Summer of surprise
It wasn't a summer for "meh" movies after all.
You might remember my lack of enthusiasm for the upcoming season in The Press' summer movie preview back in May. I'm happy to report my low expectations helped to make this a refreshing and fun summer at the multiplex.
It helped that I didn't see "Trans4mers 4: Mark Wahlberg can't say the word 'Trans4mahs.'"
The start of the season wasn't very encouraging. The year's first official summer movie, "The Amazing Spider-man" failed to establish a single reason for its existence. It was an overstuffed and hastily plotted adventure that turned Jamie Foxx into the hokiest villain this side of Arnold's Mr. Freeze in "Batman & Robin."
"Godzilla" definitely brought the spectacle in the form of its supremely destructive title character. If only the movie had the good sense to follow Bryan Cranston's character instead of the blank slate of leading man Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
May's biggest grosser turned out to be "Maleficent," the origin story to Disney's foremost princess-hater. Angelina Jolie is a revelation in the role, and the movie has surprisingly dark thematic undertones for a kiddie film (think about those wings). But why did the movie need so many shoddily animated CGI distractions?
"X-Men: Days of Future Past" turned it all around for me this summer. Returning to the helm after skipping all the lousy "X-Men" movies, director Bryan Singer balances more than a dozen main characters across two separate timelines to return the franchise to the level of quality promised by his own "X2." It contains the summer's best scene (the Quicksilver jailbreak sequence) and even gives Hugh Jackman something different to do with Wolverine. Just don't think too hard about the time-travel logic.
The Internet can poke fun, but Tom Cruise is still the king of blockbusters thanks to his wildly entertaining science-fiction adventure "Edge of Tomorrow." The "Groundhog Day"-style actioner leans on Cruise's charismatic presence, and director Doug Liman finds clever ways to make the "live, die, repeat" premise fresh with every reset. Just don't think too hard about the last five minutes.
Sprinkle in some very funny comedies, Seth Rogen's "Neighbors" and the meta-sequel "22 Jump Street," and the first half of summer 2014 had a healthy balance of entertainment.
July, on the other hand, had few choices, unless you count Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson throwing a horse over his head in "Hercules" as viable entertainment (you should). All July really needed was "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," a movie with fully realized characters facing world-changing decisions. Those characters are apes, by the way.
Deep down, I always knew my beloved "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" couldn't survive a movie produced by Michael Bay. Luckily, August also provided the summer's biggest success, both creatively and financially: "Guardians of the Galaxy." The Marvel adventure about deep space misfits is a rollicking mash-up of "Star Wars" and "The Avengers."
As for some of the more questionable summer titles, including "Planes 2," "Sex Tape," "The Expendables 3" and Michael Bay's "Trans4Mahs" - I skipped them. That's how you make a summer movie season work. Just pass on the stuff you know you won't like.
And it's very likely I've already seen the best movie in all of 2014: Richard Linklater's incredible, 12-years-in-the making "Boyhood." It's a powerful film experience unlike anything you've seen before. Go see it in Spokane while you still can. I'll save the rest of my superlatives for the end of the year.
Bottom line: "Boyhood" will flood the sound of Mark Wahlberg's incomprehensible voice right out of your ears.
Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.