2010 Summer Movies

Iron Man 2
May 7

Robin Hood
May 14

Get Him to the Greek
June 4

Toy Story 3
June 18

Cyrus
June 18

Knight and Day
June 25

The Last Airbender
July 2

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
July 14

Inception (if I see one movie this summer)
July 16

Salt
July 23

Dinner for Schmucks
July 23

The Other Guys
August 6

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
August 13


Peter Travers, Rolling Stone critic's take

Salt
July 23
Concept: Angelina Jolie as a rogue CIA agent on the run is something very close to a female James Bond. I’m sold, especially with a class director, Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger). Funny thing is, the role was written for Tom Cruise before Jolie and the gender change kicked in. Big improvement.

Knight and Day
June 25
Tom Cruise tries to prove he was right to turn down to Salt to play — guess what? — a secret agent on the run (with Cameron Diaz). It sounds like Mission: Impossible by another name, i.e. an excuse to get Cruise a hit after Lions for Lambs and Valkyrie. Having James Mangold (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma) at the helm makes me optimistic.

Cyrus
June 18
It will take a lot for another comedy to top Cyrus as the summer’s best. It’s a darkly funny tale of a divorced man (terrific John C. Reilly) trying to find love with a woman (the delicious Marisa Tomei) who takes doting on her grown son (Jonah Hill, amazing) to creepy levels. Cheers to directors Jay and Mark Duplass for this game-changer.

Dinner for Schmucks
July 23
Directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers 1/2/3, Meet the Parents)
Steve Carell, as a schmuck among schmucks, and Paul Rudd as the exec who invites him to dinner on a dare, have to be the summer’s Number One comedy team. Or is that Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as bumbling cops in The Other Guys (August 6)? You decide.


The Karate kid
ONE TO AVOID — A remake of the beloved 1984 hit in which with Jackie Chan replaces Pat Morita as a martial-arts master who trains a kid (Jaden Smith in the role created by Ralph Macchio) to take on bullies. I have one question about this movie: Why?