Filmbook: Spring-Summer 2012, Read It Before You See It

This seemed like a great idea before I actually started writing it. I feel freshly motivated to... read a lot this summer and not go to the movies.

May 18: "What To Expect When You're Expecting" That's right, they adapted a self-help book (which I hear isn't bad? For those in need I mean) for one of those mega-cast comedies. It's too bad a lot of people I normally want to see onscreen got dragged into this mess (Anna Kendrick, Elizabeth Banks, Rodrigo Santoro, Wendi McLendon-Covey from "Bridesmaids")... I was in denial that this was a real movie even up to the point that the posters were going up.

June 1: "Snow White and the Huntsman." If you're thinking: "Didn't we just have a big-screen re-adaptation of the fairy tale of Snow White?" Yes, we did, with Julia Roberts, and it didn't do so well. But this is the Kristen Stewart one. That's necessary. Charlize Theron costars as the evil queen, Chris "Thor" Hemsworth as the Huntsman.

June 8: "Bel-Ami." All my Guy de Maupassant fans in the house, put your hands in the air! And then hurridly put them down in case someone sees you expressing a little enthusiasm for something Robert Pattinson is involved in. I'll give this a shot; period dramas are appropriate for certain hot summer afternoons.

June 15: "The Woman in the Fifth." Before I became temporarily obsessed with THE MOMENT, Douglas Kennedy published a Paris-set murder mystery I heard good things about called THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH. Ethan Hawke is the detective; Kristen Scott Thomas (MVP) is the suspect. Yeah, all right.

June 22: "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter." It delights me to no end that something this oddball (by Seth Grahame-Smith, responsible for PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES) is actually making it to theatres, with no stars, and no buzz. I'm there opening night.

July 6: "Savages." I didn't enjoy the Don Winslow book this Oliver Stone thriller is based on about "good" drug dealers (white kids with biology experience) versus "bad" drug dealers (Mexican, violent), although I hear it's one of his weaker novels. But something inside me wants to give this movie a chance... maybe it's Benicio Del Toro as one of the baddies.

July 13: "Trishna." This isn't a straight adaptation of TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES, but by re-setting the book in contemporary India, Michael Winterbottom may bring people in to what will undoubtedly be a very depressing experience. Also, Freida Pinto of "Slumdog Millionaire" fame as Trishna!

August 31: "Lawless" O come all ye Western fans, ye sore of brains from having to endure the 18th Bourne movie and any number of reboots: Here's Matt Bondurant's novel, THE WETTEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, about bootleggers during Prohibition. Add Nick Cave as a screenwriter. Sprinkle in some other supporting younger actors, a little Jessica Chastain here, some Shia LaBeouf. Top with Guy Pearce vs Tom Hardy and bake for 3 hours. It's only too bad that the finished movie goes to Cannes in a few days, but the rest of the adults have to wait.