For many of us, Memorial Day weekend is the curtain raiser for the summer movie season. And this summer’s lineup of new releases looks to be one of the best in some time.

Big stars, big budgets and big expectations are all phrases that come to mind when appraising the coming attractions. We have Brad Pitt, Rocketman (Elton John, of course) and Quentin Tarantino, to name just a few of the boldface names the studios are sending our way this summer.

Oh, and while “eyewear” may not appear to have a starring role in the upcoming summer releases, there will certainly be plenty of screen time and cameo appearances for cool-looking shades and spectacles.

On a side note, for those who like numbers as well as films, the upcoming crop of summer releases has a tough act to follow. The box office for summer movies in 2018 achieved near-record domestic sales of $4.8 billion (just short of 2013’s all-time mark of $4.87 billion), according to ComScore and Deadline estimates. And what a plot twist it was after the summer 2017 movie season dropped to an 11-year low of $3.86 billion at the box office.

This year's lineup looks, potentially, as good or even better than a year ago. Without further adieu, here’s a snapshot review of a few films (in no particular order) on our short-list of summer viewing preferences.



Rocketman (May 31)
Out of the blocks with the early releases in May is the biopic of the Elton John story. Dexter Fletcher (a late addition to the direction of last year summer's Bohemian Rhapsody) has the sole directing credit for this film about icon Elton John (played by Taron Egerton, who also does the singing parts). No story of Elton John would be complete without a big cameo appearance for eyewear, as the singer is renowned for his choices of spectacular spectacles. (Watch for more insight on Rocketman's glasses for the film from VM very soon).








Men in Black: International (June 14)
There’s no Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones in this sequel, but the fourth Men in Black movie does feature Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth (previously appearing together in Thor: Ragnorok). De Rigo REM has confirmed that its well-known lifestyle brand, Police, is featured in the Sony Pictures’ release. In the film, the MIB agents are seen wearing the new Origins 1 SPL872 style. The A-list cast includes Liam Neeson and Rebecca Ferguson, among others. (Police is a proprietary brand of the De Rigo Group and this new model was created exclusively for the film.)









Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (July 26)
The short description of the film says it’s the story of a faded television actor and his stunt double striving to achieve fame and success during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles. More importantly, though, this is a Quentin Tarantino (writer and director) project, and for many he never fails to please on the big screen. The ensemble cast includes Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning and many others. We especially like the promo photos of the inimitable Brad Pitt in his big sunglasses.









Toy Story 4 (June 21)
Back on screen after a five-year hiatus, the latest Toy Story from Pixar introduces a spork called Forky (voiced by Tony Hale) after Bonnie transforms him into a toy through arts and crafts. “The spork is down on himself; Woody (Tom Hanks) must convince him that he has purpose,” according to the early reviews. As we would expect, the fourth movie in the series has Woody, Buzz and the others “embarking on another toy-out-of-the-box adventure,” the reviews note.



















Yesterday (June 28)
We’re curious to how the premise of Yesterday – which features Himesh Patel as a musician who awakes to a world in which no one else has heard of the Beatles – will play out among the baby boomer audience. Kind of far-fetched, but some of the best stories are a bit unbelievable. The screenplay was written by Richard Curtis (“Love Actually”), and the cast includes Lily James, Ed Sheeran and Kate McKinnon.









There are, of course, many other new movies hitting the big screen this summer. And, as your taste in film may not align, with ours, here’s a rundown of upcoming films as noted by The New York Times.

Happy summer movie viewing!