MAY

MAY 1

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

Wolverine gets a third stand alone movie (first time credited) which will detail where he came from and how young James Howlett becomes the killing machine known as “Wolverine”. I see the reason to center around Wolverine and Fox is certainly hoping this will have some Batman Begins/The Dark Knight effect. However, there was really no clamoring for an X4 after Bret Ratner all but killed the franchise. Early buzz is not of the good variety but the pseudo-genius Tim Rothman has decided that this flick needs “secret” endings that will be exclusive to each screening. Yep, I sure smell a true award winner here.

GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST

Neo had Renée Zellweger, Tony Stark was paired with Michelle Monaghan, and Wolverine gets double with Jennifer Garner and Lacey Chabert, the latter of whom is the only reason I’ll even step foot in this film. Point is, it’s becoming obligatory for the summer blockbusters to be paired with a movie the girlfriends can venture to while their fellas get their dicks back. Headlining this is Matthew McConaughey as a man haunted by the girlfriends of his past at his brother’s wedding. Pretty sure the ending won’t be haunted by The Ghosts of Romantic Comedies Past though, but it does have the angelic Lacey.

TERRA

Also known as The Battle of Terra, this animation flick from Canadian based Snoot Entertainment has already been making it’s rounds at the festivals and garnering some really positive reviews. It features the voice of Luke Wilson as a space explorer who crash lands on Terra only to find the human race is planning on invading the planet. It also features Danny Glover, Brian Cox, and notably Justin Long and Evan Rachel Wood as the two alien teens who befriend Luke Wilson. Hopefully (and based on reports is) more like Pixar’s work than DreamWorks.

MAY 8

STAR TREK

Trekkies around the universes soiled themselves much like I did with Watchmen when the news of J.J. Abrams Star Trek started making it’s rounds. Was it a reboot? Sequel? Prequel? Apparently it’s all of those things and Trekkies are still in a panic even with the various reports around the interweb that it’s phenomenal. To be fair, this looks more Star Wars than Star Trek which makes me think Abrams misses the point. Yet, that will attract new fans who will want more of this action-packed Trek than the more strategic one of old. If it does get more fans on board, how will they take the less action packed entries? I’m just awaiting some half-witted critic to call the film “better than Wrath of Khan.”

NEXT DAY AIR

The trailer was decent, but the only reason I’m even remotely interested in this is because of Wood Harris who cemented his legacy as Avon Barksdale on “The Wire: The Greatest Television Show That Happened to Humanity”. It actually does have a decent cast including Donald Faison, Mike Epps, Mos Def and the aforementioned Harris even if the plot borrows a wee bit from Pineapple Express. This however looks to be more loud and even slightly more over-the-top. This comes to us from Summit Entertainment, who’s still busy counting their money teenage girl’s parents poisoned them with.

MAY 15

ANGELS & DEMONS

Robert Langdon returns in a race against time versus the Illuminati who threaten a terrorist act against the Vatican and destroy them. The principles are back including Ron Howard and everyone’s favorite to hate screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who made this a victim of the writer’s strike. I didn’t check out The Da Vinci Code but apparently I didn’t miss much, if anything at all. This entry looks more engaging, thrilling, and should be a better flick. Also, Ewan McGregor headlines a supporting cast that should at the very least make this decent. Wonder if Ron Howard will get an obligatory Oscar for this one.

MAY 22

TERMINATOR SALVATION (5/21)

I love both Terminator films equally (no, that’s not a typo) to the point in third grade I told this girl I’d crushed on I was a T-800 sent through time to kill her. With that said, there’s no other movie I’m scared of more this summer than this one. I’ve been very vocal about the supposed ending and should it come to pass, I’m walking out. The other thing that worries me is McG, who has yet to show me he can make anything remotely decent. But the rumored (yet changed, allegedly) ending is what I’m having trouble with. If I’m making a big deal about it then fine, but it needs to be understood this is going to make or break the film both critically and box-office wise. It might not suck as the trailers make it seem, but we’ll know the truth once that final reel comes up. Oh and PG-13? Fuck that.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN

Ben Stiller is reunited with Owen Wilson and is surrounded by some new faces for this sequel to one of the surprise hits of 2006. Robin Williams comes back as Teddy Roosevelt and Amy Adams continues to cash in her success by playing Amelia Earheart. As a film it could go either way as the first was fairly well-received but nothing spectacular. What I don’t get is the timing for this. It’s going up against one of the biggest films of the summer, then is followed next week by an animated film from a small company called Pixar. Unless this sequel captivates audiences like Dark Knight, this could be a big blunder.

