2023 Summer Movie Awards

Movies Seen : Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Super Mario Brothers, Fast X, The Flash, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Transformers Rise of the Beasts, Into the Spider-Verse Part 1, Oppenheimer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, The Little Mermaid

Yet to see : , Mission Impossible : Dead Reckoning Part 1, Barbie

Best Flick : The Flash - Say what you want to say about Ezra Miller, he's not done great things, so watching this had a little bit of that hanging over.  But this flick as just a DC story was the best DC movie since The Dark Knight, and really a lot of credit goes to the story and not gonna lie Michael Keaton.  It has a lot of fun little easter eggs all over.  It nails what a summer popcorn movie is.

Honorable Mention : Oppenheimer : It was fantastic and could've should've won too. And I'm sure it will win some golden statues come next March.  

Best Dude : Jason Momoa : Fast X :   -  Heath Ledger's Joker on NOS. Dang he was a good bad guy in this flick.  The lines, the action and execution.  Nailed it! 

Best Dudette : Halle Bailey : & Melissa McCarthy : Little Mermaid -  These two had an impossible task taking on these roles that were iconic from the animated movie.  They nailed it. Halle with everything from singing and movements.  Melissa disappears into this role.  

Best Scene :  The Flash : Yea, I'm Batman : Basically anything Michael Keaton is gold here but when the Barry's infiltrate the batcave and Keaton walks out. It's chills back from 1989 all over again.

Best Fight :  Super Mario vs Donkey Kong - this wins for a few reasons.  The Easter Eggs that this brought back was just all the fuzzies you want Easter Eggs to be; and second a lot of the fights in the super hero movies, transformer movies are getting repetitive, sadly,

Biggest Dud : Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - Maybe since it was the end of this arch and group of space misfits I was thinking more of an Endgame moment than what we got. Marvel has dropped the ball a few times here lately. Let's get it rolling again.

Transformers : Rise of the Beasts - Outside of the first film and Bumblebee it followed the same story line as all the others.  Then did what was terrible in Rise of the Fallen with mass numbers of bad robots no one cares about.  ALSO more human interactions.  Yes I get we are on Earth but we dont want stories about humans.  We want Transformers.  Robots.  

Anticipated Sequel : Fast 11 - I need more Momoa villainy 

2023 Summer Movie Awards - Watch List

 It's that season again, break out the popcorn!  Summer movie season is already in session with Super Mario Brothers blowing up box offices like Mario shooting fireballs at a Hammer Brother.  Again Hollywood is following the moneyball script of Superhero, Sequels and a few new blockbusters.  

Below is a handful of the movies on the Summer Movie Awards watch list.

  

     

    

    

  

2022 Summer Movie Awards

Movies Seen : Sonic 2, Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness, Top Gun Maverick, Jurassic World 3, Lightyear, Thor : Love and Thunder, Hustle, Prey, Secret Headquarters, Elvis

Yet to see : Bullet Train

Best Flick : Top Gun Maverick

Best Dude : Austin Butler – Elvis Presley – Elvis : Tom Hanks - Col Tom Parker - Elvis

Best Dudette : Elizabeth Olson – Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch – Doctor Strange 2 : Olson's 3rd win

Best Scene :  The Illuminati – Doctor Strange 2 : I mean John Krasinski as Reed Richards  from the Fantastic Four and Patrick Stewart back as Charlies Xavier BUT live action 90s X-Men Cartoon.  And you get a little bit of the X-Men tune. 

Best Fight : The climax of Top Gun Maverick, all the jet action scenes with the Hornets and then breaking out the Tomcat!  Really built up a lot of tension all along the way.  Some things were foreshadowable but it was all filmed great. 

Biggest Dud : Jurassic World 3 - It's better than JW2 but really how many more stories are there like this to tell?  Humans make stupid choices again and let a predator loose.  It was cool to see the 2 cast's interact together.

Anticipated Sequel : Obviously anything in the MCU, with Doctor Strange 3 more Thor or whatever piece of the MCU story this goes too with She Hulk and Wakanda Forever.  

