Because making lists pushes my happy buttons, here are the movies I'm most looking forward to this summer:
1) Wonder Woman (obviously)
If you know me at all, you know what a big deal this is. Please, please, please don't suck.
2) Alien: Covenant
I saw my first Alien movie huddled on my aunt's couch sneaking HBO while the grownups were out for the evening. It was illicit, and terrifying, and was my first real horror movie, and I loved every minute of it.
3) Baywatch
I cannot believe I am saying this, but this abomination before the face of God actually looks kind of funny, so yeah, I'll probably see it. Summer is all about doing stupid shit you probably wouldn't want carved into your tombstone, right?
4) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
I mean come on, these are just fun.
5) The Big Sick
I've loved Kumail Nanjiani in Silicon Valley since episode one, and once I learned this movie is based on the true story of how he met his wife, I was in. The fact that they wrote it together is gravy.
6) Dunkirk
History buff. Nolan fan. Enough said.
7) Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Luc Besson is a master at making science fiction beautiful. The Fifth Element remains one of my favorite science fiction movies; I've probably seen it twenty times. This was one of those, "You had me at hello" kind of things for me.
8) The Dark Tower
Huge Stephen King fan: check; Giant geeky fan of The Dark Tower book series: check. Though I'm still skeptical about Matthew McConaughey's ability to pull it off, basically anywhere Randall Flagg shows up I'm in, so I guess we'll see.
There may be more that come to my attention, but these are the ones I'm most excited about. I like that summer has become the season for blockbuster films; it's one of the (very) few things I think we've gotten right. The world may be going to shit around us, but it's still possible to escape for a little while into a good book or a good movie. Come on summer--I've missed you.