Iron Man May 2
The Marvel hero makes his big screen debut here. The trailers have been awesome, augmented by the inclusion of the Ozzy Osbourne song. Robert Downey Jr. looks the part and has gotten approval from even the most rabid fans. Favreau has a genuine passion for the material so there is no doubt that Stark's going to get a good treatment here. While Sam Jackson will not be appearing as Nick Fury here. Stark will be appearing in Hulk along with Fury thus building the Marvel Universe for the upcoming Avengers movie.
Along with the origin, we will see Iron Man take on Iron Monger, sort of an evil Iron Man (most comic book heroes have an evil doppelganger in some form so it's ok). Even though the two films are months apart, a rivalry between this and The Dark Knight. I personally can't wait for either of them. They both look spectacular.
Speed Racer May 9
Seeing the trailers for this kind of make me shudder. It's very neon-ey and bright. Visually it does look quite stunning, but I never saw the appeal of the cartoon so it stands to reason I won't see the appeal here. The one big flaw this movie makes is having the characters mouth movement match what they're saying (which from what I saw never happened in the cartoon) not to mention the complete lack of repetitive "ha ha's". If you're a fan of the cartoon I'm sure you will enjoy it. At the very least it will bring up fond memories. Alas it doesn't seem to be to my tastes so I'm going to pass on this one.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian May 16
The follow up to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, this movie's taking us back to Narnia several centuries after the end of the last movie. I really enjoyed the first one. It wasn't a massive masterpiece like Lord of the Rings but it was highly enjoyable. Liam Neeson makes a superb Aslan and the actors and actresses did a good job of bringing the Pevensies to life. I hope that this follows the trend of other sequels (such as Spidey 2, X-Men 2, Star Trek 2, Empire) and kicking everything up a notch, not just action (though I'd be OK with that) but character development and story.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull May 22
After spending years in development hell, Indy's coming back to the big screen. It's too bad Sean Connery isn't returning but this still looks like it's going to be pretty great. I've done a good job of avoiding spoilers so I know little of the plot short of the fact that he teams up with Shia LeBeouf.
Sex and the City May 30
Why Hollywood? Why?
The Incredible Hulk June 13
After Ang Lee's quasi-failed attempt to bring the angry green giant to the screen. Marvel takes another whack at it with Ed Norton playing Banner and pitting him against the Abomination (evil hulk doppelganger...see I told you). The CGI looks quite a bit better and it appears to be staying truer to the comics. Also features the debut of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury which will be nothing short of glorious. A cameo by Tony "Iron Man" Stark is also in here so the building of the Marvel film universe will continue.
Wall*E June 27
Pixar's done a dang good job of making quality flicks so far but from the looks of it, this will be up there with The Iron Giant as a charming film that's loaded with heart and is charming as all hell.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army July 11
While not as hyped as the other comic movies. I'm certain this will be great. I really enjoyed the first one, so, like Narnia I hope the momentum continues. The franchise seems to be in good hands so I have little reason to think that they will botch this one.
The Dark Knight July 18
After a frikkin brilliant viral campaign, the Batman Begins sequel hits theaters with Bale's caped crusader going mono e mono with Heath Ledger's deliciously deranged Joker. While I didn't think Katie Holmes was that bad, I know a lot of people are glad to see her gone. I will admit given the caliber of actors she was working with she was the weak link, but most of the complaints I had were around her character more then her acting. Still, Maggie Gyllenhaal should prove to bring a new twist to it. I kinda wish that they had cast her brother Jake as Harvey, between his sister being there it would add a bizarre subtext to any interaction he had with Joker. Still, Aaron Eckhart does look the part, and the "campaign" he ran was quite stellar.
The X-Files 2: I Want to Believe
I don't know what to make of this. I'm a fan of the show and the first movie was decent. But its been years since the show ended. So I don't know if it's going to bring in as many fans as it would have had it not lingered in development hell for so many years. More importantly, I'm still not sure if this takes place after the series finale or what? The general synopsis is that of a standard FOTW story, which is fine after the arc centered first movie. Doggett and Reyes don't appear but Xzibit does. At the very least, as was the case with Bender's Big Score and Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, I will garner at least some enjoyment from watching this simply from the joy of seeing these characters return after a long hiatus.
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