From ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ to ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’: Every Movie You Need to See This Summer
From Memorial Day to Labor Day, movie lovers get the usual assortment of big, things-go-boom blockbusters and I.P. franchise extensions ā your sequels, your prequels, your Chapter 117 of the Ongoing, Endlessly Metastasizing Marvel Cinematic Universe Saga. This summer isn’t any different, with everything from a new Top Gun movie (finally!) to a new Thor entry, the origin story of Buzz Lightyear to the final entry in the Jurassic World trilogy. Ever wanted to see Brad Pitt shoot up a train full of assassins or learn about the adventures of Superman’s dog? You’re in luck, folks!
But pull back a bit to see the bigger picture, and you’ll notice there’s actually a wider variety of stuff to check out besides the usual superheroes and brand-name characters you know and love. For the next three months, you’ll also get some family-friendly comedies, costume dramas, tender romances, big-deal biopics, triumph-of-the-underdog sports stories, genuinely creepy horror movies, docs on subjects ranging from Leonard Cohen’s best-known song to a longstanding love affair between volcanologists, not one but two Idris Elba joints and a few things that genuinely defy description but are definitely worth your attention.
Here are the 40 movies you should be paying attention to ā and seeing in an honest-to-goodness theater; the bigger the screen, the better ā this summer. There’s something here for everybody.
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‘Men’ (May 20)
Image Credit: A24 A recently widowed young woman named Harper (Jessie Buckley) rents a cottage in the English countryside in order to deal with her grief and trauma over losing her husband. Once there, she decides to wander around the area…and thinks mysterious man might be following her. The less said the better about what happens next, but we will say this: How writer-director Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation) spins this basic premise into a high-concept, socially conscious nightmare is a thing to behold; Buckley deserves an Oscar nomination for this; it may already be our favorite horror movie of 2022; and to the females of the species, on behalf of the males of the species, we’re sorry. Very, very, very, very sorry.
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‘Top Gun: Maverick’ (May 27)
Image Credit: Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures Because you never really get rid of that need for speed, right? Tom Cruise returns to one of his most famous roles: Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, former hotshot fighter pilot who’s now an instructor in the Navy’s “Top Gun” program. Naturally, he’s got some things to teach the whippersnappers who think their egos can write checks which their bodies can, in fact, not cash. Especially since one of them, Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), has a huge chip on his shoulder and a desire to prove he’s the best of the best. Sound familiar? Oh, and did we mention he’s the son of Maverick’s late partner, Goose? Also hovering near various cockpits and landing strips: Ed Harris, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell, and The Good Place‘s Manny Jacinto. Take our breath away one more time, Tom!
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‘Benediction’ (June 3)
Image Credit: Laurence Cendrowicz/Roadside Attractions Even by the high standards of Terence Davies’ impressive body of work, this biopic of WWI veteran and poet Siegfried Sassoon stands out as something unique in the filmmaker’s 45-year career: a seamless blend of historical drama, literary memoir, queer desire, quiet passion and raging anger at the senseless loss of an entire generation of men. The acting is first-rate (especially Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi as younger/older versions of Sassoon, and Ben Daniels as a sympathetic doctor). The wit is scathing, even as tragedy hovers constantly in the background ā imagine The Guns of August rewritten by Oscar Wilde. And the final shot, in which a lifetime’s worth of sorrow and trauma suddenly hit with the hurricane, will knock the wind out of you.
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‘Crimes of the Future’ (June 3)
Image Credit: Nikos Nikolopoulos He’s back! David Cronenberg returns with his first movie in eight years, a throwback to his early, body-horror years that borrows the title (but not the plot) of his 1970 sophomore feature. In the future, performance artists draw huge crowds by mutilating themselves and “surgery is the new sex.” Superstar Saul Tenzer (Viggo Mortensen) and his partner Caprice (Lea Seydoux) have distinguished themselves in their field; a mysterious new movement wants to leverage his fame, however, to further their own agenda. Kristen Stewart, Don McKellar and Scott Speedman round out the cast. Forget the new flesh. Long live the old-school Cronenberg!
