Matt at the Movies: 2024 Summer Watch List
Matt at the Movies: 2024 Summer Watch List
While Matt travels Europe, he previews the movies that could make or break the summer season.
The SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes have finally come to roost in the early summer box office slate.
From May to August, we are usually treated to large visual spectacles, tentpole features, and blockbuster movies that provide an excuse for us to shut off our brains and get away from the summer heat. We’ve had middling results so far, with big budget franchise films like the excellent Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga only bringing in $168 million worldwide (as of publication) off of a similar-sized budget. Bad Boys: Ride or Die brought in $120 million in its opening week, recouping its $100 million price tag.
There are plenty of kids movie options that will do excellent business including Inside Out 2 (already at $835 million worldwide) and Despicable Me 4 (July 3), as well as many smaller horror films to fill the void. The Independent Picture House will have many new indie films, as well as their Summer of ‘84 series to catch that bit of nostalgia and watch some bona fide classics on the big screen.
So what does Hollywood have left for the adults and cinephiles to quench our thirst over the next two months?
Today, Matt at the Movies will highlight ten films that are sure to bring some action, laughs, and elevated blood pressure into your life. The list goes in chronological order; feel free to click on each release link to watch the trailer.
I personally have not viewed any of the following films so we are strictly going off industry chatter and pure vibes. We’ll provide the background, some interesting tidbits, and my personal excitement meter, but it's your job to hit the theaters!
Matt at the Movies’ Top 10 Watchlist for Summer 2024
June 21 - The Bikeriders
(Playing at Independent Picture House)
In a Nutshell
Set in the 1960s, we jump into the rise of an outlaw Chicago motorcycle club and are along for the ride. Over the course of a decade we see the trials and tribulations of its members, their illegal dealings, and the fallout with their loved ones.
Time is money, why should I go?
Tom Hardy and Austin Butler mixed with a slew of “that guys” is intriguing. Add on Jeff Nichols, who is a product of the North Carolina School of the Arts, behind the lens and be ready for a gritty depiction of this niche slice of life. The real standout is Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, The Last Duel) who is being praised for her performance that could garner some awards attention next year.
Matt at the Movies Excitement Meter: 7/10
June 21 - Kinds of Kindness
(Playing at The Independent Picture House)
In a Nutshell
The film is set up as three separate stories that loosely connect to one another, with the main actors depicting different characters in each. We have a man trying to find his own identity after cutting ties with his powerful boss, a husband whose wife returns after missing with lingering doubts that she may be an imposter, and finally a cult member who is given the task to recruit someone who has the power to resurrect the dead.
Sounds like a real trip, and Oscar-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, Poor Things) is up to his normal nonsense that is giving off The Lobster vibes.
Time is money, why should I go?
This no doubt will be a darkly humorous and off the wall film featuring a stellar cast including two time Oscar winning Emma Stone along with Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, and Hong Chau that should dive into the realm of strange before our M&M’s are finished. Lanthimos is an acquired taste for some but he is one of the few directors in the game that takes big swings artistically while writing his own unique stories. The film received a six minute ovation recently at its Cannes screening. Let’s get weird.
Matt at the Movies Excitement Meter: 8/10
June 28 - A Quiet Place: Day One
In a Nutshell
The third installment of the series brings us back to the beginning of the alien invasion we’ve witnessed in the first two films. The creatures are seemingly indestructible and rely on ultrasonic hearing so, as the title suggests, being quiet is the main rule to staying alive.
We follow the main character Sam (Lupita Nyong'o) as she tries to survive the onslaught hitting New York City.
Time is money, why should I go?
They have gone from the smaller-level indie budget of the first film to full-out summer blockbuster for the third. The chaos from the trailer gives a sense of fear, hopelessness, and adrenaline that allows the audience to view the fall into a post-apocalyptic world as humans try to survive.
The novelty of the aliens being a boogeyman of sorts is completely thrown out the window, and we will see their ferocious carnage on full display. This will make for an excellent IMAX or Dolby big screen experience with a brisk ninety-nine minute runtime.
