Like any summer this one’s jam packed with mega-sized blockbusters you can’t afford to miss. To help you stay on top of all the things you need to know about the coolest movies of the season, we’ve picked out our five favorites and started tracking them. We’ll keep you up to date on the five biggest, must see movies of the summer, right here. Check back regularly and we'll keep adding new, exciting trailers, images, and info on the summer movies you care about.
Early Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 Reviews Lavish It With Praise
There’s not a single negative Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 review to be found anywhere on the internet. Should that trend continue as the generally less connected members of the press start to see this movie, that may not be a good thing for the film’s box office. If you look back on all the previous Potter films, the better the reviews the lower their box office totals. Of course, even Harry Potter at its lowest is still a bigger money maker than most movies at their peak.
Watch The Last Ever Deathly Hallows Part 2 Trailer
The marketing for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 has been nothing short of brilliant, and yet, they’ve managed to top themselves with the last ever Harry Potter trailer. This is the final Deathly Hallows Part 2 trailer and it’s the most moving, exciting, piece of work we’ve seen from the movie so far. Think about this for just a moment before you click the orange arrow to head over and watch it. There will never be another Harry Potter trailer. This is it. This is the last Harry Potter trailer you will ever watch. It all ends here.
Deathly Hallows 2 Is Shortest Harry Potter Movie Yet
It’s true. The final installment in one of the most beloved series of all time, Harry Potter, will be the shortest one yet. The British Board of Film Classification, en route to giving Deathly Hallows Part 2 a 12A rating in the UK, revealed the movie's running time to be two hours and ten minutes. That's nearly 40 minutes less than its Part 1 predecessor and around eight minutes shy of the length of the next shortest, Order of the Phoenix. Rest assured that a good chunk of time will be dedicated to that battle, and trust that J.K. Rowling won’t let the conclusion to her epic series be ruined simply by a short running time.
New Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Poster Readies Everyone For Badassery And Battle
A new poster was released today finally putting together the army assembled to defend the beloved Hogwarts from Voldemort, and while Hermione looks slightly sad and Ron confused, Harry looks carved out of stone, ready to withstand a nuclear blast. This Harry is not one you’d want to cross in Knockturn Alley. If you squint you can make out tons of your other favorites like Ginny, Percy, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Seamus and Dean, Professors Flitwick and McGonagall.
Watch The Harry Potter Kids First Ever Screen Test
We’ve gotten our hands on a new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 featurette, and if you want to get all weepy about the fact that this franchise is about to end, click through to play the amazing video. This is the very first time Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint worked together on camera shooting footage that would never show up in the film. Daniel looks sort of lost and ready to follow someone else’s lead, Emma is precocious and enthusiastic, and Rupert sits off to the side making faces at the camera. This is where it all began.
Captain America Will Lose His Name In Russia And South Korea
At first word was that Marvel Studios might drop "Captain America" and simply release it as The First Avenger everywhere outside the United States, but the good news here is that it’ll keep its full title most places. It seems that Paramount Pictures believes the brand power of the Captain America name trumps anti-American sentiment in most countries. The exceptions to that are Russia, Ukraine, and South Korea where Marvel will release the movie as The First Avenger, thus removing the word "America" from the film's title.
Captain America's USO Costume Revealed
We've always known that there is going to be more than one suit featured in the movie: there's the one that he uses to go into battle, but there's another that he wears while touring as part of a USO show to support the troops. All of the advertising - from the trailers to the stills - have only shown the primary costume, but now images of the secondary suit have found their way online. This costume looks a lot like the suit from the 1990 Captain America movie, which is widely regarded as one of the worst comic book movies of all time.
Retro Captain America Poster Lets Chris Evans Punch Hitler
The best poster for Captain America: The First Avenger is one you won't be seeing in theaters. It's designed like a poster for Casablanca or an old World War II movie, and much like a classic comic book cover, features Cap punching Hitler in the face. We can only hope Chris Evans gets to do the same thing in the actual movie. Check out the full, completely awesome vintage Captain America poster by clicking on the "read more" arrow with this story post.
