Summer Movies

[Jeff Strong]

We have the podcast segment, but we'd like to hear from you too: So what have been your favorites this summer? Or did you see something that wasnt so great? Discuss!

I just saw Guardians of the Galaxy tonight and SYT was right: it ruled.

Additionaly, I also really dug a certain monkey movie.

 

[Kolchak357]

My favorite this summer was Godzilla. Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, and Godzilla! How can it be anything but great. I love the big special effects summer movies. Usually short on acting and plot, but big on fun and excitement. The "check your brain at the door" kind of summer flicks. But this had a pretty good script and some very good acting. So it went above and beyond my expectations. My wife even liked it and she is not what you would call a Godzilla fan.

I assume the monkey movie you speak of is Planet of The Apes. Curious to hear what you say about that one. Sadly didn't get a chance to see it.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Movies I saw this summer*: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Godzilla, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

The two Marvel pics, I was not surprised by. Both solid, great production values, from the studio that has fast become the Pixar of superhero/action movies. Winter Soldier was great, especially with More Scarlet Johanssen. I can't stress how much good there is in More Scarlet Johanssen. GotG was maybe a bit off-the-wall but the trailers and good reviews all around and general word-of-mouth all pointed to it being fun, and it was, and more. Godzilla looked awesome from the trailers, and after the very disappointing Pacific Rim, we needed a proper monster movie reboot. Godzilla delivered and then some, wrecking three major American cities in the process, and countless billions in military hardware.

Movies I wanted to see this summer but didn't: X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Movies I definitely didn't want to see: Transformers: Age of Extinction, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Movies I could care less about: Everything else.

* Technically it was late-spring, but it was the kick-off to the summer season, so I'm counting it.

 

[Kratos3]

Watched Neighbors....really funny! New parents, old parents, or college kids with a sense humor would like it.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I still really want to see Godzilla.

The latest Planet of the Apes was quite good, especially if you enjoyed the last one, and thankfully there's no James Franco this time around ( [MENTION=580]Heretic[/MENTION] will especially be happy about that). Great story and the acting was top notch. Gary Oldman was excellent as usual.

 

[DokkenRokken]

I saw X-Men: Days of Future Past & Transcendence, both were fantastic. I also saw TMNT, which was pretty much garbage if you take out the light humor.

The movies that I wanted to see and didn't get around to were Godzilla and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

 

[Kolchak357]

I will probably have to wait for Apes on Netflix. My wife finds the mistreatment or killing of the monkeys (even cgi monkeys) too disturbing.

 

[Michael Taylor]

To be honest, I haven't been to a movie theater for a WHILE now (The last one I saw was in 2011 with Pokemon White - Victini and Zekrom) but if it counts, I bought the Blu-Ray Combo Pack of Frozen earlier this month and I thought it was a nice movie, not deserving of it's hype everyone goes gaga over, but still a nice movie

 

[Edan-Grossman]

I enjoyed dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I now need to go back and watch the classic Planet of the Apes films.

 

[Nightwing]

I enjoyed most of the summer movies. My breakdown:

Top of the heap: Note - Captain America:The Winter Soldier would be here,but it's not a summer flick.

X-Men - Days of Future Past - it gets the X franchise back on the right track,with mixing in stuff from the excellent First Class film to boot.

Almost There:
Godzilla,Guardians of the Galaxy,Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,Edge of Tomorrow

Better than I thought it would be:
Maleficent

Disappointing: Amazing Spider Man 2 (though it was good in some parts,and the acting/chemistry between Emma Stone & Andrew Garfield is top notch),Hercules

Totally guilty pleasure that I loved: Into the Storm. (I have a thing for disaster/end of the world films)

Films I didn't get to see but wanted to: Snowpiercer,Lucy,Transcendence

Worst movie of the summer - BY FAR! - Transformers: Age of Extinction (TMNT might beat it out,but so far I've been able to avoid seeing it)

 

[Jeff Strong]

I enjoyed dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I now need to go back and watch the classic Planet of the Apes films.

The first one is the only real classic.

 

[Heretic]

i like the tim burton version

 

[Jeff Strong]

i like the tim burton version

Blasphemy!

 

[Heretic]

monkey lover

 

[Jeff Strong]

monkey lover

Well, I do love you, so that's accurate.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Alright, so I finally saw Godzilla. I liked it, but I gotta say I could've use a little more action! A few times it seemed that right when some carnage started to transpire, they'd cut away to the family story stuff. The story was fairly solid, but I often found myself wishing there was a bit more mayhem and destruction.

 

[Richard B]

and after the very disappointing Pacific Rim,

Say what? Are you crazy?

 

[Bowflex]

Finally going to Guardians of the Galaxy tomorrow. That and a trip to Pinball Wizard Arcade up in New Hampshire. First new movie I will be seeing since X-Men DoFP. I did see the Rifftrax Sharknado as well and that was a blast.

 

[Richard B]

Here's what I saw:
Captain America - Awesome kickoff to start the Summer Movies (which now begin in early April).

Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Had a lot of potential and some good parts (yep, good chemistry between real-life couple (at least when they were making the movie) Garfield and Stone, but Jamie Foxx was lame in both incarnations, a lot of needless side stories, particularly the fate of Parker's parents, for which they needed to reboot the franchise entirely, are just as who-cares here as they were the first time around, and worst of all, the pacing was bad, particularly towards the end when a whole lot of developments occur and converge at once, robbing the BIG EVENT of much of its power. Had they made Foxx play the same character he usually plays, saved all the third act material for the next movie, and got more use out of Paul Giamatti as the Rhino, they'd have had something there.

X-Men - Despite what the trailers lead you to believe, Wolverine is the only one who goes back in time. With one exception, the rest of the old and new cast stay in their respective timelines and never share the screen. It's a return to form, with Singer in charge again, and the plot is a mission to prevent The Last Stand from ever happening. The best X-Men yet, but still doesn't reach the heights the best of them, like Spider-Man 2 (2004) and The Dark Knight did, though an especially memorable sequence involving Quicksilver (who's also going to be in the new Avengers, though played by a different actor. The Marvel crossovers among studios begin) show the potential.

Apes - This was a good one.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Excellent! Space rangers, a talking racoon, and a 70's soundtrack? Count me in! Chief complaint - Vin Diesel was completely wasted on Groot, who has a three (which becomes four) word vocabulary.

Boyhood - Awesome movie about a boy who grows from 6 to 18, shot over twelve years with the same actors (including the director's own daughter, who does a great job here), he literally grows up on screen. Made by Richard Linklater the guy who made Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, and the Before . . . Trilogy, and just like most of his other films, it doesn't have an overarching plot - just a series of seemingly random moments that add up to a stretch of a lifetime. Not for those who are impatient or have low attention spans, but everyone else should at the very least see it.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Say what? Are you crazy?

It sure looks pretty. But then people start talking. And have you ever seen Independence Day?