My classroom is set, my seating charts are made, and my beginning lesson plans are created. It must be fall. I've mentioned this before, but there is usually a bitter-sweet air that hangs on Labor Day weekend for me. I really am looking forward to a new school year, but, being the massive movie nerd that I am, it means that the summer movie season is over. However, this year I'm not as sad because this year the summer movie season was......kinda weak. Both in quality and in box-office performance, this really wasn't one for the record books.
Sequels that nobody asked for unsurprisingly died quick deaths, Mediocre "sleeper" movies over-performed because there wasn't much else worth seeing. Reboots were met with steely indifference (even the one that deserved better). There was just a lot of "m'eh" this year.
Oddly, some of the best entertainment to be found this summer was on Netflix, which presented the cultural sensation Stranger Things (equal parts Spielberg and King) and The Little Prince, a foreign animated film that was bafflingly passed on by every major American distributor, but finally brought to the states by the streaming giant. Had it been released in theaters, The Little Prince would likely be on my year-end top ten list.
However, there were some lights in the cinematic darkness. Let's focus on them first....
THE GREAT
Kubo and the Two Strings
This film, made by the local geniuses at Laika Animation studios, was the best film of the summer, a fact that surprised me. Laika has consistently shown wild innovation and creativity, but nothing in their previous work showed me that they were capable of this level depth and heart. I hesitate to say too much about the story for a simple reason, this is a movie that deserves to experienced with fresh eyes. Beauty in animation is certainly not a new thing, but it's rare that any film, regardless of genre or technique, reaches this level of art. Thrilling, moving, breath-taking, this is the first instant-classic from this wonderful studio.
Captain America: Civil War
The best Avengers movie, in spite of the fact that it's not technically an Avengers movie, Civil War was a beautiful example of everything that Marvel has gotten so incredibly right with their cinematic universe. Instead of rushing character development and plot, a major failing of that other comic book cinematic universe, Marvel has been building these relationships for a period of eight years over several films and they do a splendid job of making these developments feel organic and oddly inevitable. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo (who made their debut in the MCU with the superb Captain America: The Winter Soldier) not only make this a vital extension of that story, but masterfully meld that story with the events of several other Marvel franchises to create a film that manages to be a thrilling and surprisingly well-rounded popcorn masterpiece. I can't think of another film this year that has so masterfully balanced weight and humor, all while juggling a huge cast and introducing two very important characters to such an expansive world. Definitely a movie that will be spun on my blu-ray player on a regular rotation.
The Very Good
Finding Dory
Pixar's latest, which has also now become their most successful film to date, really was as good of a sequel as we could have gotten. Especially considering the fact that the original Finding Nemo was a perfectly constructed film that ended beautifully and in no way lent itself to becoming a franchise. Honestly, this might have gotten to "great" status for me if not for some very lazy call backs to the original. There's about a ten minute section toward the beginning that could have just been left on the cutting room floor and I would have liked this one much more than I did. As it is though, Pixar did a wonderful job taking a plot device that had been played for laughs in the first film (Dory's short-term memory loss) and made a film that pays tribute to every person who has ever had to find their way through life in spite of great adversity. Plus, baby Dory (seen above) is just about the cutest animated character in the history of the medium and the short shown before Dory, the delightful Piper, is among Pixar's best.
Star Trek Beyond
While the latest installment of the rebooted Trek series doesn't reach the heights of the previous films, it's still a perfectly cromulant Star Trek film with some great action, terrific acting, and moments of unexpected poignancy, especially when paying tribute to fallen members of its cast. The plot feels more old-school than more recent Trek adventures, but it's much more than a series place-holder. Director Justin Lin, new to the franchise, does himself proud.
Florence Foster Jenkins
Among classical musicians, especially vocalists, Florence Foster Jenkins is a legend. Listening to her performances (and subsequently laughing yourself silly because of them) is almost a right of passage in your training. You see, Foster Jenkins was a unique force in the music world who had money, a desire to perform, and a.....well.......unique vocal instrument. What director Stephen Frears and the always brilliant Meryl Streep have done in telling her story is let you see her as a person rather than a caricature. This makes for a compelling film, but also an oddly guilt-producing one. While the movie encourages you to laugh at her voice in the beginning, it imbues her with such warmth and humanity that by the end you feel like you were previously duped into being a bully by laughing. Don't get me wrong, it's a terrific movie, but it also is a film with a split-personality, begging you to laugh, then chastising you for doing so.
Ghostbusters
The level of bile and animosity spewed at this funny, fast-paced, highly enjoyable movie baffles me. Yeah, the original is great. I know this. I love it too. However, I also love the concept enough to look forward to a revisiting, especially one done with this much joy and respect. In fact, this movie's biggest failing is that it feels beholden to unnecessary references to the original. The cameos (including Slimer and Mr. Stay-Puft) pull you out of a story that is strongly it's own thing. The cast, including standouts Kate McKinnon and Chris Hemsworth, is uniformly terrific, the special effects are great, and the humor rarely fails (starting with an amusing and memorable cameo from The Office's Zach Woods and ending with an extended credits sequence in which Hemsworth gets down with his bad self). Is this better than the original? Of course not. However, it's almost as good, which is really saying something. I wish it had performed better at the box office, because I would very much like to see more from this cast playing in this world.
Pete's Dragon/The BFG
Both wonderful family films with similar messages, these two performed modestly at the box-office, but should enjoy a long life in home video. Both also display a surprising level of subtlety (barring, of course, a few moments in The BFG that wander into slightly crude humor that is to be found in most modern family films). It's so heartening to know that filmmakers are still willing to make films for younger audiences that still have a sense of craftsmanship.
Honorable Mentions
Jason Bourne, X-Men: Apocalypse, Cafe Society
Honorable Mentions
Jason Bourne, X-Men: Apocalypse, Cafe Society
The Disappointing
Suicide Squad
Why do I get the feeling that the screaming and obnoxious internet whiners who proclaimed the new Ghostbusters movie to be the worst thing ever created weeks before its release are the same ones who petitioned to have Rotten Tomatoes shut down because critics didn't like Suicide Squad? Suicide Squad is simply not a good movie. It's not horrible, but still. The actors do their best, with Margot Robbie acquitting herself the best, a feat made more impressive by the fact that she gets it done in spite of her ridiculous wardrobe. I can't remember the last time I saw a film with characters about which I cared so little. How can we be expected to enjoy a movie with no characters to root for? They're all terrible people, including the "good" guys, plus the character "development" is so shallow that it almost inspires the audience to just root for the universal destruction of everyone on screen just to get the whole thing over with. DC Comics is filled with such wonderful and memorable characters, it's just depressing to see how horribly Warner Bros. is botching the new DCEU, especially considering how glorious the Nolan Batman movies were.
So...yeah. This summer was kinda....blah. I'm thrilled that Kubo and Captain America: Civil War exist and I'll definitely re-watch my other favorites often, but here's hoping that next summer, a movie season that will include Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, War for the Planet of the Apes, Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan's WWII epic), and....(sigh) Cars 3....fares better. For now, bring on the 16-17 school year!