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‘Dashcam’ (June 3rd)
Image Credit: Blumhouse Productions Director Rob Savage (the Zoom-seance movie Host) continues to ride the techno-formal horror wave with this spooky tale of an American musician/anti-vax troll (Annie Hardy) livestreaming her trip to London to see an old bandmate (Amar Chadha-Patel). While joyriding one night, she’s convinced to give a sick elderly woman a ride to a remote address…and chaos ensues. The catch: The whole thing is seen via the main character’s social-media feed, complete with running commentary. It’s proof that maybe the only thing scarier than some bloody, teeth-baring monstrosity jumping out at you from the darkness is a MAGA shitposter with an audience.
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‘Fire Island’ (June 3)
Image Credit: Jeong Park/Searchlight Pictures A group of longtime friends gather at New York’s hottest summer-getaway spot, as they have for years ā and everything is wonderful until romance outside of their social circle tests their bonds and tolerance for overly bougie B.S. If this LGBTQ+ take on Pride & Prejudice set among the Pines is even half as funny as writer/star Joel Kim Booster’s stand-up special, you are in for a treat. Bowen Yang, Margaret Cho, and How to Get Away With Murder‘s Conrad Ricamora offer moral support and laughs, not necessarily in that order; Andrew Ahn (Driveways) directs.
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‘Neptune Frost’ (June 3)
Amidst a futuristic background of colonization, hyper-industrialization, student protests and civil unrest, an intersex hacker falls in love with a miner seeking revenge for the death of his brother. Their bond could herald the dawning of a new era, not to mention an opportunity for a lot of experimental narrative storytelling and the chance to rage against any number of machines. That’s as close as we can come to describing what happens this Afro-cyberpunk collaboration between directors Saul Williams (Slam) and Anisia Uzeyman ā it’s a movie that defies easy classification but gives you the sort of bold, singular experience that imprints you on a big way.
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‘Hustle’ (June 8)
Image Credit: NETFLIX Adam Sandler continues his post-Uncut Gems, the-Sandman-in-Winter phase with this sports-underdog story about a former scout for the Philadelphia 76ers who discovers a 22-year-old hoops phenom (real-life Utah Jazz power forward Juancho HernangĆ³mez) playing street ball in Spain. Determined to turn this raw talent into the next Allen Iverson, he brings the young man back to America and begins personally coaching him, with his eyes on the NBA-contract prize. We kinda like when Sandler goes dour like this. Queen Latifah, Ben Foster, Robert Duvall and what seems like half of the league’s superstars are along for the ride.
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‘Jurassic World Dominion’ (June 10)
Image Credit: Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment The sixth film in the dinosaurs-run-amuck franchise and the third film in the Jurassic World trilogy (please mark your score cards accordingly) fast-forwards four years after the last JW entry, Fallen Kingdom ā and you may remember that 2018 blockbuster ending with a host of giant, scaly predators now jumping, swimming, flying and [gulp] preying among the general population. Big-wave surfers getting picked off by pterodactyls and city streets being overrun with ravaging velociraptors are the new normal, in other words. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are once again trying to avoid being chomped, while Jurassic Park O.G.s Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum are back to weigh in on the mayhem as well.
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‘Lightyear’ (June 10)
Image Credit: 2022 Disney/Pixar Finally, the real scoop behind everyoneās favorite Toy Story interstellar action figure. This Pixar spin-off takes us back to Buzz Lightyearās beginning, long before he was the delusional, plastic lilā buddy of Woody and friends ā this is supposedly an animated version of the fictional live-action movie that inspired the toy, with no less than Captain America, i.e. Chris Evans, voicing the human Buzz. Taika Waititi is also lending his dulcet tones to an unnamed character as well. In the spirit of equal time, weāre demanding a companion film that dives into Woodyās backstory, to be entitled When Snake Met Boot.
