The arrival of Labor Day weekend brought with it the end of the summer (though fall doesn’t officially begin until Sept. 23). Most kids have now begun the new school year. We’re ready for some football. And at the movies, the blockbusters have had their day (at least until Christmas time) and have to make way for more serious dramas and meaningful comedies.
So it’s natural to look back at the summer that’s now passed and the movies that made up the season. For the purposes of this post, the summer movie season began on May 1 with Avengers: Age of Ultron. Yeah, yeah — the first day of summer was June 21. But in theaters, summer now begins long before Memorial Day.
This won’t be a complete list for some people. For example, I didn’t see Inside Out, which many considered among the summer’s best, nor Pixels, which everyone thought was one of the summer’s worst. Personally, I enjoyed smaller indie films like Love & Mercy, I’ll See You in My Dreams, The End of the Tour and Amy, but they don’t seem to belong on a list that’s all about big releases and box office. Also, I don’t see every movie (which is why I wouldn’t call myself a film critic, but someone who writes movie reviews), so there is probably plenty of dreck I managed to avoid, much of which is probably worse than the five films mentioned below.
So with those qualifiers out of the way, here are my five best and worst movies of the past summer:
5. Avengers: Age of Ultron
Marvel’s bombastic sequel seems to have lost favor with fans as the months have passed. But I still think it’s one of the best comic book movies ever made in terms of scope and devotion to the source material. Joss Whedon’s sequel is the closest thing to the giant summer stories I used to read in comic books every summer.
Despite all of the killer robots and Hulk vs. Iron Man slugfests, what sets this movie apart from its fellow superhero flicks is its willingness to explore the stakes associated with giving yourself up for others, for trying to keep up with virtual gods who represent the pinnacle of human and superhuman ability. Previously considered the least important of the Avengers, Hawkeye turns out to have the most to lose, giving this story a humanity that subsequent Marvel (and DC Comics) films will have to match.
4. The Gift
It’s still possible to counter-program against superhero movies and action movies during the summer, and not necessarily with a romantic comedy or children’s film. How about with a smart, adult psychological thriller that actually manages to be creepy and unsettling without relying on cheap scares and gore? And how about releasing it in August, so it doesn’t get steamrolled by muscles, car chases and explosions?
The Gift could have been an overwrought, Single White Female type of suspense thriller, but gets down to what might be scariest of all: The realization that people close to you are not what they seem.
3. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series has become one of the most dependable blockbuster franchises of the past 10 years, producing three solid to spectacular action movies with a trio of fledgling directors who have arguably gone on to even bigger and better projects. Amazingly, each M:I sequel manages to top itself with stunt sequences for Cruise to entertain us with.
The pleasant surprise of Rogue Nation is the emergence of Rebecca Ferguson, whose Ilsa Faust almost steals the movie from Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. These movies have kind of discarded the female characters with each subsequent sequel. I’d love to see Faust come back for another go-around with the IMF gang.
2. Spy
Maybe the most unexpected delight of the summer movie season, Paul Feig’s comedy was a clever commentary on spy thrillers and action movies, also providing an alternative to the heavy blockbusters that dominate theaters while the kids are out of school.
At first glance, this looked to be a potentially lowbrow farce based entirely on the idea of the pudgy Melissa McCarthy chasing down spies on foot, getting into shootouts and sliding across car hoods. But it’s smarter than that and presents McCarthy’s Susan Cooper as someone who’s always been overlooked because of her looks, who just needed the opportunity to display her talents and outshine more debonair, rugged operatives. I haven’t seen Spy again since watching it in the theater, but it’s the summer movie I most want to see a second time.
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
George Miller’s sequel/reboot to his Mad Max series set the bar high near the beginning of the season (May 15), giving us the most exciting action movie of the summer with practical stunts and effects, memorably freakish and damaged outcasts (such as the flamethrowing, guitar-playing Doof Warrior), and a potentially iconic character in Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa.
