Most Anticipated Movies of Summer 2013

Last year I posted about my most anticipated movies for the whole year and I struggled to make a decent list. This year I looked at just the movies coming out in the summer and I'm having issues keeping it to only 10. I even had to add in a section of honorable mentions! Haha. That basically means I don't want to spend $50 at the movies but the movie definitely has potential to be great. Again, this list is only for spring/summer of 2013! Let's get it started baby!

Already Out

Pain & Gain

The Rock and Mark Wahlberg in an action/comedy movie with Rebel Wilson? Uh, sign me up please. I'm hoping to ignore the fact that Michael Bay is the director, but I have a feeling when I watch this I will be reminded of that. Let's hope Dwayne and Marky Mark can make this film enjoyable.

Anticipation Level: Pretty Excited

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May

Iron Man 3

Iron Man 2 was a bit of a disappointment, still good because of Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, but the Avengers hit the screens last summer with a huge pop. The excitement for the comic book movies is back this summer and I think IM3 is going to blow away the first two movies in the trilogy. 

Anticipation Level: SUPER EXCITED!!!

The Great Gatsby

This movie looks nothing like how I pictured it when reading this in high school. It looks ten times better! The "old-school futuristic" look along with Leo makes me very interested in how this movie will turn out. This was on the verge of going into honorable mentions - but it looks so fresh compared to other movies.

Anticipation Level: Pretty Excited

Star Trek Into the Darkness

Ok. J.J. Abrams is just amazing. You should know my man-crush I have on him and any project he touches. He made me a Star Trek fan with the original re-make he did a couple years ago. Now, I can't wait to see this. Brittany and I may be there opening weekend - since we share the same love for J.J.

Anticipation Level: SUPER EXCITED!

Fast & Furious 6

Ok, I will admit, I stopped watching these movies at Tokyo Drift. But the fifth installment have been on my radar since it was released. The Rock and the reunion of every character (even Michelle Rodriguez!) in the movies to date make me very interested in this one. If I'm confused, I'll go back and watch 5, but right now I'm just jumping straight to 6.

Anticipation Level: Excited!

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June

The Purge

Ok, this is my sleeper pick for the summer. I watched the trailer and instantly fell in love (is that weird?). The overall plot of the movie is very unique - it opens up for some terrible things to happen during the one night that all crimes are allowed. I cannot wait to see this movie, and surprisingly haven't heard about it until I started making this list. Brittany isn't a fan of "break-into-your-house" movies, so I dunno if I'll have to drag Raleigh or Jason with me to see it.

Anticipation Level: Surprisingly Excited!

Man of Steel

I'm not a Superman fan, at all, but I'm really excited about this movie. That should tell you something. Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan being part of the development definitely helps! It looks the part, no matter what people say about the new costume, I think it looks great. The cast all fits the parts, hopefully the story line holds up. Very very very excited to see Superman this summer. Batman is still better though.

Anticipation Level: Very Excited!

World War Z

Zombies are totally IN right now. Zombie is the new black. Then, add in Brad Pitt...oh man that's a summer movie made in heaven. This is definitely in my top three movies I want to see - I love zombies I love apocalypse movies and I love Fight Club. Boom!

Anticipation Level: SUPER EXCITED!

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July

Grown Ups 2

Listen, I have a rule about movie theaters - I never see Comedies. Paying $450,857 to see a comedy in the theater is ridiculous. There is no benefit to seeing it there, unlike an action flick. Somehow two summers ago, I saw Grown Ups in the theater with a group of friends. They must have paid for it? Haha. I was REALLY happy that I saw it though - it was one of the best comedies I've seen in a while. Now, the sequel comes out and I'll probably be there, watching it again with my friends in the theater. Good job Adam Sandler and crew.

Anticipation Level: Excited!

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August

Kick-Ass 2

The original was one of the most unique movies I've seen over the past five years. It made me laugh, cry, jump up and down and say "YEAH!" The sequel looks just as good, but my interest isn't as high as it is to see the other movies. Honestly, this was close to being dumped to honorable mentions - but then I saw that Jim Carrey is in it...definite top 10 now!

