More of this summer’s cinema
BY CINDY PEARLMAN April 19, 2012 8:12PM
Benjamin Walker stars in the lead role in "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."
Updated: May 23, 2012 8:08AM
Here is a look at some of the movies slated for the summer season.
Altered reality
“THE DICTATOR” (MAY 16): Sacha Baron Cohen isn’t just here to torment Ryan Seacrest on red carpets. He stars as the dictator of a country who suddenly finds himself without any cash or power, so he moves to the Big Apple and meets up with Anna Faris, who owns a Brooklyn health food co-op.
“TED” (JULY 13): Mark Wahlberg stars in the story of a boy’s beloved teddy bear that comes to life and sticks around into adulthood. The furry relic swears and gives him a real hard time while wrecking his daily existence. “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane voices the bear while Mila Kunis is the not-so-understanding girlfriend.
“THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN” (AUG. 15): Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Garner dream of having a baby, but after their fertility treatments provide disappointing, they dig a hole in the yard as a symbolic way of burying their parenthood dreams. The next day they find a 10-year old named Tim (CJ Adams) who has grown out of the grass.
Blood-pumping
“BATTLESHIP” (MAY 18): Yes, it’s based on the board game, but that was enough for director Peter Berg to cast his “Friday Night Lights” star Taylor Kitsch in a plot featuring aliens who invade. By the way, Rihanna carries a very large gun and makes war.
“ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER” (JUNE 22): The pride of Illinois has to rid the world of … no, not what you learned in history class. Abe must go up against vampires who are on the side of the Confederacy and have caused the Civil War. It’s produced by Tim Burton and stars Benjamin Walker and Dominic Cooper.
“G.I. JOE: RETALIATION” (JUNE 29): Did you really think that 2009’s “Joe” was going to be AWOL forever? This time around Dwayne Johnson teams with Bruce Willis to shoot big guns and look rather surly.
“THE BOURNE LEGACY” (AUG. 3): Matt Damon is out of the franchise with Jeremy Renner stepping into the action as Aaron Cross, who was trained by the government as an assassin and must run for his life. The film also stars Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton.
“TOTAL RECALL” (AUG. 3): You’ll forget all about the 1990 original, or so hopes Colin Farrell, who takes on the Schwarzenegger role as Douglas Quaid, a guy who works in a factory and discovers that his memories aren’t real, but implants. He’s actually a guy who has been fighting for freedom before “they” messed with his mind. The film also stars the female one-two punch of Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale as the real bad girl.
“THE EXPENDABLES 2” (AUG. 17): Sly is back in the sequel to the surprise 2010 hit. His posse includes a lot of muscle in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Bruce Willis and newbie Jean-Claude Van Damme. Oh, did we mention Chuck Norris and Liam Hemsworth are flexing their muscles?
“PREMIUM RUSH” (AUG. 24): Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a bike messenger who needs to keep his goods away from a nasty New York cop played by Michael Shannon.
Let’s get serious
“THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL” (MAY 4): They’re old. They’re British. And they’re not going to live in London anymore. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson play some of the golden-year types who decide to retire to a rundown hotel in India run by a young entrepreneur in the form of an exuberant Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire”).
“HYSTERIA” (MAY 18): Maggie Gyllenhaal stars with Hugh Dancy and Jonathan Pryce in a romantic comedy about the inventor of the first vibrator in Victorian England. Dancy is a doctor who helps women ditch depression with … well, you get the idea.
“MOONRISE KINGDOM” (JUNE 1): Wes Anderson directs Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton and Bruce Willis in a story about … teenagers? Yes, it’s true. The film revolves around tween-ager runaways in love (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) who take off, inspiring a massive search from their elders.
“YOUR SISTER’S SISTER” (JUNE 15): A hit at both Sundance and Toronto, this little indie features a young man from Seattle (Mark Duplass) whose brother dies. He heads off to a cabin owned by the father of a friend (Emily Blunt) and meets Hanna (Rosemarie DeWitt of “Mad Men”), who is trying to deal with a breakup.
“TO ROME WITH LOVE” (JUNE 22): Woody Allen directs Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg and Ellen Page in several love stories set in Italy. The best news is that Woody also appears in the film, which marks his first time on screen since 2006.
“SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD” (JUNE 22): Steve Carell falls for Keira Knightley, but their dates have an expiration date. A big asteroid is going to destroy the world in a few weeks.
“SAVAGES” (JULY 6): There’s no conspiracy to Oliver Stone’s latest thriller about sex and drugs with Taylor Kitsch as a pot grower who smacks heads with a Mexican cartel led by Salma Hayek. Benicio Del Toro is there for muscle, while Blake Lively is a Laguna Beach beauty stuck in the middle. No one will say what and who John Travolta plays in this mix.
“THE CAMPAIGN” (AUG. 10): Forget about these endless primaries. The key matchup is Will Ferrell vs. Zach Galifianakis. Ferrell is a long-suffering North Carolina congressman who must deal with a well-meaning but politically inexperienced newcomer (Galifianakis).
Chick flicks
“GIRL IN PROGRESS” (MAY 11): Grace (Eva Mendes) had a baby at a very young age and the little girl has done something pretty annoying. She has grown into a sassy teenager.
“WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING” (MAY 18): It’s not just a best-selling book, but now a comedy about an XL-sized Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez and Elizabeth Banks, who find out that impending parenthood in any shape or size isn’t for the faint of heart.
“BEL AMI” (JUNE 8): Robert Pattinson ditches Bella and his thirst for blood to tidy up and enter Paris high society.
“PEOPLE LIKE US” (JUNE 29): Chris Pine (“The Avengers”) finds out that his late father has a daughter who has been kept secret (Elizabeth Banks). He doesn’t tell her they’re related, and she starts to fall in love with him.
“HOPE SPRINGS” (AUG. 10): Meryl Streep joins Tommy Lee Jones in the tale of a Midwestern couple who go through a weekend of talk therapy in Maine with a therapist (Steve Carell) in order to avoid a divorce.
“SPARKLE” (AUG. 17): It’s the remake of the 1976 musicial starring the late Whitney Houston dealing with her wildly talented crooning daughter (Jordin Sparks).
For the kiddies
“MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE’S MOST WANTED” (JUNE 8): Life at the Central Park Zoo might be ideal, but lion Alex (Ben Stiller), zebra Marty (Chris Rock), giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) must rush off to Monaco, where they join a traveling circus. Look for Alex’s love interest jaguar Gia (Jessica Chastain).
“BRAVE” (JUNE 22): Pixar takes a stab at a female lead by debuting Merida (Kelly Macdonald) as the daughter of Scotland’s King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Her quest is to ditch her father’s idea of an arranged marriage and go find her own future. To that end, she must find a witch (Julie Walters) who creates havoc on the kingdom.
“ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT” (JULY 13): Life still isn’t easy for wooly mammoth Manny (Ray Romano), whose sloth buddy Sid has his own troubles in the form of a pushy grandmother (voiced by Wanda Sykes).
“DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS” (AUG. 3): Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is now in seventh grade, but it’s summer and he’s working at the local country club.
Just for laughs
“THAT’S MY BOY” (JUNE 15): Or the movie where Adam (Sandler) met Andy (Samberg) The plot features Sandler getting his teacher pregnant when he was 13, and now he has a grown son played by Samberg.
“NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH” (JULY 27): It’s an all-guy lineup of comedy including Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill in a script written by their buddy Seth Rogen revolving around guys from the block who must battle aliens with no prior experience. The title has come under some scrutiny since the killing of Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch captain.
Cindy Pearlman