2022 Summer Movie Awards Watch List

 The popcorn movies are back!  The pandemic is mostly over and we can get back to getting the Summer Blockbusters on the big screen.  They are starting earlier more and more each year, or at least I stretch this awards season out more each year with flicks I want to see.  

So what's on tap?  Again the summer is full of Sequels and Super Heroes and well usually a combination of both.  Here's what is on our radar this year.

  

  

 

I'm definitely most excited about the Marvel flix, take those out of the equation then I'm thinking Top Gun Maverick will be my most anticipated of this list followed by Jurassic World 3.  What are you most looking forward too.

So we have a good list of 8 and will probably add more.  Get out there and get back to normal and have some fun with these.  

2021 Summer Movie Awards

Movies are back!  Kinda.  We still have some movies moving all around, looking at you Top Gun and 007.  But it was good to get back into a theater and see some flicks after last year.  It's a nice lil piece of normalcy-ish.  With that, the SUMMER MOVIE AWARDS are back!  

Movies Seen : Cruella, Black Widow, Snake Eyes, Suicide Squad, Shang Chi, Free Guy

Not Seen : Fast 9

Best Flick : Free Guy

Best Dude : Ryan Reynolds - Guy - Free Guy : Ever since Deadpool I can no longer watch Ryan with out thinking Deadpool but the dude is just funny and he's can deliver as he did here.

Best Dudette : Florence Pugh - Yelena - Black Widow :  Talk about stealing a movie.  She nailed it and was the best part of this movie.  As good of a Marvel casting as Iron Man & Capt America.  The action and personality that she brought to this role was perfect.  And can not wait to see where she goes in the future of the MCU.

Best Scene : Natasha & Yelena in the gas station and Yelena discusses the "pose" that Natasha always does in fight scenes.  Then calls her a poser.  This comes back a couple times when breaking out the Alexei and also in the Red Room.  Great chemistry between these 2 and this is just funny stuff.  

Best Fight : The Bus Fight : Shang-Chi - By far the best fight of the summer.  It was all action from start to end.

Biggest Dud : Snake Eyes : It might be unfair right now to put this as a disappointment but this felt actually more like a Storm Shadow Origins movie than a Snake Eyes Origin flick.  That being said I am interested to see where this would go in the GI Joe Universe they are building.  I do hope we get to see that world.

Anticipated Sequel : Hawkeye Disney+ series.  If you have seen the ending of the Black Widow flick, you'll know why.

2018 Summer Movie Awards

Movies Seen : Avengers : Infinity War, Deadpool 2, Solo, Ready Player One, Incredibles 2, AntMan & Wasp, Jurassic World 2:Fallen Kingdom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Teen Titans Go to the Movies 

Not Seen : Oceans 8, Mission Impossible : Fallout, Christopher Robin

Best Flick - Avengers : Infinity War

Best Dude – Josh Brolin : Thanos : Avengers Infinity War – Yes I’m giving it to a villain.  Infinity War is Thanos’s film, and you get a sense of what he wants to do and what he will do to get it done.  He has some backstory to his goals and the treachery he goes to do that, including some heartbreak he delivers it excellent.

Chris Hemsworth : Thor : Avengers Infinity War – How far has Thor come in the MCU.  He was looked at as a character who’s arc was overshadowed by that of his brother, Loki, in these films and then after how Hemsworth and Waititi changed him in Ragnarok, you really just want to see more.  He I thought was the best Avenger in this flick. 

HM – Chris Pratt : Star Lord ;  Robert Downey Jr : IronMan ; Donald Glover : Lando Calrissian

Best Dudette – Elizabeth Olson : Scarlet Witch : Avengers Infinity War – Of all the female characters in Infinity War, I felt hers was the best and the most emotional and heart breaking.  Having to kill Vision, then see him being killed again.  And her action sequences were awesome to.   Olson’s 2^nd win as Best Dudette

Best Scene – IronMan, SpiderMan and Star Lord discussing their plan.  The best of this was when Drax said “Mention the dance off to save the universe”, Spidey responds “like Footloose?”  Star Lord – “Exactly like footloose!  Is that still the best movie ever?”  Spidey – “It never was”

                  – AntMan & the Wasp End Credit Scene – as much as the movie didn’t blow me away, this was EXCELENT and ties to Infinity War perfectly

Best Fight – The first fight for Vision’s mind stone and the reappearance of Captain America and his Avengers crew.  AND Iron Man, Dr Strange, Wong and Spidey fighting for the Time Stone.

