*Previews of these movies and all the ones I haven't had a chance to see yet can be found here.
June 5th
Opening Weekend: n/a; limited release
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Review: Watching Love & Mercy is a bit of an inexplicable experience; John Cusack (Say Anything) and Paul Dano (Ruby Sparks) are strong leads as Brian Wilson, the creative force behind the Beach Boys, but somehow the film is still somewhat of a drag. Between seeing almost nothing of actual Beach Boys performances and the constant uncertainty as to Wilson's actual mental state, I lost a significant amount of interest in this film from first-time director Bill Pohlad. The scenes in which Wilson is experimenting in novel music-making truly shine, and emotional scenes of Wilson's girlfriend (a heartwarming, strong Elizabeth Banks) discovering his abuse at the hands of his unethical psychiatrist (a perfectly smarmy Paul Giamatti) glimmer as well, but all are bright spots in a duller film that, despite seemingly having all the right pieces of a better movie, simply doesn't work as an engaging celebration of Wilson and his music.
Opening Weekend: $29.1 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Review: Count me among those who had been growing tired of Melissa McCarthy's (Bridesmaids) abrupt loud-mouth shtick, despite her successes with it. Last year's Tammy is literally one of my least favorite movies ever. This is perhaps why for me, and apparently for many other critics, Spy was a bit of an unexpected delight, as McCarthy uses a more reserved role to actually draw out laughs through its restraint. Spy isn't a terrific film; it is still overly reliant on crass language (which doesn't bother me in-and-of itself, but does when used as a crutch to mask filmmakers' failure to think of something genuinely funny; see Superbad) and McCarthy can't help but have one of her final undercover identities disguise her meeker protagonist as another crude blowhard. Yet, Spy still exceeds expectations and offers enough surprising laughs to be worth a viewing.
The Final Word: 2/4 - Wait to rent it.
June 12th
Opening Weekend: $208.8 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 71%
Review: Based on the insane amount of money Jurassic World has made, setting numerous box-office records as it has become one of the biggest movies of all time, it's probably safe to assume you've already seen this long-gestating sequel. On the off-chance you haven't seen it (perhaps you've been in a coma for the past month?), then I - and most of your friends - can tell you that Jurassic World is a whole bunch of fun. New megastar Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Bryce Dallas Howard (The Help) lead a strong cast and director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) strikes a solid balance between wonderment and action spectacle, even if I personally would have preferred a bit more suspense (people often forget that the first Jurassic Park was actually pretty scary). Admittedly, the script could have used one more slimming edit to remove some unnecessary characters and dialogue-heavy side-plots and I think Trevorrow may have been a bit overconfident with his velociraptor CGI, but with respectfully playful references to the original and new self-aware turns to propel the franshise into a new age, Jurassic World is as an entertaining blockbuster as you'll find this summer.
The Final Word: 3.5/4 - Go buy a ticket.
Me & Earl & The Dying Girl
Opening Weekend: n/a; limited release
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Review: With unusual charm, Me & Earl & The Dying Girl quickly assuaged my concerns that it would be yet another artificial teenage drama flick, which are so often written with a laughable amount of obscure adolescent vernacular and unabashedly utilize manipulative emotional ploys. Admittedly, M&E&DG is an obvious "indie" movie, with all the associated quirks, and gets emotional at times, but director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (American Horror Story) is wisely focused less on convincing the audience on how smart the movie is (and it is an intelligent film) or how badly they should feel for various characters and more on connecting the audience with genuine experience. In this, the film is largely successful, with much credit due to a superb cast led by Thomas Mann (Project X). For all its indie oddity, M&E&DG is ultimately a sweetly simple film, not without flaws, but with a great deal of merit and worth a viewing.
The Final Word: 3.5/4 - Go buy a ticket.
7 Minutes
Opening Weekend: n/a; limited release
Rotten Tomatoes: 19%
Review: If you're telling the tale of a 7-minute robbery, how is your movie stretched into a feature-length film? You tell backstories throughout the robbery of course! It's a storytelling device obviously borrowed from other crime thriller directors, which has led to a decent amount of criticism for 7 Minutes. Yet while not necessarily novel, I found the film's use of chronological cliches more entertaining than contrived, effectively serving plot purposes. More valid concerns include an odd lack of intelligence among all three thieves and an ending for the main protagonist with is completely implausible. Overall, 7 Minutes may be a relatively conventional film with some character and resolution shortcomings, but still has its surprises and is a solid directorial debut from Jay Martin.
The Final Word: 2/4 - Wait to rent it.
Opening Weekend: n/a; limited release
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Review: With unusual charm, Me & Earl & The Dying Girl quickly assuaged my concerns that it would be yet another artificial teenage drama flick, which are so often written with a laughable amount of obscure adolescent vernacular and unabashedly utilize manipulative emotional ploys. Admittedly, M&E&DG is an obvious "indie" movie, with all the associated quirks, and gets emotional at times, but director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (American Horror Story) is wisely focused less on convincing the audience on how smart the movie is (and it is an intelligent film) or how badly they should feel for various characters and more on connecting the audience with genuine experience. In this, the film is largely successful, with much credit due to a superb cast led by Thomas Mann (Project X). For all its indie oddity, M&E&DG is ultimately a sweetly simple film, not without flaws, but with a great deal of merit and worth a viewing.
