2014 Preview: May

It’s generally considered to be the first major month of the summer blockbuster season, and this year is no exception. Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films set to come out during 2014. This is Part 4 of 11 (previously 12) and today we’ll be looking at the films that will be hitting theaters this May and as I just mentioned, there are plenty of notable films to talk about for this month. So let’s dive right in…

MAY 2- As it has been every year since 2007, Marvel holds the prime spot of the first week of the month of May. However, for the first time since 2009, this spot does not belong to a Marvel Studios film, instead coming via Sony/Columbia.

*The second superhero film of the year, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ is the follow-up to 2012’s franchise reboot ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’. Marc Webb returns to direct this film and Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Sally Field reprise their roles from the previous film. In this film, Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man (Garfield) goes up against a gauntlet of enemies, including Electro (Jamie Foxx), the Green Goblin AKA Peter’s old friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), and Rhino (Paul Giamatti). Recently it has been announced that this film will be followed by not only two more sequels, but also a ‘Sinister Six’ and ‘Venom’ spinoff films.

MAY 9- This week sees one new animated film along with two new comedies, one from the guys behind ‘This is the End’ and the other from the director of ‘Iron Man’.

*About a year after Disney’s ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ comes the next big film based off of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ series by L. Frank Baum, though this film, ‘Legend of Oz: Dorothy’s Return’ is actually based off of the book ‘Dorothy of Oz’ written by Baum’s grandson Roger. This film is a ‘follow-up’ to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in which Dorothy returns to the Land of Oz where she and her friends look to stop a Jester who wants to take over the land. The film’s ensemble voice cast includes Lea Michele, Dan Aykroyd, Kelsey Grammer, Jim Belushi, and Martin Short.

*The first of this weekend’s two new comedies, ‘Neighbors’, is the latest comedy produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the duo behind last year’s hit comedy ‘This is the End’. In this film, directed by Nicholas Stoller (‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’), Rogen and Rose Byrne star as a couple who move into a new neighborhood with their newborn baby where they come into conflict with their new neighbors, a fraternity house led by Teddy (Zac Efron). The film also stars Dave Franco and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

*Jon Favreau’s newest film ‘Chef’ is a comedy in which he stars as a chef who is fired from his job at a restaurant and starts up a food truck where he looks to both achieve huge success for his cooking and to also re-connect with his family; his wife Inez (Sofia Vergara) and their son Percy (Emjay Anthony). The film also stars Dustin Hoffman, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, and Robert Downey Jr.

MAY 16- It’ll be two new releases a week for the last three weeks of the month. This week, a Disney sports drama goes against the King of the Monsters.

*A full decade after his last film appearance in ‘Godzilla: Final Wars’, the ‘King of the Monsters’ makes his triumphant return in Legendary Pictures’ ‘Godzilla’, a reboot of the franchise and the second primarily American-produced adaptation of the franchise following 1998’s much-maligned ‘Godzilla’ (though for this film, Toho is still involved, serving as the film’s distributor in Japan). In this film, Godzilla is pitted against a group of mysterious creatures while the military, as well as humanity for that matter, looks to survive the onslaught of destruction. The human cast includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, and Bryan Cranston.

*Based on the true story of baseball pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, Disney’s ‘Million Dollar Arm’ stars Jon Hamm as J.B. Bernstein, a sports agent who go to India to seek out new baseball players, where they come across Patel (Madhur Mittal) and Singh (Suraj Sharma).

MAY 23- What could very much be the most anticipated film of the year (and the second superhero film of this month) opens alongside the newest Adam Sandler comedy.

*It’s based off of one of the most iconic comic book storylines of all time. It’s directed by the same man who brought the franchise to relevance in the first place more than a decade ago. And it stars a vast ensemble cast consisting of members from both the original franchise’s trilogy and its new reboot series. It’s ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, directed by Bryan Singer (for now, we’ll be ignoring the recent allegations made against him as they don’t have any connection to this film) and based off of the 1981 storyline ‘Days of Future Past’ by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. In this film, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent back in time by Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) to find their younger selves (James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, respectively) and have them join forces so that they can prevent a key event from happening in order to prevent a dark future where the mutant race is on the verge of extinction. The film’s ensemble cast features actors/actresses from both the original X-Men film trilogy (Halle Berry, Stewart and McKellen, Ellen Page, etc…) and ‘X-Men: First Class’ (McAvoy and Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, etc…) along with new additions including Peter Dinklage, Evan Peters, and Fan Bingbing.

*After previously collaborating in ‘The Wedding Singer’ and ’50 First Dates’, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore reunite for a third time in ‘Blended’, directed by their ‘Wedding Singer’ director and Sandler regular Frank Coraci. In the film, Sandler and Barrymore’s characters find themselves stuck with each other at an African family resort following a bad first date.

MAY 30- The month will close out with Disney’s latest big-budget fantasy and a comedy from the director of ‘Ted’.

*Following in the footsteps of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’, Disney’s latest live-action fantasy film ‘Maleficent’ is a retelling of the story of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, though told from the perspective of the iconic villainess Maleficent (played by Angelina Jolie). The film is directed by ‘Alice’ and ‘Oz’ production designer Robert Stromberg (in his directorial debut) and also stars Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley, and Brenton Thwaites.

*After the huge success of ‘Ted’ and his fairly successful (albeit rather controversial) stint as host of the Oscars, Seth MacFarlane is back with his latest film, ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’. In it, he stars as a sheep farmer who trains with a new arrival in town (Charlize Theron) in order to take on a notorious criminal (Liam Neeson). The film also stars Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi, and Sarah Silverman.

And those are the films that will be coming out in May 2014. Check back next month for Part 5 as we’ll be looking at the June lineup.

