A few months ago, Bryan Singer, the man responsible for dragging the comic-book story of a group of superpowered mutants in a prejudiced world, known as The X-Men, kicking and screaming onto the big screen announced that he would be returning to the franchise after two disappointing sequels (X3 and last year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.) Singer and producer Lauren Shuler Donner sat down with Hero Complex to discuss the future of the series, which will begin when Singer steps up to the director’s chair for the prequel X-Men: First Class.

First Class will focus on the friendship between a younger Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) as they strive to bring equality to the mutant population, and as Xavier gathers what will become the first team of X-Men.

The premise has compelling elements to it, Singer said. “Just doing younger mutants is not enough. The story needs to be more than that. I love the relationship between Magneto and Xavier, these two men who have diametrically opposite points of view but still manage to be friends — to a point. They are the ultimate ‘frienemies’.”

So why did Singer find himself drawn back into the franchise after leaving Fox for Warner Brothers to helm Superman Returns?

“I genuinely like the people, and my personality meshes more with this universe than it does with other universes, I think; I see that now at this point,” Singer said. “I feel a connection to the X-Men characters and also the ensemble nature of the films. If you look at ‘Usual Suspects” or my last film, ‘Valkyrie,’ I feel especially comfortable with ensemble juggling. In the space between all the characters you can disguise a central thought that’s hidden in all the discourse. I missed that with the singular relationship story of Superman. And, well, it always gives you something to cut to…”

Now that he has returned to the series that effectively helped kick off the current superhero film trend, it seems that some people involved are looking way ahead at establishing a long future for the X-Men.

Shuler Donner also has pitched Singer on doing a fourth installment of the previously established “X-Men” franchise and Jackman had that lunch with Singer to coax him into a project as well, which may or may not be a “Wolverine” film, which Jackman has said will be set in Japan and released in 2011. “I wish I could be four people,” the director said with a moan. “I could make everybody happy.”

Singer turned to Shuler Donner and said of “X-Men 4″: “Hold that one off for just a little, I’m fixated on the other one right now.” She nodded and answered, “I will, I will … I’m holding it open with high hopes. It’s totally different [from 'First Class'] and it will be so interesting for you.”

How do you feel about Singer returning? Do you think the story should be carried on from X3? How do you think the writers can redeem the mistakes of X3 and Wolverine?

The good news about 2009 was that it wasn’t as horrendous as some previous years. In fact, when the good films came to us, they were often truly great pieces of work sprinkled with decent efforts in between. Then of course you had those nuggets of crap that would get through the grinder and remind us that bad movies and filmmaking unfortunately still exists. It seemed for every two Hurt Lockers or Inglourious Basterds there was a Post-Grad or Year One that followed it. Or maybe this year, with all it’s great films, made the dookie stink even more than we’re used to. Instead of posting on my Twitter page ninety times a day about how much I don’t like these films, I’m going to take this opportunity to present the Ten Worst Films of 2009:

10. TAKING WOODSTOCK

Horrid, horrid, horrid doesn’t begin to describe this piece of donkey manure. When it’s not being anti-Semitic, the film pummels us with a useless plot about a completely unlikable lead while also not actually being about Woodstock itself. Ang Lee might say he was trying to be artful, but his real goal was punishing his audience for getting political about Brokeback Mountain and absolutely hating The Hulk. Congratulations sir, you’ve accomplished your revenge. The film also randomly goes into split-screen mode, for no reason other than just to do it. The trickery doesn’t serve the story, but it does serve the purpose of killing braincells.

9. POST-GRAD

Y’know what? I’m just going to go easy here and let a scene from Sin City describe how I felt after this atrocity against cinema:

8. YEAR ONE

This movie is legally retarded, even if it tries to tempt us by having Olivia Wilde in it. Michael Cera continues playing Timid Nerd and Jack Black plays Annoying Fat Guy, at least I assume those are their character names as I could care less to remember them. I’d also like to forget this pile of fly excrement that the once solid Harold Ramis bestowed upon us. It took at least three viewings of Ghostbusters to remind one self that Ramis still has some decency left in him, but this one really, really burns the soul. It also causes great worry for the upcoming Ghostbusters 3, as the screenwriters for this picture are rumored to be scripting it.

