25 summer movies worth checking out

By CHRISTOPHER BORRELLI
Toledo Blade
Tuesday, May 08, 2007

It's that time, the summer movie season _ except this season is like three summer seasons at once, very possibly the biggest summer in Hollywood history, with twice the number of mega-hyped blockbusters planned, with box office projected to beat $4 billion for the first time ever.

The reason? No originality.

That said, what follows are my picks for the 25 summer movies worth checking out.

All release dates are tentative and can vary from city to city. Enjoy.

25. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (June 15).

_ Strengths: As sad as this may sound, if comic books gave us the vast majority of the universally recognized literary creations from the past 50 years, then Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four have played the Joad clan to generations _ a beloved, endlessly set-upon family struggling for respect. The same could be said of this cheeseball series.

_Weaknesses: Blah director Tim Story returns.

24. "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" (July 20).

_ Strengths: A plot so audacious, so potentially offensive, the rubberneck factor is hard to ignore. Adam Sandler and Kevin James pretend to be a gay couple to receive domestic-partnership benefits. The idea is less horrible than it sounds.

_ Weaknesses: If the trailer can be trusted, any hint of sharp parody was scrubbed to a heterosexual sheen.

23. "Shrek The Third" (May 18).

_ Strengths: A new directing team (Chris Miller and Raman Hui) could mean fresh ideas for an aging series.

_ Weaknesses: Fractured fairy tales are played out. Hip jokes about a medieval Starbucks? Very 2002. The second installment is the fourth-largest-grossing movie ever, but the series' guiding director, Andrew Adamson, moved to the "Narnia" series.

22. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (May 25).

_ Strengths: A publicist says it's shorter than the last installment. Which sounds smart. Not that it matters. "Dead Man's Chest" became the third-biggest moneymaker in history (with $1.6 billion, in box office alone), and less than a year later, everyone is back _ including Johnny Depp. Inspired touches: Chow Yun-Fat as a Chinese pirate, and Keith Richards as Depp's father.

_ Weaknesses: Richards' extended cameo has been an open secret for so long, you've got to wonder if producer Jerry Bruckheimer has any actual surprises up his sleeve.

21. "Live Free or Die Hard" (June 27).

_ Strengths: Bruce Willis, as creaky as we like him, reunited with the only charming action hero of the '80s, alter ego John McClane. The plot is timely, and wry: Terrorists hack the national mainframe, but start small: First to go are the traffic lights.

_ Weaknesses: No matter how many self-conscious attempts it makes at acknowledging the age of this series, oh that reek of mothballs. When the series began, Willis was 33 _ hair graced his head, audiences took action movies seriously. But everything from self-parody to actual parody ("Hot Fuzz") demolished the genre.

20. "Becoming Jane" (Aug. 10).

_ Strengths: Nice timing. Just as a supposed portrait of Jane Austen has gone up for auction, we get this speculative early biography. Anne Hathaway, anxious to position herself as a warm-blooded Gwyneth Paltrow, plays a not-so-plain Jane.

_ Weaknesses: If you have an image of this picture in your head (too precious by half, sprightly soundtrack, American struggling with a British accent, not especially daring), it's probably not wrong.

19. "Transformers" (July 4)

_ Strengths: What we have is the next mega-franchise. Add a Fourth of July opening, aliens, mass destruction. It comes off so familiar, and yet, let's give it to them: What sounded like a goofy idea (a film based on a 1980s toy line of cars and trucks that, with a few clicks, become robots) has an absorbing trailer that plays like the slickest bits of "Independence Day" and the biggest spectacles from a Godzilla film. Steven Spielberg produced.

_ Weaknesses: Spielberg the producer is not to be mistaken for Spielberg the director. And not to be glib, but the three most frightening words in filmmaking are: Michael Bay directs.

18. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (July 13).

_ Strengths: Black looks good on this series and, plotwise, "Phoenix" is the darkest chapter yet to reach the big screen. That plot: Voldemort's forces gather. Hogwarts finds itself in a slow-motion coup. Harry leads the resistance. Genius casting: Imelda Staunton, of Mike Leigh's "Vera Drake," plays the new authoritarian face of Hogwarts.

_ Weaknesses: That revolving door marked "Directors" _ five movies, four different filmmakers so far (this time it's David Yates, who has never made a feature film) _ and the crippling literalness of so many of the installments, scream volumes.

