Levine is a sophomore politics major and can be contacted at benjamin.levine@drake.edu.
With merely three weeks left in the school year, it is time to look toward summer. There is a lot to look forward to, and this is especially so for movies. “The Dark Knight Rises,” “The Avengers,” “Prometheus,” “The Campaign” (or “Southern Rivals,” as it is also titled) and “Brave” are among many that seem on solid ground to be successful hits. However, some movies aren’t such guarantees. Rather, they have great potential — not only to be instant classics but also to fail. Here they are:
“Men in Black III”
While I liked the first two, I don’t know about the third one. As if the entire concept of the “Men in Black” series isn’t out there already, this third one almost takes it too far. It seems like they knew a third movie would gross a lot of ticket sales and therefore decided to just throw a story together quickly. However, Will Smith and Josh Brolin could work great together and save the movie from the obvious flaws that nearly every big action production has.
“Ted”
I have to admit: I haven’t been this excited for a comedy in quite a while. “Ted,” boasting a big cast with Mila Kunis, Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane, is a story about a 35-year-old guy (Wahlberg) whose teddy bear named Ted came to life during his childhood and grew to be a lifelong best friend. Their relationship becomes tested when Wahlberg meets a girl (Kunis) who questions why he’s living with a giant, talking teddy bear.
MacFarlane will be the voice of Ted — who is brilliantly animated — and also wrote the script. I have a hard time pinning this movie as a “hit or miss” because it looks so funny. My only caution is that it has been labeled a “hard R” comedy, which sounds a bit more raunchy than it actually will be, I’m sure. Still, these types of movies can go one of two ways: absolutely hilarious or simply annoying. I’d bet on it being hilarious, but you never know.
“The Amazing Spider-Man”
Looking at the trailer for this movie, it seems to be a darker version of the 2002 “Spider-Man” with other plot variations that more accurately reflect the comic series, which I see as a positive. Also, the cast is pretty solid: Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield and Martin Sheen, among others. However, the problem I see is that just 10 years ago, “Spider-Man” was an insanely huge hit (it grossed over $800 million and it was even nominated for two Oscars). Can they really make another version so soon and replicate the quality of the first one?
“Battleship”
I would not expect great acting from this film. Although Liam Neeson plays a fairly large role, so he might save the day. With Rihanna (yeah, Rihanna) and Taylor Kitsch from the enormous Disney flop “John Carter” starring in this movie, I’m not sure how the dialogue will play out.
Nevertheless, people don’t go to these movies for the acting: they go for the action. While it undoubtedly will have plenty of it, “Battleship” has a lot of work to do in order to impress. “Transformers,” “Iron Man” and movies such as those have already captured audiences with similar action, so “Battleship” has to go further.