7. X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

True, I knew going in this was going to poop the bed, and yes expectations for this where as low as you could possibly get. Then an interesting thing happened when the lights dimmed and this movie started for me. Instead of make an honest to goodness decent X-Men film, Gavin Hood made his intentions with this film clear, that he was out to achieve the impossible. Not content with renowned hack Brett Ratner making the worst X film, Hood and his team of clowns sully a franchise that was already reeling. Everyone involved with this film not named Hugh Jackman, Liev Schrieber (who sadly has two films make this list) and Ryan Reynolds needs serious jail time.

6. FAST & FURIOUS

I absolutely hate this franchise, even more than the dreaded Twilight Saga. This has to do with the fact the first film in this sorry, despicable franchise completely steals every beat from my favorite film of all-time and doesn’t even care that it’s doing so. This entry is the least offensive of all four films, and free looks at Jordana Brewster are always welcome which is what’s saving this movie from appearing higher. Regardless, it still has asinine writing, acting, and almost terrible directing. Almost terrible, because Justin Lin seems to at least be giving a modest effort. Shamefully, it won’t be going to a better, more original, less criminal franchise.

5. MISS MARCH

If you’re going to do a comedy about Playboy and the Playboy Mansion, you’d better show what made that magazine famous in the first place. Miss March fails at that, as it does to even evoke any sort of laughs out of anyone with fully functioning common sense. In fact, rumors are swirling that anyone who purchases this DVD or Blu-ray are asked if they’d like a complimentary pistol-whipping or clubbing with a baseball bat. Seventy-two percent of idiots who bought it chose pistol-whipping as it somehow makes them come to their senses about the piece of crap they’ll be injecting into their players.

4. I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER

When a fellow critic is the funniest thing in the movie theater because of the comments he’s making, you know you’re in trouble. Normally, there’s an unwritten rule of critics not making comments during a picture, but dang it if I Love You, Beth Cooper just didn’t ask to be made fun of. One wonders if the film would have been more entertaining if they showed the IMAX version of Avatar on that ginormous forehead of hers, or how many times between takes Paul Rust poked her eye out with his nose. Director/Torture Master Chris Columbus said he wanted to make a “throwback John Hughes film” only failing to realize what made those watchable.

3. ALL ABOUT STEVE

Sandra, oh Sandra. While I didn’t hate it, The Proposal wasn’t my cup of tea but I could understand the appeal of yet another romantic comedy with a suave Ryan Reynolds, so our relationship wasn’t damaged. Then came wind of the terrible accent in a film about a Baltimore Raven in The Blind Side and that’s when problems between us started. And then came this marvel of idiocy, and we were through. This movie is the epitome of everything wrong with comedy, and lets women know it’s ok to stalk a man, even if he’s on the job. Reportedly it was shelved for two years and only saw release when Bradley Cooper’s The Hangover generated good buzz. This is one side-effect that should have stayed forgotten.

2. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON

Pass. Just, pass.

1. JENNIFER’S BODY

Forget that this film is a pure girl power movie, and forget that there were outcries it wasn’t popular because of it. This is just a piss-poorly made film that absolutely deserves to be called the worst film of 2009. This is the one that finally exposes Diablo Cody for the terrible writer that she is and while New Moon promotes domestic abuse, Cody takes it one step further and proclaims that date rape is a wonderful thing and all women should aspire for that. Add to that the horrendous dialoge the film tries to pass off as ‘chic’ coupled with the outright stupidity of almost every plot point and this is a film that doesn’t even want to redeem itself. It’s perfectly content with being the suckfest that it is as it thinks it’s the cool kid on the block. You’re not, as you’re uncompromising douche who needs to just run away from cinema as far as you can.

But wait, there’s actually a film that’s so crappy it’s actually worse than the ten films I’ve listed. It’s just recently been released, which kind of defeats the old proverb “save the best for last.” I present to you…

Does it count because it was direct-to-video? Who cares, but somehow Wrong Turn 3 managed to be decent. This…wow. I don’t think there’s any word in the human, xenomorph, or Na’vi dictionary that describe how horrendous this movie is. Action is poorly framed, the acting just doesn’t exist, and the plot rips off Die Hard just as bad as Fast and the Furious sullied Point Break. Anyone who thinks Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen or Land of the Lost is the worst experience known to man has yet to encounter this piece to terrible. Argue with me if you will about what shouldn’t and should be on here, but let’s all agree this trash needs to be taken out and burned.

And that concludes it. Hopefully none of you had to suffer as much as I did this year, and let’s hope 2010 doesn’t bring us anything nearly as horrid. As usual, tell me how wrong I am below.

