Fun Friday–2010 Summer Movie Edition
It’s that time of year, people, time for summer blockbusters! Y’all know me, that one of my favorite things to do in my spare time is watch movies, so I usually perk up and start paying attention to movie previews around this time of year. So here are a few movies I’m looking forward to this summer—broken down into Theater Views and Rentals.
Theater Views
Prince of Persia
I’m going to see this one tonight!
Set in medieval Persia, the story of an adventurous prince who teams up with a rival princess to stop an angry ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world. Which is why after the prince was tricked by a dying Vizier to unleash the Sands of Time that turns out to destroy a kingdom and transforms its populace into ferocious demons. In his effort to save his own kingdom and redeem his fatal mistake, it’s up to the prince and the princess to return the sands to the hourglass by using the Dagger of Time, which also gives him a limited control over the flow of time. (from IMDb.com)
Ondine
Showing a June 4 limited release date, no wide release date yet
Syracuse is a simple fisherman who catches a beautiful and mysterious woman in his trawler’s nets. The woman seems to be dead, but then she comes alive before Syracuse’s eyes and he thinks he may be seeing things. However, with the help of his ailing, yet irrepressible daughter, Annie, he comes to believe that the fantastical might be possible and that the woman (Ondine) might be a myth come true. Ondine and Syracuse fall passionately in love, but just as we think the fairytale might go on forever, the real world intercedes. Then, after a terrible car crash and the return of a dark and violent figure from Ondine’s past, hope eventually prevails and a new beginning is presented to Syracuse, Ondine and Annie. (from Yahoo Movies)
The A-Team
June 11 I’m SO going to this movie opening night.
A group of Iraq War veterans looks to clear their name with the U.S. military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed. (from IMDb.com—okay, so the movie description is rather sketchy, but really, do we need to know anything other than the fact that it’s a remake of the fabulously cheesy and campy 1980s TV show?)
Salt
July 23
[I’m not a huge Angelina Jolie fan, but this looks like a great action film.] When CIA officer Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is called a spy by a Russian defector, she goes on the run, putting all of her experience and skills to use to elude capture, learn the truth of her identity, and hopefully clear her name. (from IMDb.com)
Ramona and Beezus
July 23
[Okay, it’s been about thirty years since I read the books, and I imaging this is “loosely” based on them. But it looks like fun.] The adventures of young Ramona Quimby (Joey King) and her big sister Beezus (Selena Gomez) come to life in this all new film based on the best-selling books (over 30 millionand counting) by Beverly Cleary. Ramonas vivid imagination, boundless energy, and accident-prone antics keep everyone she meets on their toes. But her irrepressible sense of fun, adventure and mischief come in handy when she puts her mind to helping save her family’s home.
Get Low
Listed as July 30 [Limited], so who knows when we’ll get to see it
For years, townsfolk have been terrified of the backwoods recluse known as Felix Bush. People say he’s done all manner of unspeakable things — that he’s killed in cold blood; that he’s in league with the Devil; that he has strange powers — and they avoid him like the plague. Then, one day, Felix rides to town with a shotgun and a wad of cash, saying he wants to buy a funeral.
Beastly
July 30
Manhattanite Kyle Kingson is young, wealthy, beautiful, and cruel, but he picks the wrong classmate to prank when Kendra casts a spell that turns him into everything he despises. Banished to Brooklyn and informed that the only way to break the curse is to find someone who will love him as he is, a fateful encounter with Lindy looks to literally and figuratively change his life.
Rentals (click on title for the trailer)
Eclipse
With as much as I thought the second movie sucked, I’m kind of drawn into the series now—kind of like when you drive past a car accident and you can’t help but look to see just how gruesome it is. But I will not be paying to go see it at the theater.
Despicable Me
Actually, I’m up in the air about whether to wait for this one on DVD or going to see it in the theater. But it looks cute.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
If Nicholas Cage weren’t such a big part of this movie, I’d probably be more apt to go see it in the theater. And who knows—depending on what’s going on that weekend, I still might. But with the mixed buzz this movie’s getting, I don’t know that I’m going to want to spend the money on it.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Looks cute.
