Summer 2019 movie preview
Is it just me, or did this spring seem especially starved for good movies? Apart from Marvel’s one-two blockbuster punch of CAPTAIN MARVEL and AVENGERS: ENDGAME – both of which I enjoyed, the former surprisingly more than the latter – there just hasn't been much in theaters to stir any real excitement among movie lovers, give or take a JOHN WICK 3 (fun, but sates quickly). While we usually see the first crop of promising summer arrivals by mid-May, we seem to be getting off to a slow start this year. But never fear, there are plenty of buzzy releases just around the corner. And though it’s a fool’s game predicting which ones will take off, I hereby decree this (1) the Summer of the Asian American (aka post-Crazy Rich Asians Bonanza Summer) and (2) the Summer of Emma Thompson, who has at least two potential hits that seem calculated to play to her particular brand of awesomeness. Here’s hoping I prove correct on both counts.
In order of release date, here are the ten movies I’m most looking forward to this summer:
BOOKSMART (in theaters)
Olivia Wilde makes her directorial debut in what’s being billed as “the female Superbad” but sounds more like a continuation of Lady Bird’s lovely ode to teen girl friendship – and not just because it stars Beanie Feldstein. She and Kaitlyn Dever (Short Term 12, Detroit, The Front Runner, Beautiful Boy) play best friends who are about to graduate high school and, after four straight years of all-work-no-play, decide to make up for all the fun they missed in one epic night. The results, by all accounts, are equal parts hilarious and heartwarming.
ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE (May 31 on Netflix)
Although I have deeply conflicted feelings about Netflix, given their ultimate goal to render movie theaters obsolete, I can’t say no to a rom-com that stars Randall Park (“Fresh Off the Boat,” The Interview) and stand-up comedian Ali Wong, and that refers to one of my go-to karaoke songs. Park and Wong play a pair of childhood friends who randomly run into each other decades later and strike sparks despite finding they’re in completely different life situations. Bonus: Keanu Reeves apparently has an offbeat cameo.
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO (June 7)
In recent years the Bay area has maintained a summer tradition of high-quality, thought-provoking films about the modern African American experience, from Fruitvale Station to last year’s Blindspotting and Sorry to Bother You and now this labor of love by first-time director Joe Talbot, who also co-stars with his longtime friend Jimmie Fails. Based on Fails’ real-life story, the movie focuses on his quest to preserve the San Francisco family home built by his grandfather in the face of the city’s all-too-well known epidemic of gentrification on steroids. Timely and poignant? Audiences certainly thought so at Sundance, where it won raves and several awards earlier this year.
LATE NIGHT (June 7)
Mindy Kaling continues her march to conquer Hollywood in this comedy about a pathbreaking female talk show host (Emma Thompson) who hires her first female writer (Kaling, who also wrote the screenplay) in an attempt to gin up falling ratings. Their relationship starts off on a decidedly frosty note, as the new hire’s lack of experience runs up against her boss’s acerbic personality and longstanding reputation as a woman who hates other women. No doubt the ice eventually thaws; the fun is seeing how, and what happens when the two join forces to prove the naysayers wrong.
PAVAROTTI (June 7)
Ron Howard directs this documentary about the legendary tenor who brought opera to the masses. As someone who grew up to the sound of his golden voice pouring through my parents’ speakers and still regards him as the preeminent tenor of my time, I am pretty much the target audience for this movie. But even if you’re not, you should consider seeing it, if only to understand what an outsized impact the Pav had on making opera as popular and accessible as it’s ever likely to get—and to revel in that voice. Simply put, there will never be another like it.
MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL (June 14)
I watched Men in Black 3 in large part because the great Emma Thompson was in it, and found it unexpectedly enjoyable. Now we have Dame Emma returning for the “international” installment, along with a fresh pair of leads played by Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, who demonstrated their chemistry in Thor: Ragnorak. Count these as reasons enough for me to see it.
THE FAREWELL (July 12)
2018's most delightful breakout star, the inimitable Awkafina, leads this dramedy about a young Chinese-American woman who travels to China after her grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. The twist is that the entire family is hiding the truth from the grandmother and demanding that the granddaughter play along, much to the latter's discomfort. The film was well received at Sundance, and promises to resonate not just with other Asian Americans but anyone who’s confronted cultural or generational conflicts within one’s own family.
THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE (July 12)
A cannily cast Jesse Eisenberg plays an overly meek, mild-mannered accountant who joins a karate class after getting brutally beaten up by a biker gang. Under the influence of his mucho-macho instructor (Alessandro Nivola), he discovers a whole untapped reservoir of hyperaggression within himself as he immerses himself in his new world. What follows is part study, part send-up of toxic masculinity that’s already evoked comparisons to Fight Club. In other words, probably an all too apt touchstone for our times.
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD (July 26)
Quentin Tarantino’s latest stars Leonardo di Caprio as a past-his-prime actor and Brad Pitt as his stunt double, in and around the time of the infamous Tate murders (with Margot Robbie playing Sharon Tate). The latter, however, doesn’t seem to be Tarantino’s primary focus, so much as an excuse for him to compose his own personal love letter to late 1960s Hollywood. Judging from the film’s reception at Cannes, it’s a fun watch that largely succeeds on those terms.
WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? (Aug. 16)
This adaptation of a bestselling novel about a brilliant architect turned stay-at-home mom who suddenly, mysteriously disappears, told from the viewpoint of her teenage daughter, interests me less for its premise (I haven’t read the book) than for the people involved in its making. A film directed by Richard Linklater, with Cate Blanchett in the title role? Color me intrigued, if not 100% sold.
