By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
The month of May marks the beginning of summer in the film industry, so prepare yourselves for the excitement of weekly blockbusters that will vie for your bank account’s attention. Buckle up, because there will be furious speed, there will be book reading, there will be a young girl with fins for legs, and there will be Marvel. While the blockbusters duke it out for box office supremacy, don’t overlook the smaller releases that may represent better entertainment.
May 5th
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” jumpstarts May, blasting into theaters the very first weekend. This represents the third and final Guardians movie from director James Gunn, who will be helming the DC movie universe after being ousted by Disney. Superhero fatigue and Marvel’s descent has been well documented, and after the poor showing from “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” in February, it will be wise to approach this one with caution. However, James Gunn knows how to create a comedic action romp, so hope is not dead.
May 12th
Just in time for Mother’s Day comes “Book Club: The Next Chapter.” Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen all return from 2018’s successful first installment. This time they’re taking their book reading on the road to Italy for a fun girl’s trip. Sounds a bit like “80 for Brady,” which was dreadful, but writer/director Bill Holderman also returns to helm this sequel, so hopefully the first film’s entertaining formula is repeated here. After a yummy brunch, go ahead and take your mom to this movie, she’ll surely appreciate it.
May 19th
Another week and another blockbuster sequel hits theaters this day. “Fast X” is the tenth film of the “Fast and Furious” saga and will supposedly be the first part of the two-film finale to close this highly successful franchise. Due to the falling out between the Rock and Vin Diesel, the Rock sadly will not be reprising his role, but everyone else returns and Jason Mamoa will enter the arena as the villain in this action thriller. Be prepared for more tricked out cars, ridiculous gadgetry, and impossible, physics defying stunts.
May 26th
The month closes with something for everyone, although none look overly promising. First up is the clear box office winner of this week, “The Little Mermaid.” Yep, once again, Disney is remaking one of their classic animated movies into a live action film (insert suppressed yawn here). The good news is that the director is Oscar nominated Rob Marshall, whose rendition of “Chicago” was breathtaking. The bad news is he’s also directed some stinkers like “Into the Woods.” The other big question mark is the lead, Halle Bailey, who doesn’t have very many acting gigs under her belt. We will quickly see if she has the chops to pull off the iconic role of Ariel.
Second on the slate for this date is “About My Father,” a comedy featuring none other than Robert De Niro, who plays an old school Italian immigrant father crashing his son’s proposal weekend with the future in-laws. On the surface, this appears to be an overdone storyline with jokes that poke fun at Italian stereotypes ad nauseum, not very encouraging.
Now “The Machine” on the other hand looks to be the most promising of the week. This is an action comedy based on the true story of Bert Kreischer, who had studied abroad in Russia 20 years ago. Kreischer is one of the top grossing stand-up comics, and he actually plays himself in the movie. Hilariously, he teams up with Mark Hamill who portrays his father. This has the potential to be the funniest film of the year, or Bert could go the way of Dane Cook and fall flat on his face. Either way, prepare yourself by watching his stand-up routine on YouTube.
The fourth major film on the docket is another Gerard Butler driven action thriller called “Kandahar.” Count on Butler playing the same exact type of character he plays in all his films, because his range is very limited. Ironically, this will endear him further to his fan base who seem to enjoy his films no matter how poor the quality may be. The story is about a CIA operative and his translator on the run in Afghanistan. Sounds a bit too familiar to “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant.”