Nanny McPhee Returns
I enjoyed the first movie (which I watched as a rental), and this one looks good too. (But really, Maggie Gyllenhaal? Was every thirtysomething BRITISH actress unavailable?)
Centurion
Ancient British history? Roman history? Combined? Sure, I’ll rent that.
What do you want to see that’s coming out soon?
Comments are closed.
KayeDacus.com 
Oh my goodness, I can’t wait to see Ondine!! I seriously hope we don’t have to wait one or two months before that one arrives in theaters. Thanks for posting the trailer, as somehow I missed this one when going through Fandango’s list of upcoming releases.
Salt looks like it could be interesting but that one will probably be a rental for me. I’m very excited about The A-Team and Beastly, though – the latter was such a fun book. I also really want to see Nanny McPhee #2 (for some reason I thought I saw the 1st one in theaters w/ you, but that must’ve been Lori…?).
I didn’t realize there were two Roman centurion-type films slated to release this year. Hadn’t heard of Centurion, but the one that’s been on my radar is The Eagle of the Ninth (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034389/), due out early fall (and featuring MARK STRONG!!). 🙂
Very much looking forward to Prince of Persia tonight. Other than the above mentioned movies that I want to see, I’m also really looking forward to Princess Kaiulani and Knight and Day (decided to relegate Killers to a rental).
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And it doesn’t hurt that Douglas Henshall is in Eagle of the Ninth, either. 😉
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And Jamie Bell! 🙂
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Oh my. Look at all the Roman stuff. And I love tales about the Ninth! I didn’t know about either of these.
I recently read a great book about the Ninth Legion. Well it was sort of about the Ninth. It was set in modern Scotland on a Roman-period archaelogical dig, and there’s a ghost story involved. But the writer has quickly become a favorite of mine, never mind her fascination with ghosts. The book was THE SHADOWY HORSES, by Susanna Kearsley.
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I haven’t even heard of half of those movies. 🙂 Eclipse is definitely on my list…but sadly my list of movies includes several children’s movies too. Can you imagine why? 🙂
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For the exact same reason why most children’s movies aren’t on my list? 😀
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Ramona and Beezus sounds good! I love the Ramona books (I taught third grade for ten years so we got to read a lot of Ramona)! I really want to see Letters to Juliet….but I’ll wait until it’s out on Redbox or get it on Netflix. We just can’t afford to go out to the movies anymore.
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I understand—it’s almost $11 for an evening showing here in Nashville—and about that much to get a SMALL soda and popcorn. So I’m looking at more than $20 just for me (though I usually bypass the soda and popcorn for that very reason).
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I never go in the evening. First showing daily matinees at our nice theater are $4.75 still.
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wow, the one preview that I saw for “Persia” did not give me that story line, that sounds cool! Let us know what you thought. I keep up on the Box ffice web site too, I too am a bit of a movie nut. I was stunned when I saw that the lead was Jack, I can’t wait to see him in this role, looks nothing like his other characters. Have a great weekend.
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I’ve never been a big Jake Gyllenhaal fan . . . for the same reason I’m not a big Toby Maguire fan—I keep waiting for them to go through puberty and fill out a little more and get deep voices. Maybe seeing Jake in this role tonight will start to prove to me he is truly growing into a man.
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I can’t be that hard on JG since we’re the same age… 😉
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Right–but if you think about it, Errol Flynn was only 25 when he made Captain Blood (and Olivia deH was only 19!). And he was already, um, fully mature. Comparing him to these two . . . JG and TM don’t stand a chance!
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Well comparing anyone to Errol is unfair…LOL!!!
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I have a hard time focusing on more then one section at a time, but I will try…..I am very excited about the Ramona one, I too read all the books as a child and that looks so good, and it’s rated G, very cool.