DANCE FLICK

There was a time when the Wayans were loved by everyone when they graced us with Homey D. Clown, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, and The Wrath of Farrakhan. Now, their shtick is tired and unfunny and even with the scarce details, Dance Flick looks no different. The Wayans have turned into that family member who you hope, and want them to do well because of their past, but recently they’ve constantly screwed up so much you can’t expect anything less. And given what it’s opening against, this is most likely going quietly.

MAY 29

UP

Pixar jumps on the 3D bandwagon to give us the story of a man frustrated with life and ties a thousand balloons to his house to go see the mountains of South America. However, he finds he has an unwelcome guest in a boy scout named Russell. Pixar’s track record speaks for itself so there should be no doubt this will at least be good. As big a gimmick as it will become, the 3D has impressed me with this flick so far. None of it has seemed as a “3D Effect” but rather you’re in the experience. All buzz thus far is tremendous but truthfully, I don’t see how they can top WALL*E.

DRAG ME TO HELL

Sam Raimi Returns! Well, at least to the genre he perfected with the Evil Dead films about a loan officer who has to evict an elderly woman who then puts a curse on her. Things start going tits up and Allison Lohman learns the title of this film is going to happen to her. After the dismal Spider-Man 3, Raimi needed to make this film to get his mojo back. This seems to be pure vintage Raimi and might even comment on the housing crisis going on. Maybe once Raimi gets back in our good graces, he can move forward with Spider-Man 4-D.

JUNE

JUNE 5

LAND OF THE LOST

Will Ferrell is 0-1 when it comes to TV adaptations and also working against him are the very few that happen to be good. Rick Marshall is now joined by his assistant (Anna Friel) and a survivalist (Danny McBride) instead of his children as he’s now sucked into a vortex that takes him to an alternate universe where dinosaurs still roam. I’ve never seen the 70’s version but I sure as hell can’t get that 90’s theme out of my head. As a film, this looks comedic, fun, and harmless and it does have the original creators behind it.

JUNE 12

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3

Tony Scott, while not as prestigious as his elder brother, knows how to construct entertainment. He’s very hit or miss, but when paired with Denzel he’s 3 for 3 which makes me believe we’ll get a good flick out of this remake of the 1974 film I hear is tremendous. The trailer was pretty slick (as expected for T. Scott) and I’m digging John Travolta’s digs so far. Even though Denzel Scott is a good hybrid, let’s hope this is more Man on Fire than their 2006 escapade.

MOON

David Bowe’s son Duncan Jones takes his father’s song quite literally to create a story about an astronaut (Sam Rockwell) sends back parcels along with his computer GERTY, of a resource that will help out planet’s power problems. The trailer wow’ed the lot of us and put this on our radar as a must see. Some have panned it, but it remains to be seen if this is going to be considered science fiction gold.

IMAGINE THAT

Eddie Murphy, please go back to doing rated-R films and stand up.

JUNE 19

YEAR ONE

Harold Ramis teams with two comedy stars of today in Jack Black and Michael Cera to take us back to the first year of planet earth. The trailer left much to be desired but this features a solid 80s comedy director (Ramis) and a man who has the comedy world by the palm of his hand (Apatow) so there’s no reason this shouldn’t be bad. Plus, it’s almost a Superbad reunion with Jack Black playing Jonah Hill. If it delivers the laughs, it should be well received and that’s all it’s aiming for.

THE PROPOSAL

Somewhere, someone said “Sandra Bullock quit The Expendables: The Movie to End Cinema to make films no one cares about and they are right. Much like a film released to start the summer, I already see where this one is headed and how it’s going to end but my gripe comes with whatever office Sandra Bullock works for that would deport her. She’s still got her looks even if the age is slowly creeping in and is probably still fun. It does have Ryan Reynolds though so that has some interest, at least. I just wish he’d pick better projects.

JUNE 26

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

As much as I don’t like this decision now, I saw the original Transformers ten times in theaters (once on IMAX) but now have barely watched it since owning the DVD. What captivated me were the visual effects which really set the benchmark and is a true Oscar crime it didn’t win the Oscar for it. Here we’re getting more robot kickassery, goofier robot scenes, and Megan Fox in a white dress. Amidst all this is Michael “Explodo” Bay promising more destruction and shot three scenes specifically in IMAX. I’m wondering if a certain fedora wearing star is going to show up and help his son as they climb up the pyramids looking for artifacts. If anything, should The Matrix make it’s appearance I better hear “YOU GOT THE TOUCH! YOU GOT THE POWER!”

