2011 Summer Movies

Yippee, it’s May. Not only does it mean that winter is over, spring is in full bloom and summer is just around the corner, it also means that Hollywood will be churning out my favorite kind of movie—the SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER!!  Since I love summer blockbusters sooooo much, I will use this blog entry to highlight a few of the many movies that will be coming out this summer.

May
Thor
Based on the characters from Marvel Comics, Thor is more than just a big lug with a hammer.  After all he gets his powers from the Norse gods, so he can’t just be some rock’em sock’em super hero. In fact, Stan Lee admitted that he occasionally had his characters, like Thor and Silver Surfer put forth his own philosophy of life. The film was directed by none other than Kenneth Branagh, of Hamlet fame and stars Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman.

Pirates of the Caribbean—On Stranger Tides
Love’em or hate’em, you have to hand it to Disney, when something works for them, they keep using it. Case in point, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The last one made $300 million, so the powers that be decided to make another one. This one features Penelope Cruz, as well as Johnny Depp and is in 3D. I’m sure this will make a pretty penny this time around, as well. After all, the mouse doesn’t live on cheese alone.

Hangover 2
The crew from Hangover, which is the highest grossing R-rated comedy, is back. Need I say more?

June
X-Men First Class
Another one of Marvel and Stan Lee’s properties is getting the blockbuster treatment this summer. This one is a prequel of how Charles Xavier and Magneto came to be who they are. While some of the teaser posters weren’t so great, this film looks interesting to me. This film stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and January Jones.

Cars 2
I guess the folks at Pixar thought since sequels worked so well for Toy Story, might as well try them for Cars. This time Lighting McQueen gets involved with spies during an international road race. I’ve seen the previews and they look good, so I’m actually looking forward to this film. Features the voices of Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy.

Rise of the Apes
Look at what Star Wars has wrought, sequels and prequels everywhere. This is a prequel for the original 1968 film Planet of the Apes with the dude who played Moses in The Ten Commandments. Hmmm, what was his name?* Well, senior moments not withstanding, this film deals with genetic engineering and what can happen when tinkering in the lab goes astray. Stars James Franco, Tom Felton and John Lithgow

July
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2
The long awaited end of the Harry Potter series will come this summer. Will Voldermore be defeated? Will Hermonine choose Harry or Ron? What will become of Harry? Oh wait, these questions were answered in the books. Maybe I should hurry up and read them all. Stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

Captain America: The First Avenger
Yet another Marvel property is getting the movie treatment. This time the story deals with a someone who volunteers to take part in an experiment during World War II to become a super soldier, only to end up with super human strength. Stan Lee must be very happy to see his creations on the big screen. I hope he is getting some money out of this, as well.  Stars Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson.

Cowboys and Aliens
Talk about your genre mashups. It wasn’t enough to make a western or a sci-fi film, director Jon Favreau of Iron Man fame, decided to take the graphic novel (comic book to those over the age of 40) by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and turn it into a movie. Of course the next question is, who will win? The cowboys or aliens? I have a feeling it will be the cowboys. Stars Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig.

August
The Smurfs
Yes, those little blue creatures who got their start in a comic strip in 1958 by Belgian artist Pierre Culliford, also known as Peyo, and then ended up as a Saturday morning cartoon on NBC in the 1980’s, are now coming to a multiplex near you—in 3D no less. Again the powers that be are into recycling and there is no end to this trend in sight. To quote, a famous Smurf line: “La, la, lala, la. La, lala, la.” Features the voices of Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria and Katy Perry.

Conan
Speaking of recycling, weren’t the first two with the Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger enough? Stars Jason Momoa. Would you believe that Momoa got his start in Baywatch Hawaii? Talk about fail safe casting.

Final Destination 5
Will this be the final Final Destination or will there be a 6, 7, 8….

Well, those are my thoughts on select 2011 summer movies. Tune in again next week for another thrilling blog entry. (Okay, so my blog entries aren’t exactly thrilling, but they are good reads.)

