A 2013 summer blockbuster preview

It’s the time for blockbusters and sequels, superheroes and superstars. Welcome to the summer movie season.

Summer kicks off this week with “Iron Man 3”, of course. I’ll review that on Friday but here are some of the other high-profile films you can look forward to in the coming months. One for each of the next three months.

First up – this May – will be “The Great Gatsby.” It’s Baz Luhrman’s Moulin Rouge-y take on the Fitzgerald classic with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire.

Baz Luhrman is a very showy and over-the-top director which means this could be either brilliant or embarrassing. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

For the superhero crowd, we’ve got sequels like Hugh Jackman in “Wolverine” and the Star Trek crew in “Star Trek: Into Darkness” but I’m most curious about the Superman revival called “Man of Steel.” It traces how a young Clark Kent grows into his hidden identity.

Superman is played by British actor Henry Cavill, who’s been dubbed as the “Unluckiest Man in Hollywood” for having been runner-up for the roles of Edward Cullen (Twilight) and James Bond.

Let’s hope getting the role of Superman isn’t another example of his being UN-lucky. We’ll find out in
June.

The biggest gamble of the summer is “The Lone Ranger.” Johnny Depp plays Tonto to Armie Hammer’s Lone Ranger.

I can’t quite imagine how this is going to work but then I felt that way before the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie too. Depp is teamed with the same director of that movie (Gore Verbinski) on The Lone Ranger, so we’ll see if lightning strikes twice over the 4th of July weekend.

And in addition to the hundreds of commercial movies this summer, don’t forget about the Seattle International Film Festival which kicks off May 16.