The summer movie rankings
The summer movie rankings
Which films brought the heat?
When I was in my teens and early twenties, there was no greater time of the year than summer movie season. For three months, you were guaranteed a barrage of big movies, giant explosions and larger-than-life special effects. It was my equivalent of football season, and I’d spend several nights a week dragging friends to the movies to revel in all the bombast.
I don’t enjoy summer quite as much these days. By mid-August, I start to get worn down and begin to look forward to the indie films and prestige movies that will make up the awards season. But I still enjoy a big blockbuster when done right. And – despite what the box office looked like earlier this summer – it was a good season, with more movies that I enjoyed than movies I didn’t. So, I thought I’d rank the big releases.
Just a note that I’m only including big summer studio releases. This isn’t a ranking of the best movies of the year and I’m fairly sure very few of these will show up on my best-of list in December. So, even though Hit Man, Strange Darling and I Saw the TV Glow are movies I saw and enjoyed this summer, I’m not putting them on this list1. Reviews are linked to in the titles if you want to read my full thoughts on them (some may be behind a paywall — subscribe to read them!).
The Fall Guy: David Leitch finally won me over. After producing the John Wick films, it seemed like Leitch was destined to make a bunch of movies that seem to appeal to me on paper only to bounce off me in execution – Deadpool 2, Hobbs and Shaw, and Bullet Train, in particular. And while there are a couple places where his style overwhelms The Fall Guy, overall I think Leitch delivers the most entertaining film of the year – it’s really shocking to me this didn’t hit with audiences. Ryan Gosling is very funny and anchors the film as a hopeless romantic stuntman, and he has fantastic chemistry with Emily Blunt. It’s a romantic comedy that’s romantic AND funny for a change, and an action movie that pays homage to stunt workers by rooting the story in tactile, funny and wonderfully choreographed fight sequences as thrilling as anything in John Wick. I really hope this one finds its audience; I’m hard pressed to think of a movie I had more fun with.
A Quiet Place: Day One: I was worried about this one. I like John Krasinski’s Quiet Place movies, but didn’t feel we needed a prequel. And Michael Sarnoski’s work in Pig was so beautiful and assured that I was worried his voice would be lost in the move to studio fare. But Day One is not just the best of the Quiet Place franchise – it allows Sarnoski to occasionally push the monsters aside and tell a story about friendship and our need for others, and muse on what happens when our world begins to end. Lupita Nyong’o is heartbreaking as the lead, and while Sarnoski acquits himself well in the scary set pieces, what’s most memorable are the grace notes and quiet moments of beauty he sprinkles throughout.
Inside Out 2: The narrative is that this is Pixar’s comeback. I don’t know how much I want to encourage that line of thinking. Pixar has been making good movies for the last few years – I have a lot of love for Soul, Luca and Turning Red. Disney just wasn’t giving you a chance to see them. So, it feels more like vindication than renaissance that Inside Out 2 is currently the biggest hit of the year, moving toward $2 billion at the global box office. And while I worry that Disney’s takeaway will be “more sequels,” I can’t deny that Inside Out 2 is really good. It doesn’t reinvent the formula of the first movie, but goes a bit deeper, still mining deep laughs from its depiction of a child’s subconscious and exploring anxiety, character and emotional intelligence with an energy and accessibility that is quite amazing. I love these characters and this world, and while I want Pixar to keep doing original work, I wouldn’t mind revisiting Riley and her emotions again in another decade.
Furiosa: One of the early bombs this year, and one of this summer’s rare films to not be able to leg it out. It’s a shame, because George Miller’s prequel to Fury Road is really good. Sure, it lacks the unflagging pacing and visceral thrills of its 2015 predecessor. But Furiosa is still its own big, weird and bombastic story, with epic worldbuilding and vehicular mayhem on par with anything else Miller’s done in this franchise. Anya Taylor-Joy channels Charlize Theron as a young Furiosa in a sprawling, decades-spanning story, and Chris Hemsworth is having a ball (even if he’s not always completely successful) as the deranged Dementus. I wish this one had caught on, but I’m glad it seems to have resonated with those who gave it a chance.
If: Yes, John Krasinski’s film is a mess, with a mythology that makes no sense. I don’t care. I loved this big-hearted movie because it has the unstructured, make-it-up-as-we-go-along energy as anything that would spill from a kid’s imagination. Krasinski aims for Spielberg in this tender and sweet family fable, and if he doesn’t always get there, I appreciate the ambition. There are some striking images that brought tears to my eyes, and Michael Giacchino’s score is beautiful. It’s rare to see a kids’ movie tone down the volume and be a bit melancholy, and If feels like an antidote to the brand deposits Disney and Illumination keep hitting us with (yes, even if I loved Inside Out 2).
