Okay, so we're in July now and I think we've gotten a decent sampling of this years crop of summer movies. So I thought it would be interesting to see what you all think so far. I know there are still 2+ months of movies left. So you can still add more to this thread as you see them.

Again, all these opinions are highly subjective. No one is going to like the same movies. This is not meant to be a long rambling review thread.


I'll try to keep my rankings fairly simple. Loved, Liked, Average, Didn't like, Hated. You can rate them however you want. And I'm also counting new original streaming movies as well.


Loved
Spider-Man Across the Spiderverse
Past Lives
Elemental
Joy Ride
Wham! (Netflix)
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+)
Extraction 2 (Netflix)

Liked
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3
Fast X
The Little Mermaid
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
The Flash
No Hard Feelings
Stan Lee (Disney +)

Average
Kandahar
The Blackening
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Insidious: The Red Door

Did not Like
The Mother (Netflix)

Hated
Boogeyman


Edit: Added Insidious

I've loved everything I've seen to some degree.

LOVED
Across the Spider-verse

Really Enjoyed
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Fast X
The Flash

I'll probably check out Indy next week.

Across the Spider-Verse : A+
Asteroid City : A-
Guardians Vol 3 : B+
Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny : B-
The Flash : B-
Super Mario Bros : C-

Loved:

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1

Of the movies seen since May:

Best:
Blackberry

Loved:
Beau Is Afraid
You Hurt My Feelings
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 (however, the movie was so emotionally painful, I doubt I would ever watch it again)
The Starling Girl

Really Liked:
Big George Forman
Enys Men
The Flash
Elemental
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Disappointments:
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Mad Heidi
No Hard Feelings
Asteroid City

Hated:
The Boogeyman
Róise & Frank
Joy Ride

The Summer 2023 movie season is now over. So I'll do one final wrap up for what I thought of this year's group. I'll do grades this time. This can include movies that were streaming exclusives.

Technically Summer 2023 starts in May.


Guardians of the Galaxy 3: B+
The Mother: C
Still: A Michael J. Fox movie: A-
Fast X: B-
Kandahar: C+
The Little Mermaid: B+
The Boogeyman: D-
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse: A+
Past Lives: A
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts: B
The Blackening: C
Elemental: B+
The Flash: B
Extraction 2: B+
Stan Lee: B
No Hard Feelings: B
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: B-
Wham!: A-
Insidious the Red Door: C
Joy Ride: B+
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1: A-
Barbie: B+
Oppenheimer: A-
Fear the Night: F
Haunted Mansion: B
Talk to Me: B-
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem: B+
Meg 2: B-
The Last Voyage of the Demeter: B-
Gran Turismo: B+
Heart of Stone: C-
Blue Beetle: B+
Bottoms: D (I know I am in the minority on this)
Retribution: B-
The Equalizer 3: B+

I know list threads like these take time to look up. So if you don't have time to participate, then no worries. Just thought I would share what I saw this summer.

I haven’t seen a ton but I’ll add my summer list.

Loved:
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Pt. 1

Liked:
Super Mario Bros. Movie
Air
Renfield
The Covenant
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Extraction 2


Disappointed:
Astroid City
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny


Disliked:
Hypnotic
The Flash

Every new movie from May forward...

4 Stars

3.5 Stars
5.12.23 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
7.3.23 Past Lives

3 Stars
5.10.23 Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
5.15.23 Blackberry
6.3.23 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
6.19.23 The Flash
6.21.23 The Blackening
7.6.23 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
7.19.23 Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One
7.26.23 Oppenheimer
8.19.23 Blue Beetle
9.2.23 Bottoms

2.5 Stars
5.7.23 Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World
5.26.23 The Machine
5.28.23 The Little Mermaid
6.5.23 You Hurt My Feelings
6.7.23 The Boogeyman
6.14.23 Chevalier
6.15.23 Elemental
7.5.23 No Hard Feelings
7.12.23 Joy Ride
7.22.23 Barbie
8.9.23 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
8.12.23 Haunted Mansion
8.23.23 Strays
8.28.23 Retribution
8.30.23 Gran Turismo

2 Stars
5.1.23 Beau Is Afraid
5.11.23 Hypnotic
5.24.23 Fast X
5.31.23 Kandahar
6.10.23 Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
8.2.23 Talk to Me
8.14.23 The Last Voyage of the Demeter

1.5 Stars
8.4.23 Meg 2: The Trench

1 Star

I was going to work on my summer list but then I got stuck trying to remember what movie "Fools Paradise" was (it was the Charlie Day directed/starred in one).