Biggest Dud – Teen Titans Go To the Movies : I can normally take this show in small doses in the 15-30 minute time frame, but I really just didn’t like this movie.  There were some funny moments but nothing that made me wanna go see it again

                    – Incredibles 2 : Pixar gave us a lil bit of the Cars 2 hangover with focusing too much I felt on Jack Jack, instead of the whole crew.  It was a lot better than Cars 2 and a decent sequel but I think it could have been better.

Anticipated Sequel – Captain Marvel (prequel) & Avengers 4

2017 Summer Movie Awards

Movies seen - Fast 8, Guardians of the Galaxy, Wonder Woman, Cars 3, Spider-Man:Homecoming, Baby Driver, Logan Lucky

Best Flick : Wonder Woman

Best Dude : Tom Holland - Peter Parker/Spiderman -- This kid is SPIDERMAN.  He delivered on how Spidey and Peter should be growing as a kid and trying to be what he wants to be, a superhero like Iron Man.  Michael Keaton is a close 2nd here with his rendition of the Vulture is perfect too!

Best Dudette : Gal Gadot - Wonder Woman -- Well Hollywood, here is your female action super hero and she kicked some major ass.  

Best Scene : Peter going to pick up Liz for the homecoming dance and the big reveal (SPOILER!!) that Liz's dad is Adrian Toomes.  Peter knows exactly who he is and Adrian uses all his interactions with Spidey to figure out that that he is Spiderman.  Toomes then does the "dad talk" but also threatens Spiderman.  

Best Fight :  Wonder Woman, shedding the cloak in the trenches and taking the shield and entering "No Man's Land" and taking on the Germans, leading the American's and Steve Trevor and crew to break through.  - Wonder Woman

Biggest Dud : Fast 8 – The series for the most part has been going on an upward trend, and this is the first flick, since Tokyo Drift, that Paul Walker’s Brian wasn’t involved, and I think that this flick misses him a lot.  The reliance on Dom and the Rock is prevalent and they need to expand a little more on the sub characters and bring them up.   Baby Driver was more Fast and Furious than this one was.

Anticipated Sequel : Spider-Man 2 / Avengers Infinity War

Movie not seen that I want to see the Most : War for the Planet of the Apes 

2017 Summer Movies Awards Watch List

Back for a 9th year, the (kinda in my own mind) prestigious Summer Movie Awards….Preview.  Ok maybe I haven’t done the preview for 9 years but this hopefully gets everyone ready for the ever growing Summer Movie Season, which I’m extending to include Power Rangers and the last week of March for the second year in a row.

This year’s slate is full of sequels, some reboots or reboots, a few newcomers, cartoons (for the kids), the Rock with a shirtless Zac Efron, and old faces in familiar places.  Also have a bunch of one offs that look like some nice escapes from reality and a few that could provide some laughs.  This year, more so than others, its almost every week that something new looks entertaining through the end of July.  August looks to cool off, but there could be some sneaky there and end the watch list ends with action.  

The SMA watch list:

Power Rangers (Mar 24)

Wilson (Mar 24)

Chips (Mar 24)

Smurfs: The Lost Village (Apr 7)

Going in Style (Apr 7)

Fast 8 (Apr 14)

Free Fire (Apr 21)

The Circle (Apr 21)

Guardians of the Galaxy (May 5)

Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Men Tell No Tales (May 26)

Baywatch (May 26)

Wonder Woman (June 2)

Captain Underpants (June 2)

The Mummy (June 9)

Cars 3 (June 16)

Transformers : The Last Knight (June 23)

Despicable Me 3 (June 30)

Spiderman Homecoming (July 7)

War for the Planet of the Apes (July 14)

Dunkirk (July 21)

Renegades (Sept 1)

Of this list, Disney/Marvel I think will be the big winner with Cars, GOTG2, Spiderman, and Pirates all coming out.  Wonder Woman I think could be sneaky good and a dark horse for Best Flick, and I’m thinking that Spiderman Or Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is the front runner right now.  The Mummy reboot with Tom Cruise looks like Suicide Squad & Mission Impossible together.  

