Worst2First: My Most Anticipated Films of Summer 2023

 Worst2First:
My Most Anticipated Films of Summer 2023 

Summertime brings the big budget blockbusters to the big screen, and is the time of the year where cinemas see their highest profits. These ten films look to have audiences' butts in theater seats from May through August, and these are the ones I'm most excited to see.

**THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS**
**DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE**

#10

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

June 30

Perpetual grumpy faced Harrison Ford returns to his iconic role of Indiana Jones for the fifth and last time in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," the first in the franchise to not be directed by Steven Spielberg (instead by "Logan" director James Mangold) or written by George Lucas. It might seem odd that this film was made at all, being fifteen years since the much-maligned "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," and because Ford just hit 80 years old, but this looks somewhat passable at least. This adventure finds Indiana Jones joining his goddaughter Helena Shaw ("Fleabag" star Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in search of the fabled Dial of Destiny during the 1969 Space Race, where he comes into conflict with - you guessed it - Nazis. Mads Mikkelsen does his Mikkelsen thing by playing the villain, and this looks to be filled with the action, jokes, and adventure that Indiana Jones is best known for.

#9

Fast X

May 19

Back in 2001, a little film called "The Fast and the Furious" hit theaters, centering on an undercover cop who befriends an underground street racer while investigating a string of truck carjackings. Now, twenty-two years later, the franchise has now stretched itself to involve Dom Toretto and his "family" working for the government, traveling all over the world (and, yes, even space), and getting into more and more preposterous situations (such as driving cars out of airplanes, out-driving a nuclear submarine, and, again, space). Now there's only two (supposedly) films left in the franchise, and "Fast X" is the beginning of the end of the road, where Toretto and company find themselves under attack by the son of a drug lord that they killed in a previous film (I think it was "6"). The trailers look like this will be another outlandish outing (driving down a dam as it's getting exploded, pulling two helicopters into one another while driving, and so on) that'll be enough to satisfy the action fan, but provide illogical for anyone who actually thinks about it (and by this time, are you really trying to rationalize it? Also, I just used a lot of parentheses). Not to mention this now pulls in practically everyone who's been a part of the franchise and some new faces including *deep breath* Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Jason Momoa, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, John Cena, Jason Statham, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, Michael Rooker, and even Cardi B.

#8

The Blackening

June 16

It's an age-old trope in horror movies: the Black person always dies first. So what happens when there's a horror film who's cast is entirely Black actors? "The Blackening" attempts to answer that question and, by the trailer, looks to be a brilliant blend of social satire, quick-witted humor, and a healthy dose of horror. When a group of friends go on vacation at a cabin in the woods, they find themselves under attack by a masked killer who wants them to rank themselves by order of "blackness" so he knows who to kill next. The horror/comedy subgenre is rich and full of classics, and "The Blackening" looks like it'll join their ranks as it looks to be an insanely good time with loads of gut-busting humor to go with the horror.

#7

Barbie

July 21

To say the "Barbie" movie is hotly anticipated would be the understatement of the year, as the film has been in some sort of production for the last few years with hardly anyone knowing how the heck the iconic Mattel toy could be brought to the big screen. At first thought to be a joke, it gained prominence when Oscar nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were cast as the "main" Barbie and Ken, with Oscar-nominated director Greta Gerwig taking on the reigns based on a script she wrote with her longtime collaborator Noah Baumbach. Taking place in "Barbie World," we find Robbie's Barbie cast out for being imperfect, and trying to give it a go in the real world with Gosling's Ken tagging along for the ride. This looks to be a colorful, spirited film filled with intellectual comedy given by the strong acting chops of not just Robbie and Gosling, but also Simu Liu, Will Ferrell, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Alexandra Shipp, Dua Lipa, Michael Cera, America Ferrera, Rhea Pearlman, and Helen Mirren as the Narrator.

