2016 Summer Movie Review

Summer Movie Season has come and gone once again.  And what is our conclusion?

Most people point to it as a disappointment, and I'm not inclined to disagree.  Don't get me wrong, there were some wonderful movies that came out, but for the most part there were very few things that got me excited enough to by the Blu Ray the day it comes out (that is usually my measure of a movie's lasting quality).

Before I go further, there were a number of movies that I did not get a chance to see, so I cannot speak intelligently about them.  These include:

Angry Birds
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
X-Men: Apocalypse
Alice: Through the Looking Glass
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
Warcraft
No You See Me 2
The Shallows
The Free State of Jones
The Legend of Tarzan
Purge: Election Year
Jason Bourne
Ben Hur



In terms of box office, the top 10 highest grossing films of the summer are:

1.  Finding Dory
2.  Captain America: Civil War
3.  The Secret Lives of Pets
4.  Suicide Squad
5.  X-Men: Apocalypse
6.  Star Trek Beyond
7.  Jason Bourne
8.  Central Intelligence
9.  The Legend of Tarzan
10.  Ghostbusters.



My predictions were as follows (along with my rationale):
.  Captain America: Civil War
-The first movie of the season has a big advantage and unlike Age of Ultron, the earlier reviews of Civil War are glowing. 

2.  Finding Dori
-The first one is a classic and if it is half as good as the first, it should get good word of mouth

3.  The Secret Lives of Pets
-I think this is going to be the surprise hit.  Little kids really love the trailer and this one will be for them what Minions was last year.

4.  Independence Day: Resurgence
-This might do better than #4 if it is good.  But like with Jurassic World, the heavy nostalgia factor mixed with thrilling spectacle might makes this one a big it.  At least I'm hoping that this is good.

5.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
-The last one wasn't very good, but it made money.  They are also doing a lot of fan servicing in this one, so they may pull in some more box office.

6.  Warcraft
-This movie looks a little too CGI-unrealistic to me and it has no big names.  But if it has any quality, it could have legs.

7.  X-Men: Apocalypse
-The last X-Men cracked the top 10, but this one is only the First Class cast, and their film only made it in the top 20.  But there might be enough residual good will from Days of Future Past to make this a hit.

8.  Alice: Through the Looking Glass
-Didn't see the first one but it made money.

9.  Central Intelligence
-The Rock makes money and this action comedy could resonate with audiences.

10. Suicide Squad.
-The darker tone could ride the Deadpool coat-tails, but I don't think it will do nearly as well.



So as you can see, I got 6 of the top 10, although the order is all off.  Although I did get the top 3 movies into the top 3.

Suicide Squad did much better than I anticipated, which makes me very happy for the DCEU.

I think if Independence Day Resurgence was a better movie it would have made it into the top ten.  I know that sounds like a no-brainer, but some very mediocre films made it into these top positions (e.g. The Secret Lives of Pets, Central Intelligence, Ghostbusters)

I'll be finishing up my summer movie reviews soon, but I can agree that there was a general sense of disappointment in most of what I saw.  This makes me sad because if Hollywood is going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars per movie, they could at least do a little more quality control.  
Here's the thing: I want to go to the movies.  I am willing to spend my hard-earned dollars to be taken away inside of a darkened theater.   But if you don't give me a good quality, I will save my money and binge-watch Stranger Things.

I am hoping that next summer will have a lot more to write home about.

But in terms of ranking by quality, here are the rankings of the summer movies I saw in 2016.

Captain America: Civil War
Finding Dory
Suicide Squad
Pete's Dragon
Star Trek Beyond
Batman: The Killing Joke
The BFG
Bad Moms
Independence Day: ResurgenceMike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
Central Intelligence
The Secret Life of Pets
The Nice Guys