Finally. After the last two years, you’d be forgiven if you thought we’d never get back to a regular summer movie season ever again. Summer is Christmas for movie fans but even the most optimistic among us felt like Santa was cancelling his movie trips around the world from here on out. But here we are, the summer of 2022 and we have an impressive menu of silver screen offerings in front of us. So while it may be a few weeks late (I had a last minute entry, a few adjusted release dates and a bunch of technical issues), here are the ten movies I’m looking forward to the most between now and Labour Day. So grab a drink, soak in some summer rays and catch these flicks if you can (some of them will probably even wind up on your streaming service of choice before the kids go back to school).
10. Three Thousand Years Of Longing (August 31st): Even though it’s directed by George (Mad Max) Miller, Three Thousand Years Of Longing looks like some one took a Terry Gilliam movie, a Wes Anderson one and a classic Disney fairy tale, threw them all in a blender and hit puree. This movie looks purely bonkers (and bonkers seems to be the order of the day the last two years or so). Will Idris Elba finally get his due in a summer FX movie? Will Tilda Swinton’s character use any of her three wishes to end her loneliness? Or will there a be deeper, hopefully more nuanced resolution? There’s precious little known about this flick outside of a trailer that dropped in late May, and that has me intrigued even more. But I have to admit, this entry also has me feeling a little conflicted. After all, Miller has a great resume and the cast looks top notch. But then again, how often do studios release movies they have a tonne of confidence in on the very last weekend of summer? Do they know something we don’t or is Thousand Years destined to be a pleasant end of summer surprise? Let’s hope it’s the second one.
9. Jurassic World Dominion (June 10th): I have to admit, my enthusiasm for the Jurassic World franchise is waning these days. I was obsessed with dinosaurs (and everything to do with them) when I was a kid and the original Jurassic Park will always have a special place in my movie-going heart. But if they never made another movie after 2018’s Fallen Kingdom, I don’t think I would have been too disappointed. What’s keeping me vaguely intrigued about Dominion is the return of the original cast and the possibility that they may intelligently examine the ecological super nova that would result from throwing dinosaurs and human beings onto the same planet at the same time. Or they might just throw a few token speeches at the question and then go for special effects broke. But a ticket buyer can hope can’t they? Dominion may be the final Jurassic Park movie, and if that’s the case, let’s all hope they give the franchise a proper retirement.
8. The Black Phone (June 24th): It should come as no surprise that the last few years haven’t offered horror movie fans anything new. There have been grave disappointments (looking at you Malignant), a few unoriginal retreads (The Book of Saw: Spiral) and recycled titles (any of the umpteen Halloween movies) but nothing original or captivating. And after all, if you wanted to be scared the last two years, you just had to turn on the news. Now enter The Black Phone. Not only do the trailers look like Phone may just offer something fresh (precious in today’s tired horror genre), but it may even have an interesting story to boot. And word is Ethan Hawke-who’s having a career revival of sorts these days-hits it out of the park as the villain. Definitely one for horror fans to keep on their radar.
7. Nope (July 22nd): And speaking of horror. What interests me about Nope isn’t just it’s possible premise (an invasion of supernatural alien forces), but that Jordan Peele may be looking to use it as a vehicle for career redemption. Following 2017’s Get Out, Peele was the belle of Hollywood’s ball. But 2019’s Us fell a little flat and he hasn’t really hit anything out of the park since. Did he have any of that in mind when he made Nope? Regardless, Peele’s latest effort looks just interesting enough on its own merits to look forward to.
6. Minions: The Rise of Gru (July 1st): Three years ago, Minions: TROG wouldn’t have made me blink. I was a huge fan of the Despicable Me franchise but felt it had come to a well deserved conclusion with 2017’s third instalment. While 2015’s Minions was adequately amusing, no one was clamouring for any more prequels. Myself included. But then 2020 happened. And 2021. And the first five months of 2022 haven’t been much to write home about either. So another two hours of Minion gibberish, slap stick and absurdity is more than welcome. Laughter isn’t just the best medicine, it’s also the best way to preserve your sanity and The Rise of Gru is going to be my one of guilty pleasures for the year. I plan on watching it with the biggest popcorn I can get my hands on and if I throw up laughing, I’ll consider it the best time I’ve had the last three years.
