Summer’s Best Movies for Boomers
By Bill Newcott
July 10: ‘Self/Less’ Dying New York real estate mogul Ben Kingsley has his consciousness transferred into the body of a young man (Ryan Reynolds). But is there enough room in there for the two of them? From visionary director Tarsem Singh (“The Fall” and “Mirror Mirror”).
Summer will always be the season for kid-centric films, but there’s still room at the multiplex for grownup movies. What’s more, even some of this year’s biggest blockbusters offer surprising treats for adults in the audience. Here are the movies we’re most looking forward to through Labor Day.
June 5: ‘Love & Mercy’ A feel-good playlist of Beach Boys classics contrasts with Nick Nolte and Robert Redford in “A Walk in the Woods.” the dark story of the band’s troubled songwriter Brian June 26: ‘Big Game’ Wilson. Paul Dano is uncanny Would-be assassins have brought down as the young Brian; as older Brian, under Air Force One, forcing the president to the control of a parasitical therapist (Paul fend off murderous villains in an Arctic Giamatti), John Cusack is heartbreakingly wilderness. Of course, Samuel L. Jackson childlike. plays the prez, so we’re pretty much feeling sorry for the bad guys. June 12: ‘Jurassic World’ Anyone who was at the movies in 1993 will remember “Jurassic Park’s” rocky start, what with the carnivores chomping down on the staff and all. But now, 22 years later, the park is up and running just great. What could go wrong? Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard and Judy Greer are about to find out.
June 19: ‘Inside Out’ With films like “Up” and “Wall-E,” Disney/ Pixar has proven time and again just how grownup animated films can be. A young girl is at the center of “Inside Out,” but the main characters are her emotions: A squabbling team inside her brain who help get her through daily life: Joy (Amy Poehler), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Anger (Lewis Black, natch). June 19: ‘Infinitely Polar Bear’ Mark Ruffalo draws tears and laughter as a manic-depressive dad who’s convinced he can win back his wife (Zoe Saldana) if only he can prove he’s capable of caring for their two daughters.
24 BOOM!
July 2015
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July 1: ‘Terminator: Genisys’ When Arnold Schwarzenegger said “I’ll be back!” in The Terminator more than 30 years ago, we really didn’t think he meant now. But here he is doing battle not only with a new batch of bad guys, but also with his own 1984 “clone, sweet clone.”
July 17: ‘Mr. Holmes’ A favorite at the Movies for Grownups Film Festival in Miami, this imaginative mystery stars Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes, long retired to a rural British village. He remains haunted by one unsolved mystery, and with the help of the young son of his housekeeper (Laura Linney), Holmes summons every remaining fragment of his once peerless mind to crack it. July 24: ‘Irrational Man’ Woody Allen is notoriously tight-lipped about his upcoming films. Here’s all we know from the studio: “A tormented philosophy professor (Joaquin Phoenix) finds a will to live when he commits an existential act.” We’re also told it’s a mystery. And with Emma Stone and Parker Posey along, we’re totally sold.
July 24: ‘Pixels’ Our kids may have mastered their ultra-realistic video games, but when Earth is attacked by highly pixilated 1970s arcade characters including Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, only July 10: a crack team of oldMeryl Streep stars as Ricki in “Ricki and the Flash.” ‘What school gamers (Peter We Did on Our Holiday’ Dinklage, Adam Sandler and Josh Gad) A loving dad (the always wonderful Billy can save us. Directed by Chris Columbus Connolly) copes with the crumbling (“Home Alone,” “The Goonies”). marriage of his son (David Tennant) and his wife (Rosamund Pike, who still has us July 29: ‘Vacation’ creeped out by the psycho she played in Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) decides to “Gone Girl”). succeed where his father, Clark, failed more than 30 years ago (in 1983’s “National Lampoon’s Vacation”) and take The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine