The era of blockbusters began in summer of 1975 when a little beach movie directed by a 20-something unknown made audiences everywhere afraid to go in the water. Since the release of Jaws, blockbusters have been a Hollywood mainstay. Many are forgettable, few are truly epic, but most are just plain fun to watch.
This summer is a great one for movie fans, with blockbusters opening nearly every week from May through August. With so many cinematic treats to choose from it’s hard to resist shelling out the bucks at the box office. Here’s a Married to the Movies recap of the films in theatres so far and a look ahead at those to come.
2011 Blockbuster Reviews and Previews:
- Thor: Surprisingly well-crafted, this superhero epic brings us one step closer to the much-anticipated Avengers film. Check out our earlier review.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: Still getting over the disappointment of the third Pirates film, so this flick goes on the wait-to-rent list.
- Super 8: The critics love it, but friends are giving this Steven Spielberg-J. J. Abrams collaboration mixed reviews—putting it on the rent list.
- X-Men: First Class: A classy prequel to the X-Men trilogy with great acting, awesome special effects, and poignant drama.
- Green Lantern: The critics hate it, but we think the latest DC Comics hero to hit the big screen is worth the ticket price.
- Cars 2: We’re huge Pixar fans, so it saddens us to say that this is the first of their films to disappoint us. We actually walked out of theatre talking about what went wrong and how we would have told the story differently. The biggest flaw: making hickseed Mater the Tow Truck the star. He’s a novelty, not a leading…car. As Dr. Sci-Fi put it, it’d be like making Kramer the star of Seinfeld. Sigh. Logically speaking, we knew Pixar had to stumble at somepoint—but we secretly hoped and hoped they would beat the odds. But don’t get us wrong: kids will love it and it will make bank.
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon: The most recently released blockbuster—we’ll be seeing it tonight with our college pals. We highly doubt this metal-crunching, gear-grinding action flick will surprise anyone with a good storyline—but, hey, it’s about the robots, not the plot.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2: Probably the most anticipated movie of the summer. We’ve already purchased our tickets and you can bet we’ll will pay tribute to Harry’s last adventure in an upcoming post.
- Captain America: The First Avenger: A superhero taking down Nazis? Sign us up!
- Cowboys & Aliens: The title says it all—oh, and it’s starring Harrison Ford. (Yes, Daniel Craig is there, too, and, yes, he’s the new Bond—but is he Han Solo and Indiana Jones? Enough said.)
How about you? What makes your list of must-see movies this season?
Dr. Sci-Fi
Maureen
Married to the Movies 
For not being a “Pirates” fan, I was pleasantly surprised and would recommend it for the entertainment factor. When the movie we went to see broke down we saw Green Lantern which was so much better than expected. Guess we’ll have to catch Midnight in Paris another time. Nice actually to see a movie for free thanks to the comp ticket for not getting to see the movie we had paid for.
Super 8 was like a kid movie with funding. The two lead kid actors were very good. The alien had no meaning and the magnetic locket scene was over the top kitsch.
This was Spielberg paying Abrams to make a movie about him making movies. Save the money and rent it.
Saw it on our anniversary, had a nice cozy back row seat when a couple of kids we knew plopped down next to us. So much for romance at 50!
Super 8 was a great movie! It had the classic elements of a 1980’s movie, with the special effects of today. The plot was well constructed too. While I was watching the movie it seemed like the alien was thrown into the story just to add awesome special effect sequences. But by the end, the alien’s story is tied in well with the story of the main characters. I would recommend seeing it in theaters.