Matt at the Movies Excitement Meter: 9/10
July 5 - MaXXXine
In a Nutshell
Another third installment, this time of the slasher horror variety from director Ti West, who has once again tapped Mia Goth to lead the charge after X and Pearl (both released in 2022).
We travel to Hollywood in 1985 as Maxine works her way from adult films to horror flicks with the dream of becoming a Hollywood star. A serial killer called “Night Stalker” has been terrorizing the Sunset Strip and has his eyes set on this new starlet. The trailer gives off grimy noir vibes, and could be a platform for Goth to show her acting chops to many unfamiliar with her filmography.
Time is money, why should I go?
West went bigger and better with this release, casting tremendous actors to surround Goth. Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Debicki, Giancarlo Esposito, Bobby Cannavale, and Michelle Monaghan join this 80s story, with nostalgia in every frame. Maxine’s pure determination to persevere for the sake of fame to the sounds of a synth score will make for a great date night.
Matt at the Movies Excitement Meter: 7/10
July 12 - Longlegs
In a Nutshell
A newly appointed FBI agent (Maika Monroe) is assigned to an unsolved case involving a serial killer. As she uncovers more clues she finds connections to the occult that bring her past into frame. She must follow the evidence to stop the killer before he claims another family.
Time is money, why should I go?
You get one great scary film each summer.
Last year, we were treated to the Australian film Talk to Me, which had plenty of jumpscare sequences. The trailer for Longlegs gave me chills.
The cut scenes and imagery are reminiscent of horrors from Blumhouse Productions. You feel watched, eerie, and at the mercy of the grotesque visions in the director’s mind. Mix in Monroe, who is no stranger to this genre as the lead from It Follows, and we have an upsetting occult story that feels truly unsettling.
I pick one horror a year to attend with my “scare friend” Paul and I fully intend to grab his arm multiple times as I coil from the trauma on screen.
Matt at the Movies Excitement Meter: 10/10
July 19 - Twisters
In a Nutshell
Kate Cooper is a scientist who researched and followed tornadoes her whole career. A terrible incident involving her subject of expertise puts her on the sidelines, but her friend lures her back into the game to test out a new technology that will be able to accurately track these deadly behemoths.
A viral, cowboy stormchaser named Tyler Owens is in it for the thrill and the two characters combine their skills to track down the biggest cyclones possible to carry out her team's experiment.
Time is money, why should I go?
How do you top the 1996 popcorn classic Twister? By having two tornadoes decimate the midwestern landscape, obviously!
The song remains the same as we get an updated 2024 storyline with better technology and CGI. Glen Powell is a hot commodity in Hollywood acting in such recent hits as Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You, and the recent #1 streaming movie on Netflix Hit Man. He’s got Texas charm and charisma while still feeling like the biggest smartass in the room.
He’s paired with Daisy Edgar-Jones who broke out in the miniseries Normal People (amazing go watch now) and led the blockbuster novel adaptation hit Where the Crawdads Sing. These two are risking it all for thrills and the name of science.
My brain says it can’t match the dopey charm of the first entry (RIP Bill Paxton), but I’m willing to give it a shot!
Matt at the Movies Excitement Meter: 7/10
July 26 - Deadpool & Wolverine
In a Nutshell
Wade Wilson (Deadpool) is living his best post-life as a mercenary killer when the Time Variance Authority (from Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), who monitor space and time, drag him out of retirement.
With his universe at risk, he finds a physically and mentally defeated Wolverine that he must convince to help defeat Cassandra Nova, the evil twin sister of Professor Xavier who is threatening the whole multiverse. Action sequences, shenanigans, and potty humor continue in the third volume of the Deadpool series.
Time is money, why should I go?
The inner child in me loves these films.
Ryan Reynolds' career arc as a movie star is personified by his Deadpool character. He is given free reign, by Disney mind you, to say the most egregious off-the-wall things while committing gore filled cartoon-esque murders. The set-ups and punch lines are extremely adolescent, but I couldn't care less.