Anticipation Level: Pretty Excited

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Order of Anticipation:

1. Star Trek Into the Darkness

2. Iron Man 3

3. World War Z

4. Man of Steel

5. The Purge

6. Fast & Furious 6

7. Grown Ups 2

8. Pain & Gain

9. Kick-Ass 2

10. The Great Gatsby

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Honorable Mentions

1. Oblivion - Yes, I know it's out already but this (to me) kicked off the summer blockbusters. Tom Cruise, conspiracies, life after Earth and aliens all combine into great potential.

2. After Earth - Will Smith also is a must-have during the summer. This interested me because his son is acting with him, and M. Night Shyamalan is back. He has made a string of bad movies, hopefully Fresh Prince can save him.

3. Pacific Rim - HUGE ROBOTS FIGHTING! Not going to lie, this almost made my Top 10. The concept is pretty sweet, but will probably be just a popcorn blockbuster this summer. Robot Combat League on steroids.

4. R.I.P.D. - I love Ryan Reynolds so that alone got my attention. But then I read the overview of this movie. Dead cops trying to fight to save the world. INTERESTING!

5. Comedies Galore - Hangover Part 3/The Internship/This is the End - All movies I'd like to see, but don't want to spend $40 going to the theater to see them. I'm not a huge fan of seeing comedies in the theater, Grown Ups 2 is on the list because I LOVED the first one. The Hangover series never won me over, though it does have its moments. Loved Wedding Crashers so hoping that The Internship continues the Wilson/Vaughn magic. Usually not a huge fan of Seth Rogan, but the unique plot of these actors playing themselves interests me.

So what did you think? Do you agree with some of these? Are there other movies that you are shocked I didn't include? Am I nuts?! Comment below. 

Catching Up...

Well, I let this blog fall behind again. So lets hit some key points since my last post:

• Micah's new parenting plan finally got finalized with his father. (That was a lot of Fs...) Things really worked out and I believe we are in a place where we can limit the amount of flareups between both sides. But most importantly, I believe Micah will be happier once we settle into the new agreement.
• I got a new job! That's right! Still with HCA, but I'm the new Communications Coordinator on the HCA Rewards/Benefits team. So far it has been incredible, finally being able to tap into my creative side and really feel like I'm making a difference in the work I do. I put together several newsletters, design posters and fliers, design for web, write content, etc. etc.
• Penny is going to be 2 years old in 4 days...It is unbelievable to say that. She has gotten so big. I can't believe she will be so old...it really makes you think about how fast time moves when you babies are so big. Micah will be 8! 8! I met him when he was just over 2 years old...crazy that little man has been in my life for almost 6 years.
• Penny turning 2 isn't always a great thing...she definitely has hit the terrible 2. Though, we have a system...when she throws a fit Brittany or I will ask to have her hands and for her to look at us. Then we calmly explain to her the situation and she replies with "Okkkay...I sorrryy Daaa-yee" (That's how she says Daddy.)
• The photography business has taken off this wedding season. We don't remember being this busy in previous years. Totally a great thing, but definitely takes us away from the kids more than we want. 
• I've gotten more involved with the church. Brittany and I taught a children's class on Wednesday nights. We went to Gatlinburg with the Youth Group in February. We've been asked to help out more with the Youth Group, and we are getting excited for the possibilities. 
• Lots of new stuff happening with our house. We have hardwood floors now! Well, actually they are vinyl flooring panels that look and feel like hardwood but cost WAY less. We love them.
• We finally repaired our fence, for the most part.
• We turned our backyard into a cool hangout spot for kids and adults, with firepit included! Hopefully we don't burn the neighborhood down.
• We are still getting harassed by the HOA. I'm never going to move into another neighborhood with an HOA.
• We have been living with only one car...kind of rough, but it saves us from having a second car payment. Big shout out to my parents, Jason and Hope, Raleigh and Brooke and whoever else have been chauffeuring me around when I need rides to work or practice.
• Practice? What have I been practicing? Well, my old band, Circean, is putting together a reunion show. We've been practicing over the past few months and it has really came together. Good timing too, since the show is actually this Friday.
• We just got back from our yearly trip to Destin, FL. Had such a wonderful time, I think I want to move there...so laid back and a wonderful environment. 
• Tons of new movies are out that I want to see, many of them from my most anticipated movies of 2012 post several months back. I will write some reviews of the movies I've seen.
• Ummm, the Redskins drafted Robert Griffin III...excited would be an understatement for Redskins fans right now.
• Titans missed out on the Peyton Manning Sweepstakes...we still have Jake Locker waiting on the bench, though.
• Ravens just re-signed my favorite running back, Ray Rice to a 5 year deal. 
• Fantasy Football starts up soon, I'm in 4 leagues, running 2 of them and co-running another...Can't wait!
• I'm still madly in love with my wife, even if she does give me a lot of honey-to-dos. She is my best friend and I don't know where I would be without her. We will be married for 4 years this October.