Transformers, the first one was 2 hours of awesomeness, but every other one has been a disappointment, and there are 14 MORE in the pipe.  14!  How much more can Gru do, and curious to the end of the Cars trilogy.  2 focused so much on Mater, and he’s not been in any trailer. 

2016 Summer Movie Awards

Movies Seen : Batman v Superman ; Captain America Civil War ; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Out of the Shadows ; X-Men Apocalypse ; Now You See Me 2 ; Finding Dory ; Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates ; Ghostbusters ; Star Trek Beyond ; Jason Bourne ; Suicide Squad

Best Flick : Captain America : Civil War – This movie is AMAZING.  I really enjoyed Winter Soldier and the Russo’s made a great flick here too.  This put the dudness I had with Age of Ultron away and puts DC in the corner with their Batman and Superman flick. 

Best Dude :  Robert Downey Jr – Tony Stark – Captain America Civil War : Going to just rename this the RDJ award.  Is there a better role for a better actor ever?  (Minus Harrison Ford Indy & Solo)

Best Dudette : Aubrey Plaza – Tatiana – Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates : Playing on the other side of Anna Kendrick, and then vs Adam Devine and Zack Efron, I thought she nailed a lot of this movie and was up there with the guys as just as funny.

Best Scene : Tony Stark in Queens, NY talking to Peter Parker  and the awkwardness of a teenage SpiderMan and cockiness of Tony Stark.  Also add in the Aunt May – Tony Stark conversation and RDJ-Tomei effect.  - Captain America Civil War

                       : Charles and Erik talking at the end of X-Men Apocalypse, stating their same lines from the very first XMen in 2000 : X-Men Apocalypse

Magneto: Does it ever wake you in the middle of the night? The feeling that one day they will come for you? And your children?

Prof. Charles Xavier: It does, indeed.

Magneto: What do you do, when you wake up to that?

Prof. Charles Xavier: I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to that school... looking for trouble.

Best Fight : #TeamIronMan vs #TeamCaptAmerica : Captain America Civil War – It was like Hogan vs the Warrior at WrestleMania.  Huge fight scene with all these characters we were given in origin stories.  Spidey is the best since Spider-Man 2 in the film, the Black Panther is awesome, Ant-Man and Iron Man and the rest are all great too.  Marvel seriously is rolling.

                    : IronMan vs Captain America & Winter Soldier : Captain America Civil War – As good as the fight was with all the heroes, this fight is INTENSE!  2 vs 1 and the blows that are landed and hit are amazing. 

Biggest Dud : Batman v Superman – To preface this, I’m not a Superman fan, wasn’t blown away with Man of Steel, and Batman and this world has A LOT to live up to with the world that Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale built.  I don’t mind Batfleck and think he did a decent job, a lot better than George Clooney, but this movie just didn’t seem to hit that Dark Knight – Dark Knight Rises DC worldish.  That being said, I think that Suicide Squad will be a redeemer for the DC World.

Anticipated Sequel : Spiderman Homecoming, Avengers Infinity War, Black Panther, Ant-Man & Wasp and Iron Man 4.

Summer Movies Not Seen Yet :

Neighbors 2
Independence Day : Resurgence
The Jungle Book

2015 Summer Movie Awards

Movies: Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out, AntMan, Minions, Mission Impossible:Rogue Nation

Best Movie: Furious 7 – The end kind of shocked me in a way that I wish they did something different as it opens up questions in maybe Fast 8, but it’s probably the best movie in the series since the first, and its constant action the whole time.  There isn’t a down time in the movie.  