As an added bonus, who can guess how many 20th Century Fox films made this list? I don’t have a vendetta against them, but they need to fire Tom Rothman and stop putting out crap year after year.

Well now we begin what I like to know mainly as the box office waltz, where each summer movie at this moment that gets released (and is big time) gets a slice of the number one spot. It doesn’t happen all summer though, usually lasts until the start or mid-June, but the latest Ron Howard movie Angels & Demons continued the trend as they graced their way in opening weekend to a whopping 48 million. Despite it’s religiously questioning premise of a secret organization trying to take down the Vatican and all its inhabitants in her, people still rushed their way to theaters to see this clock ticking mystery.

"We have beaten you Trekkies." *Laughs evily*

Despite the nice amount of bank Angels and Demons raked in, hot behind it’s tail was the J.J. Abrams Star Trek, only missing the mark by only five million. This might just be myself guessing, but personally last night I went to check out the movie once again and there were a considerable amount of Trekkies in my movie theater making their second or third trip to watch Chris Pine and others jump onto the Enterprise.

The rest of the flicks have been holding up fine, surprisingly so with Obsessed making way more than people thought it would (raking in 62 with a 20 mil budget) as well as films making their ginormous budgets back such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Monsters Vs. Aliens. Here below is the rest of the top ten stats from this previous weekend.

Weekend Box Office (May 15-17)

1. Angels & Demons  ($48 Million)
2. Star Trek  ($43 Million)
3. X-Men Origins: Wolverine  ($14.8 Million)
4. Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past  ($6.8 Million)
5. Obsessed  ($4.5 Million)
6. 17 Again  ($3.4 Million)
7. Monsters Vs. Aliens  ($3 Million)
8. The Soloist  ($2.4 Million)
9. Next Day Air  ($2.2 Million)
10. DisneyNature’s Earth  ($1.6 Million)

The slow weekend of movies quickly comes to an end as the big guns start to come out. Terminator: Salvation, The Hangover, Dance Flick and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian storm their way into theaters for this coming weekend. Stay here on Atomic Popcorn as well for Terminator: Retrograde as reviewer Philip does a day-by-day review on each one of the previous Terminator films following up to the final review on the latest one from director McG.

"Thank God I'm not wearing a red shirt, or we would've been screwed this weekend."

Many sorts beamed their way towards their local movie theater or IMAX in order to see the latest sci-fi romp of the ongoing franchise in J.J. Abram’s Star Trek, and boy did they prove it. Not only did Star Trek beat out The Dark Knight in the highest box office gross for IMAX showings across the nation ($7 Million) but they also, if you combine Thursday’s earnings into the mix, have beaten out X-Men Origins: Wolverine for the best box office weekend so far this year. Regardless, we all know by this point that it grossed enough weekend earnings to gain the number one spot.

Of course there was still another movie released this past weekend, Next Day Air, that did not fair as ridiculously well as the Chris Pine and Zackary Quinto starring flick. Raking in about 4 million, the action comedy with Donald Faison managed to wrangle in an audience. Regarding even smaller films, if anyone seems to care particularly the Twilight women, Little Ashes is at the bottom of the barrel. This reporter figures that if there are as many Twilight fans that wander around the site as she believes, that they would at least be interested to check out their favorite blood sucker (Robert Pattinson) in this indie drama.

The rest of the films on the list faired out well including some surprises such as Obsessed raking in a cool 56 million overall so far comparing it to their 20 million budget. Need to sneak a peek at the rest of the top ten? Feast your eyes on it below.

Weekend Box Office (May 8-10)

1. Star Trek  ($75.2 Million)
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine  ($26.4 Million)
3. Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past  ($10.2 Million)
4. Obsessed  ($6.5 Million)
5. 17 Again  ($4.2 Million)
6. Next Day Air  ($4.1 Million)
7. The Soloist  ($3.9 Million)
8. Monsters Vs Aliens  ($3.2 Million)
9. DisneyNature’s Earth  ($2.6 Million)
10. Hannah Montana The Movie  ($2.1 Million)

The summer season is still getting warmed up with The Brothers Bloom and Angels and Demons gracing their way into theaters this upcoming Friday. With reviews on all the films stated and more information on your most anticipated upcoming summer flicks, stay here on Atomic Popcorn.

"Of course I'll kick more ass, how could you not think that?"

For all of you who saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine, you were introduced (or re-introduced if you adore the comics) to Deadpool. Those of you who are unfamiliar with the character, Deadpool is a Marvel creation that is well known as the anti-hero. From his super powered abilities & his wise crack mouth and antics he pulls on others, he’s been entertaining readers ever since his appearance starting in 1991.