Barbie and Oppenheimer were my top picks.
I liked: Guardians 3, Spiderverse2, The Flash, No Hard Feelings, Joy Ride, and Bottoms.
I thought the following ones were "okay" to "decent": The Covenant, Evil Dead Rise, Asteroid City, Indy5, Elemental, Mission Impossible, Talk to Me, Last Voyage of the Demeter.
The ones I thought were "meh" to "didn't like" were: Fools Paradise, The Bogeyman, Little Mermaid, Insidious:Red Door, Haunted Mansion.

1.5/5: Hypnotic, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
2/5: Retribution
2.5/5: The Meg 2, The Outlaws, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Guardians Vol. 3, Murder Mystery 2
3/5: Ninja Turtles, Oppenheimer, No Hard Feelings, Super Mario Bros.
3.5/5: The Flash (really more of a 3.75), Fast X, Air
4/5: Across the Spider-Verse
4.5/5: Barbie

I'll use DJariya's list and just remove what I haven't seen.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3: A
The Mother: Didn't finish it
Fast X: B-
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse: A
Transformers: Rise of the Beats: B-
The Flash: B+
Extraction 2: A
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: C
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1: A
Barbie: A+
Oppenheimer: B+
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem: B+
Heart of Stone: B
Blue Beetle: A-
The Equalizer 3: B

My list stars with what I've seen in May, but maybe one or two of them are April releases, but whatever:

FOUR STARS:
Blackberry (2023) D: Matt Johnson
The Starling Girl (2023) D: Laurel Parmet
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2023) D: Joaquim Dos Santos (almost want to downgrade to 3 because of the ending)
Talk To Me (2023) D: Danny and Michael Philippou
Shortcomings (2023) D: Randall Park

THREE STARS:
Big George Forman (2023) D: George Tillman Jr.
Enys Men (2023) D: Mark Jenkin
Beau Is Afraid (2023) D: Ari Aster
You Hurt My Feelings (2023) D: Nicole Holofcener
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 (2023) D: James Gunn
Elemental (2023) D: Peter Sohn
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (2023) D: James Mangold
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 (2023) D: Christopher MacQuarrie
Barbie (2023) D: Greta Gerwig
Gran Turismo (2023) D: Neill Blomkamp

TWO STARS:
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (2023) D: Kelly Fremon Craig
The Flash (2023) D: Andy Muschietti
Mad Heidi (2023) D: Johannes Hartmann
Asteroid City (2023) D: Wes Anderson
Past Lives (2023) D: Celine Song
Something You Said Last Night (2023) D: Luis De Filippis
Oppenheimer (2023) D: Christopher Nolan Aug
The Last Voyage Of The Demeter (2023) André Øvredal
North Of Normal (2023) D: Carly Stone
The Equalizer 3 (2023) D: Antoine Fuqua

ONE STAR:
Róise & Frank (2023) D: Rachael Moriarty, Peter Murphy
No Hard Feelings (2023) D: Gene Stupnitsky
The Blackening (2023) D: Tim Story
Strays (2023) D: Josh Greenbaum
Meg 2: The Trench (2023) D: Ben Wheatley
Blue Beetle (2023) D: Ángel Manuel Soto
Biosphere (2023) D: Mel Eslyn
Jules (2023) D: Marc Turtletaub

ZERO STARS:
The Boogeyman (2023) D: Rob Savage
Joy Ride (2023) D: Adele Lim
Insidious: The Red Door (2023) D: Patrick Wilson
Haunted Mansion (2023) D: Justin Simien
Zombie Town (2023) D: Pete Lepeniotis

38 movies, all at the theatre or drive-in. Nearly half are at least 3 stars, with four I considered great. Only a handful that were a waste of time. Biggest surprises were how much I enjoyed Indiana Jones, which despite its major flaws, has about 90 minutes of stuff good enough to watch a second time, Talk To Me, which is one of the rare horror films that doesn't succumb to comic book action, and Grand Turismo, which may tell a formula story, but does so as good as I've ever seen. Biggest disappointment was Oppenheimer, which I found startlingly unengaging.

I'm curious why you thought Oppenheimer was a disappointment?

I know comedy is highly subjective and doesn't work for everyone, so I won't question your 0 star rating on Joy Ride. I didn't like Bottoms and that is getting rave reviews.

Given its subject matter, filmmakers, and scope, I was expecting a great film, one that would engage and, perhaps even terrify me emotionally and intellectually. Instead I found the experience very bland and monotone. It's a decent movie, but not a transcendent experience like I was hoping for.