Other noteworthy summer releases: ROCKETMAN; DARK PHOENIX; SHAFT; TOY STORY 4; YESTERDAY; SPIDERMAN: FAR FROM HOME; MIDSOMMAR; THE LION KING; THE KITCHEN; BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
In order of release date, here are the ten movies I’m most looking forward to this summer:
BOOKSMART (in theaters)
Olivia Wilde makes her directorial debut in what’s being billed as “the female Superbad” but sounds more like a continuation of Lady Bird’s lovely ode to teen girl friendship – and not just because it stars Beanie Feldstein. She and Kaitlyn Dever (Short Term 12, Detroit, The Front Runner, Beautiful Boy) play best friends who are about to graduate high school and, after four straight years of all-work-no-play, decide to make up for all the fun they missed in one epic night. The results, by all accounts, are equal parts hilarious and heartwarming.
ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE (May 31 on Netflix)
Although I have deeply conflicted feelings about Netflix, given their ultimate goal to render movie theaters obsolete, I can’t say no to a rom-com that stars Randall Park (“Fresh Off the Boat,” The Interview) and stand-up comedian Ali Wong, and that refers to one of my go-to karaoke songs. Park and Wong play a pair of childhood friends who randomly run into each other decades later and strike sparks despite finding they’re in completely different life situations. Bonus: Keanu Reeves apparently has an offbeat cameo.
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO (June 7)
In recent years the Bay area has maintained a summer tradition of high-quality, thought-provoking films about the modern African American experience, from Fruitvale Station to last year’s Blindspotting and Sorry to Bother You and now this labor of love by first-time director Joe Talbot, who also co-stars with his longtime friend Jimmie Fails. Based on Fails’ real-life story, the movie focuses on his quest to preserve the San Francisco family home built by his grandfather in the face of the city’s all-too-well known epidemic of gentrification on steroids. Timely and poignant? Audiences certainly thought so at Sundance, where it won raves and several awards earlier this year.
LATE NIGHT (June 7)
Mindy Kaling continues her march to conquer Hollywood in this comedy about a pathbreaking female talk show host (Emma Thompson) who hires her first female writer (Kaling, who also wrote the screenplay) in an attempt to gin up falling ratings. Their relationship starts off on a decidedly frosty note, as the new hire’s lack of experience runs up against her boss’s acerbic personality and longstanding reputation as a woman who hates other women. No doubt the ice eventually thaws; the fun is seeing how, and what happens when the two join forces to prove the naysayers wrong.
PAVAROTTI (June 7)
Ron Howard directs this documentary about the legendary tenor who brought opera to the masses. As someone who grew up to the sound of his golden voice pouring through my parents’ speakers and still regards him as the preeminent tenor of my time, I am pretty much the target audience for this movie. But even if you’re not, you should consider seeing it, if only to understand what an outsized impact the Pav had on making opera as popular and accessible as it’s ever likely to get—and to revel in that voice. Simply put, there will never be another like it.
MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL (June 14)
I watched Men in Black 3 in large part because the great Emma Thompson was in it, and found it unexpectedly enjoyable. Now we have Dame Emma returning for the “international” installment, along with a fresh pair of leads played by Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, who demonstrated their chemistry in Thor: Ragnorak. Count these as reasons enough for me to see it.
THE FAREWELL (July 12)
2018's most delightful breakout star, the inimitable Awkafina, leads this dramedy about a young Chinese-American woman who travels to China after her grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. The twist is that the entire family is hiding the truth from the grandmother and demanding that the granddaughter play along, much to the latter's discomfort. The film was well received at Sundance, and promises to resonate not just with other Asian Americans but anyone who’s confronted cultural or generational conflicts within one’s own family.
THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE (July 12)
A cannily cast Jesse Eisenberg plays an overly meek, mild-mannered accountant who joins a karate class after getting brutally beaten up by a biker gang. Under the influence of his mucho-macho instructor (Alessandro Nivola), he discovers a whole untapped reservoir of hyperaggression within himself as he immerses himself in his new world. What follows is part study, part send-up of toxic masculinity that’s already evoked comparisons to Fight Club. In other words, probably an all too apt touchstone for our times.
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD (July 26)
Quentin Tarantino’s latest stars Leonardo di Caprio as a past-his-prime actor and Brad Pitt as his stunt double, in and around the time of the infamous Tate murders (with Margot Robbie playing Sharon Tate). The latter, however, doesn’t seem to be Tarantino’s primary focus, so much as an excuse for him to compose his own personal love letter to late 1960s Hollywood. Judging from the film’s reception at Cannes, it’s a fun watch that largely succeeds on those terms.
WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? (Aug. 16)
This adaptation of a bestselling novel about a brilliant architect turned stay-at-home mom who suddenly, mysteriously disappears, told from the viewpoint of her teenage daughter, interests me less for its premise (I haven’t read the book) than for the people involved in its making. A film directed by Richard Linklater, with Cate Blanchett in the title role? Color me intrigued, if not 100% sold.
Other noteworthy summer releases: ROCKETMAN; DARK PHOENIX; SHAFT; TOY STORY 4; YESTERDAY; SPIDERMAN: FAR FROM HOME; MIDSOMMAR; THE LION KING; THE KITCHEN; BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
posted by lylee2 at 3:04 PM
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