Penn’s Pix For Flix

Penn’s Picks: Summer Movies

That's me on my bike. The picture and the bike have nothing to do with movies or movie theaters… so we thought it'd be the perfect picture for my column about movies and movie theaters. 

We've always tried to keep this column footloose and fancy-free, which I felt was the perfect vibe for the Summer Issue, so let's look ahead to what's going to be big on the big screen this summer.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

For movie people and backyard grillers, the summer really begins with Memorial Day Weekend, which, this year, will feature Tom Cruise in TOP GUN: MAVERICK (May 27). I have gone on record predicting that this will be among the top three movies of the year. (My friends across the aisle are saying it loses out to the four Marvel Movies, Avatar, etc., but I think my friends underestimate how beloved TOP GUN really is). And for my fellow weirdos: THE BOB'S BURGERS MOVIE also opens May 27 for Memorial Day Weekend (featuring the best tag line of the year so far: "Let's get this patty started").

JUNE

June is stacked from top to bottom with JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION (June 10), which claims to be the "epic conclusion" to the franchise (...we'll see if they can walk away from a multi-billion dollar franchise), and then LIGHTYEAR (June 17). LIGHTYEAR as in "Buzz,” of course. Buzz Lightyear. That's right my friends, Pixar is back at it with another Toy Story spin-off. I'm personally very excited for both of these June titles!

JULY

The 4th of July will feature MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (July 1) and THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (aka: "Thor 4" or "Thourth") (July 8). Both of these titles are Covid carry-overs, but that hasn't taken away any of the enthusiasm. There's an excellent chance that TOP GUN, JURASSIC WORLD, LIGHTYEAR, and these two July movies will ALL still be playing all the way through the end of July.

Take these headliners and sprinkle in some really solid stories like an ELVIS biopic, Brad Pitt's thriller BULLET TRAIN, and a slew of other solid pictures, and you have the makings of a record-breaking summer back at the movies. 

Oh, and that's me on my mountain bike. Maybe next week Mark will let us get a shot of me and my lawn tractor. She's a real beauty!

By Penn Ketchum