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‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ (June 17)
Image Credit: Apple TV+ “Let’s get this party started!” That’s something you might hear Andrew (writer-director Cooper Raiff) yell on the bar-mitzvah dance floor ā this perpetually lost twentysomething has somehow parlayed being the wild and crazy guy at the coming-of-age ceremony into a part-time paying “party host” gig. It’s at one of these get-togethers that he strikes up a friendship with a mom (Dakota Johnson) and her autistic teen daughter (Vanessa Bughardt), which makes him think he needs to start taking his future seriously. This indie comedy won the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance, and it’s definitely a crowd-pleaser.
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‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’ (June 17)
Image Credit: Nick Wall/Searchlight Pictures Or: God bless you, Emma Thompson. The British actor is not just one-half of director Sophie Hyde’s two-hander, about a widow who hires the handsomest male escort (Daryl McCormack) in the U.K. on a whim, then continues to see him over the course of several months. She’s the heart and soul of this dual character study, which starts as a sort of comfy, cutesy sexual-awakening comedy and then proceeds to sidestep into some interesting terrain regarding female desire, society’s beauty standards, the aging process and more. If she isn’t giving a career-best performance here, it’s damn near close.
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‘Official Competition’ (June 17)
Image Credit: Manolo Pavon/IFC Films A distinguished leader of industry decides that, in order for his legacy to be complete, he should produce a movie. So he gather together all the right ingredients: a bestselling novel, an eccentric auteur (PenĆ©lope Cruz), a pretentious veteran actor (Oscar MartĆnez), a narcisstic movie star (Antonio Banderas). Cue lots of backbiting, bad behavior, and absolute chaos. A stealth favorite out of last year’s Venice Film Festival, Argentine filmmakers Mariano Cohn and GastĆ³n Duprat’s backstage farce hits all the right notes of dark comedy, showbiz parody and old-fashioned ridiculousness. It’s also Exhibit A for making a case for Cruz, dolled up with an outrageous red mane (and playing a character who may or may not be based off an extremely well-known world-cinema superstar), as a broad, comedic performer whose ability to channel daffiness matches her dramatic skills.
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‘Spiderhead’ (June 17)
Image Credit: Netflix George Saunders fans, rejoice! The prolific, Absurdist author’s 2010 short story “Escape From Spiderhead,” about a remote clinic that subjects patients to mood-controlling pharmaceuticals, gets the full-on Netflix blockbuster treatment. Miles Teller is the prisoner-turned-patient who finds himself at the mercy of whatever drugs are being pumped into his system. Taking a break from MCU duties, Chris Hemsworth is the doctor testing out what he hopes will be the next generation’s answer to Xanax and Gabapentin. Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) directs.
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‘The Black Phone’ (June 24)
Image Credit: Universal Pictures Ah yes, a good ol’ throwback to the grungy, grotty days of 1970s horror! It’s the dog days of the Me Decade, when a small Colorado town is plagued by an epidemic of missing children. It may have something to do with an urban-legend boogeyman known as “the Grabber,” as well as that mysterious black van that keeps showing up around the scenes of the crimes. Then 13-year-old Finn (Mason Thames) finds out that the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) is very real; ditto the killer’s basement dungeon. And what’s up with that black phone that keeps ringing, with voices on the other end warning him to get out before it’s too late? You can say this for Scott Derrickson’s retro-grindhouse scary movie: You will never see the Dead Poets Society star the same way again.
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‘Elvis’ (June 24)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Given the way that Kurt Russell captured the King of Rock & Roll in John Carpenterās 1979 TV movie, thereās really no reason to do another biopic on Elvis Presley. Unless, of course, you can get Baz Luhrmann to cowrite and direct it, in which case youāre likely to get an oddball, over-the-top version of Presleyās rise and demise. (Finger crossed heās going to Moulin Rouge this thing to the max!) Plus Austin Butler has the smoldering sex appeal of a young Elvis, and weāre extremely curious to see what Tom Hanks does with Colonel Tom Parker, Presleyās infamous, control-freak manager.
