Memorial Day Weekend Movie Guide: Mandalorian, Marvel & Summer Blockbusters

KFI's entertainment reporter Heather Brooker breaks down the biggest Memorial Day weekend movies and the summer blockbusters everyone will be talking about, including The Mandalorian and Grogu, Spider-Man, Toy Story 5, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and more. Which movies are worth seeing, and is Hollywood relying too much on nostalgia this summer? Heather has it!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to entertain Me, a show where we cover all
things entertainment, from socounts to the silver screen. I'm Heatherbrooker.
It is Memorial Day weekend. What do people traditionally do
on Memorial Day weekend? You barbecue with friends. Here in
southern California, a lot of people head to the beach,
but it's been kind of cool, a little overcast lately,
so I don't know how many people will head out

(00:24):
to the beach this weekend, but a lot of people
go to the movies. In the past, Memorial Day weekend
has been a big draw for the movies, but this
year there aren't a lot of really big offerings at
the box office. You know. One I think that a
lot of people were kind of hoping would do well
and be a bigger draw for audiences is the Mandalorian

(00:47):
and Grogu. But you know, it's really getting some mixed reviews,
and even you know, deep track, longtime Star Wars fans
are saying it kind of misses the mark. So Mandalorian
and Grogu is the first Star Wars theatrical release in
seven years. Of course, the TV series came out a
few years ago, and everybody absolutely loved it was it

(01:11):
was unique, and it was interesting. It had a beautiful,
like slow Western kind of pace and feel to it,
and audiences just absolutely loved it. And I don't know
that that same pace translates on the big screen. A
lot of critics and fans are saying that the movie
felt slow, that it felt like it wasn't really going anywhere.

(01:34):
There wasn't enough action, there wasn't enough world building, you know,
and it might even be highlighting some sort of Star
Wars fatigue. And that's entirely possible. You know, over the
last several years, we've been really inundated between you know,
decades really superhero movies and Star Wars movies, and so
maybe people are just yearning for something different, yearning for

(01:57):
something a little more unique, like bring us some new
you know, what is what is this generation's Star Wars?
You know, I'm a Gen X kid and so Star
Wars was right in my generation and my husband's generation,
and you know, but it doesn't seem like this generation
for the Gen z ors, the Gen Alpha, Like, what

(02:18):
is there star Wars? What movie are they going to
look back on? I want to take their kids too,
and want to like you know, watch over and over again,
and you know, I just I don't know that Hollywood
has come up with that yet. I don't even know
if they're still looking anymore. That's because I think they
rely still so much on nostalgia on ips that already exist,

(02:42):
and nobody is really taking the time to create something new.
And maybe they are, maybe it just hasn't hit or
you know, resonated yet. But this summer, speaking of nostalgia,
this summer, uh, you know, memorially, Weekend of course traditionally
kicks off the big movie weekend or or summer movie event,

(03:04):
and this summer there's going to be a lot of
nostalgia at the box office. So Toy Story five is
expected to be released this summer, Woody and Buzz and
Everybody is going to be back, So people are really
looking forward to that, But you know, do we need
another Toy Story? I remember when Toy Story four came out,

(03:24):
I interviewed the cast, I interviewed Tom Hanks and Keanu Reeves,
and I remember asking them is this it is this
the last one? And they were like, we don't know,
We're along for the ride whatever. So I don't know
how much more they can milk out of this story.
But obviously I think Disney Pixar are going to continue
to do that as long as they can. So Toy

(03:45):
Story five, you can look forward to this summer Spider
Man Brand New Day with Tom Holland as India. They're
going to be back on the big screen. Mark Ruffalo
is going to join them as Hulk, and John Barenthal's
Punisher will be in the mix there as well. This
is highly anticipated, but again it's not an original movie.
It's something an ip that we're very familiar with that's

(04:07):
going to be back on the big screen. And then
Masters of the Universe, and we talk about digging way
back into the nostalgia machine. Here the theatrical release for
Masters of the Universe, and I think that's also they're
hoping taps into that gen X audience and those people
will go to see this movie and bring their kids

(04:28):
as well. Remain to be seen though how that's going
to do. It's getting some mixed reviews. Now The Odyssey
Christopher Nolans The Odyssey is also coming. That's getting really
a lot generating a lot of buzz. People are excited
for that one, and then there is another big Disney
offering the live action Moana with Dwayne Johnson. He's going
to return as Maui. There's going to be a lot

(04:51):
of big movies coming to the theater this summer, and
I'll be covering it all for you every week in
my weekly entertainment report on Gary and Shannon, so you
don't want to miss that. And of course, we always
want to hear from you. What movies are you looking
forward to. Do you like the nostalgia, do you like
the throwback movies and return of these familiar ips, or

(05:13):
would you like to see more fresh films, more original
ideas and original characters. We always love to hear from you.
You can hit me up anytime on the talkback button
on the iHeartRadio app, or you can reach out to
me on social media at the Heather Brooker on Instagram
and Facebook, or over on TikTok where we have a
little bit more silly fun at Heather Brooker. Thank you

(05:35):
guys so much, and thank you to everybody who came
to my comedy show at the Ice House over the
last couple of months. What a blast. I always love
engaging with the crowd and seeing everybody who comes out
to those shows, so thank you guys so much. I'll
keep you updated on any future shows as well, but
for now, it's Memorial Day weekend. I will be at
KFI all weekend long. I've got KFI Live on Sunday

(05:58):
at noon. I hope you'll join me there. We're going
to talk about Memorial Day fund and some really cool
local arts events that are happening, and you don't want
to miss details on that as well. Thanks so much
for listening, everybody. What movie are you watching this summer?
Let me hear from you. This is entertain Me. You
can listen anywhere on the iHeartRadio