   

Best Dude: Paul Rudd : Scott Lang/AntMan : AntMan

   

Best Dudette: Elizabeth Olson : Scarlet Witch : Avengers: Age of Ultron 

   

Best Scene: The final scene in Furious 7 paying homage to the late Paul Walker 

   

Best Fight: AntMan vs Falcon : AntMan : It wasn't really rock'em sock'em like Statham-Rock-Diesel in Furious 7, but it was more so fun to watch them.  And its to heroes going at it.  

Biggest Dud: Avengers: Age of Ultron - Now don't get me wrong, I thought this was a decent flick, but it got to crammed with new too many new characters and cut off story lines that I would have liked to see elaborated on.  With an hour cut from the final cut, maybe that's what happened.  But like Dark Knight Rises, I had expectations for this, and I enjoyed it, but didn't live up to they hype in my head.

Anticipated Sequel: Captain America : Civil War

Summer Movies not seen yet:  Jurassic World

2014 Summer Movie Awards

2013 Summer Movie Awards

2012 Summer Movie Awards

2011 Summer Movie Awards

2010 Summer Movie Awards

2009 Summer Movie Awards

2014 Summer Movie Awards

Movies seen this summer – Captain America:The Winter Soldier; Transcendence; The Other Woman; The Amazing Spider-Man 2; Neighbors; X-Men Days of Future Past ; How to Train Your Dragon 2

Best Movie – Captain America:The Winter Soldier

Best Dude – James McAvoy/Michael Fassbender : Professor X/Magento : X-Men Days of Future Past


Best Dudette – Emma Stone : Gwen Stacy : The Amazing Spider-Man 2


Best Scene – Logan waking up at the end of XMen Days of Future Past and walking through the Mansion. 

Best Fight – Captain/Falcon vs the Winter Soldier on the Hellicarriers - Captain American:The Winter Soldier
--Honorable Mention - Zac Efron vs Seth Rogan - Neighbors

Best Fight – Captain/Falcon vs the Winter Soldier on the Hellicarriers - Captain American:The Winter Soldier


Biggest Dud – Transcendence - I liked the idea of the movie, but it was just slow.  Johnny Depp’s monotone voice didn’t help it out.  The supporting cast was the best part of the movie.


Anticipated Sequel – Avengers 2 : Age of Ultron – Tying in Capt 2, Thor 2, Gaurdians and Iron Man 3….again all together. It’s gonna be awesome.


Summer movie not seen that I want too – Draft Day ; Chef  ; Maleficent  ; Transformers 4 ; Tammy ; Planes 2 ; Guardians of the Galaxy ; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ; Expendables 3

2014 Summer Movies

The BIG popcorn movies seem to stretch a little earlier to avoid each other for weekend box offices, so I’m gonna have to adjust the Summer Movie Awards to reach to spring months.

The list of this year of potential movies I'll see in theater (I won't get to all of them) - Captain America : The Winter Soldier ; Rio 2 ; Draft Day ; Transcendence ; The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ; Neighbors ; Chef ; X-Men Days of Future Past ; Maleficent ; How to Train Your Dragon 2 ; Transformers 4 ; Tammy ; Planes 2 ; Guardians of the Galaxy ; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ; Expendables 3.

I’m a little more excited since my kids are getting older, they are getting more into the non-cartoon movies and I get to share a few of the movies with them. My boy’s most excited for the Ninja Turtles. I will say I’m kinda curious as to how that will come out too. I’m not that big on what Michael Bay does to some of these franchises and well Megan Fox. But if it focuses on the Turtles it’s all good!  Addyson is excited about Maleficent though I wonder if it will scare her any.
X-Men and Captain America 2 are my most anticipated ones.

2013 Summer Movie Awards

School starts tomorrow, which is a sign summer is over.  This is the 5th annual summer movie awards that I've done.  Some people and movies are moving into some prestigious territory, looking at 2 time winners and movie franchises taking home more hardware too! 

This summer also movies are coming out and hitting DVD quicker then usual so some movies may have been seen on DVD.  

