Fun Friday–Summer 2011 Movie Edition
So, this week, I finally got around to watching The King’s Speech and Tangled, both of which I missed getting to see in the theaters due to my broken ankle over the fall/winter. I’ve already seen a few of the spring releases (The Eagle, The Conspirator and Jane Eyre) and since I’ll be finishing up Turnabout’s Fair Play (TFP) by mid-month (no, really, I will), I’m starting to look forward to taking some time to go to the movies this summer. So here’s a sampling of some of the upcoming movies I’m looking forward to.
Thor (Opens Today)
Why? Because it stars Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth. Who’s Chris Hemsworth? Well, aside from playing Kirk’s father in the 2009 Star Trek reboot, he’s the template for the Aussie doctor in the second book of my historical proposal.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Opens May 20)
Why? Because it’s Captain Jack Sparrow. And because they’ve gone back to the stand-alone adventure story style of the first movie.
X-Men: First Class (Opens June 3)
Why? Because I’m a fan of the X-Men series in general (the movies, not the comic books). But how will Ruth Anderson and Rachel McMillan ever decide if they’re pulled more toward JAMES McAVOY or MICHAEL FASSBENDER!!!!!
Monte Carlo (Opens July 1)
Why? Because I’m a romance novelist and felt like I should have something chick-flicky on my list.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Opens July 15)
Why? If you knew me, you wouldn’t have to ask.
Captain America (Opens July 22)
Why? As you can see, I have a thing for movies based on classic comic books. Oh, and there just so happens to be someone in this movie with the initials R.A.
Cowboys and Aliens (Opens July 29)
Why? Let me count the reasons: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Clancy Brown, Keith Carradine, Adam Beach, David O’Hara, cowboys, aliens. . .
The Help (Opens August 12)
Why? Just watch the trailer!
Conan, the Barbarian (Opens August 19)
Why? I fell in love with Jason Momoa as Ronan Dex in Stargate: Atlantis.
Those are the big ones coming up that I want to see. I’m sure there will be more which may draw me out to the theater or make it onto my Netflix list.
Will you go see any of these? Are there any others you’ve heard about that you’re wanting to see this summer (whether in the theater or later on DVD?)
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KayeDacus.com 
The help looks really good and inspirational.
wow nice to see an aussie as a template. his brother Liam is also doing well in hollywood.
monte carlo looks interesting too.
Think Conan may be to violent for me.
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Okay, I had to look Liam up . . . he’s cute and so young!! With his being cast in The Hunger Games film adaptation, you’re right—his star is definitely on the rise.
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I definitely want to see The Help, and the latest Harry Potter too, though we’re a few movies behind on that series, so we’ll have to catch up first. I didn’t even know there was another X-men movie coming out, but I liked the others, so I’ll probably see that one too. (However, am I the only one who thinks James McAvoy is just… icky? I definitely won’t be watching it for him.)
Pirates of the Caribbean? At first I thought “ugh, ANOTHER one?” but since you say it’s more of a stand-alone adventure like the first one, maybe I’ll give it a shot. I really liked the first one. Neither Thor nor Cowboys and Aliens really piques my interest, even though I do like action movies. I hadn’t heard of the rest of the ones on your list, so I’ll have to watch the trailers you posted when I have more time!
A few on my list that aren’t on yours:
Something Borrowed (I liked the book)
Saviors in the Night
The Debt
Another Earth
Larry Crowne
ALL of these will probably go on my Netflix queue – the last movie I saw in the theater was The Return of the King (what’s that, 6, 7 years ago now?), and I wouldn’t be surprised if the next one is The Hobbit. I just don’t typically get worked up enough about movies that I can’t wait a little longer to see them, and I have a hard time justifying $16-$18 for two people to go see a movie when we’d be more comfortable curled up on our own couch with a nice glass of wine and some dark chocolate than sitting in theater seats listening to other people crunch on popcorn :D.
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Captain America – yes
Monte Carlo – looks cute
Conan – yikes, that might be a little too scary for me!
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Have you read the HP books? If so, you can skip the fifth and sixth movies and go into Deathly Hallows Part 1 without losing anything. They really veered away from the books in a couple of major ways in Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, which really annoyed me. But DH-1 gets right back to the heart of the source material. So definitely watch Part 1 before seeing Part 2.
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I haven’t read the books. Read the first one when they first got really popular and was so underwhelmed by the writing that I never read any of the other. I’ve heard that the writing improved with the series, so they’re somewhere down my “to read someday” list. Maybe I should bump them up?
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I don’t think it’s that the writing improved, I think it’s that the storytelling improved such that the writing didn’t matter anymore.
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My sister saw Something Borrowed Tuesday night. Said she really liked up till the end, and the end ruined it.
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Loved Thor – saw a screening a week ago with my boys & hubby, then took my daughter to the midnight show last night. My daughter & I agree that Chris Hemsworth is very nice to look at.
