by Sara Michelle Fetters - SGN A&E Writer

Even though Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a summer movie shrouded in April clothing, the real silly season at multiplex as far as major Hollywood studios are concerned begins today with the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It's the first in a rather large, and admittedly expected, collection of big budget sequels, remakes, spin-offs and reboots hitting theaters between now and the end of August, all of them hoping to match the $1.2 billion worldwide gross of 2013's Iron Man 3.

This year's crop of tent pole sequels includes X-Men: Days of Future Past (which culls cast members from both the original X-Men as well as X-Men: First Class in an Avengers-style superhero team-up), Transformers: Age of Extinction (with Mark Wahlberg stepping in for Shia LaBeouf), the animated How to Train Your Dragon 2, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (which takes place after a worldwide apocalypse has left humanity in a seemingly hopeless state of disrepair), 22 Jump Street, The Expendables 3, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Other big budget enterprises hoping to bring new life to old standbys include Godzilla, Disney's live action Maleficent, a Michael Bay produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson assuming the mantel of Greek hero Hercules.

On the comedy side of the equation, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore team up for the third time in Blended, Melissa McCarthy hopes to see her star continue to rise with Tammy, Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel reunite for Sex Tape, Kevin Hart and company return for Think Like a Man, Too, Seth Rogen and Zac Efron are a pair of extremely unfriendly Neighbors and Seth MacFarlane tries to prove Ted wasn't a fluke with the Mel Brooks-like western A Million Days to Die in the West. As for the original properties, Disney tosses out the baseball drama Million Dollar Arm, Clint Eastwood's adaptation of the Broadway smash Jersey Boys steps onto the stage, Tom Cruise goes sci-fi Groundhog Day-style with Edge of Tomorrow, Andy and Lana Wachowski return to their interstellar roots with Jupiter Ascending while Twister-wannabe Into the Wind storms into theaters eager to blow away the competition.

For those wanting more serious (or at least more independent) fair, as always there's plenty to choose from just as long as you're willing to put forth the effort to see it. There's Richard Linklater's 12 years in the making Boyhood, Jon Favreau's star-studded dramedy Chef, the faith-based gross-out female-driven comedy (make sense out of all of that, I dare you) Mom's Night Out, Jim Jarmusch's fascinating vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive, the UW-set Decoding Annie Parker, the spooky sci-fi shocker The Signal, real-time (and real world) thriller Locke with Tom Hardy, and Australian director David Michôd's unsettling looking The Rover, while the late Philip Seymour Hoffman pops up twice appearing in both May's God's Pocket and July's A Most Wanted Man.



The following is a small sampling of films and events hitting Seattle screens between now and the end of June. (I'll work up a separate preview for July and August in a few weeks.) As always, release dates are subject to change so make sure and check with local theaters to make sure the movie you're aching to see is actually going to be playing.

May 2
The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Decoding Annie Parker, Hateship Loveship, Only Lovers Left Alive, Watermark

May 2-12
Seattle Cinerama Sci-Fi Film Festival - The Cinerama stages it's second-ever Science Fiction Film Festival and not only is the lineup itself extraordinary, so are the guests: Sam Jones (Flash Gordon), Tom Skerrit (Alien), Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: First Contact) and legendary visual effects wunderkind Douglas Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey, Brainstorm, Close Encounters of the Third Kind) all scheduled to attend.

May 8-11
Translations: The Seattle Transgender Film Festival - Three Dollar Bill Cinema presents its ninth annual Transgender Film Festival, a full weekend of flicks spanning the gender spectrum on display including the North American premier of Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger as the closing night selection.

May 9
Fading Gigolo, Fed Up, Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, Locke, Mom's Night Out, Neighbors, Teenage, Young and Beautiful

May 15-June 8
Seattle International Film Festival - It's baaaack & Seattle's favorite film festival returns for its 40th big screen cinematic adventure, kicking things off with director John Ridley's highly anticipated Jimi Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is By My Side starring Outkast megastar André Benjamin in the title role.

May 16
Chef, God's Pocket, Godzilla, Million Dollar Arm

May 23
Belle, Blended, Cold in July, The Double, X-Men: Days of Future Past

May 30
A Million Ways to Die in the West, Chinese Puzzle, Filth, The Grand Seduction, Maleficent

June 6
Edge of Tomorrow, The Fault in Our Stars, Gore Vidal: the United States of Amnesia, Obvious Child, Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, Trust Me, Words and Pictures

June 13
22 Jump Street, Evergreen: The Road to Legalization, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Lucky Them, Palo Alto, The Signal

June 20
Jersey Boys, The Rover, Think Like a Man, Too, Venus in Fur

June 27
Snowpiercer, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Yves Saint Laurent

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