Now after tasting the sweet success of the live action field, 20th Century Fox is going full force with creating a pattended Deadpool spinoff movie, and who could blame them after the success of the origins film? Ryan Reynolds is locked back on to play the smart mouthed mercenary of sorts in this upcoming solo film. Currently the actor has another two films on the way; The Proposal co-starring Sandra Bullock and Paper Man which is written and directed by Michele and Kieran Mulroney.

Also slated for production is not only the recently greenlit sequel but a couple of other x-men related films. The first of that is X-Men Origins: Magneto being penned by Sheldon Turner (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) and the second being the actual follow up to X-Men 3: The Last Stand which is X-Men: First Class being written up by Josh Schwartz (Chuck, Gossip Girl).

Hugh Jackman's riding the wave of success, how tubular

Hugh Jackman, basically one of the most popular actors at the moment due to the first summer hit X-Men Origins: Wolverine is ready for some more. That’s right, 20th Century Fox and Seed Productions are already planning the next adventure for the hairy beer guzzling X-man, dipping right into development right off of the heels of the first weekend the film opened. Sources so far state that the film will revolve around the samurai story line that appears within the comics. Nobody has been picked to pen the script yet, but obviously Jackman would be crazy not to embark on yet another X-Men fueled adventure on the big screen.

Along with that new burst of news, 20th Century Fox keep Jackman under close watch as he locks in a role for the upcoming film, Personal Security. Jackman will play a tough Gotham police detective forced into bodyguard duty for a spoiled teen heiress who is receiving kidnapping threats. Busying himself up even more, Hugh Jackman will also be starring in Drive, set for a 2009 release date, centers on a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him. Throwing even more up for the Australian actor to do, he’ll be hopefully making his return on Broadway in the title role in Houdini with music composed by Danny Elfman and directed by Jack O’Brien (Hairspray). More power to Hugh Jackman being such hot commodity and completely taking advantage of it in the best ways possible, we’ll all definitely be showing our support (including myself) by checking his latest movies up on the big screen.

Wolvie's still ready to tear up some more ass

Welcome one and all to the official start of the summer season, though technically it still is not summer yet for some of you. Our blockbuster weekend started off with everyone’s favorite beer chugging Canadian in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and boy did it not disappoint at all in the box office. Completely slashing through the competition, the prequel raked in a cool 85 million which toppled Fast and Furious 4 for the highest opening box office weekend of the year so far.

What’s that you say? There was more than just Wolverine that jumped into the weekend? Of course there was, and this romantic comedy was praised even greater than the adamantium skeletal man. Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past, the Mark Waters directed film, quietly placed itself in second. Battle for Terra though was a different situation, due to it’s dull marketing and very hush hush opening, doesn’t even appear in the top ten barely making a million bucks for the CGI animated feature.

The rest of the movies out there this weekend made reasonable bank, but now that the summer season has commenced, expect more of the blockbuster films slithering their way into theaters fairly quickly. Placed below is the weekend results, take a gander.

Weekend Box Office (May 1-3)

1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine  ($85 Million)
2. Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past  ($15.4 Million)
3. Obsessed  ($12 Million)
4. 17 Again  ($6.3 Million)
5. Monsters Vs. Aliens  ($5.8 Million)
6. The Soloist  ($5.6 Million)
7. DisneyNature’s Earth  ($4.3 Million)
8. Hannah Montana The Movie  ($4.1 Million)
9. Fighting  ($4 Million)
10. State of Play  ($3.7 Million)

The next set of films heading over to theaters everywhere this upcoming weekend is the highly anticipated J.J. Abrams directed film, Star Trek and the Donald Faison starring action comedy, Next Day Air. Keep your eyes here on Atomic Popcorn for reviews on these upcoming movies and more.

Well we decided to chunk these articles up into two portions so your eyes don’t hurt after reading through all of my recaps. I hope you are all still here with us. Make sure to check out the first one if you arrived here by some twist of internet fate!

We will start back on track with July.

JULY

JULY 1

PUBLIC ENEMIES

I’ve said it before and I will again; cancel the 2009 Oscars as we can give every single award to this masterpiece. Michael Mann is my favorite filmmaker and his style has influenced my own direction and I’ll defend most of the guy’s work (my least favorite being The Keep.) This is going to be the film I see eleven times in theaters and will obliterate every other film that comes out this year. Yes, I’m predestined to love this film because everything I’ve seen leads me to believe Michael Mann has not only invaded our dreams perfectly with Bale and Depp, but is giving us a true work of cinematic greatness that will have it’s poster featured in the hall of the Academy of Science and Motion Pictures. The only movie that needs release after this is The Expendables, then cinema can end.

ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS

Public Enemies. Fox decides to revive a franchise that has been lukewarmly received from audiences and critics alike. Public Enemies. The franchise has always had the cute characters, but it’s lacked what made the Pixar movies special with the heart behind the cuddly li’l guys. Public Enemies. I do have to admit, the trailer did make me laugh but so did the ones for the first two, and I left with the same feelings; decent for kids, meh for adults. Public Enemies. It looks like it’s opening take won’t be strong and it’ll still do battle with Optimus Prime. Public Enemies.

JULY 10

THE HURT LOCKER

I need this movie like rain needs water. Kathryn Bigelow is one of my favorite talents and it’s a shame she’s been forgotten since K-19: The Widowmaker. Word on this has been nothing short of great as it’s tearing up festivals and awards alike. There’s not alot to dislike here as it looks like we’ll have an Iraq war drama finally worth a squirrel fart. If anything, I’m hoping it relaunches Bigelow’s career again like the perfectly awesome Point Break did.

I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER

I’m of the belief you can show an IMAX film on Hayden Panettiere’s forehead. She’s not bad looking, it’s just she has a giant forehead which I assume is her super power on that X-Men ripoff “Heroes”. This looks like it could either way, but it does have original writer Larry Doyle working on the screenplay of his own novel. Really unsure about the timing of this one though as it’s going to be facing competition from Sacha Baron Cohen.

BRUNO

It’s going to be interesting to see how Sacha Baron Cohen replicates the shock reactions he generated with Borat. The sightings have been great and apparently this killed at SXSW. The trailer looks like more of the same, but doesn’t since we’re dealing with a more flamboyant character.

JULY 17

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOODED PRINCE

Just call it Harry Potter and The Biggest Money Maker of the Summer. The Potter films have a wide fanbase and the movies haven’t sucked hard at all. Sure, it took them a while before they finally became good but that’s largely due to the improvements of it’s leading stars. The trailer has been the best they’ve given us but does it really matter for this movie? After what they did with the last film, I’ll be there in IMAX 3-D for this.

JULY 24

THE UGLY TRUTH

Like a few other films being released this summer, this has a pretty predictable ending without seeing so much as a trailer. Gerard Butler had such promise after 300 and while he hasn’t fallen off the map, he seems to be stuck in Romcom Hell. Katherine Heigl continues her string of romcoms as none look to eclipse Knocked Up anytime soon. Both could, should do and know better, but until they realize it, we’re going to be fed films like these.

G-FORCE

Sadly, this isn’t an adaptation of the “Gatchaman” anime series, but essentially a reimagining of Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Will Arnett plays agent alongside Nicolas Cage voicingg the leading…animal here and even though Arnett was enjoyable in Monsters Vs. Aliens it’s hard to see how he can elevate the material here. Hopefully the children have wised up since October.

JULY 31 (My Brother’s Birthday)

FUNNY PEOPLE

Apparently, this should be nominated for Oscars as early buzz would suggest. No clue if it’s really that good, but it does have many things going for it. Apatow and Rogen make for a good team, Sandler likes to give solid performances when he’s not making raccooon crap (i.e. -  You Don’t Mess With The Zohan) and Ms. Leslie Mann-Apatow should as always be stupendous. Interesting note is constant Spielberg collaborator Janusz Kaminski is on board for this chances are it’ll be the best looking comedy of the year.

THEY CAME FROM UPSTAIRS

Ashley Tisdale = Minor interest. Trailer = Interest gone.

AUGUST

AUGUST 7

G.I. JOE: RISE OF THE COBRA

I demand Stephen Sommers to be banned from filmmaking as the man has yet to make a film that resembles decency. When he was announced as director of this film the fun was sucked right out of it and the buzz was shot to hell when the toy photos of Cobra Commander where leaked. I know going with the blue hood was too simple and cool for this film, but no one wanted Jimmy Vulmer. It looks like Wanted, but as long as Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are handled well there shouldn’t be too much whining.

