Summer Edition
Our Staff’s Most Anticipated Summer Entertainment
Summer is a season of new books, blockbuster films, game releases, warm-weather events, and more. Our Driftwood staff shares the entertainment choices they’re most looking forward to this summer. Fool’s Paradise (May 12)
For fans of It’s Always Sunny in Philidelphia writer/actor Charlie Day, Fool’s Paradise brings us his directorial debut. The core premise is “a down-on-his-luck publicist gets his lucky break when he discovers a mute man recently released from a mental-health facility looks just like a method actor who refuses to leave his trailer.” It seems like just dumb, fun comedy, which is something that has felt like it’s been missing from Hollywood lately. I don’t remember the last time I sat down in theaters to watch just a comedy like this. As a Sunny fan myself, I am a little biased towards Day, but still, Fool’s Paradise seems like it has some promise to it, and I can’t wait.
—Andrew Wiegman
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June 2)
The much-anticipated sequel to 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse finally arrives in theaters on June 2nd, this time with an even bigger cast of characters including Spider-Woman (voiced by Issa Rae), Spider-Punk (voiced by Daniel Kaluuya), and Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by Oscar Isaac) and featuring the return of Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and Peter B. Parker from the first film. Clocking in at 2 hours and 16 minutes, Across the Spider-Verse will be the longest-ever animated film from a major Hollywood studio. If you’re a fan of superheroes or just enjoy good animation, Across the Spider-Verse is one to keep an eye out for.—Kana Coonce
Ghost Trick: The Phantom Detective for Nintendo Switch (June 30)
When Sissel wakes up with no memory next to a body that is presumably his, he has only the advice of a possessed lamp to guide him toward recovering himself and protecting those he may eventually come to love. Oh, and he only has one night to do it before his spirit ascends to the afterlife forever. Written by the creator of the popular Ace Attorney series, Ghost Trick flopped upon its Western release in 2012. Hopefully with this remake for the Switch, Ghost Trick can finally make it into more hands and receive the attention it deserves. The animations are butter-smooth, the soundtrack bops, the plot twists never fail to amaze, and the whole game drips with heart. I’m telling you, if you don’t pick up Ghost Trick, you’re missing out on an all-time great.
When Sissel wakes up with no memory next to a body that is presumably his, he has only the advice of a possessed lamp to guide him toward recovering himself and protecting those he may eventually come to love. Oh, and he only has one night to do it before his spirit ascends to the afterlife forever. Written by the creator of the popular Ace Attorney series, Ghost Trick flopped upon its Western release in 2012. Hopefully with this remake for the Switch, Ghost Trick can finally make it into more hands and receive the attention it deserves. The animations are butter-smooth, the soundtrack bops, the plot twists never fail to amaze, and the whole game drips with heart. I’m telling you, if you don’t pick up Ghost Trick, you’re missing out on an all-time great.—Kana Coonce
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30)
I’m a huge Indiana Jones fan, though that’s based solely on the first and third movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, respectively. The second movie has an offensive colonialist plot and a shrieking love-interest who set my teeth on edge (though a then-adolescent Ke Huy Quan of Everything Everywhere All at Once fame rises above a stereotypical role with a charming performance as Short-Round). And the fourth was apparently one in a series of (screenwriter, in this case) George Lucas’s later-in-life attempts to torpedo his film legacy with wooden writing, a head-scratchingly labyrinthine plot, and a storyline that did the first film’s feminist icon Marion Ravenwood very, very wrong. But one and three are swashbuckling perfection, as our titular archaeologist hero goes off on a globe-trotting adventures seeking mystical treasures, punching Nazis, and delighting audiences through every repeat watch. Director Steven Spielberg has kept the plot details of Dial of Destiny largely under wraps, so I feel a little like Charlie Brown running at Lucy’s football, due to the spectacular letdown that was Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (film four). But like I’ve long said, I’d watch a 105-year-old Harrison Ford if he made Indiana Jones and the Bedpan of Destruction, so here I go.
I’m a huge Indiana Jones fan, though that’s based solely on the first and third movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, respectively. The second movie has an offensive colonialist plot and a shrieking love-interest who set my teeth on edge (though a then-adolescent Ke Huy Quan of Everything Everywhere All at Once fame rises above a stereotypical role with a charming performance as Short-Round). And the fourth was apparently one in a series of (screenwriter, in this case) George Lucas’s later-in-life attempts to torpedo his film legacy with wooden writing, a head-scratchingly labyrinthine plot, and a storyline that did the first film’s feminist icon Marion Ravenwood very, very wrong. But one and three are swashbuckling perfection, as our titular archaeologist hero goes off on a globe-trotting adventures seeking mystical treasures, punching Nazis, and delighting audiences through every repeat watch. Director Steven Spielberg has kept the plot details of Dial of Destiny largely under wraps, so I feel a little like Charlie Brown running at Lucy’s football, due to the spectacular letdown that was Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (film four). But like I’ve long said, I’d watch a 105-year-old Harrison Ford if he made Indiana Jones and the Bedpan of Destruction, so here I go.—Tracy Fernandez Rysavy
The Last Voyage of the Demeter (August 11)
This thrilling monster flick centers around the crew of the Demeter, a Russian shipping vessel, as they journey from Carpathia to London with twenty-four unmarked crates. Little did they know, something evil lurks in those crates, and has been brought onto the ship with them. Stuck out at sea with a horrible creature, most likely some type of vampire, the crew must plan by day and fight by night. The Last Voyage of the Demeter is set to release in theaters August 11. It’s a perfect way to wrap up summer and jump into the fall spookies!—Syd Morgan
The Unbinding (Summer 2023 release date TBA)
This paranormal documentary from production company Planet Weird features the chilling tale of a strange statuette with nails in its eyes and a noose around its neck. The piece was found in the Catskill mountains of southeast New York by two hikers, who then had intense paranormal experiences with it. At a loss with what to do, the hikers sent it to paranormal investigators and occult specialists, Greg and Dana Newkirk. The Newkirks then did various psychic and paranormal experiments with the statuette, having many weird experiences of their own. After progressively more intense paranormal phenomena occur, the Newkirks decide they need to figure out what to do with the cursed figure; thus, their journey begins. The Newkirks are some of my favorite paranormal investigators out there, and I’m amped for this new content from them! The Unbinding is due to release sometime this summer, though the exact date is still under wraps. Follow the Newkirks on social media to get a heads up about the release! —Syd Morgan