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‘Flux Gourmet’ (June 24)
Image Credit: IFC Films And now for something completely different. The latest from Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy) follows a group of performance artists who double as gourmands. They’ve set up camp in a culinary institute, where various power struggles and internal dramas unfold. There’s also some extremely weird shit going down as well.Ā Expect offbeat performances from Gwendoline Christie and Asa Butterfield, fetishes, frights, and for the British cult filmmaker to do for food what he did for fashion in In Fabric. He’s an acquired taste, sure, but once you’ve acquired it…
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‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’ (June 24)
Image Credit: A24 Fans of Jenny Slate’s YouTube videos featuring a sensitive, observant shell named Marcel ā who, yes, rocks some modestly dope sneakers ā will tell you that the comedian can pack a lot of humor, pathos and emotion into those brief, semi-animated clips. Slate and director/co-creator Dean Fleischer-Camp have now given the little fella his own feature film, in which Marcel finds himself sans community and stuck in a house with his ailing grandmother (voiced by Isabella Rosselini). We’re not joking when we say that this may be the most moving 90 minutes you spend in a theater this summer.
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‘Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song’ (July 1)
Image Credit: Graeme Mitchell/Redux/Sony Pictures Classics It took Leonard Cohen eight years to pen “Hallelujah,” his ode to the sacred and the profane, the holy and the carnal; it took one record exec at Columbia to refuse to release the album that it was on in the States; and it took three cover versions (by John Cale, Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright III, respectively) to not only rescue it from obscurity but turn it into a modern American songbook staple. Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s documentary dig deep into the history of one of Cohen’s best-known, most beloved tracks, as well as the Canadian poet/songwriter’s obsessions and creative preoccupations that inspired it. It may also be the only movie this year that draws a direct line between Zen Buddhist monks, Phil Spector and Shrek (we think).
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‘Mr. Malcolm’s List’ (July 1)
Image Credit: Bleecker Street Pictures Beware a woman scorned ā especially if it’s the 1800s, and like the dashing man-about-town Jeremy Malcolm (SopĆ© Dirisu), you’ve managed to publicly humiliate a socialite like Ms. Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton). Having been found somewhat wanting by this potential suitor because she does not live up to his “list” of qualifications for a bride, Julia concocts a scheme to get revenge: She will get her childhood friend Selina (Freida Pinto) to pretend to be his ideal mate, then break his heart. Guess who ends up really falling in love? Fact: Moviegoers can not live on CGI dinosaurs and superheroes alone, even in the summertime. Occasionally, they need a romantic comedy with frilly dresses and cutting witticisms and British accents, so consider this your seasonal counterprogramming.
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‘Fire of Love’ (July 6)
Image Credit: Neon Pictures There are couples who share a common interest. And then there’s Katia and Maurice Krafft, two French scientists who met, fell in head over heels for each other and traveled the world together, all of it spurred on by their mutual obsession: volcanoes. Filmmaker Sara Dosa gives you the Greatest Lava-Fueled Love Story Ever Told, utilizing the Kraftts’ own films of active eruptions and spewing magma geysers to complement their passion ā for both their work and each other. It’s ethereal, elliptical in its construction and eerily beautiful; not even Miranda July’s oft-kilter narration can break the spell. And even if you know the ending of this story going in, the movie is still an extraordinary testament to one white hot amour fou.
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‘Both Sides of the Blade’ (July 8)
Image Credit: Curiosa Films/IFC Films French filmmaker Claire Denis (Beau Travail, High Life) returns with this drama about a couple, Jean and Sara (Vincent Lindon and Juliette Binoche), who’ve settled into stable, if somewhat humdrum routine. Then Jean is approached by an old friend (GrĆ©goire Colin) he hasn’t seen in years, who comes offering a lucrative business deal. The man also happens to be Sara’s old flame, however, and they might have unfinished business between the two of them, and…yeah. Things become very messy. And because it’s Denis at the helm, you also get a sui generis, psychologically cracked look at what happens amour takes a hard left turn towards the fou.