The A team one has been circulating for months and months and at first, I thought, no way, but after seeing more detailed trailers, i think it will be very good and fun. I grew up watching the original and I have a hard time with remakes and usually avoid them, but sometimes they surprise me. It sucks when they ruin the memory of the old one for me, I’ll wait for the after feedback from opening weekend and then make up my mind. Again, have a great weekend.
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Traci, I usually avoid movie remakes of favorite TV shows—but this show has been off the air for so long that I only have a vague memory of the actual shows (now the characters, those I can still remember clearly). I like all of the actors who are in this one, and with as cheesy as the original show was, it’s not like the movie could be any cheesier, right?
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Ramona and Beezus looks cute!! Selena Gomez was a good choice for this movie because she is the kind of girl young girls can look up to, she doesn’t have any “scandal” attached to her and she dresses decent.
Eclipse is my #1 movie to see this summer. I am so pumped for it!
Beastly – well….as much as Beauty and the Beast is my #1 favorite movie of all time, this just does not appeal to me. The “beast” you know is human and you can see him as a man, where as the Disney version he’s an animal – a true beast and therefor Belle really had to look hard to see a true man underneath and fall in love.
Prince of Persia – from some of the tv spots i’ve seen, the scenery/buildings look like they are from Aladdin. Still unsure if I really want to see it or wait till it comes on dvd in a few months.
I loved Letters to Juliet – it was so sweet and romantic <3.
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Oh, I loved Letters to Juliet too!
The “beast” in Beastly has a pretty awful personality when you read the book…and if memory serves, the film has altered his beastly appearance somewhat from how his described in the novel.
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I have to say, I’ve never heard of Selena Gomez until I saw this preview. I assume she’s one of the superstar singers the Disney Channel has created?
I’ll rent Letters to Juliet at some unknown date in the future. I’m going through a phase right now in which romantic movies just don’t appeal to me at all (which it usually takes quite a stellar romantic movie to do anyway).
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That’s correct, Kaye. She’s the main girl star on Wizards of Waverly Place. She’s really cute.
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“Ramona and Beezus” is definitely the one I want to see. I love the Ramona books and who can help but love Uncle Hobart and Aunt Bea? I’m a little concerned though that Willa Jean isn’t mentioned on IMDB. She needs to be in this film! Another quibble is the fact that they seem to be making Beezus be this over confident, friendly, self-assured teenager. The book Beezus is insecure, has over-the-top emotions, and has trouble with acne.
I’ll have to look up more information about “Beastly”. I love the story of “Beauty and the Beast”.
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See, this is how long it’s been since I read the books: all I can remember is the character Ramona and that she was jealous of the little girl in her class with the boing-boing curly hair.
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I can’t wait to see the A-Team! The series was one of my all time favorites as a child!!
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“…as a child”
Kristen, you’re making me feel old here! 😉
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Honestly…there’s nothing screaming my name at the theatre this summer. That’s kind of unusual for me. I might go see Inception.
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I forgot about this one – it does sound intriguing!
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I saw the preview for this when I went to see Robin Hood last week. I’m not really into psychological thrillers, so if I see this one at all, it’ll probably be as a rental.
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A friend sent me an e-mail with this one…I WILL be at the Belcourt Theatre on Tuesday June 15th at 7pm for the premiere of this:
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I grinned all the way through the “Ramona and Beezus” trailer. Loved the books! “A Team” is on my must-see list. Gotta relive my teenage years somehow! LOL I’ll have to check into some of these others! “Inception” is NOT on my list. Sorry Jason. I can’t do creepy – although if I did, this might make the cut – on a SMALL screen. I still haven’t gotten over seeing “Conspiracy Theory” on the big screen umpteen years ago… 🙂
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I can’t believe it’s taken this long for a movie to be made of the Ramona books. Seems like those should have been done thirty years ago when the books were at their peak of popularity.
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They did have at least one made for television movie about Ramona. I remember the scene about the parents fighting over the pancakes. Mr. Quimby said Mrs. Quimby didn’t make pancakes like his mama did! 🙂 Uncle Hobart sang a song to Ramona too.
