The summer of 2009 is a season full of promising films. From seeing another ""Harry Potter"" movie to the excitement of watching Madison alum Michael Mann debut his locally filmed ""Public Enemies,"" there are plenty of reasons to head to your local theater this summer. Here are six films that are must-sees, even when the weather gets warm.
1. Pixar returns with ""Up!""
Powerhouses Disney and Pixar are teaming up to produce their 10th film just in time for summer vacation. ""Up!"" is another happy-go-lucky film, reminiscent of last year's hit ""WALL-E."" However, instead of the plot circling around robots, ""Up!"" is about a kind old man and his struggle to give his now-dead wife her one wish. 78-year-old retired balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen (the voice of Edward Asner) met his wife, Ellie, as a child. She had always wanted to visit South America but died before she got the chance. Instead of being sent to an assisted living facility, Carl decides to travel there in her memory by using 10,000 balloons to transport his house there. Little does he know that eight-year-old ""Wilderness Explorer"" (a decent rip-off of the Boy Scouts) Russell is with him. ""Up!"" takes the viewer through the duo's trials and tribulations during their adventures in the Venezuelan jungle. The movie promises to be a family-friendly hit, and premieres in theaters May 29th.
—Caissa Casarez
2. Battle of the robots in ""Terminator"" and ""Transformers""
Every summer has dueling blockbusters duking it out for your hard-earned dollars-—but this summer it involves robots. First up, celebrated music video director McG will deliver the future that John Connor's mother told him about in ""Terminator: Salvation,"" and on June 24, Michael Bay explodes back into our hearts with the continuing war between Decepticons and Autobots in ""Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.""
Bay knows his way around giant, transforming, CGI-amplified action to the extreme. And as we know from the action-packed spectacle that was the first ""Transformers"" movie, his films need to be seen on the big screen to appreciate his explosive vision. Expect this outing of Sam Witwicky and the Autobot gang to be lighter on story, heavier on action and more explosive than the last. And as Megan Fox explained to the press, ""I'm there to be hot."" So look forward to that.
McG, who cut his chops in Hollywood on the ""Charlie's Angels"" movies, remains a little more unproven as a blockbuster director. Besides having a questionable action movie resume, he's got a legion of ""Terminator"" fans that will gun him down without mercy should he muck up their treasured franchise any worse than ""T3: Rise of the Machines"" already did. However, the last two trailers for the film have shown promise—a giant Terminator smashing the puny humans below, robotic helicopters battling scrapped-together human attack convoys and John Connor (played by Christian Bale, yay!) torturing a human-Terminator hybrid in the stocks. It could be a very dark actioner, contrasting greatly with the tongue-in-cheek cheese that makes ""Transformers"" juvenile at times.
So which will win the hearts and minds of moviegoers? ""Transformers"" certainly has the action pedigree to warrant a visit to the multiplex. ""Terminator: Salvation"" may lack that proven quality, but has potential with the acting power of Christian Bale in a dark future prime for a battle to end all robot battles.
—Mark Riechers
3. ""Inglourious Basterds""
Stylized dialouge. Badass characters. Buckets and buckets of blood. All are elements Quentin Tarantino has used in his movies to develop a cult following. For his latest project, this summer's uniquely spelled ""Inglourious Basterds,"" you can add Brad Pitt fighting Nazis to that mix. After dissecting the gangster genre in ""Pulp Fiction"" and martial arts flicks in ""Kill Bill,"" Tarantino has moved on to war movies, and ""Inglourious Basterds"" appears to have everything that made his previous films successful.
The story takes place in World War II and centers on Pitt as the leader of a band of Jewish soldiers sent behind Nazi lines to cause as much carnage as they can. And when that band of soldiers features ""Freaks and Geeks"" star Sam Levine running around with a mini gun and ""Hostel"" director Eli Roth going berserk with a baseball bat, it's pretty clear the level of carnage is going to be pretty high. Add in Pitt's demand from the trailer that ""every soldier under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps,"" and one can expect a ridiculously high body count. And really, what more can you ask for from a Tarantino film?
—Todd Stevens
4. ""500 Days of Summer""
Tom meets Summer, Tom falls for Summer, Summer decides it's over. That gets us to the opening of ""500 Days of Summer,"" an anti-romance that tells how boy meets girl, girl breaks heart and girl continues to stomp all over it. Described pretentiously by the blogging community as a ""po-mo rom-com,"" or postmodern romantic comedy, this Wisconsin Film Fest alum, directed by Madison native Marc Webb, is a collection of sight gags, classic film references and a killer soundtrack. It's hilarious to see poor Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) battered and beaten as the hopeless romantic obsesses endlessly over the girl that got away.
The beauty of the film is that it's full of moments we've all experienced in the painful journey to find the woman or man of our dreams–awkward conversation starters, the ice breakers, the little fights that get bigger when unresolved and ultimately the conversation where from the moment it starts, you can sense that a heart will leave shattered. It covers the process of getting over heartbreak as thoroughly as most rom-coms would spend building to the happily ever-after. And thanks to her brilliant acting in the role, you will fall in love with Summer (Zooey Deschanel) as he does, then grow to hate her.
It's a fun, quirky film that will certainly be this summer's indie darling. Look for it somewhere here in Madison around July 17.
—Mark Riechers
5. ""Public Enemies""
UW-Madison graduate Michael Mann has become quite the accomplished writer/director/producer extraordinaire, having a hand in great movies such as ""Ali,"" ""The Insider"" and ""Heat."" Now, Mann has returned to his roots for his latest film, a look at notorious gangster John Dillinger. The movie was filmed in and around Madison and features plenty of star power, including Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Billy Crudup, each of whom will be in other summer blockbusters. Depp plays Dillinger with rogue aplomb, robbing banks and stealing hearts along the way. The Great Depression left the nation in a perpetual funk, angry with the banks that had seemingly taken all their money. Considering the economic climate we're living in now, viewers will probably cheer Depp on as he acts as a 1930s Robin Hood. Now if only Dillinger could get to Fanny and Freddie...
—Kevin Slane