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‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ (July 8)
Image Credit: Jasin Boland. Ā©Marvel Studios 2022 Taika Waititiās sequel to his MCU best-in-show entry Thor: Ragnarok asks the question: What if someone besides the traditional tall, blond and handsome Thor took on the powers of the God of Thunder? Like, say, his old romantic interest Jane Foster? Chris Hemsworth is back as the big olā Asgardian, Natalie Portman returns to play Foster, Tess Thompson gives us more of her tough-talking Valkryrie, and Christian Bale joins the party as Gorr the God Butcher. Oh, and apparently a whole bunch of the Guardians of the Galaxy were in the neighborhood as well, so theyāre all in this too. Cool.
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‘Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris’ (July 15)
Image Credit: DĆ”vid LukĆ”cs/Ada Films Mrs. Harris (Lesley Manville) is someone you might call, per her own words, “an invisible woman”: A cleaning lady who toils away in anonymity in 1950s London, tending to the houses of the upper crust. But this everywoman had dreams, and the specifically involve a haute couture Christian Dior dress that she feels in her bones that she must have. So quicker than you can say “Oscar nominee for Phantom Thread,” our heroine is off to the designer’s hoity-toity fashion house in the City of Light, catching side-eye glances from Isabelle Huppert and romantically wooing Lambert Wilson. Bonus points for truth-in-advertising regarding the title.
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‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ (July 15)
Image Credit: Michele K Short/Columbia Pictures They called her “the Marsh Girl” ā a mysterious, feral orphan who lived on her own by the edges of North Carolina’s marshlands. Her actual name was Kyra, and thanks to her smarts and the kindness of strangers, she grew up to be a fine young woman. Two young men take a romantic interest in her. And then one of these suitors is found dead in the woods, and this former social pariah becomes the prime suspect. An adaptation of Delia Owens’ best-selling novel, this drama from director Olivia Newman (First Match) promises Southern Gothic intrigue, love triangles, and some courtroom intrigue. It also seems likely to level-up Normal People‘s Daisy Edgar-Jones, cast as the adult Kyra, from the most-promising-actor category to the A-list.
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‘The Gray Man’ (July 22)
Image Credit: Paul Abell/Netflix How many times has this happened to you: You’re working as the top killer-for-hire for the Central Intelligence Agency, you get betrayed by the powers that be, you have to use all of the skills they’ve taught to survive (and save your family)…and then your agency’s most toxic fixer gets dispatched to take you out! Tuesdays, amirite?! Anthony and Joe Russo direct this adaptation of Mark Greaney’s first novel about a rogue agent, with Ryan Gosling playing the title character and Chris Evans as his former colleague who’s now the cat in this cat-and-mouse game. Also ready to get their hands dirty with some cinema du espionage: Ana de Armas, Bridgerton‘s RegĆ©-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfre Woodard, Wagner Moura and Michael Gandolfini.
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‘My Old School’ (July 22)
Image Credit: Magolia Pictures Jono McCleod’s portrait of a hoax is an exceedingly creative and endlessly clever look back at a mysterious new student at a Scottish high school who, despite being a bit of braniac misfit, wins over the affections of his classmates. Except the documentary’s main subject refused to appear on camera, however, so the filmmaker got Alan Cumming to lip-sync to an audio interview; animation and new testimonials from the gent’s peers (it helps that the director himself was part of that very class) fill in the rest of the story. We won’t reveal what the mystery at the center of this WTF tale is. We will say that how it unfolds onscreen is, in its own way, low-key brilliant.
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‘Nope’ (July 22)
Image Credit: Universal Pictures So hereās what we know about Jordan Peeleās upcoming, hush-hush new project: Like Get Out and Us, itās a horror movie. It stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun. The poster features what appears to be a giant cloud hovering over a small city, or what could be aliens. The film was shot in 65mm by the same cinematographer who lensed Dunkirkā¦so itās likely to be big. And the filmmaker told the audience at this year’s Cinemacon that, “I’m going to personally thrive on the number of times we hear the word ‘nope’ in the theater. That person who doesnāt like horror movies, it’s about bringing that person in.” Thatās about it so far, but cāmon: Jordan Peele, horror movie? You’re there no matter what.
