For movie fans, it was a bummer when big screen theaters closed and we were left watching films via online streaming services. But, as in all things involving big changes, there was some good and some bad.
By Rick Romancito
What’s available to watch this summer? After picking through several online lists, we picked a few movies you might want to pencil-in. Here are our picks for summer movies …
One of the great unsung heroes of the Marvel Comics Universe has been Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), aka Black Widow. Best to erase from your memory the “Avengers: End Game” and just let go with what promises to be one of the better entries in this rather bloated super-hero series.
Also coming up is yet another Disney live action redo with Cruella, as in DeVille from the “101 Dalmations.” This time, Emma Stone does the honors as the twisted rich lady with a taste for creepy fur coats.
Fans of the John Krasinski-directed horror-scifi flick, A Quiet Place, featuring Emily Blunt, to whom he is married in real life, will be happy to know there is A Quiet Place, Part II coming up. This one looks to be just as frightening as the first.
Another hotly anticipated horror movie is The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Building yet again on the legend of the late paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), this film takes a look at a real case of a murder suspect who uses demonic possession as his defense.
In the Heights, directed by Jon M. Chu, will be released to theaters simultaneously with HBO Max. It’s a film adaptation of a musical by “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda that follows several Latino characters in New York’s Washington Heights area.
An imaginative Pixar film from director Enrico Casarosa, titled Luca, looks at the title character, a kid who becomes friends with a sea monster disguised as a boy.
The testosterone-filled fast car series that keeps chugging along rolls around the corner with F9, starring Vin Diesel as Dom Toretto and John Cena as his brother. Expect more explosive action and macho posturing.
Tom Cruise was 24 when the first “Top Gun” came out in 1986. Now, it’s 31 years later and he’s a ridiculously fit 58 ready to plop into the cockpit once again for Top Gun: Maverick. Spoiler alert: Val Kilmer is back as Iceman.
“An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur’s reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men,” according to the imdb.com synopsis. Putting an actor of East Indian descent in the role of an English royal is priceless casting.
For fans of Margot Robbie, we have The Suicide Squad hitting theaters simultaneously with an HBO Max release. Natch, these colorful miscreants are tasked with saving the world from the apocalypse. We can hardly wait.
Lastly, we’re anxiously awaiting the release of Respect, the biopic of legendary soul artist Aretha Franklin starring the amazing Jennifer Hudson.
The hotly anticipated remake of Dune by Denis Villeneuve, Morbius by Daniel Espinosa and starring Jared Leto, No Time to Die directed by Cara Fukunaga and starring Daniel Craig in what may be his last James Bond film, and, yes, Neo is back in Matrix 4 in December.