John's 2016 Summer Movie Checklist

Ah the summer movie season is upon us at last and that means one thing my friends...buckets of popcorn and films that you can simply lose yourself in and have a wonderful time while watching them. It's one big time release after another this season and while I sadly won't be able to catch every single one of them, here are the can't miss flicks on my personal checklist for the summer season.

Independence Day: Resurgence (June 24)
Truth be told, the original Independence Day is a huge guilty pleasure of mine. It's absolutely mindless fun filled to the brim with action and adventure and top notch one liners, which means I was ready to hand over my money the instant they announced that a sequel was on its way. With that in mind, Resurgence is already shaping up to deliver more of what made the first one so great by reuniting most of the cast minus Will Smith, and upping the ante when it comes to big time battles between mankind and the aliens trying to wipe us out. I'm expecting this one to be an absolute blast and I'm hoping Bill Pullman gets the chance to deliver another epic speech. 

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The Secret Life of Pets (July 8)
Pets are simply magical, and like most pet owners, I've always wondered what my fur baby does when I'm not home. My guess is Kewa the Beagle probably sleeps, wakes up to bark at someone passing by then sleeps some more before I get home...but what if she did way cooler stuff? That's what The Secret Life of Pets is going to explore in animated glory as we get the inner workings of what pets do when their owners aren't home and if the trailer was any indicator with the fancy poodle rocking out to death metal, this is going to be a silly and fun film to watch with celebrity voices galore to entertain us. I'll definitely be in line to see this one just to enjoy a hearty laugh. 

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Ghostbusters (July 15)
It's rare that I ever let a trailer determine whether or not I'm going to see a movie that interests me and that same logic applies to the reboot/remake of Ghostbusters. Yes, the trailers are so so, but I am a huge Ghostbusters fan, and the original pair of films and everything that came with them were a massive part of my childhood so out of sheer respect for the franchise, and to satisfy my curiosity as to what a new Ghostbusters flick can do with modern special effects, I'm going to see this one and hope that the trailers got it wrong and if it's bad...well so be it. That just means they remade Ghostbusters II instead. Either way, this one deserves a fair shot and I really do hope it turns out to be amazing. 

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Star Trek Beyond (July 22)
Of all the films on the docket for this summer, this has to be the one I am looking forward to the most. I am a huge Star Trek fan and am anxiously anticipating this one for several reasons. For one, while I personally enjoyed Into Darkness, it's nice to finally take the crew of the Enterprise into a brave new story that doesn't rehash any old storylines; and because Simon Pegg, a talented writer with great respect for the franchise helped pen the script for this outing. That means there is a fair chance this is going to be vintage Trek, with a poignant and thoughtful story that boldly goes where the new franchise has never gone before. 

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Suicide Squad (August 5)
Sometimes you find yourself excited for a comic book movie straight out of the gate and sometimes, it takes a little bit for your brain to warm up to them. This film applies to the latter of those two options for me simply because at first...I wasn't sure Warner Brothers could pull this one off. But as time has gone on, and I've had the chance to see more from the talented cast they've assembled, it's become something I definitely want to see. The premise is unique, the story looks like fun and well...the WB really hasn't ever done us wrong when it comes to casting decisions for these types of movies so it's high time I give this one a shot and make time to check it out. 

So for now...these are the movies that I absolutely need to get my advance tickets for and if there's something you think I, or the team here definitely need to see and I didn't include it on this list, tweet us, comment here or let us know on Facebook so we can all share in the magic of the summer movie season. Until next time.

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