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‘DC League of Super Pets’ (July 29)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Sure, we all know about Superman (home planet blew up, alter ego is a reporter at the Daily Planet, pals around with a bunch of other folks in capes, truth and jutsice yadda yadda yadda). But what do you know about his faithful pet dog?! This animated tale follows the exploits of the Man of Steel’s best friend, a dashing mutt named Krypto (voiced by Dwayne Johnson). When the guy with the S on his chest gets in trouble, Krypto has to recruit a gang of shelter pets that have recently gained some super-powers, including another dog named Ace ā he’s voiced by Kevin Hart, which is unsurprising given the Hollywood mandate that every other Johnson project must also somehow involve the fast-talking comedian. (We don’t make the rules, folks, we just grouse about them.) Other talent on deck: Natasha Lyonne, Vanessa Bayer, John Krasinski, Kate McKinnon, Marc Maron, Diego Luna and ā as the voice of Batman ā Keanu Reeves. Look, it can’t be as bad as Dawn of Justice, right?
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‘A Love Song’ (July 29)
Image Credit: Bleecker Street No one would dispute the fact that Dale Dickey is the kind of character actor whose presence immediately makes any project 20-percent better ā if you’ve seen her supporting work and/or brief turns in Winter’s Bone, Hell and High Water, and countless other films and TV shows, and you know exactly what we mean. Writer-director Max Walker-Silverman’s witty, bittersweet tale of a romance between a lonely widow living out of a trailer and a long-lost boyfriend (Wes Studi) ā who she’s been waiting years to reunite with ā finally gives her the chance to take center stage. And to say Ms. Dickey makes the most of this opportunity would be underselling just how poignant, understated and absolutely brilliant she is in what feels like a role tailored to her strengths. Plus she and Studi make a great pair ā put them together, and they’re like sex symbols for the over-60 set.
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‘Not Okay’ (July 29)
Image Credit: Nicole Rivelli/Searchlight Pictures What do you do if you’re thirsty for social-media followers and trying build up your brand online? If you’re writer Danni Sanders (Zooey Deutsch), you gin up a fake trip to Paris with doctored Instagram photos, of course. Except then the European city is hit with a catastrophe, and everyone thinks she was not only there but was a hero, and while it does get her the attention she so desperately craves, well…the whole thing is eventually going to be exposed as a lie, right? And maybe Danni will do anything to keep that from happening?
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‘Vengeance’ (July 29)
Image Credit: Focus Features Writer/director/Office alumni/star B.J. Novak delivers a dark comedy-slash-mystery about a New York journalist who has the hots for a young woman who lives in West Texas. Then she unexpectedly winds up dead, and the reporter decides to travel to the Lone Star state to investigate whether some sort of foul play was involved. Why do we get the feeling he’s about to get in over his head? Issa Rae, Succession‘s J. Cameron Smith and Dove Cameron costar.
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‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’ (August 5)
Image Credit: A24 Five rich teens, several significant others, a shit-ton of illicit substances, one giant mansion out in the countryside and a hurricane that threatens to keep everyone barricaded in the estate for an entire weekend ā what else is there to do but play a group game involving revealed secrets, backbiting insults and simulated murder? Except actual homicides seem to be part of this party-gone-out-of-bounds shindig as well, and everybody better figure out whole the killer is ā and fast. Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn puts a very photogenic cast ā Amandla Stenberg, Pete Davidson, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, Borat‘s Maria Bakalova ā through their postmodern slasher-flick paces. Expect some choice bitchy bon mots and a lot of you-know-whats to pile up.
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‘Bullet Train’ (August 5)
Image Credit: Scott Garfield/Sony Pictures The international assassin community is, weāre told, a pretty close-knit bunch ā so it isnāt surprising when a professional killer with the handle āLadybugā (Brad Pitt) finds himself recognizing some of his peers on a Japanese bullet train while heās on a job. The question is: How are all of them on the same speeding train? Do all of their respective hits happen to have some sort of common connection? And more importantly: Who may be setting them up, and why? Sandra Bullock, Zazie Beetz, Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson play the other killers; Michael Shannon and Bad Bunny are also along for the ride. Considering that this adaptation of KĆ“tarĆ“ Isaka pulp-crime novel is being directed by John Wickās David Leitch, you should expect carnage, and a lot of it.
