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2008 Summer Movie Preview	ENTERTAINMENT
When other people are on the beach meeting girls and doing irreparable harm to their future political careers, where will you be? That's right, at the movies watching this year's crop of blockbusters. Here's our official field guide.

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MUST-SEE || BIG MAYBES || NO WAY

MUST-SEE

The Dark Knight

Release Date: July 18
Hell, Yeah: This is the comic book movie to beat. Batman Begins topped every costume-clad adventure before it, and this sequel looks to take it to the next level. Everything about it is spot-on, from the trimmed-down title to the new cast members (the tragedy of Heath Ledger's death may cloud things, but his Joker looks to be one for the ages) to the new gadgets (the Bat-pod is badass). Can you say "Holy Best Summer Movie, Batman"?
Oh, No: Will too many villains take it from lean, mean Batman Begins to bloated Batman Forever in one fell swoop? We seriously doubt Christopher Nolan is capable of such Schumacherness, but you never know. It's the one Achilles' heel of the superhero flick.
Verdict: This has as much chance of totally sucking as director Joel Schumacher has of returning to the Bat franchise. Dark Knight officially tops our anticipation meter

Iron Man
Release Date: May 2
Hell, Yes: He may be on Marvel Comics' B-list, but Tony Stark and his alter ego, Iron Man, might just be the most entertaining comic character to hit screens yet. He's essentially Bruce Wayne, if you replace the "my parents are dead" depression with "I'm rich as hell and want to party" coolness; and the flamboyant, hard-drinking Stark fits star Robert Downey Jr. like a gin-soaked repulsor-ray-equipped glove.
Oh, No: Director Jon Favreau can handle Stark's quips well enough, but he has yet to prove he can kick our collective action-junkie asses when it comes to delivering the "bangs" and "ka-pows." (Zathura was a nice dry run, but we need more.)
Verdict: We have faith in Favreau, and from what we've seen of Downey, he won't even have to don the metal suit to keep us entertained.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Release Date: May 22
Hell, Yes: It's. A. Brand-New. Indiana. Jones. Movie. Put everything else aside and remember that it's been almost 20 years since we had that feeling. Who cares if the villains are Communazis and the title is better suited to a theme park log flume ride—once that theme kicks in we'll be shoveling popcorn in our yaps like each kernel is a live eel and we're a fat Punjabi courtier.
Oh, No: Yeah, yeah, Harrison Ford is older than most of the artifacts he's chasing—we've heard all the jokes. Our main concern is that George "Franchise Killer" Lucas has apparently had a lot of say over the final script for this movie, and that the tone appears to be less Raiders (white-knuckle action with moments of levity) and more Last Crusade (every character suddenly becomes a bumbling buffoon).
Verdict: The Star Wars prequels were all Lucas, so we hope that the influence of Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford will balance out the bearded frog's lamer tendencies. Hell, Marion Ravenwood is back! How can we not be excited?

Pineapple Express
Release Date: August 8
Hell, Yes: We've had a slew of pot comedies over the years, but how many pot action films? Judd Apatow (who produces, as if you had to ask) said that Pineapple Express is like True Romance if True Romance followed the adventures of Dick Ritchie's roommate, Floyd. Sounds good to us. Judging by early clips, it might be James Franco—normally the dramatic straight man—who steals the movie.
Oh, No: The problem with weed movies is whether they will be funny in the slightest if you don't smoke weed. The occasional pot joke has peppered a lot of Seth Rogen movies, but this one might be in danger of being a one-joke movie.
Verdict: Even if the weed jokes fall flat, this boasts Office Space's Gary Cole as a villain and Danny McBride, soon to be your favorite comic actor after his movie The Foot Fist Way comes out. Trust us.

Tropic Thunder
Release Date: August 15
Hell, Yeah: Ben Stiller used to do hilarious movie spoofs on The Ben Stiller Show, so now he's gathered up Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. (he will own this summer, you heard it here), Danny McBride, Nick Nolte, and Tom Cruise (?!?) to essentially take on Platoon and every other war movie ever made. This might be our most anticipated non-superhero movie of the summer.
Oh, No: We're trying to come up with a downside here, but… Well, it might be a case of "too many cooks," but that's stretching. Nope, we're still psyched.
Verdict: Psyched.

Speed Racer
Release Date: May 9
Hell, Yes: The Wachowski siblings are back and, say what you will about The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, that is still an exciting prospect. Besides, adapting a virtually plotless anime series leaves them little room to crawl up their own asses with religious philosophobullshit, and plenty of time to wow us with ridiculous CG-enhanced car stunts.
Oh, No: This entire movie could be a Day-Glo nightmare. The concept of "live-action anime" sounds fun on paper, but you could be praying for speed lines to whisk you out of the theater by hour two.
Verdict: We're hoping our eyes can endure, and the cast—Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon, John "Friggin'" Goodman—is just to the left of expectations, so our curiosity wins out over our doubts.

Wanted
Release Date: June 27
Hell, Yeah: This stealth comic book movie (yes, despite the lack of costumes, Wanted is based on a comic book series) is about assassins (yay!) who drive hot cars (yes!), take orders from Morgan Freeman (boo-yah!), and often look like a smoking-hot Angelina Jolie (boom goes the dynamite!). If you're looking for anything else out of your entertainment options this summer, you probably run a folk music festival.
Oh, No: Not too much in the "no" category on this one, except that director Timur Bekmambetov is only known for the movies Night Watch and Day Watch, which you need a translator and a geek Sherpa to get through. But they looked cool as hell, and that's really all that Wanted demands.
Verdict: We're psyched. Everyone's been talking up James McAvoy because he can "act" and "get nominations" and all that crap, but now we can finally see if he can handle a gun. And Morgan Freeman.

Wall-E
Release Date: June 27
Hell, Yeah: Quick, name a bad Pixar movie. Can't do it, can you? These guys have such an amazing batting average, the Steinbrenner family just offered them $300 million and a Bentley with bucket seats made out of A-Rod's skin. Coming off of Ratatouille (not just a good animated movie, a good movie period), they have the right to take this summer off. But with Wall-E, they have come back bigger, stronger, and cuter.
Oh, No: We initially thought it would be tough for them to ring enough personality out of a tiny worker robot who (apparently) doesn't talk much, but look at that guy! He's adorable! And these guys made fish funny, for crying out loud. Our only fear is that they have to hit the wall some time, don't they? Is this their first trip up? Doesn't look like it, but you never know.
Verdict: We're sold on it, regardless. A space adventure from Pixar is a done deal in our books.

X-Files: I Want to Believe
Release Date: July 25
Hell, Yeah: Is this it? Will all the nagging questions be answered? Conspiracy theory junkies finally have their Return of the Jedi as Mulder and Scully step back into their sensible suits for one (maybe) last go-round.
Oh, No: Does anyone even care anymore? X-Files' relevance flamed out years ago, so we have a hard time believing there's a huge uproar for another movie. Remember when they said that Firefly fans would make Serenity an instant hit? Yeah, exactly. Answering long-standing mysteries years after anyone stopped giving a crap? Who do you think you are, Lost?
Verdict: The truth is out there, and we can't wait to find it out.

MUST-SEE || BIG MAYBES || NO WAY

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[7/6/2008]