Summer Movie Preview Part 2

Photo+Courtesy+of+Indiewire.

Photo Courtesy of Indiewire.

The BFG (July 1): Steven Spielberg brings Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book to the screen, with lots of CGI and new Oscar-winner Mark Rylance.

The Purge: Election Year (July 1): The Purge returns with its third film, this time putting its anarchic spin on the Election season. The teaser goes from a faux-candidate ad for the Purge into scenes of terror.

Swiss Army Man (July 1): The bizarre Sundance picture about a man stranded on an island [Paul Dano] using a dead body [Daniel Radcliffe] in various ways for survival, while having several hallucinations that the corpse is talking to him. The movie was well-received, even if it might be too surreal for some.

Ghostbusters (July 15): Paul Feig’s long-awaited all-female Ghostbusters reboot finally arrives. SNL ladies Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones star alongside Melissa McCarthy in the modern update. Look for a Bill Murray cameo too.

The Infiltrator (July 15): Bryan Cranston is on the other side of the law than Walter White in this true-story drama about the DEA agent that went undercover and had to live the luxurious criminal life in order to take down Pablo Escobar.

Jason Bourne (July 29): Matt Damon returns to his famous character, along with director Paul Greengrass. Bourne re-emerges into the world after disappearing several years earlier. Greengrass has proven that he knows what he’s doing, so fans need not worry.

Suicide Squad (August 5): More competition for the biggest movie of the summer, this long anticipated film about the enemies of the DC world should deliver, based on its wild trailers. Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Viola Davis, Cara Delevingne, and Jared Leto star in this very twisted, and very adult, anti-superhero film.

The Founder (August 5): Michael Keaton stars as a failing businessman who comes across a small burger place co-owned by two brothers [John Carroll Lynch and Nick Offerman] named McDonald’s. He then takes it upon himself to take the business from under their feet and turn it into an international fast food empire. Two years in a row, Keaton has been in Best Picture winners, so perhaps his vindictive, Machiavellian capitalist will bring in a third.

Sausage Party (August 12): Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s new project is an R-rated animated feature about food in the grocery store staging a coup. The trailer was hilariously demented, with the graphic demise of its edible protagonists, so here’s hoping for a return to This Is The End-level greatness.

Café Society (August 12): Woody Allen returns to the 30s with Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carrell, and Parker Posey, this time in Hollywood. Eisenberg plays an ambitious young man hoping to make it big in the business, but he gets tangled up in trouble when he falls for a married woman [Stewart]. Allen hasn’t necessarily been on a winning streak lately, but this period piece might be able to spark some of his old charms and, if not, the cinematography looks gorgeous.

Kubo and the Two Strings (August 19): An avant-garde children’s clay-mation film about a guitar player is the kind of creative concept that keeps the animated world alive. This movie truly looks like a work of art and should be on everyone’s radar.

War Dogs (August 19): Following in the tone of recent films like The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short, here comes another bro biopic that seems destined to be loved for the wrong reasons. However, this one doesn’t look as strong as the others. Miles Teller and Jonah Hill star as two fratboy weapons dealers in Afghanistan that are immature and incompetent. The problem in this one seems to be that the film might not be misunderstood—it might be the filmmaker’s intention for the audience to love the two goons.

Southside With You (August 19): Sundance favorite Sundance With You takes the tone from Richard Linklater’s romance trilogy, the Before series, and puts it to the story of Michelle and Barack Obama’s first date. An original idea, it might be fun to have a movie about political people that is not political.