Wolverine, reprised once again by Hugh Jackman, has no choice but to embrace the insanity of Deadpool’s essence, and after 25 years we see a humorous side to the ever-grumpy X-Man.
The trailer feels like a parody of 80s cop films like Lethal Weapon or 48 Hrs., but with a fantastical comic-book-story background.
I’m all in, take my money and my dignity.
Matt at the Movies Excitement Meter: 9/10
August 2 - Trap
In a Nutshell
In this psychological thriller, written and directed by plot twist master M. Night Shyamalan, a serial killer named “The Butcher” is lured into a sting operation at a pop star’s concert.
The rub is that our killer, played by the always charming Josh Hartnett, is a loving father who is attending with his daughter. Throughout the performance, he finds out the concert is a trap set for him and the walls are closing in.
Time is money, why should I go?
It feels like the synopsis gives away the plot, but if we’ve learned anything from Shyamalan at this point it's that there is always another shoe to drop.
This is another chamber movie with the story unfolding in a single location very similar to his last feature Knock at the Cabin. His ability to create tension is unparalleled, and having the resurgent Hartnett fresh off his Oppenheimer performance was a genius movie in casting.
Hopefully this one will keep us on the edge of our seats as we see if Shyamalan can pull off his storytelling magic again.
Matt at the Movies Excitement Meter: 8/10
August 16 - Alien: Romulus
In a Nutshell
The seventh chapter of the Alien sci-fi horror series brings us to the past to the events that happened between Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986). A group of young colonists discover an abandoned spacecraft and hop aboard to scavenge for supplies. They are soon met with a discovery of a terrifying new life form and fight to escape before their demise.
Time is money, why should I go?
Cailee Spaeny had a stellar last twelve months, serving as the titular lead in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla and following it up with an excellent performance as the newbie war photography is this year’s Civil War.
She is the lead in this possibly paint-by-numbers horror produced - but not directed by - Ridley Scott. Look for plenty of gnarly kills and xenomorph secretions, but we most likely won’t add to the Alien lore like the last two Prometheus film entries.
By this point, you know where you stand with the franchise. If you like the tension and sci-fi terror, then suit up and hit the theaters.
I wonder if chain theaters will have fun popcorn buckets similar to Dune: Part Two for this one?
Matt at the Movies Excitement Meter: 6/10
August 23 - The Crow
In a Nutshell
Eric Draven is a musician who watches his fiancée murdered in front of his eyes, and himself soon after. His soul cannot rest and he is resurrected to carry out vengeance on those who killed them. Eric, now The Crow, is given supernatural powers such as heightened speed and healing abilities. He is able to see telepathically through crows and can even shapeshift into them for flight. With all his new tools at his disposal he sets out to enact retribution on those who took away the love of his life.
Time is money, why should I go?
I was ten when the first version of The Crow came out, but I’m still a huge Brandon Lee fan (shout out Showdown in Little Tokyo). The original was supposed to be a breakout hit for him before he was tragically killed by a firearm malfunction on set.
In this Crow, Lee’s shoes are filled by the (often amazingly evil) character actor Bill Skarsgård, who stole the show in both It remakes and as the heavy in John Wick: Chapter 4. This is a big gamble for Lionsgate Films, both monetarily and with Skarsgård as a blockbuster lead.
At this point, I’m intrigued at the possibility of seeing his talent centerstage but also indifferent to the story. If this comes out as a victory at the box office it will be from Skarsgård going above and beyond.
Matt at the Movies Excitement Meter: 5/10
Matt at the Movies Programming Note
I will be taking a little writing break while on vacation to see some family, friends, and the Euros soccer tournament in Deutschland. In the meantime, check out some of the films we’ve recommended and make your way down to IPH for the fantastic slate from the Summer of ‘84 series.
Stay hydrated cinephiles and as always, go Charlotte FC! See you next time at Matt at the Movies!