Summer-movie blockbuster season is in full gear and though I missed two of the most hotly anticipated summer kick-starters—Dark Shadows and The Avengers—during my hiatus, there's still a lot more comic book superhero (read: homoerotic) and action stuff just over the horizon. And though we're in for a lot of testosterone ahead fear not, it ain't all about the beefcake (no, really). A highly selective list of forthcoming summer movies:
June
Director Ridley Scott heads back to his roots with Prometheus (June 8), a prequel to his 1979 sci-fi classic, Alien. The original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's Noomi Rapace heads a cast that includes Charlize Theron and dreamy Michael Fassbender in one of the summer's most anticipated movies.
On the local front, out writer-director Nathan Adloff's feature debut, Nate & Margaret—the story of a 19-year-old gay man and his friendship with a 52-year-old spinster—is getting a three-day run at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. The film (which I'll review in next week's column) plays June 8, 11 and 12. Adloff and cast members will be present for a post-screening discussion.
Tom Cruise shows off his pecs as well as his vocal chops as rock star Stacee Jaxx in out director/choreographer Adam Shankman's screen adaptation of Rock of Ages (June 15), the hit Broadway jukebox musical that utilizes a raft of '80s heavy-metal rock songs for its score. Julianne Hough and newcomer hottie Diego Boneta play the young lovers; the film also features Mary J. Blige, Russell Brand, Alec Baldwin and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
The Music Box, 3733 N. Southport Ave., is programming a two-month matinee celebration of the films of Billy Wilder. One of his best, 1950's seminal Sunset Boulevard—with Gloria Swanson, William Holden and Erich Von Stroheim as, respectively, silent film star Norma Desmond, her dreamy boy toy and creepy chauffeur/ex-husband—is scheduled for the weekend of June 23-24.
For gay men and camp-film fans, Magic Mike (June 29) might just be the most anticipated movie … ever. Channing Tatum heads a cast of Hollywood beefcake (Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey, Joe Manganiello and the openly gay Matt Bomer) in a story about the trials and tribulations of male stripping. Tatum, who brought the dark comedy to director Steven Soderbergh, started his career taking it all off and has wanted to make a film about his eye-opening experiences ever since. Whether this will be the male version of Showgirls remains to be seen but advance reports (and a progression of shirtless stills) promise something quite diverting and hint at a gay twist.
That same week, Woody Allen stars—along with Alec Baldwin and queer audience faves Penelope Cruz, Ellen Page and others—in his latest comedy, To Rome with Love (June 29). The film is broken into four separate vignettes but, as usual, mums the word on the plot details.
The man who co-wrote "We've Only Just Begun," "I Won't Last a Day Without You," "Rainy Days And Mondays" and "The Rainbow Connection," and won an Oscar for his contributions to "Evergreen" from 1976's A Star Is Born is the subject of what promises to be a fascinating documentary portrait: Paul Williams Still Alive (June 29). Williams' diminutive presence was nearly ubiquitous throughout the 1970s. However, he disappeared from the mainstream decades ago, only to resurface in Stephen Kessler's documentary, which makes its Chicago debut at the Gene Siskel Film Center Friday, June 29. Williams will be on hand at the Saturday, June 30, screening.
July
Sony Pictures attempts to reboot a superhero franchise with The Amazing Spider Man (July 3), as cutie-pie Andrew Garfield bulks up and takes over the role from Tobey Maguire. Marc Webb directs, following up his charming romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer. Hopefully, he'll be able to inject the movie with a healthy dose of freshness and vitality the series desperately needs.
Former gospel singer-turned-global pop sensation (and queer audience fave) Katy Perry takes a page from Madonna's Truth or Dare and is starring in Katy Perry: Part of Me (July 5), which is part documentary, part biopic and all Perry. The film includes footage from Perry's recent concert tour and includes segments on her childhood, her quickie marriage to Russell Brand, and charts her phenomenal rise to fame.
Director Christopher Nolan goes back to the bat cave for the third (and what he says) is the final time with The Dark Knight Rises (July 20), which once again finds Christian Bale suiting up and protecting Gotham City. Anne Hathaway co-stars as Selina Kyle/Catwoman; Tom Hardy is the evil, hulking Bane; and Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman return in the roles in 2008's The Dark Knight.
The Music Box is bringing back its enormously popular Sing-A-Long Mary Poppins (July 21-22), which allows both the young and young at heart to enjoy Disney's 1964 supercalifragilisticexpialidocious musical classic that won Julie Andrews the Best Actress Oscar as the magical nanny and brought Dick Van Dyke screen immortality for his so-bad-it's-good cockney accent as Bert the chimney sweep.
Step Up: Revolution (July 27)—the fourth (can there really be four?) installment in the series of "dance off" urban films—centers yet again on a competition between a group of comely, dance-lovin' teens of indeterminate age (this one focusing on competing flash mobs in steamy Miami).
August
Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale take over the roles created by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone in a remake of 1990's sci-fi hit Total Recall (Aug. 3). However, this new adaptation is said to be closer to the Philip K. Dick novel (boy, was he prolific) upon which both were based. Will this finally be the hit that puts the underrated Farrell—who has played gay in several films—back on the A-list?
One final action thriller worth checking out: The Bourne Legacy (Aug. 3), yet another attempt at rebooting a franchise. Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, the rogue CIA agent who drove the series' first three films isn't back but all the other characters are, dealing with the fallout from Bourne's actions and finding themselves dealing with yet another cool, calculated agent (Jeremy Renner).
Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones play a couple seeking counseling after 30 years of marriage with therapist Steve Carell in the black comedy Hope Springs (Aug. 10). Streep has found financial and critical success (lots of it) in several movies counter programmed against the summer superhero juggernauts and this could be her latest. David Frankel, who guided Streep in her Oscar-nominated performance in The Devil Wears Prada, directs.
The Music Box is playing one of the years most talked about documentaries, The Queen of Versailles (Aug. 3), in which director Lauren Greenfield traces the building of the largest house in the United States by a billionaire couple—before the financial meltdown alters their ostentatious plans.
The late Whitney Houston has her final film role in Sparkle (Aug. 17), a remake of the 1976 backstage quasi-musical in which the title heroine (Irene Cara in the original, Jordin Sparks this time out) and her singing cohorts work at their dream of becoming stars. Inspired by the Supremes (and written before Dreamgirls), the movie is set in the '60s and focuses more heavily on the tricky relationship between Sparkle and her single mother (Houston)—one that escalates as fame starts to come.