Despite the main title, Fury Road was really Furiosa’s film, helping to establish how important and prominent female heroes were this summer and making it harder to accept such roles being marginalized. This was also a revival for Miller, who reminded us what an exciting, impactful director he was after hiding in the shadows of kid-friendly fare for 20 years. Hopefully, we see the two team up again in another sequel.
5. Southpaw
Jake Gyllenhaal got so much attention for this film when images of his chiseled abs circulated throughout the pop culture Internet. And it’s certainly impressive how he transformed himself physically for his role as boxer Billy Hope (especially after losing so much weight for Nightcrawler).
But after getting past that, Antoine Fuqua can’t decide whether it’s really a boxing movie or a character study of a guy trying to put his life together following the loss of his wife. Either story would have been compelling had Fuqua and writer Kurt Sutter chosen to explore them. Unfortunately, the movie just settles for melodrama, resulting in an unsatisfying story and boxing sequences that aren’t terribly exciting. It’s a terrible waste of Gyllenhaal’s efforts.
4. Terminator: Genisys
The Terminator franchise needs to be permanently retired. There are just no new stories to tell, but producers and studios think they can rehash the same stuff for a new generation of moviegoers while appealing to the nostalgia of those who grew up loving James Cameron’s original films.
On one hand, maybe Genisys deserves some credit for trying to create a new spin on the Terminator mythology, changing the fate and motivations of a beloved character. But director Alan Taylor, along with writers Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier, can’t do anything after the shock value of that revelation (which was already spoiled in trailers) wears off. Bringing back Arnold Schwarzeneggar and creating new killer robots can’t obscure the reality that it’s just the same thing repackaged with new digital effects and needlessly complicated story threads.
3. Aloha
What happened to you, Cameron Crowe? You used to create such memorable scenes, witty dialogue and compelling characters, many of which are iconic for a generation of moviegoers. His previous films allows him to attract talent like Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone, two of Hollywood’s biggest young stars. (Maybe Rachel McAdams should be included in that category, as well.) Veterans like Alec Baldwin and Bill Murray also sign on, eager to work with the material Crowe creates for them.
But Crowe has lost his fastball since Almost Famous (which came out 15 years ago) and he hasn’t been able to regain it, nor reinvent himself as a storyteller. (Though to his credit, he did try with Vanilla Sky.) He just seems lost as a writer now, which was his strength, since he wasn’t a strong visual filmmaker. Aloha is the worst example of that yet, with a bunch of elements, ideas and characters that never come together into something coherent. There’s an interesting movie in here somewhere — maybe more than one — but Crowe just couldn’t find it. So disappointing.
2. Poltergeist
Picking on Poltergeist is an easy target, as an unnecessary remake of a cherished 1982 film. There was just no way this was going to appeal to the previous film’s fans, who prefer to hold onto their memories and nostalgia. Adding new digital effects and trying to reinvent characters remembered more than 30 years later is running into a figurative wall.
Maybe the biggest problem is that the current audience Gil Kenan’s film was geared toward has plenty of other supernatural and paranormal films to choose from. Trying to emulate those movies while also attempting to maintain the family dynamic of Tobe Hooper’s original was just a bad fit. There was no point to this film, and it’s utterly unmemorable. I almost didn’t include it on this list for that reason. No one is going to remember this movie, except those that helped make it.
1. Ted 2
How many comedy sequels actually work, let alone come anywhere close to matching — or even exceeding — the original film? The first Ted had a hilarious premise: a foul-mouthed, debaucherous man-child embodied by a cute children’s toy. And it showed Mark Wahlberg, known more for action movies and dramas, could be really funny.
But that joke can’t be told over and over again, forcing Ted 2 to come up with a ridiculously contrived story to give the entire endeavor a reason to exist. Much like A Million Ways to Die in the West, what little story there is serves only as a delivery system for whatever riffs Seth McFarlane wants to go on, along with tone-deaf gay and racial humor. I actually like McFarlane; I think he’s funny. But for two years in a row, he made the worst movie of the summer.
