Moving closer to summer is an exciting time for movie and film fans curious about the big deal, big bang, big budget blockbusters coming soon. Chris Busch and I will begin our annual summer movie preview which, at 28 minutes a show, will take  a few weeks to cover. Our most joyful once-in-a-while co-host Big Al Green will join in next week. We'll also begin our annual box office handicapping. What will be the box office champ for 2012? At first glance it's easy to label The Dark Knight Rises "The epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy" the clear fave. But as friend and theater owner Jim Nicholas replied:  "I agree with you that Batman will be #1, but I’m not sure it’s a slam dunk."

Also hear about the new releases, DVDs and what we've seen. Oh and, what's the difference between a movie and a film? It's all subjective of course, but two examples for this Filmosopher: Jaws is a very good movie; To Kill A Mockingbird a very good film. We usually see more movies released in the summer and more films in the fall (awards season). We're The Filmosophers Movie Talk show, "where we give our filmosophy of the movies and have filmosophical discussions", Fridays at 12:30 PM Central, repeated Sundays at noon. Live stream @kruufm.com

"Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives." - Scout, To Kill A Mockingbird 

 "You're gonna need a bigger boat." - Brody, Jaws  

There are two major films released this weekend, the videogame adaptation Prince Of Persia for the boys and the sequel Sex And The City 2 for the girls. Early reviews indicate Prince is a "suitably entertaining swashbuckler -- and a substantial improvement over most video game adaptations." Unfortunately Sex is not the treat  fans are hoping for, it's not even the best "chick flick" currently showing in theaters. We'll tell you about not one, but two other films that we recommend instead. 

We saw two small international films on DVD we're happy tell you about. From Japan Floating Weeds, made in 1959, from Iran, the award winning Song Of Sparrows.[Click "READ MORE" below to continue.]

Some of you may remember Ironman came out early in the "summer season" last year and turned out to be one of the best blockbusters of the year. It looks like the same may be true with Star Trek. The buzz is hot. Currently there are 219 reviews on rottentomatoes and 210 are thumbs-up, an incredible 96% approval rating,  the best-reviewed entry in the series. The consensus: Star Trek reignites a classic franchise with action, humor, a strong story, and brilliant visuals, and will please traditional Trekkies and new fans alike. Chris Busch and Bruce Miller will have reviews.

Plus we'll have the second half of our big summer movie preview.

Spock: We are traveling at warp speed. How did you manage to beam aboard the ship?

Kirk: You're the genius. You figure it out.

Ladies & Gentlemen, welcome to the big top, under the main tent. Today is officially unofficially the beginning of the film industry's big tent-pole summer movie season. X-Men Origins: Wolverine open's everywhere today. 

Filmosopher co-hosts Chris Busch & Bruce Miller are excited about the summer movie season. We'll look at some upcoming releases, including Michael Mann (Thief; Heat- a classic) directing Johnny Depp with John Dillinger's big guns (Yes!); Pixar's latest; J.J. Abram (Lost, Alias)'s prequel vision of Star Trek; Quentin Tarantino's first war saga. Meryl Streep, perhaps our best actor, had major hits the last 2 summers with Momma Mia and The Devil Wears Prada. This time she plays the 6'2" first celebrity chef.  There's so much more. Summer movies are here, baby.

"Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including yours. I dare you to do better." ~ Star Trek

We're the Filmosohpers, where we give our filmosophy on the movies and have filmosophical discussions.