a very rare, summer wide release! Sure, people love their blockbusters but I need two things every summer from the movie industry: a cute Pixar movie and a quirky, breakout hit from Sundance. Summer 2014 didn’t have any of those! Chef was a mainstream, crowd pleaser pretending to be an indie and Pixar, the only consistent, mainstream movie brand in the industry, didn’t release a movie. (As much as I loved Boyhood, it barely broke out compared to other movie summer hits from previous years.)
Summer is always a good time for movies…if you watch the right ones. I usually prefer smaller films over blockbusters which get a lot of attention and anticipation (and really have to impress me). Honestly, this year I’d rather see Samuel L. Jackson play the President of the United States in the campy looking Big Game (June 26th) over an unnecessary Entourage movie. I’ll admit, Mad Max: Fury Road and Jurassic World have my attention and look to have serious potential. Ditto for human dramas like Southpaw and Aloha. It isn’t just for 3-D movies with American and International appeal to dominate multiplexes. There will be some great ones that fly under the radar every summer! Here are a few of the movies that have potential to really breakout with audiences!
Ex Machina (Expanding May 8th)
Synopsis: Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine, makes his directorial debut with the stylish and cerebral thriller, EX MACHINA. Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a programmer at an internet-search giant, wins a competition to spend a week at the private mountain estate of the company’s brilliant and reclusive CEO, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). Upon his arrival, Caleb learns that Nathan has chosen him to be the human component in a Turing Test-charging him with evaluating the capabilities, and ultimately the consciousness, of Nathan’s latest experiment in artificial intelligence. That experiment is Ava (Alicia Vikander), a breathtaking A.I. whose emotional intelligence proves more sophisticated–and more deceptive–than the two men could have imagined. (C) A24
Earning rave reviews and sensational word of mouth during its quasi-limited release, Ex Machina plans to expand this upcoming weekend to take advantage of the second weekend Avengers: Age of Ultron. It has a lot of potential; an original premise, an emerging filmmaker, a sleek look, an attention grabbing trailer, and solid buzz. It needs to breakout quickly expanding after Avengers 2 and before Mad Max: Fury Road opens. Both big blockbusters share a sizable chunk of the young male geek audience. When people have issues with the lack of high quality and original science fiction, they better buy a ticket for Ex Machina. I was confident A24 knows what they are doing. The success of Ex Machina reminds me of 2013 when Mud held its own against Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness.
Love & Mercy (June 5th)
Synopsis: LOVE & MERCY presents an unconventional portrait of Brian Wilson, the mercurial singer, songwriter and leader of The Beach Boys. Set against the era defining catalog of Wilson’s music, the film intimately examines the personal voyage and ultimate salvation of the icon whose success came at extraordinary personal cost. (C) Roadside Attractions
This was a delightful surprise at the SXSW Film Festival last month. I almost didn’t attend this screening and was thankful I watched it. This new twist on the traditional biopic stars John Cusack and Paul Dano as Beach Boys singer Brian Wilson. Besides them, the ensemble acting including Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Banks was impressive. Love & Mercy has a lot of potential to break out this summer. People think summer when they think of the Beach Boys. This will do very well among older audiences (Baby Boomers will eat this up), hipsters, and music fans. This audience is segmented and under-served and want to see movies. Keep your eye on Love & Mercy.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (June 12th)
Synopsis: Winner of the 2015 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL is the story of Greg Gaines (Thomas Mann), an awkward high school senior whose mom forces him to spend time with Rachel – a girl in his class (Olivia Cooke) with whom he hasn’t spoken to since kindergarten – who was just diagnosed with cancer. (C) Fox Searchlight
Here it is! The Sundance hit acquired from Fox Searchlight that they are opening this summer! How exciting! From the trailer, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl looks like that quirky, serious, light-hearted summer movie poised to break out. The movie touches upon high school friends coming to terms with a friend diagnosed with cancer. Winning the same Sundance awards that Whiplash won last year and the book’s fan-base, this could be summer’s likely specialty hit.
Dope – June 19th
Synopsis: A coming of age comedy/drama for the post hip hop generation. Malcolm is a geek, carefully surviving life in The Bottoms, a tough neighborhood in Inglewood, CA filled gangsters and drugs dealers, while juggling his senior year of college applications, interviews and the SAT. His dream is to attend Harvard. A chance invitation to a big underground party leads Malcolm and his friends into a, only in Los Angeles, gritty adventure filed with offbeat characters and bad choices. If Malcolm can persevere, he’ll go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself.
Another Sundance hit spawned a bidding war among multiple studios into a coveted mid-June release date. By, watching the trailer, one can see why. This coming-of-age comedy about a 90’s hip hop geek navigating love and drugs in high school has a lot of potential. I’m excited to see what this one is like! Screening during the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival only enhances additional expectations for me. When studio Open Road which is flexible with limited and wide releases opts for the latter, that is a strong sign of confidence!
