It's time again to run down the month's biggest films, so you know what you're getting yourself into before flashing cash at the box office!
The Last Airbender
Starring: Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Dev Patel, Jackson Rathbone
Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan
Opening: Jul 2, 2010
Air, Water, Earth, Fire. Four nations tied by destiny when the Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others. A century has passed with no hope in sight to change the path of this destruction. Caught between combat and courage, Aang (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements. Aang teams with Katara (Nicola Peltz), a Waterbender, and her brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), to restore balance to their war-torn world.
Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film “The Last Airbender” is the opening chapter in Aang’s struggle to survive.
CraveOnline's Call: We had high hopes that Shyamalan would pull off a classic, despite his disappointing track record. But alas, a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 5% is tragically telling for a movie panned for laughable dialogue, aimless plot and general boredom induction. Skip it and wait for the Netflix.
Predators
Starring: Christopher John Grace, Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Larry Fishburne
Directed By: Nimrod Antal
Opening: Jul 9, 2010
A bold new chapter in the Predator universe, "Predators" was shot on location under Rodriguez's creative auspices at the filmmaker's Austin-based Troublemaker Studios, and is directed by Nimród Antal. The film stars Adrien Brody as Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they've been brought together on an alien planet... as prey. With the exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers – mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members – human "predators" that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien Predators.
CraveOnline's Call: The Predator franchise hasn't had much luck since... well, since the first sequel, if we're being honest. This looks to be the most promising sequel yet, with a solid cast and a fresh directorial approach. We'll be there by default, but nobody's taking the red pill just yet...
Inception
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Opening: Jul 16, 2010
Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan directs an international cast in an original sci-fi actioner that travels around the globe and into the intimate and infinite world of dreams. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb’s rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved.
Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible—inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. This summer, your mind is the scene of the crime.
CraveOnline's Call: Leo's been batting a thousand for years now, and Nolan's leaping off the crown jewel of The Dark Knight. No way is this going to do anything but kick ass. You did see the fight scene clip where the laws of gravity keep changing, didn't you?
Dinner For Schmucks
Starring: Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Jemaine Clement
Directed By: Jay Roach
Opening: Jul 23, 2010
Dinner for Schmucks tells the story of Tim (Paul Rudd), a guy on the verge of having it all. The only thing standing between him and total career success is finding the perfect guest to bring to his boss' annual Dinner for Extraordinary People, an event where the winner of the evening brings the most eccentric character as his guest. Enter Barry (Steve Carell), a guy with a passion for dressing mice up in tiny outfits to recreate great works of art. From Jay Roach, director of Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers comes an unforgettable feast about two unlikely friends and one very memorable dinner.
CraveOnline's Call: With Carell acting like a retarded version of his Michael Scott character from "The Office," and Galifianakis being involved at all, our money's on this one for funniest movie of the summer.
Salt
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chjwetel Ejiofor, Andre Braugher
Directed By: Phillip Noyce
Opening: Jul 23, 2010
Angelina Jolie stars as Evelyn Salt, a CIA officer who swore an oath to duty, honor, and country. When she is accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy, Salt goes on the run to clear her name and ultimately prove she is a patriot. Using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative, she must elude capture and protect her husband or the world's most powerful forces will erase any trace of her existence.
Liev Schreiber stars as Winter, Salt's boss and friend on the Russian desk at the CIA, and Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Peabody, a CIA counter-intelligence officer.
CraveOnline's Call: Look who took time off from adopting children from countries most of us can't even pronounce! Salt looks far better than one might expect, given the rehashing of the tired story of government-operative-on-the-run we've seen time and time again. Benefit of the doubt? Sure, why not.
Despicable Me
Release Date: July 9, 2010
Director: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, Sergio Pablos
Starring: Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Ken Jeong
Rating: PG
In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon (Yes, the moon!) in Universal's new 3-D CGI feature, "Despicable Me."
Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.
The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes
CraveOnline's Call: Goofball animated humor rated PG may just be your cup of tea after you've finished wiping your eyes from the Toy Story 3 epic. We won't judge.
The Extra Man
Release Date: July 30, 2010
Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Starring: Paul Dano, John C. Reilly, Kevin Kline, Katie "Cruise-bot" Holmes
Rating: NR
Louis Ives (Dano) fancies himself a hero in an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. He favors neckties, blue blazers, and sport coats. After an embarrassing incident involving a brassiere fetish, he loses his teaching job at a Princeton prep school and heads to New York to fulfill his dream of becoming a writer. In New York, he rents a room in the madly discombobulated apartment of Henry Harrison (Kline), a failed but brilliant playwright who dances alone to old Broadway records, sneaks into the opera, and performs, with great style, the duties of an "extra man" -- an escort for the rich widows of the Upper East Side. While Louis dreams of escorting dowagers himself one day, he becomes infatuated with Mary (Holmes), a socially-aware co-worker at the environmental magazine where he is employed and befriends Gershon (Reilly), Henry's hirsute musical neighbor. The two men (Kline and Dano), separated in age by more than forty years, eventually develop an irascibl mentor/apprentice relationship, and they form a bond the depths of which is hardly expected.
CraveOnline's Call: Definitely an interesting mix of players here. Paul Dano's definitely on the rise, and Kline is a tremendous actor - the two can no doubt carry a movie together. We'll take the plunge on this one.
[REC]2
Release Date: July 9, 2010
Director: Jaume Balaguero, Pace Plaza
Starring: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Pablo Rosso, Javier Botet
Rating: PG
The highly anticipated sequel to one of the scariest films of all time, [REC] 2 picks up 15 minutes from where we left off, taking us back into the quarantined apartment building where a terrifying virus has run rampant, turning the occupants into mindlessly violent, raging beasts. A heavily armed SWAT team and a mysterious government official are sent in to assess and attempt to neutralize the situation. What they find inside lies beyond the scope of medical science—a demonic nightmare of biblical proportions more terrifying than they could have possibly imagined. Above all it must be contained, before it escapes to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting world outside.
CraveOnline's Call: Call us crazy, but this is one sequel that looks better than the first. Here's hoping the story's strong enough to keep us locked in for the horror-ride.
Twelve
Release Date: July 30, 2010
Director: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Emma Roberts, Chace Crawford, Ellen Barkin
Rating: R
Based on the Nick McDonell novel of the same name, Twelve follows a high school dropout-turned-drug dealer (Chace Crawford) in New York's Upper East Side. His lucrative life sours when the dealer's cousin is brutally murdered on an East Harlem playground and his best friend is arrested for the crime.
CraveOnline's Call: A new drug called twelve is the centerpiece in what looks to be a low-rent version of Requiem For a Dream. Chase Crawford's too pampered-looking to be taken seriously as anything but a Hollywood pretty boy. In other words, no thanks.