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‘Easter Sunday’ (August 5)
Image Credit: Ed Araquel/Universal Pictures Stand-up comedian Jo Koy takes his shot at movie stardom, with this story about an aspiring actor negotiating the rocky terrain of a family get-together at Easter, a.k.a. “the Filipino Super Bowl.” The fact that his mom (Lydia Gaston) and his aunt (Tia Carrere) have been engaged in a longstanding sibling rivalry ā and his cousin (Eugene Cordero) owes a local thug some serious cash ā only makes the chance of him surviving this holiday that much harder. Throw in Tiffany Haddish as a horny cop, and boom. You’ve got a culturally specific comedy with broad appeal, or something close to it.
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’13: The Musical’ (August 12)
Image Credit: Alan Markfield/Netflix Twelve-year-old Evan Goldman (Eli Golden) is just one year ā and one major Jewish ritual ā away from becoming a man. He’s also watching his world get completely upended as his parents get divorced, he’s forced to move from bustling New York City to small-town Indiana, and has to figure out how to make a new circle friends at a new school in a completely new environment. The key to surviving all of this madness: simply throw the greatest bar mitzvah of all time. Easy-peasy. The cult Broadway musical now makes it way to the screen, with Tamra Davis ā who’s directed everything from the Britney Spears drama Crossroads to Half-Baked ā calling the shots and Debra Messing, Josh Peck, Rhea Perlman and legion of up-and-coming teen actors rounding out the cast.
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‘Beast’ (August 19)
Image Credit: Lauren Mulligan/Universal Pictur It’s Idris Elba vs. an angry lion ā personally, our money is on Idris. The man sometimes known as DJ Big Driis stars as a widower father taking his two daughters on a vacation in a private game reserve. Only there’s this traumatized jungle cat on the premises as well, see, and let’s just say this king of the jungle is not too fond of humans as a species, unless they’re served up bloody rare as snacks. If you see only one paternal-crisis survivalist thriller this season…. Baltasar KormĆ”kur (Contraband, 2 Guns, Adrift) directs.
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‘The Bride’ (August 26)
Image Credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images Game of Thrones/Fast & Furious MVP Nathalie Emmanuel plays a young woman who’s courted by handsome young gent (Garrett Hedlund). Wedding bells seem to be in her future; unfortunately, so is a conspiracy centered around her husband-to-be and possibly inducting her into an exclusive, highly nocturnal club. As in, the kind who don’t go out in the sunlight and need Type O to survive.
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‘Me Time’ (August 26)
Image Credit: Saeed Adyani/Netflix All Sonny (Kevin Hart) wants is a relaxing weekend while his wife and kids are away. Is that too much to ask? Enter an old friend (Mark Wahlberg), who turns our man’s chill solo time into a wild and crazy adventure. Is this really the first time that these two actors have worked together? Who knows, this could be a hilarious buddy comedy ā or it could be the second coming of Daddy’s Home.Ā The fact that John Hamburg, who wrote and directed the criminally underrated Safe Men, is behind the camera gives us some hope, at least.
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‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ (August 31)
Image Credit: Metro Goldwyn Mayer There have been no shortage of mystical-creatures-granting-wishes stories over the centuries ā but it takes some real cajones to try and make a straight-faced version set in the modern era. So kudos to you, filmmaker George Miller, for diving headfirst into this story of a mythology scholar (Tilda Swinton) who stumbles across a djinn (Irdis Elba) in Istanbul. Should she set him free, he will make three of her dreams com true; while she contemplates the possible downsides of this deal (because you know there has to be some sort of trickery involved), he regales her with tales of his past escapades. This is the director who did Mad Max: Fury Road, so anything ā and probably everything ā is possible here.