JULIE & JULIA

Amy Adams does her one fun film of the year in May, then comes back to the arthouse with this. Julie Powell steals a page from Diablo Cody and attemps to become a screenwiter. Too bad she couldn’t have found a better director than Nora Ephron (no relation to Zac obviously, although just as talented) who’s last film was the cinematic equivalent of Jack Bauer torture. It does have the presence of two great actresses so it should be ok. Maybe.

SHORTS

Robert Rodriguez returns to working with children in this tale of a boy who finds a multi-colored, wish granting rock. RR’s not a bad filmmaker but his flicks always have the proper amount of cheese that have some form of charm to them. This might be why the Spy Kids films work so well or it’s Rodriguez’s way with child actors. Whatever the case, Shorts should deliver even if it looks borderline Speed Racer.

AUGUST 14

A PERFECT GETAWAY

Riddick creator David Twohy tells this tale of two pairs of lovers who discover they’re being stalked and hunted. Milla Jovovich plays Steve Zahn’s husband in this which isn’t so hard to believe when you consider who she’s really married to (another person who needs to be banned from filmmaking.) Some would say Twohy needs to hang it up too, but he’s better at ideas and not the actual construction of a script.

DISTRICT 9

Rumored Halo director Neil Blomkamp takes on this sci-fi action romp. I’m interested if only because I’ve never seen Neil’s work and he made quite a bit of noise when he was rumored for Halo all those years ago. It also has an interesting premise with the aliens being the hunted and not the hunters. Peter Jackson is behind this as well. Do I smell an exercise for Halo?

FINAL DESTINATION: DEATH TRIP 3-D

Race cars. Horror. 3D. Sounds like a grindhouse film right? No, but that’s what were getting from David R. Ellis in this forth installment of the Final Destination saga. I remember a time when 3-D used to be unique. Now it feels like a gimmick to put asses in seats and along with IMAX specific scenes, seems to be where cinema is headed. In fact, I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE MONKEY FIGHTING STUDIOS AND THEIR MONDAY TO FRIDAY GIMMICKS!

THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE

Eric Bana will hopefully revive his career this year with this, Funny People, and some science fiction nonsense being released in May. Rachel McAdams is looking to do the same after her great turn in State of Play with this science fiction romance. The premise is intriguing enough and certainly the leads have enough talent to make it work, but will it be more Fountain or more Notebook? Time will tell.

PAPER HEART

No documentary and some narratives look to eclipse Anvil: The Story of Anvil this year but this small feature from Charlyne Yi has been garnered both kinds of good and bad buzz. Michael Cera is in this experiemental documentary that I hope isn’t what some say: lots of vision, very little substance.

AUGUST 21

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS

I may be the only guy in the universe, but I find Quentin Tarantino to be overrated. He’s not bad, but he is not the end-all be-all of crime and cinema like everyone made him out to be (on a side note, what really annoys me is when people say my own work is derivative of his when none of my inspiration comes from him.) Because of my feelings, it made me feel good when Death Proof showed his greatest weakness in it’s true form and everyone came off his high horse. But now we get his “dream” project and while it’s not the case he wants, it still looks deliciously great. Nazi’s for sure will be destroyed gloriously, and Brad Pitt embodies Lee Marvin. If there’s one movie to end the summer, why not this one?

THE POST GRAD SURVIVAL GUIDE

Erm…did we really need this film? It’s relatable for sure, but it appears way too cute for it’s own good and even stars Sara Paxton’s non-sister Alexis Bledel. I just hope this isn’t some post-Juno nonsense that will sniff it’s own ass and pretend to have a lesson. If anything, the casting of Michael Keaton and Carol Burnett gives me some (if very little) hope.

AUGUST 28

H2: HALLOWEEN 2

So the summer ends with Rob Zombie poisoning us to an unwanted sequel to an pointless remake of a classic horror flick. I really, really don’t see the point in this picture much like I don’t think Zombie should let near a camera for a Halloween movie. Sure, rebooting all the horror franchises is necessary because of the continuity errors they all have but let’s at least pay the respects to what came beforehand. These don’t even feel like Halloween films but more like The Devil’s Rejects Feat. Michael Myers. Maybe this will bomb so we’re no longer plagued with Zombie’s Halloween.

And with that, this preview is over. This summer has way too many films that can go either way which means it could be as good as last year, or as hit or miss as 2007.  With that said, here’s the Ten Most Anticipated For Summer 2009:

1. Public Enemies
2. The Hurt Locker
3. Up
4. Moon
5. Terminator Salvation
6. Bruno
7. Funny People
8. Star Trek
9. District 9
10. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

See you at the movies!