10 Movies You Should See This Summer

L.A. WeeklyFilm

Lucy (August 8) — Six years into the glorious reign of Marvel Studios and still only vagueLucy (August 8) — Six years into the glorious reign of Marvel Studios and still only vague, noncommittal rumblings about a Black Widow solo flick? Screw that. After Under the Skin — the best thing that's sauntered into cinemas this year — we are living in the age of Scarlett Johansson. Here she stars as a drug mule who gains superpowers after a bag of whatever she's smuggling ruptures inside her body. Quality control is nonexistent with writer-director Luc Besson, who has become the David O. Selznick of sleazy action flicks, writing and producing the Taken trilogy, among others. Here, the director of La Femme Nikita and Léon: The Professional returns to the big chair, shooting in Paris, New York, and Taipei, in one of the world's tallest buildings. I have a feeling he and Johansson will bring something out in one another. Confidence: 60 percent.

The phrase “summer movies” will never not mean broad, action-driven crowd-pleasers to me: I counted the days until Batman (June 23, 1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (July 3, 1991), and Jurassic Park (June 11, 1993) were released. For every Dark Knight there are 10 Prometheuses — and that's just among the films that are actually trying to be good — but the hype and anticipation of summer movies remains a fun spectator sport. (More fun than sports, anyway.) Here, 10 from Memorial Day weekend and after for which I have, as the song says, high hopes. By Chris Klimek

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