5. Bullet Train (July 29th): An action movie that looks inventive, irreverent and full of witty one-liners? Sign me up. Bullet Train looks like a cartoon of a movie and, if down right, that can be a fantastic time. And from the trailers, it doesn’t look like Bullet Train takes itself anywhere near seriously, meaning I won’t have any difficulty suspending my disbelief for two hours or so. Not only that, but it looks like Brad Pitt had a tonne of fun making this. Anytime that translates to the silver screen, you just know it’s worth the price of admission. Admiring some creative fight choreography and chuckling at some amusing quips isn’t the worst way to spend a night at the movies.
4. League of Super Pets (July 29th): 2022 looks like it will be the summer of animated movies and if DC’s latest cartoon venture is as fun as it looks, well we’ll all be the better for it. Remember how much we loved the first Secret Lives of Pets movie? Now combine that with how much you love super hero movies (which ever cinematic universe you prefer) and Super Pets may be the most fun kids of any age are going to have at the multiplex this summer. And no disrespect to The People’s Champ, but Dwayne Johnson voicing super man’s dog definitely plays second fiddle to having Keanu Reeves finally being cast as Batman. Don’t be surprised to see Reeves’ turn as The Dark Knight upstage everyone else.
3. Thor Love And Thunder (July 8th): The MCU’s been taking it a on the chin a lot lately for pushing past it’s regular tried and true story telling formula (and before it started testing its narrative boundaries, it was being criticized for being too formulaic). So Love and Thunder will be an interesting experiment for Kevin Feige and crew. Comedy resurrected Thor’s solo movies with 2018’s Ragnarok and the franchise looks like it’s leaning in the laugh direction hard for the fourth instalment. It’s little wonder that Marvel brought back fan favourite Taika Watiti to direct and while Ragnarok boasted the involvement of gladiator Hulk, Love and Thunder brings back Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster to wield Mjolnir as female Thor. Regardless of who’s throwing Asgard’s most famous hammer (and could Foster’s Thor hail from an address in the Multiverse? Things that make you go hmmmmmm . . . . ), the MCU’s signature characteristic has always been fun. And Love and Thunder looks like it has plenty of that.
2. Lightyear (June 17th): Like Super Pets and The Rise of Gru, Lightyear is going to be pure nostalgic fun. Isn’t it about time Buzz Lightyear, co-star of the game changing Toy Story movies that literally made Pixar, got his own solo movie? And an origin story to boot. The fact that he’s voiced by Captain America Chris Evans is pure icing on the cinematic cake. After seeing Pixar relegated to DisneyPlus the last two years, it will be great to see it return to the big screen where it belongs. And not only that, but how awesome it is to see Pixar staking claim to the weekend it has owned for years on Hollywood’s release calendar? The world may never get back to where it was pre-COVID (normal is a fluid thing), but the world just it feels a little safer knowing that there will be a Pixar blockbuster opening in the middle of June. Lightyear just may be my biggest comfort blanket this summer.
1. Dr. Strange In The Multiverse of Madness (May 6th): If you didn’t know Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme was going to grab this spot, you haven’t been paying attention. This was my most anticipated summer movie of 2022 and it didn’t disappoint. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first Dr. Strange, but I fell in love with the trailers and was dying to see how they would grow the seeds planted by WandaVision and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Multiverse has divided critics and fans alike, but it was a fun roller coster of mind blowing special effects, surprise cameos, Easter eggs and pleasant callbacks. And it did it all while expanding the already sprawling MCU even further. MoM is what summer blockbusters are all about and it launched 2022’s summer movie season with an atomic explosion. After the last 26 months full of global pandemic, civil strife, war, rioting, and eroding civil rights, Dr. Strange 2 was a welcome escape. It will be fascinating to see what Kevin Feige and company do with the good Doctor moving forward and how they plan on topping Multiverse with the third and final entry in the Dr. Strange trilogy. But when that does happen, I’ll be there with bells on.