Captain America Will Get A New Costume For The Avengers
One of the reasons that Captain America's costume looks so fantastic for The First Avenger is because it's perfectly suited for the period in which the film is set. Everything from the loose fitting pants to the stenciled wings on the helmet fits in with the 1940s military style. But when Cap is brought into the modern world, as he will be in The Avengers next year, he's going to see that his fashion choice is a bit outdated, so naturally it will be time for a costume change.
Captain America 2 Will Be A Fish Out Of Water Story
Captain America: The First Avenger is set during World War II. If there’s a sequel though, don’t expect him to stay in the past. Cap is headed into the future. Once they get past Avengers to Captain America 2, star Chris Evans says we should expect it to be a "fish out of water story". "He’s a man, not in his time. And it’s just kind of come to terms with the way the world is now, how much it’s changed since the 40s."
16 Burning Questions About Green Lantern, Answered By A Comics Expert
If you're like us, you walked out of Green Lantern with a ton of questions and more than a little confused about this comic book universe. To help, we contacted our in-house comic book expert and demanded answers. That's right, demanded! Luckily our helpful geek was able to answer all of them. If you too were a little confused coming out of Green Lantern and need a comics expert to guide you, check out Cinema Blend's 16 detailed questions and answers. SPOILERS INCLUDED, so this is something best read after you've seen the movie, if you dare.
Exclusive Interview: Green Lantern's Peter Sarsgaard
In the film, Hammond is a brilliant scientist who is chosen to perform an autopsy on the first alien life humanity has ever found. During the operation, however, he becomes infected with something that gives him incredible psionic powers. The downside? It also causes his head to grow to an enormous size. Check out the full interview in which the actor discusses how the prosthetic head affected his performance, Hector's look even before he gets infected, and the character's changing backstory.
Green Lantern Review
With wild space alien characters and a ring that harnesses the power of will, Green Lantern demands more faith from its audience than the 60s-grooving X-Men or the comparatively straightforward Thor. Remarkably it does get you to believe in a interstellar corps of peace-keepers, but gets hopelessly tangled in something far more mundane-- that common superhero movie ambition to do too much at once. At this point in the genre the same old origin story simply isn't enough. Instead of being bold with Green Lantern's out-there source material, Campbell and company have reverted to the tiresome, too-familiar mean.
Watch Ryan Reynolds Battle Parallax In 8 Minutes Of Green Lantern Footage
These eight clips from the movie may be the best stuff we've seen from it yet. The footage spans the length and breadth of the movie, showing small snippets from Hal Jordan's beginnings as a test pilot right up until what appears to be a massive, city street battle between Green Lantern and the movie's giant, yellow, cloud-like villain Parallax. In their best moments, these clips remind me of the best moments of Superman II. Especially the street fight in the final clip, for whatever reason, I just see Superman and Zod, trading punches and flinging cars at each other while the streets crack around them. Green Lantern is a must see, if it's even half that good.
Geoffrey Rush Discusses How He Came To Voice Tomar-Re In Green Lantern
After accepting the gig, Rush then began talking with director Martin Campbell and started his recording sessions. "Having voiced cartoon/animated stuff before, you know that you're in good hands. I was always blown away that Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres met at the premiere [of Finding Nemo]. It sounds like they improvised off each other, riffing, but, you know, the creators of those worlds, they get lots of alternate takes, they let people off the leash, and then they have to kind of… because I don't think much ever hits the cutting room floor in those films. They're beautifully storyboarded and stuff."
To 3D Or Not To 3D: A Guide To Choosing The Right Cars 2 Ticket
Like almost every major movie released this year Cars 2 will be offered both in 2D and 3D showings. This is Pixar's third attempt at releasing a 3D movie, and it's by far their best. They get almost everything right, and if only they'd put forward the extra effort necessary to deliver a few "Before the Window" thrills along with everything else, this would easily rank as one of the best 3D movies ever released. They didn't, and so all I can tell you is that what they've done here is really, really good. Buy a 3D ticket and you won't be disappointed.
Parents Beware: Cars 2 May Be Bad For Your Kids
Movies still have the ability to make us think or, in the case of younger viewers, teach. If you're a fully grown human you have the strength of mind to go into a film and decide whether or not you agree with all the viewpoints you've just seen splashed up on screen. If you're a little kid, you're probably going to accept pretty much anything Lightning McQueen says as absolute truth. That's a problem, because Lightning McQueen and Cars 2 have some pretty horrible things to say to your kids. Letting them sit through Pixar's latest may leave you with a pint-sized terror.