The Final Word: 3.5/4 - Go buy a ticket.
Opening Weekend: n/a; limited release
Rotten Tomatoes: 19%
Review: If you're telling the tale of a 7-minute robbery, how is your movie stretched into a feature-length film? You tell backstories throughout the robbery of course! It's a storytelling device obviously borrowed from other crime thriller directors, which has led to a decent amount of criticism for 7 Minutes. Yet while not necessarily novel, I found the film's use of chronological cliches more entertaining than contrived, effectively serving plot purposes. More valid concerns include an odd lack of intelligence among all three thieves and an ending for the main protagonist with is completely implausible. Overall, 7 Minutes may be a relatively conventional film with some character and resolution shortcomings, but still has its surprises and is a solid directorial debut from Jay Martin.
The Final Word: 2/4 - Wait to rent it.
June 19th
Opening Weekend: $90.4 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Review: As a currently-popular meme suggests, after exploring the idea that toys, bugs, monsters, fish, cars, and robots (among others) could have feelings, it was only a matter of time until Pixar wondered if feelings could have feelings. Enter Inside Out, by far the most original film of the summer, bringing to life the emotions in the head of a young girl, Riley, experiencing a life-altering event. The expectation that childhood should be filled with happiness complicates the role of sadness in the lives and minds of the youngest among us and is near-perfectly investigated in an animated film that largely follows Joy (Amy Poehler) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) as they traverse to the inner-depths of Riley's consciousness, learning just how important sorrow can be. Beautifully animated under the direction of Pete Docter (Up) and Ronaldo Del Carmen, Inside Out is an exemplar of a creative, daring, poignant, touching modern classic.
The Final Word: 4/4 - Go buy a ticket, the poster, & the DVD/digital copy.
Opening Weekend: n/a; limited release
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Review: As a dinner party with two couples spirals into the weird, sensual, and uncomfortable, The Overnight dials up the laughs in this awkwardly bizarre and unique film. It is a movie that is absolutely not for everyone, but one which I couldn't help but appreciate for both its audacity and its cleverly constructed narrative. There's a couple moments that don't quite seem to fit, and I'm not entirely sold that one character's development fully fit with their actions in the film's climax, but the film is nevertheless unexpectedly witty, due to both solid writing and a talented cast. Writer-director Patrick Brice displays an impressive confidence in allowing his characters to lack confidence, as most people in real life lack concerning sex, and in not trying to expand beyond the relevant scope of the film (sitting at a tidy 79 minutes). Ultimately, The Overnight offers an assuredly more risqué and engaging choice among tamer summer fare that I do recommend, but only for the somewhat less conservative movie watchers.
The Final Word: 3/4 - Buy a matinee ticket.
June 26
Opening Weekend: $12.2 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 38%
Review: This is the type of film which is so easy to criticize that a reviewer might miss some of the more positive notes hit by the movie, so I'll start with those. Max is a sweetly sentimental movie, with a bit of action, that will be great for families to watch together. It is well-intentioned and pays respectable homage to a unique part of our great military. That all being said, Max is just not very good. From Boaz Yakin, whose writing and directing filmography is filled with so many horrendous bombs like Safe and The Prince of Persia that you almost forget he also directed the classic Remember the Titans, it should perhaps be unsurprising that the dialogue and acting seem at times to be in competition for which can be worse. The melodrama is so obvious that it fails to achieve genuine emotion, additionally bogged down by silly subplots. Redeemed only by its family-friendliness, the low-quality Max is simply not the boy-and-his-dog classic it wants to be.
The Final Word: 1/4 - Catch it on tv if you're bored.
Opening Weekend: $33.5 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 45%
Review: After an impressive feature-film debut with Ted, writer-director Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) had a bit of a stumble with the poorly-performing A Million Ways to Die in the West. Speculation about MacFarlane's ability to consistently deliver on the big screen accompanied the release of Ted 2, a film which will do little to end the debate. The first Ted was a bit scattered, but guided by a strong narrative. The sequel has an underlying plot, but, much like A Million Ways, MacFarlane allows his Ted 2 script to stray off-course too often, muddling the film's structure. Admittedly, Ted 2 has a few laugh-out-loud moments, but not as many as its predecessor, though the humor of both films similarly focus on pop-culture references, drug-use, and scatalogical commentary. It's simply a disappointing narrative from MacFarlane, who otherwise I actually think of as a fun, yet classically-minded director who can seamlessly film some truly beautiful sequences. I would absolutely love for MacFarlane to step away from his own writing for a while and bring stories to life as director only. Seriously, this man needs a musical to adapt. Anyway, Ted 2 is good for a few laughs and is capably directed, but simply doesn't have a strong enough story to silence critics of MacFarlane's feature film resumé.
The Final Word: 1/4 - Catch it on tv if you're bored.
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