Autobots, wizards and more fill theaters

By Oliver Joszt

School coming to an end always signifies the beginning of the jam-packed summer blockbuster season of films to come. This summer promises to be crammed with tons of movies that will have audiences rushing to the theaters. Films filled with pirates, superheroes, robots and magical wizards will make sure that this blockbuster season will be one of the greatest.

Kicking off the summer movie season on May 4 is the highly anticipated release of Spiderman 3. The third installment of arguably one of the greatest superhero movies shows a lot of promise, especially considering Spiderman’s symbolic fight with an unknown alien substance and the promise of the ultimate super villain, Venom, played by Topher Grace.

Spiderman also has to deal with not only all of this but another villain named Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church); a new girl in town, Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), who catches the eye of Peter Parker; and his old friend Harry Osborn (James Franco), who vowed revenge on Spiderman.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End sails into theaters May 28. Pirates 3 will start where the second one left off ­— with Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Turner (Keira Knightley) on the search for Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) at a mysterious new location, known as World’s End, with the help of old nemesis Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). On the way to World’s End they will have to deal with enemies such as legendary Davey Jones (Bill Nighy) and Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), who now controls Davey’s heart.

With May generating so much blockbuster power, you would think that there wouldn’t be any impressive movies left for the rest of the summer.Yet, there is always Independence Day, which usually is a premiere day for a heavy-hitting and much anticipated film.
This year’s big Fourth of July release is the live-action version of Transformers, based on the cartoon series. This film will have the Autobots and Decepticons bringing their fight to Earth. Since Transformers is directed by Michael Bay and produced by Stephen Spielberg, expect amazing digital effects and breathtaking action scenes. They promised fans of the cartoon that this movie will not disappoint.

July also brings the next installment in one of the most popular series ever created. On July 13, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will cast its spell over audiences. This time around, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) has to deal with the freshly revived evil Lord Voldemort, who will strike again with his fellow Death Eaters. Also, we have the introduction of two new characters: Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), senior undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, who takes over the vacant position of Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, and a new, eccentric student named Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch).

Summer is not only filled with action and adventure, but it also has its share of laughs. On June 22, Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman return to reprise their roles from Bruce Almighty in Evan Almighty. Carell plays Evan Baxter, a congressman asked by God to rebuild the Ark.

If religious humor isn’t your thing, then the new comedy with Adam Sandler and Kevin James, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, opening on July 20, might be. The comedians play two firefighters who pretend to be gay in order to scam an insurance
company.

Then, the long overdue Simpsons the Movie comes out on July 17. In the movie, Homer has to save the world from a disaster that he started. This movie should quench the appetites of all Simpsons fans, who were dying to see their favorite dysfunctional family on the big screen.

With all of these movies and an assault of more, including Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Shrek the Third, The Bourne Ultimatum and Rush Hour 3, this promises to be one of the highest-grossing summers in movie history. Get ready for one exciting, movie-filled summer, which is sure to guarantee something for
everybody.