I think that's about it! I'm sure I left out a lot of things, but I'll add those when I get to them. :)

Hopefully my lack of updates haven't lost some readers! <3

The Dark Knight Rises Official Trailer

Finally the new Batman movie has a full length trailer, and I'm more than excited about this! And yes, that is Hines Ward out running the exploding football field! Haha, it looks so great. Check out The Dark Knight Rises first full length trailer!

2011 Holiday Christmas List for Geeky Dads

Are you wondering what to get me for Christmas or my birthday? Yeah, that’s right, you’ve probably forgotten that my birthday is coming up as well since it is between Xmas and New Years, it’s ok I’m used to it ;). Or are you just wondering what to get your husband, son, boy friend? This is the best gifts to get a man like me on that special day in December.

Get ready to get your mind blown with great ideas.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire - $199.99

Tablets are like the new black aren’t they? Well, this one is the real deal for an amazing price. Especially if your dude uses Amazon services already for music and movies, this will allow him to access all his files already on his Amazon account, plus FREE CLOUD STORAGE. If you don’t know what cloud storage is, just know that it is AWESOME and your man probably knows what it is. For the price (less than half the price of an iPad), this thing will be a REALLY popular gift this year. Especially paired with some Amazon Gift Cards.

Flat Screen HD TV - $300-$4,000

Quite a large price difference here eh? Well, it all depends how big of a TV your man is wanting to watch football on. An acceptable size around 32" could be around $300 while the new 80" can be in your living room for a whooping $4,000. Actually the 80" would be more like your living room is in your TV. Any who, there can never be too many televisions in the house, right guys?

Video Games - $30-$60

You know you hate Video Games, but men love them. There are TONS of games out right now that I’m sure you can find something just right. Games from Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Madden 2012, Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, Uncharted 3…I can go on and on here. If you aren’t sure what game to get him, just grab a gift card to Gamestop or Best Buy and let him go nuts!

Manly Movies - Die Hard or Rambo - $10-$20 each

What guy doesn't love the classic action flicks where things blow up and guys rule all? The Die Hard series is amazing, the first one being the best and should be in every guy's collection. Sylvester Stallone takes everyone to guy heaven in the Rambo movies. Either one of these series is a given for every guy to own or to have at least seen.


Manly Shows - The Walking Dead or The Game of Thrones - $35-$50 each

The Walking Dead and The Game of Thrones cater to two different types of guys, or the same guy in my case ;). A zombie Apocalypse or a medieval political war drama? Both filled with amazing characters and storylines, both filled with tons of blood, sex and survival. What more could a guy ask for? If your dude owns these the Game of Thrones book series or the Walking Dead graphic novel might be a great addition!

Star Wars Ultimate FX Lightsaber - $30

Ignore the kids in this video. Raleigh and I are buying each other these for Christmas so we can flip around like a Jedi. These have to be the coolest toy lightsabers made and at a wonderful price. Don’t  lie, your dude is a kid at heart and when he picks this up he will feel the force coursing through his veins.

