I’ll keep this list updated as I see more of the season’s movies… and there are a few placeholders in here so I can remember to watch all this stuff.
Air
Air is the riches to riches story of a little known shoe company called Nike. Despite the fact I have zero love for mega-brands, I thoroughly enjoyed the breezy nature of this flick. (Curiously, I’ve never watched a televised ballgame in its entirely, but I’m quite smitten on ESPN’s 30 for 30.) Matt Damon and Jason Bateman are two of the most likable actors in the business and they play off each other naturally. A good movie to watch on a rainy day.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Placeholder… it’s taking me a while to get around to this one because I was told you have to see the The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special first (you don’t), which I found to be mind-numbingly awful and not just because I hate Christmas movies (I do). I’m no longer a big fan of Chris Pratt fan, either, and I’ve found his character unlikable since Infinity War.
Fast X
This one is admirable in many ways (rich cinematography, beautiful looking people) and embarrassing in a lot of others (forced humor, Vin Diesel). When it’s not being corny, and the CGI cars aren’t flying around like toys, I can kinda see the franchise’s appeal. Jason Momoa is almost great as the villain, but he goes one notch too far. Fast is so phony looking, I can’t be sure any of its actors have ever driven a car in real life, much less stepped foot off a sound stage. Did not finish, but I’m amused that whenever the stakes are high, there’s always time to burn rubber instead of, you know, accelerating efficiently.
The Flash
I don’t care for DCU films. Against all odds, I think I liked this one. The CGI is possibly the worst special effects I’ve ever seen in a mega budget movie, but they’re so consistently terrible that I kind of grew used to it? I detest nostalgia bait (and box office returns suggest most moviegoers feel the same way), but I actually liked seeing Michael Keaton in the bat suit again, even though the stuntwork makes him look far more agile than he did when he was half his age. I was also pleasantly surprised by this iteration of Supergirl, but I feel that the marketing team blew their load by spoiling her appearance in the trailers. Like, did they really think Keaton’s Batman wasn’t enough of a draw? At any rate, The Flash isn’t a great movie (far from it, in fact) and it isn’t a smart movie, but it is a fun one.
Asteroid City
Placeholder… Every time I see a Wes Anderson trailer, I think, “Oh, I already know what this is.” So it feels like a chore getting started on a Wes Anderson movie, but most of the time he exceeds my expectations. We’ll see.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Here’s yet another movie churned out of Disney’s artless acquisition of Lucasfilm, but—to no one’s surprise—it’s only the second worst film in Indiana Jones franchise. The disappointment comes early on when a CGI Indy runs across a train top in a sequence that looks only marginally better than the vine scene in Crystal Skull. At the end of the day, this movie would have served Jones’s legacy better by not existing at all, but once you’re past that hump, there is a pleasantly amusing movie here, which includes an absurdly stupid but fun finale. Also: Mads Mikkelsen is one of the most versatile actors, like, ever.
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1
This is my second favorite action movie of the year (#1 is John Wick 4, which was the first movie that ever exhausted me in a positive way). I’m tempted to name Dead Reckoning my favorite Mission: Impossible movie, but AI-related plots are already feeling a little old hat and there weren’t enough high-tech gadgets or farfetched break-ins for my liking. Sure, they use plenty of masks and Tom Cruise parachutes onto a runaway train, but I miss the clever use of building hacking seen in previous entries. (Remember when they used an eye-scanner and a projector to break into the Kremlin? Huh-huh, that was cool.)
Talk to Me
This is the freshest urban legend vibe since It Follows and The Babadook. So many horror movies forget to be fun, which is only excusable when they’re really good. Talk to Me is fun and good, and its energetic pace thrilled the hell out of me. The kids in this Australian flick are endearing little pricks, which is evidenced by a wild montage of teens doing what teens do best: meddling with evil entities while laughing like a bunch of jackasses. There isn’t a tired scare-attempt in the entire movie, which isn’t something you can say about 99% of demonic possession flicks. The inevitable sequel will suck so embrace this one.
Barbie
Okay, this one has Pee-Wee’s Playhouse energy. My biggest problem with movies like this is they tend to establish a great fantasy world and then quickly move the characters to the boring “real world” (Last Action Hero is the worst offender of this trope). Thankfully, Barbie knows better and spends most of its runtime in a fantasy setting. This is the first movie of its kind that focuses more on its star power than the IP and it sure is refreshing. Overall, a very amusing movie and the humor is on point.
Oppenheimer
See my full thoughts here. Probably the best movie of the summer.
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