Summer is here! And there is a ton of great stuff coming out the rest of this year! Music, Movies, TV, and even comic books! Release dates as well!
The one thing I am most excited for is this:
Growing up in the 70s and 80s, Queen was one of the biggest bands in the world. “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a movie about Queen taking place from their humble beginnings until their performance at Live Aid in 1985. This is a must-see! Queen set the mold for bands like The Killers and The Struts. Sadly, I have to wait until November 2nd to see this. I am praying they put the mash-up of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Another One Bites The Dust”, “Killer Queen” and “We Will Rock You” on the soundtrack.
In television, there are four more episodes of Westworld. If you haven’t been watching this show, WATCH IT NOW! Evan Rachel Wood kills it on this show! It is on Sunday nights on HBO at 9pm.
The Americans season finale airs Wednesday night on FX at 10pm. The closest comparison I can come up with this show is Breaking Bad. Waiting for THAT moment. Anyone who watches this show knows exactly what I’m talking about! Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys delivered the roles of their lives as a married couple living in American suburbia during the 1980s. Only they aren’t who they appear to be. They are Russian spies!
The third season of Billions has two episodes left. The Sunday night Showtime series promises to deliver some big episodes as simmering grudges threaten to ignite explosive conflicts!
The Handmaid’s Tale had a rather explosive cliffhanger the other night. It will be very interesting to see how this Hulu series finishes up the remaining seven episodes of the season.
Benedict Cumberpatch, I predict, will win many awards for his role as Patrick Melrose in the Showtime mini-series based on the book. If you thought the actor was sarcastic in Avengers: Infinity War, you haven’t seen anything! For those who may not understand the power of addiction, this will bring you up to speed.
The third season of Preacher, based on the amazing comic book by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, will finally present the story I’ve been wondering how they could ever put on television. Let’s just say Jesse Custer’s mama and his brothers are twisted and leave it at that!
A new series based on Stephen King’s mythical town of Castle Rock premieres on July 25th I’m a huge Stephen King fan so this will be must-watch tv!
Speaking of King, the second season of Mr. Mercedes starring Brendan Gleeson comes back on August 22nd. I’m in the process of watching the first season this weekend. Gleeson played William Wallace’s best friend in Braveheart but his character in this is nothing like that! Based on the classic Stephen King “Bill Hodges” trilogy.
I had to stop watching Mr. Mercedes so I could begin Picnic At Hanging Rock. This five-part Amazon Prime series came out last week. Starring Natalie Dormer from Game of Thrones, this mystery glues you to the screen until you finish it! Definitely worth watching this thriller that takes place down under!
Other stuff coming out on tv includes the following: House of Cards final Kevin Spacey-less season (fall), the second season of Ozark on Netflix (summer), another helping of Better Call Saul in the fall, Shameless, and (I pray) the 3rd season of The Man In The High Castle.
In music, the summer is looking good for alternative music fans! On June 8th, the long-awaited new album from the Dave Matthews Band comes out. Entitled “Come Tomorrow”, I am very curious to hear new music from the band after a six year wait. Other stuff I’m eagerly awaiting is The English Beat: “Here We Go Love” (6/15), Blue October: “I Hope You’re Happy” (6/22), Panic At The Disco!: “Pray For The Wicked” (6/22), Florence + the Machine: “High As Hope” (6/29), James: “Living in Extraordinary Times” (8/3), and Suede: “The Blue Hour” (9/21). Rumored to be coming out with new albums this year but no release dates are The Chromatics, Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse, and the long-awaited second album from The Struts.
Besides the Queen biopic, there are a ton of other movies I can’t wait to see. The summer movie season officially began with Avengers: Infinity War, followed by Deadpool 2 and Solo. All good movies! Upcoming are The Incredibles 2 (6/15), Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom (6/22), Three Identical Strangers (6/29), Ant-Man & The Wasp (7/3), Mission Impossible: Fallout (7/27), Alpha (8/17), Venom (10/5), The Girl In The Spider’s Web (11/9), Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindenwald (11/16), Mortal Engines (12/14), and Aquaman (12/21).
If you are a fan of comic books, there are some noteworthy weddings coming up at Batman marries Catwoman (Batman #50, out in July) and Kitty Pryde and Colossus tie the knot (X-Men Gold #30, also out in July). Fans of Avengers: Infinity War can follow new series about those Infinity Gems in Infinity: Countdown and Infinity Wars. The former already has a few issues out and will lead into the latter. After a three year absence, the Fantastic Four finally return in August as Dan Slott takes the writing reigns on the title. Marvel’s top writer, Brian Michael Bendis, left the company and will take over the Superman titles beginning this Wednesday. After his weekly six-issue Man of Steel comes out, he will take over as the writer of Action Comics and Superman. Acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates takes over Captain America in July. In August, different writers take on characters and concepts from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series in a one-shot called Sandman Universe. From there, new titles will come out continuing those stories. The best new comic of this year, in my humble opinion, has been Gideon Falls by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino. The Image comic has three issues out and three more coming out in the next few months. This is a perfect comic! I’m looking forward to The Magic Order, also an Image comic, with writer Mark Millar and Olivier Coipel. This comes out next month as well!
Last week, Stephen King’s “The Outsider” came out. I devoured it in a few days. It was THAT good! His 58th novel is a home run! It was great to see the return of a beloved character from another storyline but I won’t spoil that one for the die-hard King fans.
This is all stuff that I’m looking forward to. I totally get some of this could be stuff you don’t care for. What are you looking forward to for the rest of the year?
The Season Of Myths 