Most Anticipated Movies of 2012

The following are trailers for some movies that I’m looking forward to. Even though I’ve become more of a TV show watcher, I’m excited to see what 2012 brings to the big screen.

February

The Woman in Black

This movie looks so creepy! You know me and my family are all really into creepy ghost stories. Not to mention Daniel Ratcliffe starring in it (Britt, Raleigh and Brooke are HUGE HP fans).

Anticipation Level: Pretty excited

March

The Hunger Games

Probably one of my favorite book series I’ve ever read. The movie looks to be following the book very closely and the casting has been mostly spot on! This will probably be the most anticipated movie for me in 2012, because I’m such a huge fan of the books.

Anticipation Level: SKY HIGH!!

May

The Avengers

Come on, I have to see this even if I’m not sure how well it will be handled. I have a bad feeling that having so many superheroes in one movie might make it a little cramped. But Robert Downing Jr.’s Iron Man is still great, even with Captain America and Thor stealing some screen time.

Anticipation Level: Looking forward to it

Men in Black 3

Another movie I have to see just based on the title! Come on, Men in Black! I loved the original as a kid and can’t wait to see how they handle the third. Will Smith is the man and to me, will never be overused. WHAT’S THAT STAND FOR MEN IN BLACK!

Anticipation Level: Excited!

June

Snow White and the Huntsman

I’m actually very excited about this version of the Snow White story. Coming off the heels of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, this fairy tale story seems to be getting re-done in a number of different ways. This one looks like the most promising. (Twilight fans will go nuts for Kristen Stewart.)

Anticipation Level: Very Intrigued!

July

The Amazing Spider-Man

Rebooting the Spider-man series so soon? Usually I’d be irritated by such a quick reboot, but I saw the trailer and honestly I’m more excited about this movie than the original Spider-man with Tobey McGuire. They seem to be sticking to the very cool storyline to the new animated show. Hopefully they do this right.

Anticipation Level: If they do it right, I’m really excited!

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises

Ok, now…I’m going to try and contain my excited for this as much as possible. AHHHH! I can not wait for this movie to come out. The Dark Knight has to be one of my favorite movies behind The Lord of the Rings. This would be the only other movie that would compete with The Hunger Games for most anticipated movie.

Anticipation Level: FREAKIN’ STOKED!

Not much going on between July and December (as of yet).

December

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

A prequel to my favorite movie series ever release? Oh yes please. I believe this takes on a more family friendly environment than that of Two Towers or Return of the King, but I can’t wait. Legolas cameo in the works as well? Uh, no brainer.

Anticipation Level: VERY EXCITED!

No Official Trailer out yet for the Hobbit!

Order of Excitement:

1. The Hunger Games

2. Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

4. Men in Black 3

5. The Amazing Spider-Man

6. Snow White and the Huntsman

7. The Woman in Black

8. The Avengers

Favorite Movie of all Time: The Lord of the Rings

"I made a promise, Mr Frodo. A promise. "Don't you leave him Samwise Gamgee." And I don't mean to. I don't mean to."

Recently, Brittany, Raleigh, Brooke and I have started to watch the Lord of the Rings movies. Brittany has never seen these amazing films and we set out to show her what she was missing. She actually loves it so far, that’s how awesome my wife is. It didn’t surprise me though, since she liked movies like Harry Potter and shows like Game of Thrones.

Why have these movies become my favorites? I honestly have to say the characters. There are so many wonderful characters that you follow with multiple different storylines that all lead to the same thing. The fellowship has sworn to protect little Frodo Baggins as he treks across the world of Middle-Earth, defending against orcs and evil wizards. Who would not like this? Well, most women and men with letterman jackets, that’s who. But that isn’t surprising.

Any ways, the characters and story just leave me wanting more when the story finally concludes. Frodo, Sam, Pyp and Merry all hit special heartstrings throughout the conquest. The slow transformation from happy-go-lucky Frodo to dark-ring-possessed hobbit is one of the saddest stories in the series. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli all bring the hardcore moments, namely Legolas who has to be the coolest of all the characters. Then, there is Gandalf, the wonderfully powerful wizard who takes on a Balrog head on screaming one of the most recognizable quotes in movie history, “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!”

