Summer Movie Preview: 13 Films That Might Be Good

It’s late April, which means summer movies are about to be unleashed onto audiences, young and old, from the first week of May right down to the last week of August.

While doing some research for this preview, I noticed how many of this year’s most interesting looking big studio summer films are either sequels or reboots. There are barely any original concepts — only M. Night Shyamaln’s “Trap,” Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” and Oz Perkins’ “Longlegs” are based on new ideas.

I found 13 studio films that might shake up the summer. I’m not counting the wonderful indie and foreign films, many of which I’ve already seen, at various festivals, that will be released in the next few months — Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,’ Catherine Breillat’s “Last Summer,” Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow,” Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man,” Pamela Adlon’s “Babes,” Annie Baker’s “Janet Planet,” Sean Wang’s “Didi” India Donaldson’s “Good One,” Harmony Korine’s “Aggro Dr1ft,” and Cedric Kahn’s “The Goldman Case”

The preview I’ve put together is what I’m looking forward to the most. You won’t find “The Garfield Movie”, “Bad Boys 4”, “Despicable Me 4”, “The Crow” or “Kraven the Hunter,” even though I’m sure there are some folks actually looking forward to those titles.

Let’s also get it out of the way: “Deadpool & Wolverine” will most likely be this summer’s box-office champ. It might even cross the $1B mark. There’s no need to add it on to this list. I’ve instead decided to zero in on 13 titles, directed by non-hack filmmakers, that have the potential to be something special.

1) Kinds of Kindness (June 24)

No film is more anticipated this summer, at least over here, than Yorgos Lanthimos’ 164-minute anthology. Coming off last year’s “Poor Things,” it’ll be interesting to see if Lanthimos can match the critical reception of that film. The script, originally titled “AND,” was written earlier on in Lanthimos’ career, and tackles three stories. The cast includes Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley, Willem Dafoe and Jesse Plemons. Early word is that the film is “hostile,” “aggressive” and harkens back to Lanthimos’ earlier works.

2) Furiosa (May 24)

This prequel to 2015’s ‘Fury Road’ comes to us with high expectations. George Miller is back in Wasteland territory and he’s brought Anya Taylor-Joy along for the ride. She plays the titular character, previously made iconic by Charlize Theron. Test screening reactions have been rather mixed on this one, but that was also the case with ‘Fury Road.’ This latest addition to the ‘Mad Max’ series is 148 minutes and seems to be a much more ambitious undertaking, tackling 15 years in the life of Furiosa.

3) MaXXXine (July 5)

After “X,” and “Pearl,” Ti West completes his trilogy with “MaXXXine.” Mia Goth is back in the fray in what’s being described as a “giallo” and “whodunnit slasher.” Set in 1985, five years after “X,” Goth’s “heroine” moves to Hollywood to find fame and fortune. She gets a role in a cheapie horror sequel. Meanwhile, a serial killer starts to terrorize the city. The cast also includes Kevin Bacon, Lily Colins, Elizabeth Debicki, Giancarlo Esposito, and Bobby Canavale.

4) Alien: Romulus (August 16)

This is the seventh film of the ‘Alien’ franchise, and it stars a youthful batch of actors — Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, and Spike Fearn. Fede Alvarez (“Don’t Breathe”) takes over directing reigns and he’s already gotten full approval from Ridley Scott and James Cameron who both loved ‘Romulus.’ Not much is known, plot-wise, about the film, but Alvarez did confirm that it takes place between “Alien” and “Aliens,” a time when Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) was adrift in cryosleep

5) Horizon (June 28) & Horizon: Part II (August 16)

The last time Kevin Costner directed a film was 2003’s “Open Range.” He’s been eyeing ‘Horizon’ ever since. Costner helped fund not one but two of these $100 million-plus Westerns, financed by mysterious parties and Costner himself. Warner Bros. is set to release both films, six weeks apart, this summer. Exploring the lure of the Old West and how it was won—and lost—through the blood, sweat and tears, ‘Horizon’ spans the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865.