Batkid Begins – June 26th
Synopsis: On November 15, 2013, the world came together to grant one 5-year-old leukemia patient his wish to be Batman for a day. “Batkid Begins” looks at why and how this phenomenon took place, becoming one of the biggest “good news” stories of all time.
The acquisition and summer release from Warner Brothers has me extremely intrigued and ended up being one of my most anticipate limited releases. I heard great things about Batkid Begins coming from multiple film festivals after its premiere at the Slamdance, an alternative, sister film festival to Sundance in Park City, Utah. I’m curious about a documentary that explores on the viral sensation of Batkid.
Big Game – June 26th
In the rugged countryside of Finland, a young thirteen-year-old (Onni Tommila) embarks on a traditional quest to prove himself by spending 24 hours alone in the wild, armed with only a bow and arrow. After witnessing a spectacular crash, he discovers the escape pod from Air Force One, containing the President of the United States (Samuel L. Jackson). When they realize a group of kidnappers is hot on their trail with the intention of taking the president, this unlikely duo must escape their hunters as they search for the American Special Forces team sent out to find them. (C) Relativity
Samuel L. Jackson as the President of the United States. Need we say more!? The Toronto Film Festival sensational hit seems confident in its campiness in the trailer and eagerly gunning for a late June summer release date. The director made a little seen, but beloved 2010 Christmas cult-classic Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale which is highly recommended. Considering this will be his bigger budget followup, this is one of my most anticipated movies of summer.
Irrational Man – July 17th
On a small town college campus, philosophy professor Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix) finds himself in an existential crisis, but he discovers a new purpose in life when he enters into a relationship with one of his students (Emma Stone).
Ever since the success of Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen has been on a roll at the box office. Even his lackluster movies from the last few years (To Rome with Love, Magic in the Moonlight) opened wider to perform decently. His latest about a college professor played by the always interesting and eclectic Joaquin Phoenix and Woody’s latest muse Oscar nominee Emma Stone. I expect this movie to do well like his previous ventures. However, if it will be a hit like Blue Jasmine remains to be seen.
Mr. Holmes – July 17th
Synopsis: MR HOLMES is a new twist on the world’s most famous detective. 1947, an aging Sherlock Holmes returns from a journey to Japan, where, in search of a rare plant with powerful restorative qualities, he has witnessed the devastation of nuclear warfare. Now, in his remote seaside farmhouse, Holmes faces the end of his days tending to his bees, with only the company of his housekeeper and her young son, Roger. Grappling with the diminishing powers of his mind, Holmes comes to rely upon the boy as he revisits the circumstances of the unsolved case that forced him into retirement, and searches for answers to the mysteries of life and love – before it’s too late. (C) Roadside Attractions
Sir Ian McKellan as Sherlock Holmes. Now you have my attention. This old fashioned alternative to the hyper-active and stale Robert Downey, Jr. interjecting his one-dimensional sarcastic shtick into the character promises to develop a mystery instead of throwing over-the-top twists galore with fast paced editing and cheeky banter. I’m down. I bet under-served, sophisticated adult audiences are as well.
The End of the Tour – July 31st
Synopsis: In 1996, shortly after the publication of his groundbreaking novel Infinite Jest, acclaimed author David Foster Wallace sets off on a five-day interview with Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky. As the days pass, a tenuous yet significant relationship develops between journalist and subject. Lipsky and Wallace bob and weave around each other, revealing as much in what they don’t say as what the say. They share laughs, expose hidden frailties, yet it’s never clear when or to what extent they are being truthful. The interview is never published. Five days of audio tapes are packed away in Lipsky’s closet, and the two men never meet again.
James Ponsoldt’s follow up to The Spectacular Now “wowed” people at Sundance. A24 picked it up and wants to push for awards. They are getting a jump start by before Oscar season with releasing this one in the summer. That worked for movies last year like Boyhood and, to an extent, The Grand Budapest Hotel which played into the season. According to the buzz, Jason Segal breaks through in a departure from his familiar and comfortable slacker comedy roots.
A Diary of a Teenage Girl – August 7th
Synopsis: A teen artist living in 1970s San Francisco enters into an affair with her mother’s boyfriend.
Another Sundance movie that stands out from the rest because it is a 1970’s coming of age story focused on a teenage girl and her sexual relationship with an older man. Filmmaker Marielle Heller (who appeared in A Walk Among the Tombstones and MacGruber). I’m glad Sony Pictures Classics is releasing this (and their other Sundance acquisition Grandma starring Lily Taylor) in August to avoid the crowded award season. I would bet Whiplash would’ve been a bigger hit as a summer release, too.
We will see which movies break out and which ones do not.
