Editorials Uncategorized

The Koalition’s Rundown of this Year’s Top Summer Movies

This summer, it’s looking extra steamy as we’re about to be exposed to some action-packed, hilarious, tantalizing, and mind-boggling films. Ranging from action to animation, laughter to suspense, true stories to fictional villains, grubbing on popcorn in our seats will be great with 2016’s summer movie line-up.

Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles: Out of the Shadows

Release Date: June 3rd

First up is the movie we’re enthusiastic-not-really-excited for: Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles: Out of the Shadows. The Turtles come into conflict with T.C.R.I. scientist Dr. Baxter Stockman and the return of their enemy, The Shredder, who has hired Stockman to create mutants of his own in the form of Bebop and Rocksteady. Meanwhile, an extraterrestrial invasion above New York City is led by the Dimension X inhabitant known as Krang. The Turtles are joined in the fight by Splinter and their human friends April O’Neil, Vern Fenwick, and the vigilante, Casey Jones.

Directed by: Dave Green, the cast includes: Alessandra Ambrosio, Megan Fox, Stephen Amell, Laura Linney, Will ArnettAlan Ritchson, Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Brian Tee, Fred Armisen, Tyler Perry and Tony Shalhoub.

Popstar

Release Date: June 3rd

A movie that hasn’t been marketed to the masses and may have fallen under the radar is Popstar, or as I like to call it: “an SNL movie.” When his new album fails to sell, pop/rap superstar “conner4real” goes into a major tailspin and watches his celebrity high life begin to collapse. He’ll try anything to bounce back, anything except reuniting with his old rap group, The Style Boyz.

Directed by: Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, the cast includes: Imogen Poots, Andy Samberg, Maya Rudolph, Adam Levine, Bill Hader, Will Forte, Will Arnett, Sarah Silverman, Martin Sheen and Joan Cusack.

Warcraft

Release Date: June 10th

The long-awaited Warcraft is finally here. Plagued by an array of delays, we’ll at last see Azeroth standing on the brink of war as its civilization, led by the humans, faces a fearsome race of invaders: orc warriors fleeing their dying world of Draenor to find their place in another. As a gateway known as the Dark Portal opens to connect the two worlds, the humans face destruction while the orcs face extinction. Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel), leader of the humans, and Durotan (Toby Kebbell), leader of the orcs, are then sent on a collision course that will decide the fate of their families, their people, and their homelands.

Directed by: Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, the cast includes: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer and Robert Kazinsky.

Independence day: Resurgence

Release Date: June 24th

It’s the sequel announcement we’ve all been waiting for… until we found out Will Smith’s character was killed off via a news blurb.

Independence Day

This apparently happened on April 27, 2007, and there is a corresponding blurb that explains what happened:

While test piloting the ESD’s first alien hybrid fighter, an unknown malfunction causes the untimely death of Col. Hiller. Hiller’s valor in the War of ‘96 made him a beloved global icon whose selfless assault against the alien mothership lead directly to the enemy’s defeat. He is survived by his wife Jasmine and son Dylan.

Twenty years after the events of the first film, the international community recovers and the United Nations creates the Earth Space Defense (ESD), a united global defense program that serves as Earth’s early warning system and the main defense force using technology salvaged from remains of the alien forces, with some military forces assembled on the Moon. However, the aliens were able to send a distress signal to their other battalions before their final defeat while others went into hiding elsewhere around the world. The aliens in deep space receive the signal and send a larger and more powerful battle fleet, threatening the human race once more.

Directed by: Roland Emmerich, the cast includes: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jessie Usher, Maika Monroe, Angelababy, Sela Ward and William Fichtner.

Kicks

Kicks

Release Date: TBD

Brandon is a 15 year-old whose dream is to own a pair of fresh Air Jordans. Soon after he gets his hands on them, they’re stolen by a local hood, causing Brandon and his two friends go on a dangerous mission through Oakland to retrieve them.

Directed by: Justin Tipping, the cast includes: Jahking Guillory, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Christopher Meyer, Kofi Siriboe, Mahershala Ali and Molly Shaiken.

The Secret Life of Pets

Release Date: July 8th

Now it’s time for a movie for the family and The Secret Life of Pets actually looks fun. Taking place in a Manhattan apartment building, Max’s life as a favorite pet is turned upside down, when his owner brings home a sloppy mongrel named Duke. They have to put their quarrels behind when they find out that an adorable white bunny named Snowball is building an army of abandoned pets determined to take revenge on all home pets and their owners.

Directed by Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney, the cast includes Ellie Kemper, Jenny Slate, Lake Bell, Kevin Hart, Louis C.K., Steve Coogan, Eric Stonestreet and Bobby Moynihan.

The Infiltrator

Release Date: July 15th

This summer offers something for the drama lover. During the 1980s, DEA agent Robert Mazur uses his undercover alias “Bob Musella” to become a pivotal player for drug lords cleaning their dirty cash. Later, he infiltrates the world’s largest cartel and helps discover the money-laundering organization of drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Directed by: Brad Furman, the cast includes Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger, Amy Ryan, Joseph Gilgun, and Benjamin Bratt.

Ice Age: Collision Course

Release Date: July 22nd

From the franchise that appears to be never-ending comes the latest installment in the Ice Age series. Scrat’s epic pursuit of his elusive acorn catapults him outside of Earth, where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the planet. To save themselves from peril, Manny, Sid, Diego, and the rest of the herd leave their home and embark on a quest full of thrills and spills, highs and lows, laughter and adventure. They do all of this while traveling to exotic new lands and encountering a host of colorful new characters.

Directed by Mike Thurmeier and Galen T. Chu, the cast includes Stephanie Beatriz, Melissa Rauch, Simon Pegg, Jennifer Lopez and Seann William Scott.

Jason Bourne

Release Date: July 29th

One of the most highly anticipated sequels is just months away. For what felt like an eternity, Jason Bourne is back and now remembering who he truly is and tries to uncover hidden truths about his past.

Directed by Paul Greengrass, the cast includes Alicia Vikander, Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones and Vincent Cassel.

Suicide Squad

Release Date: August 5th

In just a couple of months we will finally know if Jared Leto’s performance as The Joker will be worthy of our money. Coming off the lackluster and “Sad Batfleck” that was Batman v Superman, Warner Brothers’ Suicide Squad will introduce us to a secret government agency that recruits imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency.

Directed by: David Ayer, the cast includes  Will Smith, Jared Leto,Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez,Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ike Barinholtz,Scott Eastwood, and Cara Delevingne.