I can’t wait for Captain America and Cowboys & Aliens. My family can’t wait for Pirates, X-Men, and Harry Potter.
Excited about The Help. I didn’t know it was coming out as a movie. I loved the book.
I’m also excited about Cars 2. I love anything Pixar.
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Thor is getting such great reviews, that I’m jealous of anyone who gets to see it this weekend. Of course, with me on deadline with at least 60,000 more words to write, I’ll just have to wait for a couple of weeks. With as positive as the buzz is, it should still be playing, and by waiting a while, the theater won’t be so crowded, so I might actually enjoy it more.
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I’m working on a Thor post now. 🙂
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I like a lot of what Pixar does, but I had to turn Cars off after about ten or fifteen minutes when I rented the DVD right after it came out. It just didn’t do anything for me. Of course, it took me a while to get around to seeing Toy Story 3, also. But I don’t have kids, so animated features don’t usually go straight to the top of my Netflix queue. Tangled did—mostly because of Zachary Levi—but it took forever for me to get it because it was at the top of so many other people’s queues that it wasn’t until this week that a copy became available. It was cute, but I’m glad I saw it as a rental instead of paying to see it in the theater with all those little ankle-biters making my life miserable.
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Toy Story 3 made me cry, more than once. I was 13 when the first one came out and my youngest brother was 8. It resonated immediately with all of us. 3 was not made for today’s kids. It was for those of us who grew up with the first two, who remember having “real relationships” with our toys. And the pain of having to put them away when it’s time to “grow up”. It was the perfect end to the story.
Went to see it in the theater with Elizabeth and we were both wiping tears away at the end. My two special toys have always been out on my bed, but at the time they were still in NY and it made me miss them so much. Even now, when I’m 18 months from being 30, these two toys are still out in my room.
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I’m looking forward to Harry Potter, The Help and Pirates. When does the next Twilight movie come out? I want to see that too.
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According to IMDb.com, the first of the two-part Twilight finale (gee, where’d they get that idea from?) releases November 18.
I enjoyed the first Twilight movie enough to rent the second one. But it was all I could do to sit through that one. Not a big fan of weak, moping, my-life-is-horrible-because-my-boyfriend’s-gone heroines. So even though I got the disc of the third movie from Netflix a few weeks ago, I sent it back unwatched.
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fassbender trumps james mcavoy.
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I’ve got to agree with you. MCAVOY just doesn’t have the same oomph as FASSBENDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (It is a rule in my life that “FASSBENDER” must be followed with multiple exclamation points.)
Conan is the only movie here that doesn’t interest me much. It’s gonna be a fun summer! 🙂
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Really? Even when McAvoy’s using his real accent? I figured the Scottish accent would be the trump card here.
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Good point. But I think Fassbender is still going to overwhelm him a bit. 🙂 However I do love James, so I’m open to being surprised.
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Oh, and I must say, he did manage to impress even me (McAvoy did) in The Conspirator. I’ve never been a big JM fan, but he did a wonderful job in that role.
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Fassbender is quite the chameleon—after watching the trailer a couple of times, I had to look at the cast list to figure out who he was. Because while I thought he looked like Aidan Quinn from certain angles in Jane Eyre, in the X-Men preview there were a couple of angles from which he looked like Joseph Fiennes.
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and please, world, I BEG OF YOU! … don’t think of watching the Help without reading the novel first!
DON’T DO IT!
AT ALL! EVER!
The narrative—the vernacular—the amazing depth and perception of each viewpoint is so well-rendered on page it will not translate into the film medium and you will be sad you didn’t get that experience first…
READ the book THEN see the movie
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OK, now I want to READ “The Help.” That sounds amazing!
“Cowboys and Aliens?” They finally made a movie combining two of my FAVORITE THINGS?? Of course, HP is on my list, as well as PC. I think getting back to more Jack Sparrow is a good move. And give the man a love interest, finally!!
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I can’t wait to see Pirates! I’m seeing Soul Surfer this weekend.
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Be sure to post a review of it. I’m not really interested in the whole surfing aspect of the movie, but if it’s a good story, I can look past that.
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THE HELP!!!! How did I not know until today that it was being made into a movie? I’m sooooo happy. Loved that book.
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As sad as this sounds, there’s only one summer movie that I’m really dying to see…J.J. Abrams “Super 8.”
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Pirates: YES!!!! Next Saturday.
Hadn’t heard about The Help. That’s going on my list. Not terribly interested in seeing most of the others in theaters, except for maybe Captain America.
You forgot my other big one though. Kung Fu Panda 2. I laughed myself silly multiple times during the first one and became the person nobody wants to be with because one of the gags was so perfectly timed I completely lost it and it took me 10 minutes to recover. I still giggle when I think about it.
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