6) Longlegs (July 12)

Neon has been really pushing hard for us to be intrigued by Oz Perkins’ upcoming “Longlegs,” and know what? It’s working. The horror-thriller, starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, was described by one of our test screeners as “unsettling and deeply steeped in the satanic panic of the ‘70s serial killer horror genre.” Cage has called “Longlegs” a "possessed Geppetto" movie. Whatever he meant by that, and judging by the trailer, it does look like a wild ride.

7) A Quiet Place: Day One (June 28)

This ‘Quiet Place’ spin-off leads us back to when the alien invasion first started. The film, written and directed by “Pig” helmer Michael Sarnoski is based off an original story by John Krasinski. It stars Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff and Denis O’Hare. According to Deadline, early footage of the film reportedly “blew away” Paramount execs. According to a test screening reaction, via popular YouTuber Critical Overlord, the film is said to be “suspenseful” and “touching,”

8) Inside Out 2 (June 24)

Will Pixar’s creative comeback begin here? Since 2016, writer-director Pete Docter has been assembling ideas for an “Inside Out” sequel. Soon after, Kelsey Mann took over as the sequel's director while also implementing Docter's ideas. No Docter directing could be viewed as a red flag, but we’ll see what kind of life Mann injects into this one. There’s four new characters added into the mix this time around, including Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke. The other three are Embarrassment, Ennui and Envy. Meg LaFauve, who co-wrote the first one with Docter and Del Carmen, is now the sole writer on the sequel.

9) Trap (August 9)

Rumored to be M. Night Shyamalan’s lengthiest film (150 minutes), “Trap” is set in and around a concert, the singer is played by his daughter, Saleka Shyamalan. Josh Harnett stars as a dad taking his teenage daughter to a pop concert, he notices a heavy police presence around the venue and finds out that the concert is a sting operation to catch a serial killer on the loose and intel suggests that he might be at the concert. PLOT TWIST, it turns out, Hartnett is the killer. Here’s hoping Shyamalan delivers one his better movies.

10) The Fall Guy (May 3)

The only film on this list to already have some reviews to its name. David Leitch’s ode to movie stunts stars Ryan Gosling as washed-up stuntman Colt. He’s trying to solve a case but his acting double (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is missing. Emily Blunt is the on-set director, and, obviously, Colt’s potential romantic partner. Gosling and Blunt are coming off, respectively, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” The early reviews hint at a fun and action-packed affair courtesy of Leitch (“John Wick,” ‘Atomic Blonde,” “Bullet Train”).

11) Twisters (July 19)

The main reason why I’m putting this one on the list is because it’s directed by Lee Isaac-Chung, best known for helming acclaimed indies, including the Oscar-winning “Minari.” Starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, David Corenswet, and Brandon Perea, this reboot of the 1996 film will once again center on a pair of storm chasers who risk their lives in an attempt to experiment on tornadoes. Test screening reactions have been, for the most part, positive, while also acknowledging that it’s purely a popcorn movie. Perfect for the summer.

12) The Bikeriders (Jeff Nichols)

This one was first reviewed last year. Nichols’ film was screened at last year’s Telluride Film Festival. Searchlight ended up dropping it during the strikes, and it was quickly picked up by Focus. “The Bikeriders” is set in the 1960s following the rise of a fictional, midwestern motorcycle club. The cast is stacked, including the likes of Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Boyd Holbrook, Norman Reedus and Mike Faist.

13) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (May 10)

Unlike most of the other films on this list, the director behind this one doesn’t give me much hope. Matt Reeves did an admirable job directing 2017’s “War For the Planet of the Apes,” that was the best ‘Apes’ film in years. We didn’t need any more of these, but we’re being given another one in the form of ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Sadly, Reeves isn’t back in the director’s chair, he’s being replaced by Wes Ball, whose claim to fame is the tepid ‘Maze Runner’ trilogy.