17. "Evan Almighty" (June 22)

_ Strengths: Steve Carell, in a handful of scenes, was the only inspired thing about "Bruce Almighty." He played a pompous TV anchor. Conveniently enough, Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston opted out of the sequel just as Carell's star was ascending, thanks to "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "The Office." This I want to see: Evan, now a politician, is visited by God (Morgan Freeman, returning), who asks him to build an ark, round up two of every beast, await a great flood, the whole bit.

_ Weaknesses: Did I mention "Evan Almighty" was made by Tom Shadyac, who made "Bruce Almighty," who should be kept a minimum of 100 feet away from sweet family comedy?

16. "Evening" (July).

_ Strengths: Classic counter-programming. The plot (a dying New England woman recalls a long-ago Newport fling) is reminiscent of that other warm-weather hanky-wringer, "The Notebook." But the source is smarter, an elegiac book-club staple from the well-respected Susan Minot, adapted for the big screen by Pulitzer-winning author Michael Cunningham ("The Hours"). Expect a gauzy, first-class treatment, with an Oscar category's worth of performances: Meryl Streep, Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close.

_ Weaknesses: Cunningham is a wise pick _ "Evening" employs the same sort of abstracted Virginia Woolf memory games as "The Hours." But Cunningham is also not a warm writer, and this could feel a touch chilly for July.

15. "The Invasion" (Aug. 17).

_ Strengths: What we have is the umpteenth remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" _ and astonishingly, there's yet to be a bad one. Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig (James Bond) are the classy stars. Soul-stealing conformist aliens have been the topical metaphor that keeps on giving, and the timing for this update is perfect.

_ Weaknesses: Where to begin? The film was finished in 2005, and when it returned for re-shoots (and more re-shoots), director Oliver Hirschbiegel was replaced with the Wachowski boys (of "Matrix" fame), then John McTeigue (of "V for Vendetta" fame). Then Kidman was injured filming. Despite that cast, it sat on a Warner shelf for a year.

14. "Rocket Science" (August).

_ Strengths: The rare thoughtful summer movie about teenagers. Jeffrey Blitz follows up on his hit spelling-bee documentary "Spellbound." The story is about an unlikely 14-year-old preparing for a debate championship, and coming to grips with outsized expectations.

_ Weaknesses: The trouble with smart movies about being 14 is that 14-year-olds don't appreciate them until they're 34. And 34-year-olds think they're too old for movies about 14-year-olds. Doesn't wrap in the tidy knot audiences expect.

13. "Hairspray" (July 20).

_ Strengths: One of the few Broadway productions of a Hollywood movie that felt new in its own right is ... once again, a Hollywood movie. But if the rousing trailer is any indication, that's a good thing. What a strange, clever cast: Michelle Pfeiffer is back at comedy; John Travolta dons a wig and fat suit to play the mom of the chubby teen wanna-be dance queen, and Christopher Walken, quite a hoofer in real life, gets to dance on the big screen. The lead (Nikki Blonsky) has the charms of an unknown.

_ Weaknesses: A real unknown. A Cold Stone Creamery employee who simply auditioned, Blonsky has never acted in anything larger than ... anything.

12. "Away From Her" (May 18).

_ Strengths: Summer's unlikely art-house hit: A young Canadian actress (Sarah Polley, 28) adapts an emotionally nuanced story by Alice Munro about an elderly couple, Alzheimer's and nursing homes. Stars Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent.

_ Weaknesses: If "Evening" doesn't depress you, this definitely will.

11. "28 Weeks Later" (May 11).

_ Strengths: The zombie event of the year.

_ Weaknesses: As fraudulent as the cheerful ending to "28 Days Later" felt, it's the kind of left-field risk you accept from an iconoclastic filmmaker like Danny Boyle. And guess what? No Danny Boyle this time (though he is producing).

10. "Superbad" (Aug. 17).

_ Strengths: Quite likely the sleeper of the summer. The plot: over the course of a night, two high-school friends panic as it dawns on them that heading off to college means separating.

_ Weaknesses: When is broad too broad? When is being frank too _ well, when is it too much information about the teenage-male condition?

9. "Sicko" (late June)

_ Strengths: Michael Moore, the one brand name in theatrical documentaries, returns with (it's looking like) the only breakout documentary of the season. So what's it about? The Moore administration is being coy. But after tackling gun control and the Bush administration, his subject is health care and the 46 million Americans who have none. A working-class hero returns to less polarizing ground.

