The summer season has been underway for five or six weeks now, but let’s spitball some of the remainder — i.e., films opening between June 11th and Labor Day that have stirred interest or curiosity — in terms of likely bests, worsts, mehs and in-betweeners. I’ve seen six or seven of the following but otherwise I know zip (I’m sitting in the attic of a hotel inside the medieval village of Cesky Krumlov and don’t feel all that connected as we speak) — this is mainly intuition & premonition. If you know or have heard something, please share.
Boiled down, there are about 15 summer films opening over the next 10 weeks that are either essential or almost certainly worth seeing. If I’m missing something truly exceptional or terrible, please advise.
Essential, Sterling, Nutritious: Beasts of the Southern Wild (6.27), Side By Side (August TBA — best documentary of the summer?)
Obviously Unmissable: The Dark Knight Rises (7.20), Bourne Legacy (8.3), The Campaign (8.10).
Hearing Good Things: Magic Mike (6.29), The Amazing Spider-Man (7.3 — a friend saw it, was genuinely pleased), Savages (7.6).
Sturdy, Commendable, Recommended: Trishna (7.13), The Queen of Versailles (7.20), Searching for Sugar Man (7.27).
Modest, Low-Key, Reasonably Decent: Your Sister’s Sister (6.15), Take This Waltz (6.29), 2 Days in New York (8.10).
Possible Sleeper: Hit and Run (8.24)
Trepidations: Rock of Ages (6.15). Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (6.22), Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (6.22), Total Recall (8.3), Premium Rush (8.24)
No Clue: People Like Us (6.29), Hope Springs (8.10), 360 (.3),
Nope: Red Lights (7.13), Killer Joe (7.27), Sparkle (8.17), Lawless (8.29).
Hidden: To Rome With Love (6.22).
Little Stuffed Bear: Ted (6.29).
Indifferent: Brave (6.22)
Strange Intrigue: Klown (7.27).
Sandler Pics Never Change: That’s My Boy (6.15).
Tyler Perry Pics Never Change: Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection (6.29).
Necessary Sit: The Woman in the Fifth, Tahrir: Liberation Square.