Cars 2 only really works on fourth grade level, and while it does that level very well, it's limited. Adults will still have fun with it, you'll find more than a few genuine laughs here and though the movie's a little long, you'll be wholly entertained by both the quality of visual flair on display. It's even better in 3D, this may be the first Pixar movie to actually get 3D right. Yet there's no heart, no soul, none of the Pixar magic we've come to expect from these movies. Cars 2 narrowly avoids becoming Pixar's first truly bad feature, but graded on their curve it's definitely the studio's worst movie.
Exclusive Interview: Cars 2 Composer Michael Giacchino
An Oscar winner for his work on the score for Up, Giacchino is also behind the score of Cars 2 and Cinema Blend was lucky enough to speak with him at the Pixar Compound in Emeryville, CA. Of his work on the film he says, "When I first came on I thought, Oh, it's a chance to really do something, your hands aren't tied to anything, you can just go wherever you want with it. It's a lot of fun, because they did a totally different story, even though at its heart these characters are the same people but they're in a very different place. Even the film, it opens up with a car that you've never even seen before, which is pretty great. I love that, and for the first seven minutes of the film you're like, wait, what am I watching?"
John Lasseter's Cars 2 Cameo Is Inspired By George Lucas
They've inserted a cameo for director John Lasseter in the film… inspired by George Lucas's appearance in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Yes, that's really the explanation given by producer Denise Ream about the new character John Lassetire, a yellow pick-up truck whom Lasseter will voice. Pixar directors have a long tradition of popping up in their own movies-- Brad Bird was the voice of Edna Mode in The Incredibles, and Andrew Stanton voiced the surfer dude turtle Crush in Finding Nemo-- but none of the characters have had names that were deliberate homages to the directors themselves.
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon Review
The robots are only set pieces, the men primarily placeholders who stand and fire guns. More than either of the previous films, this Transformers 3 feels like an ultra-violent version of the two-dimensional cartoon it's based on. I think I'm almost alright with that, when it's done this well, in this kind of summer blockbuster. We'd probably all be happier watching another movie like Inception, but as long as those movies still get made, I guess there's nothing wrong in sitting down with a Transformers: Dark of the Moon, once in awhile.
To 3D Or Not To 3D: Buy The Right Transformers: Dark Of The Moon Ticket
Definitely the best live-action 3D I've seen since Avatar, and given where the 3D trend is headed, it might be the best example we ever get to see. Bright and energetic and engaging without making you feel (too) ill or overwhelmed, it's the first action film this summer that actually feels worth seeing in 3D. Whether or not you think the movie is worth seeing is another question, of course, but if you find yourself at the ticket booth and only 3D screenings of Transformers are available, know that you'll get your money's worth of 3D technology up on the screen.
Transformers Director Michael Bay Urges Theater Owners To Show Transformers As Brightly As Possible
Bay has gone as far as to call the executives behind the major theater chains and has urged them to start using 3D projector bulbs to their full capacity in order to improve brightness, the technology's biggest enemy. It's previously been reported that chains have been purposefully dimming projections so that they can lower the cost on bulbs. Said Bay of his mission, "If this was having my name on it, I was determined to make it technically perfect. We've spent an enormous amount of time making sure the eye is transitioned from shot to shot."
Shia LaBeouf And Michael Bay Are Quitting Transformers
Shia LaBeouf says, "I'm not coming back to do another one." And actually it sounds like if Paramount wants more (and come on, these things are a cash cow, they will), the whole thing may have to move on to a completely new bunch of filmmakers. Even Michael Bay may not be up for Transformers 4. LaBeouf confirms, "I don't think Mike will either. It still is a hot property, I think, especially coming out of the third one. So I imagine they'll reboot it at some point with someone else."
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Landed Transformers 3 By Auditioning In Lingerie
Michael Bay infamously made Megan Fox wash his Ferrari before casting her in Transformers, and now it seems her replacement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, won her part in Transformers 3 using similarly sexed up methods. If you know anything about Michael Bay, you're probably not surprised. She was called in to run lines with Shia LaBeouf as part of the final selection process, and instead of dressing like she might actually dress in the movie, Rosie showed up in see-through underwear.