_ Weaknesses: Oh, Mr. Moore, what baggage you carry! He's been so tightlipped on this thing, it's almost as if he's hiding something!

8. "The Simpsons Movie" (July 27).

_ Strengths: You have to see it, out of respect for genius. Twenty years of history to draw from _ 10 of genuine greatness. The hilarious trailers suggest the timing and pacing and randomness are intact.

_ Weaknesses: To the guy in the next cubicle over, the one who can quote every Simpsons line ever, nothing will be good enough.

7. "A Mighty Heart" (June 22).

_ Strengths: The sole picture this summer that takes place in the real world? The compelling story of kidnapped writer Daniel Pearl and the frantic search to find him. (His subsequent beheading was downloaded around the world.) The director is Michael Winterbottom, a British master who, though never working on a film this high-profile, has already made two movies in the Middle East, post-9/11. Let's not forget that Angelina Jolie (as Pearl's widow, Mariane) has a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

_ Weaknesses: Last year, lost in the furious reporting of Angelina's new curly hair and "mysterious" trip to a remote village was news that she was tackling a harrowing issue with a gutsy, iconoclastic filmmaker. And if you're expecting a corny, uplifting weeper, Winterbottom is not that kind of a director. Expect plenty of alienated moviegoers.

6. "Ocean's Thirteen" (June 8).

_ Strengths: Unabashed glamour. Sophisticated filmmaking. And as the trailer promises, everyone's in: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Steven Soderbergh.

_ Weaknesses: Indulgent? Come on! What do you expect from a series based on a heist thriller Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin made between matinees at the Sands?

5. "Rescue Dawn" (July 27).

_ Strengths: How often do you get to say this? "A fantastic summer movie by Werner Herzog." "Rescue Dawn" is a fictional retelling of Herzog's "Little Dieter Needs to Fly," a 1997 documentary about a Navy pilot shot down over Laos in the 1960s who plots a meticulous escape and lives off the land for weeks. It's as exiting (and absorbing) as it sounds. Christian Bale delivers again as the pilot.

_ Weaknesses: This thing will roll out slowly, city by city _ like the art-house movie it definitely is not. Convincing the "What? Another war movie?" contingent we have another "Stalag 17" won't be easy.

4. "Ratatouille" (June 29).

_ Strengths: The return of Brad Bird, the most talented guy in animation. "The Incredibles," "Iron Giant" _ he made those, which makes this, the latest Pixar, even more eagerly anticipated than "Cars." Bird specializes in hard lessons, and this one's a doozy: a rat trains to become a world-class chef.

_ Weaknesses: Never mind whether audiences can say the title (rat-a-too-ee); can they stomach the premise? Rats and food _ a hard sell.

3. "The Bourne Ultimatum" (Aug. 3).

_ Strengths: Can you think of another action movie with a script co-written by playwright Tom Stoppard? For that matter, has there ever been a movie series so much brainier than the novels it was adapted from? Director Paul Greengrass is back for a second go-around, his first picture since "United 93." Matt Damon returns for a third tussle as Jason the Amnesiac Assassin.

_ Weaknesses: It's the rare series (of any sort) that strikes the trifecta in the quality department.

2. "Knocked Up" (June 1).

_ Strengths: Writer-director Judd Apatow's follow-up to "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is the most-buzzed-about comedy since "Wedding Crashers." Slob Seth Rogan lucks into a one-night stand with hottie Katherine Heigl (of "Grey's Anatomy"). Eight weeks later, she's back. And pregnant.

_ Weaknesses: The movie has no big stars, and the title, however suited, will not draw the broad audience it deserves.

1. "Once" (June).

_ Strengths: For one, it's nearly perfect. Never mind it recently won the Audience Award at Sundance _ that's been wrong before. Two real Irish musicians play musicians who meet on a Belfast street. One is a pianist who sells roses. She's struck by the intensity of a street busker (he sounds like an Arcade Fire castoff). They become friends, and with zero pretense, the film becomes a musical _ about aching hearts who, like their music (gorgeous), fall in time. But maybe the moment is wrong. Hopeful, unaffected, the songs arrived at with a grace so offhanded you don't realize until later it's a musical _ that's genuine movie magic.

_ Weaknesses: Summer doesn't get more modest. When is subtle too subtle? What works aesthetically (roving, scrappy camera work, a rough simple charm), might work against it box-officewise.

(Contact Christopher Borrelli at: cborrelli(at)theblade.com.)

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