(Not) Coming to a theater near you

Hey, in case you hadn't already noticed, but the Summer movie season has started!
(Memo to Hollywood: Summer doesn't start until June. The first weekend in May is still firmly supplanted in Spring. Kids are still in school. Parents are still at work. It's kind of like when the stores start putting Christmas decorations out before Halloween. Why the hurry to deem it "Summer"?)
Anyway, I spent part of my Monday off scrolling through some trailers for the movies coming to a theater near you, and man were they underwhelming. Underwhelming to the point that, man, there's not a one I'm pining to rush right out and see.
As a comic book guy, you'd think Wolverine would be at the top of my list. Nope. While Hugh Jackman did a nice enough job playing him in the X-Men movies, he had plenty of people around him so he didn't have to completely carry the thing. I know that there are plenty of other mutants around for this one, but, man, I can't say that any of them made me want to drop everything.
Star Trek? It looks intriguing, and is getting some good buzz. But I've never been a Trekker. Always a Star Wars guy first. Might make an effort to see it, but then again, probably won't.
Hey, there's a new Harry Potter movie, too. Unfortunately, I'm one of the 50 literate people in America who haven't read the books, and I've only seen a couple of the movies when they've been on Disney or ABC Family.
One of the full trailers I watched was for "G.I. Joe." Now, when I was a kid, I remember playing with my 12-inch figures all the time (until those cool Star Wars ones hit the shelves ... and the dog had his way with the dolls). And, of course, there was the G.I. Joe cartoon series that came when the new generation of figures came out (complete with morality lessons at the end of each episode). So, there certainly is a curiosity to see what they were going to do with it.
I watched that sucker twice. Not because it was that good, oh no. Because I had to make sure it was as craptastic as I thought it was. AND IT WAS. Oh my goodness. That is going to be this year's "Speed Racer" ... you know, the one that was green lit because of all the memories from childhood that turns into such a turd, that someone's going to get fired for it.
Sure, there are a couple of them I'd like to see. Some of the comedies have the pedigree to be very good: "The Hangover" certainly has the talent to be a very funny movie, with Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis going nuts in Vegas. "Year One" starring Jack Black and Michael Cera has Harold Ramis as a writer and director, and a ton of great comic cameos (Paul Rudd, David Cross and Hank Azaria) so it has to be considered a contender. And "Land of the Lost" certainly has a lot going for it, with Will Ferrell doing his thing, and a lot of Gen X love for the original series. And the Johnny Depp-Christian Bale movie "Public Enemies" will likely do boffo box office, and actually should be very good.
Of course, I have two major handicaps this summer. First is the schedule. Without sharing days off, it makes it difficult for my wife and I to find the time to get a babysitter and go together to a movie.
Second is the idea that we need to get a babysitter. The last two summers, we have been able to just pack Luc in the car and head to the drive-in to see most of the movies we wanted to see. He'd go to sleep, and we'd be fine to watch the movies.
But now that he's 2, sitting still is not his strongest suit. And trying to get him to pay attention to the big screen (even for a kid-friendly film such as "Up") will be a challenge. I'm sure he'd fall asleep eventually, but until that point, actually watching the movie will not be easy. And going to a walk-in with him ... HA!
And our babysitting situation is difficult. All the family is in Orange County. We haven't found anyone we can trust near us to sneak out to Ontario to theaters we trust at the Mills.
There's also the minor problem that movies just don't stay in the theaters as long as they used to. They're in the multi-plex for a couple of weeks to a month, and then gone. Prepared for the standard DVD, special edition DVD and Blu-Ray release, and put out for On Demand orders on your home television provider.
We never made it out to see "Watchmen," in part, because of that reason. And I read something Monday about the ultra-special things being planned for the Blu-Ray release (it'll have Facebook connectivity ... WHOO!).
Oh well, there's always next year. And poking around, you've already got "Iron Man 2" to look forward to, and a planned "Green Lantern" movie looks like it may come around sometime in 2010.
So, have fun at the movies this summer. You probably won't see me there ... until next year.
(By the way, can you even believe we're talking about next year being 2010. As a child of the 1970's, the idea of 2010 seemed like the time we'd all be living like the Jetsons ... or at the very least like the future presented in "Back to the Future.")