Summer movie preview

On hot, humid summer days, there’s often no better relief than sitting inside a dark, cool movie theater and enjoying the latest blockbusters, indie films and everything in between. Check out what Cadenza thinks you should—or shouldn’t—see this summer!

May

“X-Men: Days of Future Past”

One of the first big summer blockbusters is “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” The movie acts as a sequel to both 2011’s “X-Men: First Class” and 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand.” Loosely based on the comic book storyline of the same name, “Days of Future Past” follows Wolverine as he travels back in time 50 years to assemble a team and change the future. Yes, that sounds like a well-worn time-travel/action movie plot, but the movie still looks promising. “First Class” brought some fresh storylines to the universe that should help invigorate “Days of Future Past” as well. Wolverine is still immensely popular among the franchise’s fans, so expect him to be featured prominently. “Days of Future Past” also includes the return of some old favorites like Halle Berry as Storm, Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde and Kelsey Grammer as present-day/future Beast. Even if you’re not a comic book fan, the movie is worth seeing just to watch best friends and Internet darlings Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan onscreen together again. “X-Men: Days of Future Past” premieres May 23.- Noah Jodice

“Godzilla”

May 16 sees the release of the most recent “Godzilla” movie. The trailer has given a few glimpses of the titular monster, but the movie will probably show much more. The trailer doesn’t give much away of the plot; what we know is that after a nuclear accident, the monster starts wreaking havoc in some city. The story is personalized by the Brody family, whose members are played by Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The cast, especially Cranston and Olsen, is good enough to put this movie a step above most of the other summer blockbusters. -Trevor Leuzinger

“Maleficent”

It’s amazing that someone with a face as wickedly beautiful as Angelina Jolie has taken this long to play a fairytale villain, but Disney’s “Maleficent” will finally bring that eventuality to fruition. The movie, which also stars Elle Fanning (“Somewhere”) and Sharlto Copley (“District 9”), is a live-action take on the classic animated movie “Sleeping Beauty.” The acting will surely be superb with a cast like that, but the director is first-timer Robert Stromberg, who is more known for his visual effects work. Will he be able to steer the movie to critical acclaim and commercial success? Find out when “Maleficent” comes to theaters on May 30. – Georgie Morvis

June

“The Fault in Our Stars”

Author John Green is quite a celebrity in the world of young adult fiction, and his 2012 novel “The Fault in our Stars” is certainly his most popular work to date. Now, it’s also the latest young-adult best-seller to be turned into a soon-to-be-hit movie. “The Fault in our Stars” is no “Hunger Games” or “Twilight,” though—the story follows the romance between two teenagers living with cancer. Shailene Woodley plays Hazel Grace Lancaster, the novel’s 16-year-old narrator, who falls in love with Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) after meeting him at a cancer support group. (Fun fact: Woodley and Elgort also just starred together in another young-adult book-turned-movie, “Divergent,” except as siblings.) The story has both laugh-out-loud funny and deeply tragic moments, but it’s touching and romantic through and through. Given the novel’s rabid fan base, director Josh Boone must be feeling a lot of pressure to craft a film that meets expectations. Judging by the trailers and clips that have been released so far, though, it looks like Boone and the cast have done a great job capturing everything fans love about the novel. “The Fault in Our Stars” premieres June 6.- Katharine Jaruzelski

“22 Jump Street”

In the upcoming comedy sequel “22 Jump Street,” Officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are back in action, based in a church across the street from their previous undercover location, 21 Jump Street. This time, though, they are moving up the ranks from the high school drug scene to disguise themselves as college students, infiltrate fraternity life and find the dealers of the latest street-made concoction. After going through high school twice, this is an opportunity for both of them to mature and develop a true partnership, even as Jenko becomes friends with a college football player and Schmidt is introduced to the Bohemian art scene. “22 Jump Street” comes to theaters June 13. – Erica Sloan

July

“Tammy”

Melissa McCarthy stars in this movie! She and her husband, Ben Falcone, wrote it! Falcone directed it! Susan Sarandon, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Dan Aykroyd, Sandra Oh and Kathy Bates also star! Basically, these are all reasons to go see “Tammy” this summer, but in case the cast didn’t sell you, maybe the plot will. For Tammy (McCarthy), life isn’t going so well. After getting in a car accident, getting fired from her minimum-wage job and finding her husband cheating on her with a neighbor, Tammy is ready to leave town and see Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have a car, and her alcoholic grandma Pearl (Sarandon), who is itching to see Niagara Falls, is her only option. The teaser trailer showcases one of McCarthy’s greatest skills—physical comedy—as she attempts to rob a fast food restaurant with one paper bag over her head and another twisted into the shape of a gun. When she tries to jump over the counter and rams right into the side, I am reminded of McCarthy’s fearlessness and hilarity. Sure to be full of more physical comedy and perfectly timed jokes, “Tammy” will be one of the best comedies of the summer when it debuts on July 2. – Elena Wandzilak

“Boyhood”

Richard Linklater embarked 12 years ago on one of the most ambitious projects in modern cinema by casting a 7-year-old boy (Ellar Coltrane) as the lead in a film that would follow him—in real time—as he grew from a child to young adult. Each summer, Linklater spent a couple of days with Coltrane and the rest of a cast that includes Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, creating a story that’s novelistic in scope. Linklater has long been one of America’s most exciting filmmakers, trying his hand at everything from highly episodic narratives (“Slacker,” “Dazed and Confused”) and rotoscope animation (“Waking Life,” “A Scanner Darkly”) to single-room dramas (“Tape”) and family-friendly star vehicles (“School of Rock”). He’s even had great success with the real-time, multi-year film series with the heartrending “Before” trilogy. But “Boyhood” works on a scale even he’s never approached. Early reviews from Sundance have ranged from the rhapsodic to the merely bemused, but Linklater’s built up enough goodwill that I’ll be lining up at my local independent theater on July 11 to see if he can pull off his latest experiment. – Mark Matousek

“Sex Tape”

In “Sex Tape,” Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel star as a married-for-a-decade couple that, unsurprisingly, is looking to put some spice back into its marriage. Sick of only seeing each other naked in the shower (which they share for efficiency purposes only), the spouses decide to create and film a sex tape starring themselves and meant for their eyes only. However, chaos ensues when the tape is accidentally sent to the mysterious “cloud” and distributed to everyone to whom they recently gifted an iPad, a list that strangely contains everyone from their pre-teen neighbor to their mailman. From the trailer, this film seems to be chock-full of contrived situations and cheap laughs—it tries to be “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” but instead is “Bad Teacher.” Despite the intriguing title, the plot seems hackneyed and relatively mild, disappointing expectations for an “American Pie”-style raunchy hit. However, with Segel’s usual comedic talent, it could still surprise us. Check out “Sex Tape” in theaters July 25. – Kimberly Henrickson

August

“Guardians of the Galaxy”

When Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), steals a much-coveted orb, he is quickly arrested and taken into custody. He teams up with four other criminals on his ship, including Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a large tree root named Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) to become the “Guardians of the Galaxy.” The quirky group of superheroes comes together to battle the evil Ronan, who is after the orb, which Star-Lord quickly learns is much more powerful than he ever believed. Based on the 2008 comic books, “Guardians of the Galaxy” looks to be one of Marvel’s first real comedy action movies, with Pratt playing, essentially, his ever-oddball character of Andy Dwyer (“Parks and Recreation”). Catch “Guardians of the Galaxy” in theaters Aug. 1. -Alieza Schvimer

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