The Only Movie Watchlist You’ll Need This Summer
Updated at 4:22 p.m. on June 10, 2021.
Hollywood has a crowded slate of films—delayed by the pandemic and otherwise—to release over the next three months. That makes choosing what to see more stressful than usual, especially when some titles can be seen both in theaters and at home. To make the process more manageable, I’ve scrutinized trailers and even screened some of the films below to put together this guide for all your needs, whatever they may be. My first question, to set the scene: How far would you like to venture away from your couch?
I Want to Go Back to Theaters and ...
… I’m craving big-screen action
F9 (June 25)
The latest installment in the Fast & Furious series sees Vin Diesel’s near-indestructible Dominic Toretto face off against his brother, Jakob (played by John Cena); the return of the fan-favorite character Han (Sung Kang); and—I’m guessing—a lot of cars vrooming and whooshing about. The film has already sped into theaters overseas and earned a pandemic-record-making $163 million in its opening weekend. If the director Justin Lin keeps upping the ante with the action in these movies’ inevitable sequels, as he has skillfully done in previous Fast movies, this franchise might just last forever.
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (July 23)
Starring Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding as the titular ninja, this G.I. Joe spin-off draws inspiration from a comic-book series that traces Snake Eyes’s backstory before he lost his voice. It’s also a blatant attempt to build another cinematic universe, but the trailer offers enough flashy sword fights and martial-arts showdowns to make the effort worthwhile for now. If nothing else, I’m curious to see if Golding’s got the chops to be a leading action star. (I have a feeling he does.)
Black Widow (July 9)
The superspy, but she getting the solo film have been campaigning for since the time when it was possible to binge all of the Marvel movies in less than a day. (For those counting, this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 24th entry.) This prequel follows Natasha on a mission across Europe to reunite her “family,” characters who will probably be essential to the next films. Bonus tip: Don’t forget to watch for a post-credits scene.
