New posters for 'Star Trek Into Darkness', 'The Way Way Back', 'The East', 'Pacific Rim', and more

Star Trek Into Darkness isn't all about the beef between Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and the mysterious John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), although Paramount has certainly made it seem that way by their marketing approach. There are a number of great characters who have largely been ignored, but now they're getting some love thanks to a cool series of character posters. Sulu (John Cho), Bones (Karl Urban), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Scotty (Simon Pegg), and new addition Dr. Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) are all in their element in these new one sheets. Am I the only one who has some serious questions about Carol Marcus and her true allegiances? Star Trek Into Darkness opens on May 17th.

After making quite a splash at Sundance earlier this year, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon's directorial debut The Way Way Back has revealed an inventive first poster. The coming-of-age tale follows an introverted boy named Duncan (Liam James), who spends the summer with his single mother (Toni Collette) and her abusive boyfriend (Steve Carell). Sam Rockwell is the owner of the local water park who teaches Duncan how to stand up for himself.  It was one of the best films I saw in Park City, calling it a "real crowd-pleasing charmer that breaks free of its familiar trappings with consistent humor and personal touches." In other words, make a point to see it on July 5th.

The East was another hit to emerge out of Sundance and get slotted for the summer season, but it's not looking to fit in comfortably alongside the popcorn blockbusters. Instead, it's a political thriller looking to stir up a little controversy. Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij follow-up their phenomenal cult thriller Sound of My Voice with an equally subversive story of an investigator who gets in over her head when she infiltrates an anarchist group targeting corporations damaging the environment. Opening on May 31st, The East also stars Alexander Skarsgard, Ellen Page, and Patricia Clarkson.

The latest poster for Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim teases just how massive in scale the human-piloted Jaegers are really going to be. After seven years away from the director's chair, it'll be interesting to see how Del Toro acclimates to a film of this magnitude, as it's really his first true stab at a blockbuster. Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, and Idris Elba will play some of the humans who use the Jaegers to battle gigantic monsters known as Kaiju. Pacific Rim opens in 3D on July 12th.

It's been another nine years, and the question hopeless romantics have been asking is whether Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) have taken their relationship to the next level? Or have they finally decided to call it quits after 18 years of dancing around the subject? No answers are forthcoming in the new Before Midnight poster, which also doesn't exactly do the best job of showing off the gorgeous Greek locale. You can check out my review here, or wait for the film to hit theaters on May 24th.

Is it possible that we could be talking about Chris Hemsworth as an Oscar contender? No, not for Thor: The Dark World, but for Ron Howard's F-1 racer flick, Rush, in which Hemsworth stars as English racer James Hunt. Daniel Bruhl plays his Austrian rival, Nicki Lauda, who challenged him both on and off the racetrack. The September 20th release date indicates Universal has a lot of confidence in Howard and writer Peter Morgan, who last paired up for Best Picture nominee Frost/Nixon.