Deadpool and Wolverine: Speaking of Disney brand deposits. On the one hand, I completely understand that this film might be a thing of pure evil, a two-hour celebration of corporate synergy. There aren’t just Easter eggs in Deadpool and Wolverine; it’s an Easter egg salad. It’s not just that it requires familiarity with nearly 25 years of comic book moviemaking; you need to be an avid reader of Slashfilm to understand why certain actors show up. It caters to all the worst instincts of studio filmmaking. And yet, I laughed harder in this film than I have in a long time. I loved the audacity of taking what should have been one-off cameos and integrating them into the story. I loved the middle finger to the squeaky-clean MCU and the way Shawn Levy brought to life comic book images people have wanted to see for years. I love that Hugh Jackman shows up to play even after giving Wolverine one of the great send-offs in superhero movie history. I’ve thought back to certain jokes much more frequently than I thought I would. And while it might not be the best MCU film, I can guarantee that once it hits Disney+, it will be among my most rewatched.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: The latest Apes film can’t quite hit the heights of Matthew Reeves’ last two movies, but Wes Ball comes close. As usual, it’s a striking mix of big ideas and epic scope, brought to life with some truly amazing motion capture imagery. The film’s first 90 minutes is masterful as it builds its world and gives us a more deliberately paced, thought-provoking look at how we live out – or pervert – the teachings of our elders. The third act stumbles a bit with an obligatory battle and a twist that I don’t quite think works, but this continues to be one of the most inventive and idea-saturated franchises out there.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die: I’m really shocked I enjoyed this film as much as I did. Directors Adil and Bilall prove that letting Michael Bay step aside was the best thing for this franchise, as they find the right mixture of big action and buddy comedy. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence continue to be a lot of fun together, with the latter having a particularly great time as Marcus Burnett grapples with his own late-in-life epiphanies (who knew a Bad Boys film would take such a strong position on the afterlife?). Ride or Die doesn’t reinvent the buddy cop comedy, but it is a funny, exciting and highly enjoyable addition to the genre.
Alien: Romulus/Twisters (tie): Two attempts to revitalize franchises actually succeeded – and they did so by just giving people what worked the first time. I think Twisters is a lot of fun; it’s basically the same movie as the first, but it elevates what came before. Lee Isaac Chung has a personal fascination with tornadoes and understanding of Midwestern life that makes this one a bit scarier; I also think we’re firmly in “Glen Powell is our best movie star” territory right now (but I’m still going to ding the movie for not closing on the promised kiss). Alien: Romulus is really good at what it does – it’s scary and goopy – even if what it does is give us a cover band version of more interesting and thought-provoking films. Both movies are fun, if a bit empty at their cores.
Trap: M. Night Shyamalan’s latest is a mixed bag that falls apart when it leaves the arena in its final half. But that first hour or so is a ton of fun, following Josh Hartnett’s serial killer, The Butcher, as he tries to outwit the cops trying to snare him at a pop concert. In those moments, Trap has a clever premise and Hartnett is better than he’s been in ages as a meticulous killer fraying at the edges as his separate lives collide. I wish this one was able to hold it together, but when it works, it’s a lot of fun.
Honorable Mention: Beverly Hills Cop – Axel F: I’m going to ding it a bit because it’s a Netflix movies and summer should be about theatrical experiences. And I don’t know if the fourth Axel Foley adventure is ever as purely fun or good as, say, the fourth Bad Boys movie. But Axel F is the best of the Beverly Hills Cop sequels. Eddie Murphy is having a great time, he energizes his supporting cast, and the action is solid. It’s a throwback and it coasts on nostalgia, sure, but it’s enjoyable in a way this series hasn’t been since Foley first put a banana in a tailpipe. The heat’s back on, baby!
Despicable Mention: Despicable Me 4: When Despicable Me came out 14 years ago (!!),I thought it was a perfectly fine family movie with a few solid laughs. Now, as we reach what is the fourth film in the franchise – or sixth, if you count the two Minions prequels – I’m begging Illumination to stop. An overstuffed, loud, jokeless barrage, Despicable Me 4 is the prime example of the type of movie If served as antidote to (ironically, Steve Carell is in both). It’s made nearly $1 billion, so Universal’s going to keep pumping these out until the blessed heat death of the universe. But if I never hear a Minion say “bello” again, it will be too soon.
You might be wondering where summer’s big horror hit, Longlegs is. Funny story: I bought a ticket in July to go see Longlegs and, 10 minutes in, our theater was evacuated for an emergency and we were sent home (no clue what happened), and I haven’t caught up with it yet. But given that it’s a smaller film, it probably wouldn’t have been one I’d consider for this list anyway.