Summer Movie Preview: June (Part 2)

Toy Story 3 (opened this weekend): Hey, folks, if you go see it and it turns out that it stinks, do me a favor. Don't tell me. I kinda don't want to know. Do we "need" another installment in this excellent franchise? No, I guess we don't need a sequel. But I think I said the same thing after the original "Toy Story," and look how "2" turned out. I give Pixar the benefit of the doubt. More importantly, I give them my money. I rarely go to the movies anymore, as faithful Culturesharkaholics well know, but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna hit the gigundaplex in a week or two and plunk down actual cash for this, just in the hope--and, yes, expectation--that it'll be really, really good. When the downside is something as decent as "Cars," that's a fine track record and one worth betting on. In other words...green light.

Jonah Hex (opened this weekend): Is it kind of odd of me to fret about the guy who plays a scarred, grizzled, bounty hunter who has killed countless people because he may have beat Diane Lane? Do we know what really happened there yet? Yeah, Jonah Hex is a bad-ass, but maybe Josh Brolin is just an ass. Anyway, I always kind of looked at the Hex comics as a novelty, something nice to have around but not something I necessarily wanted to buy each month. Every now and then I picked up a copy, but I never got into the Westerns, nor the war comics. Yet I always liked seeing them there on the newsstand (yes, I'm talking about when I bought tons of comics--the good, old days). I look at this movie in a similar fashion: I'm glad it's been made, and it sounds like a good idea, but...eh. I'll wait and see about it. Yellow light.

Cyrus (opened this weekend): Oh, come on. It's not enough that we sit through Hannah Montana TV shows and movies--or sit through the ads for them--but now this little strumpet has the hubris to unleash a movie about herself with only her surname as the title? This is ridiculous, and I say--

Wait. This is actually a quirky indie comedy by the directors of "Baghead" and "The Puffy Chair"? Starring John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, and Jonah Hill? And it's actually been pretty well received so far?

Never mind. Yellow light. Reilly makes anything worth at least a consideration.

Grown Ups (opens Friday): I remember reading about this ensemble comedy and thinking that "ensemble" was way too classy a word for something that featured Adam Sandler, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. Then I saw a commercial revealing Salma Hayek was in it, and I thought, "Hmm, June 25, they say? Hmm..." Just please, please don't tell me her character is married to any of those guys. I can take "Wild Wild West." I can even take the mustache in "Frida." But I can't take the notion of Salma Hayek knocking botas with Deuce Bigalow. Red light, subject to change dramatically depending on the involvement of Hayek.

Knight and Day (opens Friday): A lot of people seem to be trying awfully hard to convince us that Tom Cruise is a funny, likable guy--not least of all, Tom himself. I dunno. Maybe this action comedy delivers, but I feel the time to put Cruise and Cameron Diaz guy in something like this passed years ago. And I liked "Vanilla Sky." Red light.