Movies seen this summer:

GI Joe Retaliation, The Croods, Iron Man 3, Epic, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Man of Steel, Fast and Furious 6, The Heat, 42, The Wolverine, Red 2, Olympus Has Fallen, Mud, Planes

  

Best Movie – Star Trek : Into Darkness

Star Trek won 2009 Best Movie

Best Dude – Harrison Ford : Branch Rickey : 42

Best Dudette –  Melissa McCarthy : Mullins : The Heat 

Won Best Dudette in 2011 for BridesMaids

Best Scene – Spock and Kirk while Kirk lays in the Enterprises reactor : Star Trek: Into Darkness

Best Fight –  Mike Bannig going John McClane through the White House for about the last hour of Olympus Has Fallen

Biggest Dud –  Iron Man 3 – There are little parts where I would have changed things differently.  I didn’t like the changing how they used the Mandarin, Ben Kingsley would have made a great villian himself.  He is supposed to be someone that is like the Joker to Tony, and it started out that way.  I also didn’t like all the suits, it reminded me of Tranformers 2 with all the extra Decepticons that you didn’t know who were getting blown up.  It’s cool to see all the tech Tony has in making the all the suits BUT nothing beats the old red and gold suit. This had a different flair from the previous 2 Jon Favereu directed flicks.

Anticipated Sequel – Star Trek 3

Summer movie not seen that I want too – Now You See Me & Despicable Me 2

2012 Summer Movie Awards

It’s been a summer of box office blockbusters and also some box office duds.  I started out with a list of 10 movies I wanted to try to see, one of those movies got its release date moved to March (GI Joe) and I’ve been able to so far see 6 summer movies, pretty tame for my summer movie viewing record.  So let’s get it going with my 2012 Summer Movie Awards.  The movies viewed so far American Reunion, The Avengers, The Amazing Spiderman, The Dark Knight Rises, Total Recall, The Bourne Legacy and Battleship.

BEST FLICK

The Avengers

BEST DUDE

Robert Downey Jr : IronMan : The Avengers

Tom Hiddleston : Loki : The Avengers

BEST DUDETTE

Emma Stone : Gwenn Stacey : The Amazing Spiderman

BEST SCENE

Thor talking to the crew on the Shield hellicarrier and talking about Loki then ending it with "He's Adopted"

--Honorable Mention--

-Iron Man and Loki in Stark Tower talking about who Loki all pissed off and stating, "We have a Hulk"

-Hulk smashing Loki through Stark Tower.  Loki proclaiming to him "I am a God" and then Hulk just smashing the hell out of him

-Peter Parker and Gwenn Stacey in the hallway at high school with Peter trying to ask her out

-The final sequence in The Dark Knight Rises

-Drunk Jim’s Dad at Stifler’s Party

BEST FIGHT

Iron Man vs Captain America vs Thor : The Avengers

Batman vs Bane (second fight) : The Dark Knight Rises

BIGGEST DUD

The Dark Knight Rises
- Now I loved the movie, ranked it 8/10, but it didn't leave me feeling full.  Some of it felt choppy, unlike the Dark Knight.  I also really want to see the Riddler in the world Nolan built.  So please don't get me wrong, really enjoyed it but didn't leave me feel complete.

ANTICIPATED SEQUEL

Avengers 2 / Iron Man 3 / Thor 2 / Captain America 2

SUMMER MOVIE NOT SEEN THAT I WANT TO

Expendables 2

2012 Summer Movies

Well it’s close to that time…the Summer Blockbuster Movie Watch list.  Last year it started before May with Fast and Furious opening in April and it got started this past weekend, In my opinion with American Reunion.

With that here are the Summer Movies that are on my radar:

American Reunion

The Avengers

Battleship

Men In Black 3

GI Joe Retaliation

The Amazing Spiderman

The Dark Knight Rises

The Bourne Legacy

Total Recall

The Expendables 2

 

A lot of super hero flare again as has become par for the summer with the blockbuster popcorn flicks. 

And as always I will have my 4^th Annual Summer Movie Awards in late August.

I’m sure there may be a Ice Age: Continental Drift or Brave thrown into that listing too because of kids but that’s it, that’s the list for Summer 2012.