Let me introduce myself, I’m a new contributor and you may ask yourself, why should I care? I’ll tell you why, because I’m awesome. Thanks to Gary, Danny and AJ for bringing me on-board. If you are wondering what I’m planning on contributing, it’s more of the wonderful stuff you already know and love, with a bit of a midwestern tinge. That said, here’s what I’m looking to watch for on my two “can’t-miss” movies this summer:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End
This is going to be the “sleeper” of the summer season. Now I love Keira Knightley as much as any other gent with a pulse, but to be fair, Johnny Depp is what really carries this franchise and the fact that Disney views him as the centerpiece (rightfully so) is what’s going to draw the crowds. He’s signed on to do more films while Orlando Bloom and Knightley are not under contract for more. With all that said, why is this going to be a sleeper when it’s the final part of the first trilogy? Simple, because of all the other major movies coming out this summer.

As Gary touched on, you have a comic book fan’s wet dream summer with Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Transformers, The Simpsons Movie and a couple others. This is going to be huge, I will write this down now that Pirate’s 3 will most likely finish no worse than #3 worldwide in terms of total gross. It may not fair as well domestically as the others, simply because of the attention the others will get, but Disney makes its mark by having huge overseas profits, and that won’t change with this film. My only potential worry is that they are trying to cram too much into it. Rescuing Jack Sparrow, organizing a world-wide pirate fight against the British and the conclusion of the Sparrow-Swann-Turner love triangle might be pushing it.

Pirates 2 was great, but reached critical mass too early, with the revelation of the Krakken, though bringing Geoffrey Rush back is great. I think he’s truly what made the first one so great. All in all, this is going to be a great film, but won’t get as much fanfare or publicity during the summer.

2. Transformers
Now this is definitely my “homer” vote for the summer, but there is plenty of reason to believe that this is going to be the #1 movie of the summer. For those of you who don’t know where my avatar originates from (and I’m guessing everyone does) it’s Optimus Prime from the Original Transformers series, so I’ve got my major geek cred on my sleeve. So, you might want to take my opinion on this one with just a bit of a grain of salt, but I’m trying to look at it objectively. For anyone that hasn’t seen the most recent Transformers TV Spot, check it out below, and read the rest of my thoughts after the jump:

Here’s my “laundry list” of what’s going to be good and bad for this film and why it’s going to be huge.

Good:

1. Original Optimus Prime Voice. You cannot replace the voice of a franchise. Hasbro has been trying for years and that was mainly why it fell off a lot of fans radars was simply because it went through too many re-births and changes. Going back to the roots here is huge. Not confirmed, but Peter Cullen is also believed to be reprising his role as Ironhide as well, which would score huge with the fandom and nostalgia group.
2. Mix of good talent from hollywood. The best thing Michael Bay did (if there is such a thing) is to go the tried and true method of casting unknowns for the larger parts in comic-book movie adaptations. The lone exception that worked with this was Sin City, but I don’t consider that in the same vein as this, Spider-man or the X-Men franchises. Shia LeBouef gives me great hope as Spike Witwicky, and his love interest, Megan Fox, is going to become a status symbol in the veins of Famke Janssen and Kirsten Dunst in the fan community.
3. Proven voice actors. Unfortunately, Chris Latta, one of the greatest ever to voice cartoon and movie characters, passed away in 1994. Latta was most famous for his role as Cobra Commander and to a lesser extent, Starscream in the Transformers. While he would have been a wondrous choice for the movie if that was a feasible option, the cast that has been assembled is impressive. While I’m not completely sold on Hugo Weaving as Megatron (more on that below), his work in V for Vendetta does give one hope. Keith Imam is one of the most underrated and underappreciated actors of his generation, both as a voice talent and a screen talent, and lending his voice to this movie is a colossal boon.

Bad:

1. Michael Bay. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a fan of his work. Armageddon was a huge hit because it was what audiences wanted at that time. Everything he has done since then has been a failure. Pearl Harbor and the Island are two of the worst movies I have ever watched in my life, and that’s a pretty large list of film I’ve seen. The saving grace here is that Steve Spielberg does not want to ruin this franchise and is executive producing (which is merely a title in most cases) but is said to be very “hands-on” here. If we can get a Jurassic Park 1 feel from this movie, I will smile for a year. If we get Pearl Harbor, you might see me start a petition to Hollywood that Michael Bay never be allowed behind a camera again.
2. Questionable Voice Acting Call. Now this might seem hypocritical since I praised it above, but Hugo Weaving is a wonderful talent and a great actor. But he is not right for the role of Megatron in this movie. He would have been wonderful as Starscream, but the thing that really has me worried is that Activision, the studio behind the official licensed game of the movie, has signed Frank Welker (the original voice of Megatron, and what really made him great IMO) and Peter Cullen to be the voices. Now that might be a move to get the gamers to buy the game, but I would think the film studio would recognize this and renege on Weaving as Megatron and bring Welker in. But that would make sense, and we all know Michael Bay has none.
3. Too much typecasting. Is it just me or does everything Jon Voight appear in these days have a presidential or military tone to it? I respect the man, but he is completely unusable in any other role nowadays it seems. Same with Tyrese Gibson. He could be a lot better than what he is, but he always gets portrayed as this “man on the edge” and fails to get credit for anything else, and you just know the layers are there for him to be better. I don’t mind Bernie Mac being a used car salesman, because, frankly, he’s the most adaptable of the cast on there. A lot of the other casting is still under wraps, so this is what I have for now.

All in all, this movie is going to make money hand over fist and most likely be the #1 movie of the summer. It’s marketed well, there’s enough star power to bring people not versed to the history into it, while giving enough “geek perks” to the community to make them come in droves. Between this and Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp fighting over Keira Knightley, it’s going to be a jam-packed summer. More content to come from me soon as I get used to the formatting here.

That’s all I have for now, this Autobot is rolling out.