2017 Warm Weather Movie Preview: July
2017 Warm Weather Movie Preview: July

2017 Warm Weather Movie Preview: July

July is the reason I love the movies. The choices this month are pretty great for most of the month, including really good sequels, some high risk/reward choices and the current summer blockbuster king returning to the big screen…

SPIDER MAN: HOMECOMING

The Good: The cast is very winning especially our new Spiderman Tom Holland, and teenage Spiderman has the best stories.

The Bad: The director has never handled a studio film, plus there are 6(!) credited screenplay writers.

Prediction:

This should be closer to Ant-Man for Marvel, small but decent enough.

A GHOST STORY

The Good: A24 is involved, and David Lowery makes really interesting stories including last year’s Pete’s Dragon remake.

The Bad: Will the movie’s use of Casey Affleck be Manchester By the Sea level sad that no one will see it?

Prediction:

Even though Manchester was really depressing it was still really good, and so too will this one be.

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

The Good: The crew from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is back, plus they replaced neutered Gary Oldman with psycho Woody Harrelson: fair trade.

The Bad: Like Dawn, this one could favor action over allegory and loose what made the original film so special.

Prediction:

The unlikely franchise reboot strikes again, going 3/3. My gut says this one is likely to be the best one.

DUNKIRK

The Good: Christopher Nolan, that gigantic titan, directing a WWII movie starring Tom Hardy and Kenneth Branagh? Really hard to hate this one.

The Bad: Nolan’s last two movies were minor misfires, does the trend continue?

Prediction:

We’ll see if Nolan can recapture his magic; I’m curious how he is going to tell a war story myself.

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS

The Good: A wacky French comic book paired with French Luc Besson, who directed the wacky Fifth Element.

The Bad: The plot looks convoluted and Carla Delevigne has shown limited to zero ability to be a good actress.

Prediction:

This will certainly look cool, but I’m smelling at best a cult classic and at worst crappier Gods of Egypt.

GIRLS TRIP

The Good: OnThe cast is mostly funny, and the director and writer are involved in the most recent Barbershop, Legally Blonde, and 10 Things I Hate About You.

The Bad: Will the writers let the talented cast loose, or will this be too pratfall and cliche heavy?

Prediction:

Talent wins the day, and the in front of and behind the screen ensembles give me lots of optimism.

THE EMOJI MOVIE

The Good: It should look pretty and have funny animations?

The Bad: An awful premise, with an untested writer/director from the studio most famous for the crap Smurf movies.

Prediction:

Studio Head: “Kids like emoji’s right? Let’s make a movie about that!” No kid spends an hour and a half looking at emoji’s dude/dudette.

ATOMIC BLONDE

The Good: A nice genre inversion, with James McAvoy the “2nd fiddle” and Charlize Theron the badass agent.

The Bad: I’m glad a former stuntman is directing this movie, but he’s untested, and the writer does movies where no one speaks much.

Prediction:

In my opinion, Charlize Theron is the most talented actress in Hollywood (she can do anything in any genre). A stuntman director will at least mean the kills should be super cool. Hope abounds.

AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER

The Good: Al Gore knows his stuff; we’ll see how much progress we have made since the first one took the nation by storm.

The Bad: How well can the documentary encompass the issue to make it understandable for a mainstream audience?

Prediction:

I feel like this thing has to speak too much about the current administration, which limits the scope and therefore effectiveness of the issue of manmade climate change.

 

MUST SEE: Some really good choices, but you can’t turn down Dunkirk. It’s by far the movie this summer that has the best chance to be really special.

MUST SKIPEmojis belong in phones, not movies.

MOST INTRIGUING: A tie: I think Atomic Blonde could solidify Charlize as Liam Neeson’s action replacement, and Valerian could be so loopy it qualifies as a must see.

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