Summer Flicks 2025

[Frayed Knot]

Every once in a while I check in to see how Hollywood's march towards putting out absolutely no original material at all is progressing.

So currently in theaters, or soon to be, are:

- SUPERMAN: no ordinal or Roman numerals here so I don't know how you differentiate this one from the (who knows how many) other iterations of this near 100 year old idea

- JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH: I have trouble remembering whether it's been 66 million years since dinosaurs went extinct or if that's just how long the first of this franchise was released.

- I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER: This is at least the third one here. I know this because I remember that the first sequel was called I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, a flick which picked up the same story a year later. Which means that it was no longer 'Last Summer' that the incident on which the whole thing was based occurred so the proper title should have been I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID THE SUMMER BEFORE THIS MOST RECENT ONE ... but I guess they figured that was a bit unwieldy for movie marquees and that the audience, based on the fact that they paid their way into this movie, was too dumb to know the difference..

- SMURFS: I have no clue if this is an ongoing thing or not. But I'm guessing 'Yes' so am including it here

- 28 YEARS LATER: So is 28 YEARS LATER a sequel to a movie that came out 28 years earlier? I think it is.

- M3GAN 2.0: Fill me in here, is this the sequel or the prequel to M2GAN 3.0 ?

- THE NAKED GUN: Apparently someone has decided that Liam Neeson is the new Leslie Nielson. 'Hey, same initials ... it's Gotta Work!!'

But just wait until Trump finds out that this is the second non-American actor playing this role. There will be hell to pay!

- THE FANTASTIC FOUR: This is either a movie about four fantastic people or it's the third sequel to a movie called THE FANTASTIC

- NOBODY 2: NOBODY was a Bob Odenkirk vehicle from a couple years ago trying to cash in on his fame as Saul Goodman. But, as far as I know, nobody saw NOBODY so it's likely that nobody will see NOBODY 2 too.

- FREAKIER FRIDAY: Because there's no shortage to the number of people clamoring to see what kind of actress Lindsey Lohan turned into as an adult.

- HAPPY GILMORE 2: Judging by the buzz among those populating sports talk radio stations, this one will play to packed houses for months.

I'm sure there are several (dozen) I've missed, and by that I mean missed out on putting in this list. As far as missing the movies themselves I plan on missing all of them.

[MFS62]

My wife wants to see the Fantastic Four, and I can't figure out why.

I want to see Jurassic Park, because I might get to see a running, sweaty Scarlet Johannsen.

But that's it on that list.

Later

[Edgy MD]

One legacy sequel you might well have included is Spinal Tap II, which I fear will do meaningful damage to the legacy of the original.

[Frayed Knot]

I hadn't heard of that one ... and now that I know I wish that I didn't.

At this point in the band's existence the drummers are going to be dying of natural causes in Florida retirement homes.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I saw the Fantastic Four movie yesterday with my kids, who aren't really kids anymore. (Both in their twenties.) It was my first time in a first-run movie theater since before the pandemic! I had to come out of retirement for this one because I have an abiding affection for the characters that began when I was ten years old. And I apparently passed that on to at least one of my children.

[Edgy MD]

And your impression of the film?

[Benjamin Grimm]

I was satisfied with it. They did justice to the characters, which was the most important thing. There were some plot holes that were rather silly, but I was willing to shrug them off. Some nice moments that appealed to the traces of fanboy in me. The Fantastic Four are my second-favorite team (after the Mets, natch) so if they get it right I'd be easy to please and if they get it wrong, I'd be hard to please. I was dissatisfied with the 2005 movie, couldn't bring myself to watch the 2015 movie, but was happy with the 2025 version. (What's next? 2035?)

[Edgy MD]

No feelings for the mysterious Roger Corman version?

[Benjamin Grimm]

I never saw it, at least not in its entirety. From the few clips I've seen, it appears that its heart was in the right place, but it was hampered by its low budget.

[Frayed Knot]

Perhaps more a spin-off than a sequel, but Brad Pitt's character from ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, Cliff Booth, will be the subject of a forthcoming movie, apparently to be called THE ADVENTURES OF CLIFF BOOTH. Annnnd Brad Pitt will reprise his Oscar winning (Best Supporting) role so there will be a degree of continuity. Leonardo DiCaprio and his Rick Dalton character are said to not be part of the movie. Quentin Tarantino, the writer and director of Once Upon ... is writing the script.