#6

The Flash

June 16

DC has not had a great track record with casting the most "scrupulous" actors, and Ezra Miller is the biggest offender, especially after it came to light all his recent legal troubles. Still, he already filmed "The Flash" and it was too late to re-cast him, so the film is finally coming to the big screen this summer. Loosely taken from the "Flashpoint Paradox" series, "The Flash" finds Barry Allen trying to reverse his mother's murder, and in doing so creates whole new problems, including the return of Michael Shannon's General Zod. However, in the universe he created, there's no Superman to stop him, but there is a Supergirl (Sasha Calle) and an older, very well-known Batman (Michael Keaton), who join Barry to stop the events he inadvertently caused. While this is a Flash film, audiences are clearly more excited to see the long-awaited return of Keaton as the Caped Crusader thirty years after his last outing, and critics are already calling it one of the best superhero movies made - so we'll see.

#5

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

July 12

Tom Cruise is well known for doing his own stunts no matter how crazy or deadly they could be, and he's been doing that for decades now, most notably as Ethan Hunt in the long-running "Mission: Impossible" series. Heading into its seventh outing, we now find Hunt and his crew coming under attack by their strongest enemy yet - an enemy that causes the film to be split into two, serving as the finale of the franchise. Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie looks to provide all the action, suspense, and humor that the franchise is known for, alongside main staples Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby and Simon Pegg as well as Hayley Atwell.

#4

Oppenheimer

July 21

Christopher Nolan is one of this generation's most prolific, powerful, and talented directors, crafting unique visions of his own making ("Memento"), his take on epic war films ("Dunkirk"), as well as giving his spin on beloved franchises ("The Dark Knight"), and now he's tackling a biopic of his own design with "Oppenheimer." The film follows theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, known as the "father of the atomic bomb," and his work with the Manhattan Project that led to the assembly of the first nuclear bomb to help America win World War II. Cillian Murphy tackles the titular man, and is surrounded by a strong supporting cast including Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, and Kenneth Branagh that'll easily be one of the strong Oscar contenders of the year.

#3

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

June 9

Being a kid of the 80s I grew up on the original "Transformers" and I had all the toys, and I still hold thee 1986 animated film in extremely high regard. Then Michael Bay came along and almost ruined my childhood with his big budget, big explosion "Transformers" series of films, each one worse than the others. Then, thankfully, he handed the reigns to Travis Knight, who's 2018 film "Bumblebee" reverted my beloved Transformers to their original designs, and it was the best of the bunch. Now Steven Caple Jr. continues the "Bumblebee" continuity with "Rise of the Beasts," featuring not just Optimus Prime but also the Maximals and Terricons, not to mention the iconic world-devourer Unicorn. This looks to be a wild, insane action adventure with my beloved Transformers as they try to stop the ultimate destruction of the world thanks to Unicron, packed to the brim with exceptional voice talents like the OG Optimus Peter Cullen as well as Michelle Yeoh, Pete Davidson, Ron Perlman, and Peter Dinklage with live actors Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback. 

#2

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

May 5

It's time to face the music. "Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3" will be the final Guardians film featuring the talents of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillen and Pom Klementieff as well as director James Gunn, and looks to be one of Marvel's most intense films to date. The Guardians find themselves on a personal mission to save one of their own by stopping an evil villain known as the High Evolutionary and his new pet, Adam Warlock. Early reviews call this one of the saddest Marvel films to date, and taking into account the fact that this is their last outing, there's no doubt there'll be some teary eyes in the audience and one of the best Marvel films since "Endgame."

#1

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

June 2

2018's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" was a huge hit among audiences and critics alike, earning the Best Animated Film Oscar that year, and fans have been clamoring for its sequel ever since. Now we have "Across the Spider-Verse," and it looks to be even better than the original, focusing more on Shameik Moore's Miles Morales and how he shapes his own destiny. When Gwen Stacey brings Miles to the Spider-Verse, he learns that he's one of numerous different Spider-People, and together they have to stop the inter-dimensional villain known as The Spot from destroying everything. However, things aren't as easy as they appear, as the founder of the Spider Society - Spider-Man 2099's Miguel O'Hara - disagrees with Miles' vision, leading to internal conflict. The animation looks as beautiful as ever, and with a deeply emotional and personal story mixed with epic action and Spider-Man humor, "Across the Spider-Verse" will undoubtedly be one of the biggest films of not just the summer, but 2023 as a whole.