Oh man, just got goose bumps.

In just about everything I watch I need great characters that I care about. Lord of the Rings is by far one of the strongest showings of characters in anything I’ve ever followed. The journey to Mordor is one of the most compelling stories told and Legolas taking out orcs with his bow made me stand up and cheer.

If you haven’t watched The Lord of the Rings yet, please take a night to try out the first movie. I know it’s not for everyone but it is definitely worth giving a try. 

F is for Friends Who Do Things Together

I’ve found that I’m updating my blog about once every couple of weeks, so I’ll try to stick to that plan, haha. Alright, let’s dive right into the topic of this post. It has something to do with Spongebob and the word FUN. You put them together and you get the FUN song.

Just about every day for the past week I’ve woken up, picked up my guitar and randomly started singing this to Micah to start out the day. He usually sings Plankton’s part while Brittany and I sing Spongebob’s. It is random, but it really seems to kick off the day right.

Today I didn’t have time to jam this song out and the morning was kind of hectic. So enjoy, learn the words and sing it with your family – because it works!

U is for uranium……..bombs!

The Walking Dead Invade My House!

My entertainment of the weekend consisted of a lot of brains getting eaten.

Well, this weekend I watched a new movie and a new TV show, both related to the Halloween holiday. Friday night I got home and wanted to watch a scary movie, so I popped in Netflix and found two choices that I really wanted to see, Zombieland and The Crazies.

I’ve heard that Zombieland is almost more a comedy than a horror movie. So, I went with The Crazies, which I haven’t heard too much about but I remember the previews being decent for it.

The Crazies

To my surprise the movie was actually a lot better than what I thought it would be. It had a zombie feel to it, but these were different types of zombies that didn’t really seem interested in brains. They seemed more interested in just killing people, basically acting like crazy zombies. I guess that’s where they got the name of the movie?

Anyway, the movie starts to change directions into a government cover-up conspiracy theory in the middle and that’s when it really started to get interesting. The army gets called in and tons of people die and get shot by them as they quarantine the city trying to keep the infected in the same area.

The main character is interesting and believable, as well as his deputy but I didn’t really connect with anyone else. The visuals were great, and the sound was that of a classic horror movie, so no complaints there.

I’d recommend going to check this one out if you are wanting to have the thrill of zombies chasing you around. Britt on the other hand didn’t like it as much I don’t think.

The Walking Dead

Last night, as football was dying down Brittany and I found ourselves with nothing to watch. Then, I remembered that The Walking Dead was about to premier.

Boy, am I glad I remembered. This show went far beyond my expectations and honestly I’m more excited about this show than any other show on TV currently.

Let me start by saying that I’m completely surprised that this show is on TV, if this were a movie it would be rated R. It lives up to the hype of any zombie movie’s gore level, tons of gun shots to the head, a lot of blood spraying, and a lot of cheering from me. Brittany on the other hand had her hands over her face through most of the episode. I will definitely make sure that Micah is asleep before watching any more from this series, seeing as his only interaction with zombies so far in his life has been from Plants vs. Zombies.

This show is going to be rich in character I believe; I’m already caring about the main character. The opening sequence with him (a sheriff’s deputy) and his partner was brilliant and got me connected to both of them immediately. By judging by the preview for the rest of the season it seems there will be several other characters I will get close to and hope they don’t get eaten by the blood thirsty undead.

Overall this show really surprised me and really has me wanting more. I haven’t been this interested in a show since the beginning of Lost, and we all know how that show turned out. Let’s just hope they can carry this awesome premier throughout the rest of the season.

Even if you aren’t into zombie lore, I seriously recommend checking out this show, but make sure no kiddies are around and be careful if you have a weak stomach for blood.

Here is the trailer:


That was my entertainment of the weekend, a good zombie filled Halloween!