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I have yet to see Letter to Juliet, but I will. I also might go to Just Wright; if I see it I will wait for the cheap theatre. No one has said anything about Shrek yet. I have seen the other three and I will see the final one at some point.
Eclipse is a must. I read the books and then saw the movies and the books are so many times better. I have to see how they are going to translate the book to the screen.
Sex and the City will most likely be what I go see this weekend. I saw the show in the edited version, so I was somewhat surprised at how graphic the last movie was, but I want to see where they take the characters and the graphic part is a small part of the movie.
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The Shrek series lost me somewhere in the middle of the second movie when all of the jokes started sounding familiar—because they’d pretty much run through their repertoire.
I saw SATC1 on DVD. I was never a huge fan of the show, but caught most of the series in reruns, including the series finale. I’m a huge believer in fidelity; so this film, in which Carrie has an emotional affair with Aidan (if not an actual affair) just doesn’t appeal to me.
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Amen about the fidelity thing! I get surprised at the amount of Christian people who don’t seem to have a problem with films that approve of infidelity and pre-marital s*x.
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I can’t wait to see A-Team!!!! LOVE that show. Murdock is one of my youngest brother’s biggest heroes. I had the Hot Wheels version of BA’s van when I was little.
If they hadn’t taken such great care casting BA I wouldn’t be so hot to see it. But from what I’ve seen in the trailers the guy has done his homework and he can say “fool” properly. It only remains to see how much of the madness the new Murdock can recreate. Dwight Schultz is a tough act to follow on that front, with golf ball liberation armies and teddy bears who think they’re sheriffs.
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The characterization I’m most concerned about is for Face. I had a HUGE crush on Templeton Peck in my early teens, and I don’t know if Bradley Cooper will ever be able to fill those wingtips.
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I’m with you Kaye; I loved Face! Templeton Peck was so smooth.
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The characters that have to be right, for me, are BA and Murdock. Mostly BA. If BA lives up to what I’m seeing in the previews I should be pretty happy. Haven’t seen enough of Murdock to get a read on him.
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What, no Toy Story 3? That’s what’s next on my horizon.
Really haven’t been paying much attention so pencil me for every big-budget, comics-inspired action movie. I’ll try to find one or two romantic comedies that I can sneak away to while aforementioned action movies are at a high point.
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There’s one coming out starring Josh Brolin and John Malkovich, Jonah Hex, which I may eventually rent. Knowing nothing about the character, it’s not really one that I’m interested in parting with money for. Of course, for me, Josh Brolin will always be James Butler Hickok from Young Riders.
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Toy Story 3 is definitely on my list! My 21-year-old daughter said she cried the first time she saw a trailer of it! 😀 And knowing that Barbie and Ken actually MEET in this one? Sigh . . . LOL
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I do want to see Toy Story 3 & Shrek 4 at some point, but those will probably be rentals.
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Thank you Kaye for mapping out my summer viewing!!! I always seem to miss the good movies and then have to wait until they come out on DVD AND until my library gets them because I don’t live close to a rental store and I don’t have a car.
Ramona and Beezus is on the top of my list and I’ll probably go with a group of school librarian friends. We like to do kid lit movies, though we can be rather annoying if we feel they’ve strayed too far from the book. We try to go at a quiet time so as not to disturb the kiddies. 🙂 oh, and Beverly Cleary is ageless — her books are still as popular today as they were thirty years ago.
Beastly has me excited as well because I love reading ‘fractured fairy tales’.
And Ondine — that appeals to me as well…plus it seems maybe Irish or Scottish? And that pulls at my heart strings.
Thanks again for the heads up!
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Kav, I’ll never forget the ride home from the theater after watching “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” My then-15-year-old daughter had a laundry list (a LONG one) of complaints. That’s what catapulted me into actually READING the books!
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Ondine looks good. I love silkie stories (I did hear the word “silkie” in that trailer didn’t I?). This is my first expose to that one, and the Roman movies. I’ll probably wait for DVD for most if not all of them.
I’ll go see Eclipse in theater though. I don’t think they suck. 🙂 (pun intended)
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