Summer Roundup 2016
Now that fall is approaching, I took a look back at all the movies I’ve watched since May. Ranked from the best film to the worst, check out my (super) brief reviews below:
1. The Nice Guys
I was looking forward to seeing Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling in a buddy detective comedy, and they did not disappoint. Shane Black (director and co-writer) managed to craft a film that seamlessly transitioned between serious and funny. Fun action and great comedy throughout the movie!
2. Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters was hilarious and showcased how to do an IP reboot well. The cast did a fantastic job of honoring the feel of the original while making the comedy and characters fresh.
3. Central Intelligence
I’m a big Dwayne Johnson fan and mostly a fan of Kevin Hart, so this film was a must see from the first trailer. It was so much fun just watching these two goof off and do comedy for two hours. If you are a fan of either of these guys, definitely check it out.
4. Finding Dory
Pixar is one of the few studios that can manage to make sequels consistently well. Finding Dory does a great job of continuing the emotional output of Finding Nemo while diving into the background and history of Dory.
5. Captain America: Civil War
Civil War is the Avengers movie Age of Ultron should have been. And while it very much requires the audience to have seen the other Marvel films, the action, comedy, and story are quite good.
6. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
I admittedly didn’t have too much hope going into this film, but came out of it pleasantly surprised. Zack Snyder delivered his usual beautiful spectacle of scenes and was able to put together a pretty good story while also soft introducing the Justice League.
7. Jason Bourne
I gotta imagine this is the last “Matt Damon as Jason Bourne” movie we are going to get. I am big fan the first three films, and this one more or less carries on the same vibes. Where it falls short to me is the lack of compelling hand-to-hand combat and a few heavy handed action scenes.
8. Sausage Party
The trailer for this film was basically spot on: juvenile, offensive, and vulgar humor in the form of animated groceries. And for that, this film was a bullseye! It was a bit much for my taste in terms of jokes about extreme stereotypes. However the voice cast was superb, the animation adorable/funny, and the last two scenes worth the rest of the movie.
9. Now You See Me 2
I loved Now You See Me, and figured a sequel that adds Daniel Radcliffe into the mix must be worth it. Overall a fairly fun movie to watch, but the cheeseball factor was a bit high, even more so than the first one.
10. X-Men: Apocalypse
Another film I wasn’t expecting too much from considering X-Men: Days of Future Past was only okay. While there are some good parts (Michael Fassbender Magneto drama), and some funny parts (Evan Peters as Quicksilver), the film overall fell flat in emotional and story beats.
11. Suicide Squad
Having been happy with how BvS came out, I was looking forward to Suicide Squad. However, the movie was a series of standalone shots, jokes, and action that when combined barely made a coherent film.
12. Independence Day: Resurgence
Resurgence is an exercise in “nostalgia can only take you so far”.
Although I saw about one movie a week, I still missed several over the course of the summer. Here are three that are definitely on my radar to watch soon:
- Star Trek Beyond
- Kubo and the Two Strings
- The Neon Demon