Stay out of the heat by moving in to your local movie theater
For anyone who is spending the summer in Davis, escaping to the local movie theater to sit in an air-conditioned room full of strangers sounds like the perfect way to avoid the blistering heat. And here are just some of the many movie choices for Summer 2016 to help you do just that.
Finding Dory
If you remember the year 2003, you remember Finding Nemo and how the world fell in love with all of its characters — to a point where children were purchasing little “Nemos” and flushing them down the toilet to “free them.” Hopefully, that will be avoided this year around as Pixar introduces Finding Dory, which features the beloved main characters from the first film and also brings in the voices of Kaitlin Olsen, Ty Burrell and Ed O’Neill to play new ones. The story centers on Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) struggling to find the family that she has forgotten due to her constant short-term memory loss, and this time, the roles are reversed as Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (Hayden Rolence) help her along her journey. The film’s message is about the importance of family, friendships and never giving up, and I know I’ll be catching this to relive a little bit of my childhood!
Release Date: June 17, 2016
The BFG
Disney continues to pull on our heartstrings with its adaptation of the Roald Dahl children’s book, The BFG. For those who have not read the book, the story is about a bookish orphan named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who one night gets plucked up by the Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance). The Big Friendly Giant is in the business of collecting and passing out good dreams to children via a magical trumpet. When Sophie asks “Why me?” the BFG replies, “Because I hears your lonely heart,” and already we are rooting for this wonderful friendship. But there’s danger looming in the form of the other human-eating giants in Giant Land, and it becomes Sophie and the BFG’s mission to have them captured. This Steven Spielberg directed film is sure to have stunning visuals and a wonderful accompanying soundtrack, and I’m hoping that it will include the “snozzcumber” and “whizpopping” words that are so unique to Roald Dahl.
Release Date: July 1, 2016
The Legend of Tarzan
Hollywood has become keen on producing live action reboots of popular Disney movies in the past few years, which always leads to box office success since audiences have nostalgic ties to the movies that they grew up watching as children. From Cinderella, Snow White and the Huntsmen, Maleficent, The Jungle Book and now The Legend of Tarzan, it seems that there’s no stopping this Disney-crazed train, and I hate to admit that I’m all for it. Because although it leaves less room for new and original screenplays, it’s hard to say no to a Tarzan reboot that stars Margo Robbie (Jane), Alexander Skarsgard (Tarzan) and Christoph Waltz (Captain Rom), who always plays the perfect, sociopathic villain.
Release Date: July 1, 2016
Jason Bourne
Matt Damon reprises his role as the former CIA assassin in the fifth installment of the Bourne series, and I can see this action packed spy thriller’s popularity heading both ways; it will either top the box office this summer, or achieve mediocre financial gains depending on whether audiences feel excited for yet another round of Bourne movies, or if they decide that it four movies is enough. Damon himself was quoted in 2007 (before the release of the fourth installment) that “we have ridden [the Bourne] horse as far as we can,” but has still signed up to star in this newest Bourne flick. The movie also stars Julia Stiles, Alicia Vikander and Tommy Lee Jones, and like its predecessors, is sure to be filled with plenty of exciting rooftop chases and explosions. I’ve yet to make up my mind about seeing this one since the franchise may be becoming a bit repetitive, but I’ll wait for more reviews to decide.
Released Date: July 29, 2016
Suicide Squad
And finally, we have the highly anticipated DC comics’ Suicide Squad. Fans have been eagerly waiting for the release since the first-look trailer was revealed at Comic-Con in July 2015, and I’m sure that it’ll be the one of the highest, if not the highest, grossing film of the summer. The story centers around imprisoned supervillains who are recruited by a government agency to take part in secret mission-and things are sure to go wrong, especially when the Joker (Jared Leto) is thrown in. The movie also stars Will Smith, Viola Davis and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, who seems to already be a fan favorite based on the screen time she has received in the trailer. Since Jared Leto was said to have stayed in character for the entire shoot, it will be interesting to see how his interpretation of the Joker compares to Heath Ledgers’, and I’m definitely excited to find out!
Release Date: August 5, 2016
Written by: Pari Sagafi – arts@theaggie.org