Onto PART TWO

• 2009 Summer Movie Preview: Part Two
• Top 10 Films of Summer 2009
• The Wrong Guess: Box Office Predictions For 6/22/2009
• Atomic Midterm: Mid-Year Top 10

• Jason Vorhees has been unmasked – The guys over at HorrorBid have a ton of photos of Jason doing his best to scare the panties off of hot women.
• Baz Luhrmann’s Australia has a gorgeous trailer. I must say this is looking like a winner in my book. The visuals on this look amazing. I hope the story lives up the visuals though.
• Will Smith’s newest film, Seven Pounds may win him some awards. Alex over at first showing has the first look trailer for it here.
• The ever famous Paul Newman has passed away this past week. He was 83.
• A load of Heroes promo photos for “One of Us, One of Them” has hit the net.

• Megan Fox signs on to a comic book movie. Guess what, the comic book lead is a hottie – imagine that!
• The Dark Knight Blu Ray details are spotted online – and boy I cannot wait!!!

Well go do a google search or watch for more news here on AP. I am sure I missed a bunch but these are the highlights for the weekend.

• Despite crap reviews, ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ breaks records
• Transformers 3 date not in disguise
• Jennifer’s Body Review
• Avatar Midnight Screening Tickets are Hot Off the Presses

This weekend has produced some solid news, and I must say I am excited about it all. Lets get started!

• Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince will have bits and pieces shown in IMAX. While this was expected to be announced for a while, it finally came to fruition over the weekend.
• The first time since Titanic, we see Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet show up on screen playing a coupe yet again. In Revolutionary Road, it seems they are unhappy to live as we all do. The job I talked about above seems to be getting to them! Welcome to real life. Enjoy the trailer below!

• It looks like Heroes season three opener is finally living up to season one. All I hope is that season three is much better than two. It was horrible after such a great start from Tim Kring and Crew.
• Looks like Disney has released for our viewing please a new Bolt clip and I mean an extended one. Looks pretty good to be honest.

• Megatron has a new look for the upcoming sequel to the highly popular Transformers. I hope that this isn;t what we will see but I guess we will wait to see what the ever popular Michael Bay does this time around.
• We have a few G.I. Joe updates from Dennis Quad. Not to much to go on. Since the opening hype surrounding the movie, things have died down quite a bit.
• Two New The Spirit posters have been spotted. I don’t know why everyone bases their opinions of this movie on a few scenes from Comic Con but it seems they are.

I am sure that there is a ton of other updates out there on the interwebs, but this is what I thought was most up to date and worth your while.

See you fine folks soon!

• Revolutionary Road Movie Review
• Atomic Popcorn’s 2009 Movie Preview
• Disney’s non-Pixar trailer for “Bolt”
• New Disney Princess Met With Love

The latest revamp of the love affair in Titanic between DiCaprio and Winslet, is now called Revolutionary Road. What more would you want than to watch something you have seen before. A budding relationship in the mid 50’s between folks you know have chemistry on screen. I will pass on this one. Maybe a Netflix.

Eva Longoria, is no longer a prime time goddess? Rather she is ending up on the big screen as a comic book character? I don’t even think she has the skill for this movie. The boys over at /Film are trying to say Longoria is trying to become the next Avenger. Will this movie actually get off the ground, just because its a Marvel product?

There is no Doubt in my mind that just because you put two great actors of our time together it will make a solid movie. The trailer for Doubt is out and looks terrible. Streep and Hoffman are extremley talented in their own right, but this looks like a kid made it!

Four Christmases, staring Vince Vaughn and the ever glowing Reese Witherspoon, has a new trailer out. Enjoy it below.

One of the best films of 08, Kung Fu Panda, has a sequel already and its coming to DVD? What the heck is going on here and why didn’t Paramount call me about this! Damnit!

It seems that everyone loves a good XXX and that is what Vin Diesel is wanting to give to the fans. A new movie is in the works staring the correct person for the role. Sorry Ice Tea, err Ice Cube or whatever drink you are.

• Four Christmases Movie Review
• Up-and-Coming Director Has a Cool Name, Gets to Direct xXx 3
• How to Train Your Dragon Trailer
• Plus1’s “Couples Retreat” review

Here we go!