2013 Preview: March

Welcome back to the year-long preview into the many films that are set to come out in 2013. This is Part 3 of 12 and today we'll be looking at the schedule for films in the month of March, which from the looks of it seems to be the first big month of the year after two rather slow months in regards to the films that have come out so far.

*The first weekend of the month sees four new releases hitting theaters on March 1^st. The first is a comedy film, '21 and Over', which is written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the writing team behind 'The Hangover'. The film follows three friends who go out for the 21^st birthday of one of them, a straight-A student, on the night before an important school interview. Chaos ensues.

*Also coming out that weekend is 'Jack the Giant Slayer', the latest film from X-Men/X2 director Bryan Singer, and his first since 2008's 'Valkyrie'. The film is also one of the many delayed films of the year, as it was pushed back from an original June 2012 release date in order to have more time for post-production and marketing. Nicholas Hoult stars as Jack, a farmhand who accidentally opens a gateway from the human world to a world occupied by giants. Eleanor Tomlinson, Stanley Tucci, and Ewan McGregor co-star.



*In 'Stoker', which is notably the last film made by filmmaker Tony Scott before his death in August of 2012 (the film is also produced by his brother Ridley through their production company, Scott Free), a young girl named India (played by Mia Wasikowska) and her mother (Nicole Kidman) both become drawn to India's uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) following the death of her father.



*The final release on March 1^st is 'The Last Exorcism: Part II', the sequel to the 2010 film 'The Last Exorcism'. Unlike the first film, it is not presented in a found-footage format. Ashley Bell reprises her role of Nell Sweetzer, the daughter of a farmer who was possessed by a demon in the previous film. As she begins to start a new life, the demon returns.

*A pair of films hit theaters on March 8^th. The first, 'Dead Man Down', is the latest film from director Niels Arden Oplev, the director of the original adaptation of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' (before David Fincher's 2011 American version). Colin Farrell stars as an enforcer named Victor, who works for a crime boss (played by Terrence Howard) who was responsible for the deaths of his wife and daughter. As Victor seeks revenge, he is blackmailed into helping a woman named Beatrice (Noomi Rapace (also from the original 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo')), who also seeks revenge against his boss.

*The other major film that weekend is 'Oz: The Great and Powerful', the latest adaptation of author L. Frank Baum's 'The Wizard of Oz' series. This new film, directed by Sam Raimi, follows the man who will eventually become the famous 'Wizard of Oz', a small-time circus magician named Oscar Diggs from Kansas (James Franco) who is whisked away to the land of Oz where everyone has been waiting for a great wizard who will set things right. Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis, and Rachel Weisz co-star as the three witches Glinda, Theodora, and Evanora.

*The first of two new releases for the weekend of March 15^th is 'The Call', a thriller film produced by WWE Studios. Halle Berry stars as a 911 operator who must work to save a girl from a killer. For the wrestling fans, wrestler David Otunga stars in the film.



*Also debuting that weekend is 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone', a comedy starring Steve Carell as the titular Burt Wonderstone, a successful magician who must reunite with his former partner (played by Steve Buscemi) when an up and coming street magician (Jim Carrey) looks to steal his thunder. Alan Arkin and Olivia Wilde co-star.



*Another crowd of films hit theaters on the 22^nd. 'Olympus Has Fallen', directed by Antoine Fuqua ('Training Day') is one of two movies coming out this year based in the White House (the other being 'White House Down', directed by Roland Emmerich). In this film, Gerald Butler stars as a secret service agent who must rely on his inside knowledge to help retake the White House when terrorists take it over. Aaron Eckhart stars as the President while Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, and Angela Bassett co-star.



*In 'Spring Breakers', four friends (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine) rob a restaurant in order to finance a trip to Florida during Spring Break. When they are arrested, they are bailed out by a drug dealer named Alien (played by James Franco) who hires them to do some of his dirty work.

*The final release of the week is Dreamworks Animation's first project of the year, 'The Croods'. The film follows a prehistoric family who are forced to leave their home and go out into the dangerous world to find a new one. Nicolas Cage stars as the patriarch of the family and Emma Stone plays his eldest daughter. Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, and Clark Duke co-star. The film is co-directed by Chris Sanders, who created Disney's Lilo and Stitch and Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon.



*Four films close out the month on the 29^th. The first, 'G.I. Joe Retaliation', is the sequel to 2009's 'The Rise of Cobra'. As I've mentioned before, out of all the delayed films of 2013, this one is probably the most intriguing to talk about. Originally scheduled for a June 2012 release, the film was pushed back nine months to its current release date. While the official report has stated this delay was done in order to post-convert the film to 3-D, there are other reports saying that the real reason was for re-shoots to give more screen time to Channing Tatum, whose character Duke was apparently killed off in an earlier cut.

*In the wake of the Twilight series comes 'The Host', also written by Twilight's Stephanie Meyer. In the film, aliens called 'souls' invade Earth and begin to inhabit the minds of humans. Saoirse Ronan stars as Melanie Stryder, who is one of the humans whose mind is taken over by one of these 'souls'. The film is directed by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca).



*'Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor' is the latest film from director Tyler Perry based off of his play of the same name. In the film, a marriage counselor falls in love with one of her patients after being neglected by her husband.



*'The Place Beyond the Pines' reunites director Derek Cianfrance with star Ryan Gosling after they previously collaborated on the 2010 drama 'Blue Valentine'. Gosling plays a motorcycle stunt rider who turns to a life of crime in order to support his family. Bradley Cooper plays the cop that Gosling's character comes into conflict with.

And that's the lineup of films for March 2013. Check back in next month for Part 4.