Summer Movie Preview: June

It's all about the aliens this month ...

JUNE 1

Snow White and the Huntsman - This spring's Mirror Mirror turned out to be decent, but even before I saw that, I had higher hopes for this film, which looks to take Snow White in a more adrenalized direction - and Charlize Theron makes for a formidable wicked queen.

JUNE 8

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted - I've never much been into the Madagascar series. They're emblematic of everything wrong with DreamWorks animation - emphasizing gags over characters, and a soundtrack by K-Tel designed to give parents something to bop to. Meh.

Prometheus - Oh, HELL yes. After The Dark Knight Rises, this is the summer movie I'm most looking forward to seeing. Ridley Scott can be maddeningly inconsistent, but my feeling is he's firing on all thrusters here - and whoever says this isn't an Alien prequel is a damn liar.


JUNE 15


Rock of Ages - On the one hand, I'm not much for 80s nostalgia, but on the other hand, I very much enjoyed Adam Shannkman's Hairspray. Plus Tom Cruise looks like he's having a lot of fun, and Julianne Hough is super cute. I'm in.

That's My Boy: Adam Sandler's latest attempt to pander to people who are perpetually 13 years old. And even that may be aiming too high. I'm out.

JUNE 22

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - You know, it's funny. I might be looking forward to this even more than Spielberg's Lincoln biopic due later this year.

Brave -  Pixar. I still have faith, even if they were coasting a bit with Cars 2.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World - Keira Knightley gets a chance to be funny. The trailer is a trip.



JUNE 29

GI Joe: Retaliation: I don't care if Bruce Willis is in it. Pass. I'm not much into sequels to movies not many people liked in the first place.

Magic Mike: Steven Soderbergh makes a movie about male strippers. Wow.

People Like Us: Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the writers of Abrams' Star Trek) make their first movie that doesn't rely heavily on CGI,  A fine cast includes Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks and Olvia Wilde.

Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection: Why, yes, I would like to enter such a program - to protect me from Madea.