24 production stops due to a horrible script. What else could you expect from a show that once ruled the planet only to vomit into our living rooms once a week. 24 sucks and will continue to suck from now until they get it!

There seems to be quite a Religious uprising going on in Hollywood. It seems Bill Maher and his antics are really making some folks mad. See the link above for a video of it.

Nick Cage and his ever receding hairline is NOT dangerous at all. Bangkok Dangerous is a flop to say the least. Are you surprised?

Max Payne received an R for the ever changing MPAA and boy is John Moore pissed off. It seems the movies that need the R or NC-17 don’t get it and the ones that don’t do. MPAA is screwed up in the head if you ask me.

The worst movie of all time just got a cast and crew for its 4th and 5th installment. Check out the Spiderman 4 and 5 news over at FSR. Spiderman 3 was so bad, I don;t think I wathced more than 30 minutes of it.

Iron Man DVD clips galore. What more can a man ask for besides grainey clips from YouTube?

Enjoy the rest of the week – stay tuned for some more Movie News and other Hollywoo details along the way.

• 24 season 7 cast photo
• Lost Planet film to cost a lot?!
• Max Payne Movie Review
• Max Payne featurette

As for the Monday Morning Link Love:

Here it is…

It seems that Kevin Smith has again seen a movie before anyone else. Lucky little bastard sort of reviews “Star Trek” for us. “Star Trek” is due out May 8th 2009 and I will be there to see what this early hype is all about.

The opening scene from Guy Ritchie’s “RockNRolla” is on the web. This looks like its going to kick some serious ass. Can’t wait to see it!

Shia LeBeouf’s drunken mishap a few weeks ago, seems to of made it into the script of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Personally I think its crap to do this but I guess you have to do what you have to do when you are cool as Michael Bay is.

For all of you “Smallville” fanboys – it seems that Clark Kent will actually fly this season! About damn time “Superman” learns how to fly.

Seems like Enik from “The Land of the Lost” is making an appearance next to Will Farrell. I hope Farrell doesn’t screw this one up. Check out the photos at the link.

There is always more on the net than posted here. I just like to highlight what I find to be “news”

See you fine folks soon.

• Transformers 3 date not in disguise
• Warner Bros. LEGO Film Looming on the Horizon?
• ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ is the most mistake-ridden movie of the year
• Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen Review (Philip’s Take)

“Tropic Thunder” now sits atop the Box Office, bring “The Dark Knight“’s train to a halt. 2nd place isn’t to shabby with an almost 17 million dollar weekend.

One of my favorite cartoons as a kid, “Voltron” is being given a reboot. The famed cartoon is coming to the big screen.

Harry Potter may of moved into 2009, but the photos keep rolling in. Check out the newest Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince photos.

Watchmen photos abound. This dark film should be a winner for the fans of the novel.

I am sure that I missed over 100 stories this weekend, but that is what Google is for! Enjoy your Monday!

• ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ looking to smash ‘Transformers 2′
• A new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer!
• The Dark Knight: What did you think?
• Are trailers spoiling the fun?

Monday morning link love will be a recap of everything we here at Atomic Popcorn find interesting that we missed over the weekend. It will sometimes just be links, sometimes be links and photos, maybe even a trailer or two. I just want to keep some solid content on the site for our lovely readers, you!

Here we go, the first of many:

Monday Morning Link Love

• The folks over at Cinematical have some recent posters of J.J. Abrams latest, Star Trek. So far I am not impressed, although I read that it was screened this past weekend for the execs, and they were very impressed. I assume the trailer for it will be released shortly. Possibly Eagle Eye?
• Don Cheadles latest espionage thriller, Traitor, has a new exclusive clip over at Comingsoon. While not being a movie that needs to be seen in the theater, this looks like it could really be a solid film. Along the lines of a Bourne without all the action.
• IGN has posted up the opeing R rated scene of Jack Bauer’s latest movie Mirrors. I am kind of excited to see this as the first few clips I had seen threw a chill up my spine. I am sure the acting is subpar but the effects creap me out big time. May have to rent this and watch it on my ccomfortable couch.

There are tons more out there but this is what I found out there that needed a little air time. Hope this little Monday morning ritual helps all of you wake up from your weekend romps!

• Star Trek Deleted Scene Online!
• Star Trek to Phase Into Imax Once More
• Jon’s Star Trek Review
• Star Trek Movie Review