A/V Veteran

It happens every year at this time. The internet is flooded with announcements trumpeting the new films expected to launch in late spring or early summer. The timing is vital. If the scheduled release date is earlier, such as from mid-March to early May, it's likely that the market for the movie has been judged dubious at best. The studio involved won't waste time and money trying to squeeze it into the vital and crowded mid-May to late July window. To soften their likely losses it's thrown to the wolves early to get whatever pennies the filmmakers think they can scratch from it. But there are always exceptions; one can't entirely ignore the possibility of an early season surprise hit.

Films that launch in late summer are faced with different issues. They may be dogs as well, but sometimes the studios involved just couldn't position a potential winner into the coveted May-to-July season. But school is still out in August, and family vacations are still ongoing. The audience is there, and while hits from the earlier hot season may still be hogging the most coveted screens, space might still be available for an unexpected, late season hit.

Many of the internet trailers now appearing on line are strung tightly together, following each other in rapid succession. The point appears to be overwhelming the viewer, making it a challenge to determine when one trailer ends and the next one begins. Generating interest in the viewer appears to be enough; never mind offering a clue about what the film from each successive trailer is about!

But there were notable exceptions to this clutter. I managed to find a few trailers offering enough detail to more than hint about what the film would be about. And enough detail to trigger my interest in seeing it in a good theater with the best audio and video my area has to offer.

If the information that follows is sometimes a bit skimpy, it's because even the trailers that grabbed my attention sometimes flashed by too rapidly to convey important details. But there's a good source for additional information—the online, IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base). The links below will take you to the IMDB listing for the movie.

While one or more of the titles discussed here might end up straight to streaming, that's not suggested in the IMDB listings. I expect the films addressed below will first appear in theatres as scheduled.

EDEN...April 3... The early date here may be a bad sign as discussed above, and the plot here isn't exactly clear from the trailer. It appears to be an action thriller about a group that wants to get away from it all and settle on an island of their own. (After watching too many game shows about survival in the jungle perhaps?). But while they believe the island they've chosen is uninhabited, it's not. And the occupants aren't exactly friendly. The limited information I found notes that it was directed by Ron Howard--always a positive sign. The score is by Hans Zimmer, another plus. It was screened last fall at a film festival in Canada and appears intriguing enough to watch for in its upcoming USA release.

Lilo and Stitch... May 23...Many of you might recall the animated version of this 2002 Disney release. A cute, fuzzy, but dangerous alien is condemned on his home planet and escapes to Earth, crash landing in Hawaii. There he’s befriended by a young girl who can’t seem to fit in. She mistakes him for an odd-looking dog. The original was funny, quirky, and sweet. Let's hope that the story is as appealing here as a live action release. Disney has tripped over more than a few rough patches with other live action remakes (particularly...um... recently!). You'll have to go back to Cinderella to find a genuinely classic, animated-to-live-action Disney title.

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning... May 23... Do you really need to know more? This is claimed to be the last entry in the Mission Impossible franchise, perhaps the most popular and profitable string of related films in history. It's no coincidence that it comes out on the first weekend of the almost-summer film season. Tom Cruise has made Ethan Hunt, the leader of the MI team, his signature role. But will this really be the last entry? The box office take, which will likely be gargantuan, might just have the final word on that.

Thunderbolts... May 2025...What the world needs now is another band of reluctant super heroes from the Marvel factory, preferably with a comic twist. There's also a role in the film (apparently not as a member of the team) for Julia Louis Dreyfus (Seinfeld). She plays Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. That name alone should tell you something about what to expect, but the film might need a lot of help playing against the MI finale!

Jurassic World Rebirth... June 2...I confess I'm a sucker for dinosaur movies even though I admit that the only truly classic release of the genre was Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. But they keep going, perhaps in the hope that they might even surpass MI as a long running franchise--at least in quantity. The critics will hate this one, but I'll be there for the guilty pleasure of it all, no matter how shopworn it might be. It's also sure to be great audio/video fodder for home theater when it gets to streaming and video disc.

How to Train Your Dragon... June 13...I'm definitely there for this live-action re-make of one of the best animated films of the past decade. I hope that DreamWorks has better luck in this live action transition than Disney has done. But the DreamWorks trailer here looks promising.

Superman: Legacy... July 11... Packed with a brand new cast, the trailers look impressive. But the recent death of Gene Hackman, the Lex Luthor in the Seventies' Superman films, is more than a little ironic.

Freakier Friday... August 8....If you remember the original, Disney's Freaky Friday from your misspent youth, you'll know what this body- swapping comedy is all about. But now there's more than two unfortunate ladies involved. One of them is Jamie Lee Curtis, which might help put a few more nostalgia-hunting arses into the seats.

---

As a final recommendation here, do a search for both Kangaroo and The Penguin Lessons. It's unpredictable when one or both of these smaller films might turn up at a theater near you, particularly if you don't live in a major market. But watch for them; both look irresistible in ways very different from blockbuster wannabes above. As the titles suggest, they involve unexpected and unusual pets. If they don't turn up in your area they should inevitably be available on disc or streaming. And depending on their ratings, they might be ideal family films.

Update: Shortly after this blog was posted a review of The Penguin Lessons was posted on the Film Threat website. Apparently the film is now running in Los Angeles. According to that review, much of the story takes place in Argentina during the bloody military coup there in 1976, so it isn't just about a cute penguin. The Film Threat review suggests that the penguin angle is more of a subplot. I do plan to see the film eventually and judge it for myself. But in the meantime, Film Threat argues that The Penguins Lessons is not for young children, though the trailer appears to suggest otherwise.