School is out! Forget polynomials and histograms. The only problem-solving you need to worry about is which to hit first: the beach, the trails or the movie theatre. Here are a few awesome film offerings for summer.
June 24
Independence Day 2
There’s a good chance your parents may be more excited about this one than you are, since the original came out way back in 1996. Aliens wanted to destroy Earth, and an awesome Will Smith and semi-hot president Bill Pullman tried to stop them. Director Roland Emmerich is back, as is Pullman as the President, a little greyer at the temples. This time around it’s Liam Hemsworth leading the charge against the mother of all alien mother ships.
Free State of Jones
Better than a classroom history lesson: Matthew McConaughey stars in this little-known story of a small band of rebels and slaves who stand up to the Confederate army during the Civil War.
The Neon Demon
Jesse (Elle Fanning) is a 16-year-old aspiring model who moves to Los Angeles. She is in danger of being chewed up and spit out until she turns the tables on the fame- and beauty-obsessed industry that tries to swallow her. Expect moody and bloody from director Nicolas Winding Refn, of the uber-cool Drive (2011). Christina Hendricks and Keanu Reeves co-star.
July 1
The Legend of Tarzan
Quintessential bad-guy Christoph Waltz is a crooked captain who lures Tarzan (True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgard) back to the Congo years after he left and made a home for himself as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, with his beloved Jane (Margot Robbie). Co-starring Oscar nominees Samuel L. Jackson and Djimon Hounsou and Oscar winner Jim Broadbent. The original novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs is a classic, which could mean extra English credit come September.
Swiss Army Man
A man stranded on a desert island (Paul Dano) befriends a dead body (Daniel Radcliffe) and plans his rescue. A wacky tale of friendship and dead-dude ingenuity.
The Purge: Election Year
A senator (Elizabeth Mitchell) who lost her whole family to an earlier purge tries to make the all-crime-is-legal yearly event a thing of the past, but not everyone agrees. Expect creepy masks, blood in the streets and Frank Grillo.
The BFG
Steven Spielberg directs Roald Dahl’s beloved story of the BFG (a.k.a. Big Friendly Giant) played by Mark Rylance, an outcast among giants because he refuses to eat children. The BFG befriends orphan Sophie and introduces her to the wonders of Giant Country because he heard “her lonely heart.” Sniff!
July 8
Closet Monster
Oscar Madly (Connor Jessup) has it worse than most teens: unsure of his sexuality, worn down by his dysfunctional parents and haunted by a horrific gay bashing episode he witnessed as a child. Thank goodness for his imagination and the help of a talking hamster to see him through. Isabella Rossellini, Joanne Kelly and Aaron Abrams also star.
The Secret Life of Pets
Adorableness overload courtesy of Universal, who have an assembled an all-star cast — Louis C.K., Kevin Hart, Eric Stonestreet, Steve Coogan, Ellie Kemper, Dana Carvey, Albert Brooks, Lake Bell, Hannibal Buress, among others — to theorize what really happens when you leave your pets alone at home all day. Max’s world gets complicated when a shelter pet arrives on the scene, with the end result being Max and friends lost in the big city.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
Two party-hard brothers (Zac Efron, Adam Devine) get the tables turned on them after they go on TV looking for respectable dates to their sister’s Hawaii wedding and end up with wild girls (Aubrey Plaza, Anna Kendrick) looking for a free trip.
July 22
Star Trek Beyond
You’ve seen the Trek-themed HP ads, now go see the movie. In this Star Trek sequel, Capt. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) do some soul-searching as they “boldly go where no man has gone before” in the series’ classic five-year mission.
Ice Age: Collision Course
You’ve probably grown up with the Ice Age movies, which started in 2002 and featured instalments in ’06, ’09 and 2012. This time Scrat’s pursuit of that elusive acorn sends him into outer space, with catastrophic results for prehistoric pals Manny, Sid and Diego (Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Dennis Leary).
July 29
Bourne
He’s ba-ack! If Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) gets his memory back, you can be sure he’ll resurface to settle the score with the government agencies that were supposed to protect him. Paul Greengrass co-wrote the script and once again directs (cue the amazing action set-pieces), Julia Stiles reprises her role, and Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander and Vincent Cassel also star.
Aug. 5
Suicide Squad
Winner of mostly hotly anticipated film of the summer might just be Suicide Squad, a DC-Warner Bros film that offers the first onscreen appearance of the Joker since the late Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance in 2008. Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Will Smith (Deadshot), Cara Delevingne (Enchantress), Jai Courtney (Boomarang), Jay Hernandez (El Diablo), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc), Karen Fukuhara (Katana), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag) and Jared Leto (Joker) are super-villains sprung from various prisons to participate in secret government missions that will likely get them killed.
The Founder
You eat the burgers, but do you know the backstory? How Ray Croc (Michael Keaton) saw potential in Mac and Dick McDonald’s burger business, declared “business is war” and franchised the restaurants into the gazillion-dollar cultural phenomenon we love-hate today.
Aug. 12
Pete’s Dragon
Daenerys Targaryen isn’t the only one with a dragon family. A boy named Pete (Oakes Fegley) spent six years living in the wilderness and was kept alive by a mammoth dragon called Elliott. First order of business is to get someone to believe him; second, is to keep Elliott from being hunted down. Co-starring Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World), Wes Bentley and Robert Redford. And don’t worry, animation has come a long way since the 1977 Disney film featuring a live action cast and a purple and green 2-D dragon.
Aug. 19
Kubo and the Two Strings
An epic adventure from the studio that brought you Coraline and ParaNorman, Kubo (Game of Thrones’ Art Parkinson) is a creative child and son of a famous samurai who accidentally summons an evil spirit from the past and finds himself on the run. Kubo allies with Monkey (Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) to do battle with the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes) and save his family.
The Space Between Us
Talk about a long-distance relationship. Teen Gardner Elliott (Asa Butterfield), the first child born on Mars, forms a friendship with Tulsa (Britt Robertson), a girl back on Earth. Gardner finally gets to visit the girl of his dreams and the planet he’s only dreamt about, only to have his body reject Earth’s atmosphere. An epic road trip and a race against time follow.
Aug. 26
Don’t Breathe
Payback is the name of the game when three kids break into the home of a wealthy blind man. “Just because he’s blind doesn’t mean he’s a saint, bro.” Rocky and Alex (Jane Levy, Dylan Minette) find out the hard way in this breathless thriller.