*It was Charlton Heston and I knew it along. I just did that to be funny.

Sources:
http://www.reelzchannel.com/article/1082/summer-2011-preview-20-movies-well-be-talking-about-next-year/

Cantu, Hector, Heritage Magazine “Stan the Creator” Fall 2008, pg. 51

http://bluebuddies.com/help/smurfs_peyo_biography.htm

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Current Trends in Movie Posters

The posters for Cars 2 have showed up on the Internet. I checked them out and I like these posters. The folks at Pixar went for a retro 1950’s travel poster look and it works. To see these posters, click here:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Exclusive-Three-New-Vintage-Inspired-Posters-For-Cars-2-24090.html

Yet, the retro look of the posters reflects some of the Internet ‘chatter’ about the about movie posters. Namely, that posters of the past are more artistic than today’s movie posters. While I covered this subject in my blog entry of January 20, 2011 Death of the Movie Poster  (https://justmovieposters09.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/death-of-the-movie-poster/), I will say it is not just the old movie posters or old style of movie posters that are worth looking at. There are some cool trends in the current crop of movie posters that I would like to highlight and they are:

The Facecopy
Remember the movie poster for The Social Network, where it just had Jesse Eisenberg’s face and the words “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies”? It seems like the studio heads did and they liked this style of movie poster enough to use it in The Adjustment Bureau , Black Swan and the upcoming Thor film.  To see examples of this type of movie poster, go to:

http://www.impawards.com/2011/adjustment_bureau_ver5.html

http://www.impawards.com/2011/thor_ver10.html

Minimalist
Minimalist movie posters are characterized by the most simple designs and clever use of color. While it sounds easy, making a visually appealing poster from this technique is very hard to do, but when it works, the results are amazing. The Internet features many examples of this style used in fan created works and posters created for film showings at libraries and art movie houses.  The powers that be at the movie studios are noticing this style and using it in current movie posters. Too bad the most famous recent examples of a minimalist poster for a mainstream movie are the terrible teasers for X-Men First Class. To see what I mean, go here:

http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/3/8/2-new-x-men-first-class-teaser-posters.html

To see better examples of this style, check out these websites:

http://inspiredology.com/minimalist-movie-posters/

http://www.escapeintolife.com/showcase/brandon-shaeffers-movie-posters/

Fan Created
Fan created movie posters are exactly that, movie posters created by fans. Before the Internet, only a small group of people (i.e. friends and family of the artist) could see this kind of the poster. Now with the Internet, these posters are being posted for all to see and what a sight they are. If you want to see movie posters created by people with real talent, just Google “fan created movie poster” and you will find many examples of truly artistic movie posters. These types of posters have even caught the eye of one director. Edward Burns, the director of films such as The Brothers McMullen and Nice Guy Johnny. He is running a contest where people submit art for the movie poster for his upcoming film Newlyweds. Burns is also learning about the quality of fan created movie poster art. “When I threw it [the contest] out there I thought maybe I would get a handful of posters from a handful of art students.” Burns said in the April 13, 2011 edition of Indiewire.com.  “I never really thought that we would get the quality or as many as were submitted.”

To see some great fan created movie posters, go here:

http://www.chartmovieinfo.com/movie-info/earlier-awesome-fanmade-dark-knight-rises-2012-poster.html

http://www.indiewire.com/article/2011/04/13/exclusive_newlysweds_director_writer_edward_burns_asks_for_your_help

What’s next in movie posters? I don’t know. Still, I will keep an eye out and let you know in a future blog entry.

Sources:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Exclusive-Three-New-Vintage-Inspired-Posters-For-Cars-2-24090.html

http://www.indiewire.com/article/2011/04/13/exclusive_newlysweds_director_writer_edward_burns_asks_for_your_help

http://www.chartmovieinfo.com/movie-info/earlier-awesome-fanmade-dark-knight-rises-2012-poster.html

http://www.impawards.com/2011/adjustment_bureau_ver5.html

http://www.impawards.com/2011/thor_ver10.html