Film critics reveal their favorite and most anticipated summer movies

Transcript

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William Brangham: “Superman” was one of these summers most eagerly anticipated blockbusters. And this new Man of Steel delivered with a big opening weekend.

Jeffrey Brown sat down with a pair of film critics recently to share their top picks for several summer movies, including the big releases, a few comedies, and some lesser known choices available via streaming. It’s part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Jeffrey Brown: Whether it’s the latest reboot or a smaller film, we have some movie ideas for you this summer. They come from Mike Sargent, host of the podcast “Brown & Black” and co-president of the Black Film Critics Circle, and Ann Hornaday, chief film critic for The Washington Post.

And welcome back to both of you.

So I thought, “Superman” is the new film, right? And everybody kind of knows Superman. So maybe you both should take a quick crack at this.

Mike, you want to start? What did you think about “Superman”?

Mike Sargent, Co-President, Black Film Critics Circle: Well, I enjoyed it. I thought it was entertaining. I thought it was smart of him to kind of just drop us in like third season. We all know his origin. We didn’t need that again. We know his relationship with Lois. We know his relationship with Lex.

And I think that that’s what they really play upon. And that’s probably the best stuff in there. We get to see super dog and whatnot. But I thought it was entertaining. Not great. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel. But it’s definitely an entertaining take on Superman.

Rachel Brosnahan, Actress: You have a dog?

Ann Hornaday, Film Critic, The Washington Post: You know, as Mike said, James Gunn, the director, is trying to lighten up. I mean, it’s — the franchise has gotten very dark and serious in recent years.

And I think that was what I appreciated most. It’s frenetic. It does drop you right into all the things as they’re going on. He’s not only introducing a new cast with David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult, but he’s setting up other movies. He’s introducing new characters. So there’s a whole lot going on.

And some of that frenetic energy didn’t work for me. But, by the end I really kind of had settled into it and did find it very entertaining. And I think it’s a terrific cast.

Jeffrey Brown: OK, so there’s “Superman.”

Now, there’s a whole lot of other reboots and big franchise blockbusters.

Mike, give us maybe two of those kind of big pictures that you want to recommend.

Mike Sargent: Well, OK. I would recommend, believe it or not, “28 Years Later.” This is not — I’m not a huge zombie movie fan.

(Laughter)

Mike Sargent: But I thought that this was actually better than the first two. I thought it was imaginative. I thought it was edited very well. I thought it was artistic and creative. It’s probably the most artistic and creative zombie movie I have ever seen in my life.

And I also have to say a film I haven’t seen that I really want to see, and I didn’t think I would, is “The Naked Gun.”

Liam Neeson, Actor: Hi, daddy. It’s me, Frank Jr. Love you.

Actor: Hey, dad. Boy, do I miss you.

Mike Sargent: “The Naked Gun,” that reboot, I think that it couldn’t be better. I think that the idea of getting Liam Neeson at this point in his career is sort of like Leslie Nielsen where he was in his career…

Actress: Who are you?

Liam Neeson: Drebin, Detective Frank Drebin.

Mike Sargent: … formerly having done serious stuff and almost mocking himself. So I’m looking forward to this reboot.

Jeffrey Brown: So he went with zombies and full-on comedy, right? What have you got?

Ann Hornaday: Well, I’m a big “F1” fan. “F1,” the movie, came out earlier this summer. And, to me, it just is the quintessential summer blockbuster. It’s Brad Pitt.

Jeffrey Brown: It has a big star, right.

Ann Hornaday: A big star in Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem and the wonderful Kerry Condon, again, a wonderful cast, done by the same team that did “Top Gun: Maverick” a couple of years ago.

And they just — they know how to do these sort of big action spectacles. And it’s kind of classically entertaining in that way. We had “Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning,” which a lot of people, the title indicates…

Jeffrey Brown: With another big celebrity, right, Tom Cruise, yes.

Ann Hornaday: Another big, big star, and another — just that kind of classic, big-scale spectacle and maybe, it looks like all the signs are pointing to, the final one. So, just for old time’s sake I would recommend people go to that one.

Tom Cruise, Actor: I need you to trust me one last time.

Jeffrey Brown: All right, how about a couple of smaller films maybe that don’t get quite the blockbuster attention?

Mike, what have you got?

Mike Sargent: I have to recommend a film called “40 Acres.”

And this is a film that I didn’t know anything about. I went into it, I had no idea that it was dystopian story about the world has been a famine and lots of people have died. And Danielle Deadwyler plays a mom who’s an ex-military mom who has got a farm, and she’s got to create a fortress literally because there are cannibals. There are all kinds of things that have happened, of course. Society has broken down.

Actress: We ain’t waiting on no revenge. They are going to end up dead anyway.

Mike Sargent: This is the first feature film from writer director R.T. Thorne, who’s a Canadian Black filmmaker. And it’s terrific. So I highly recommend that.

The other film that I like this year that I have to recommend if you’re a science fiction fan is a film called “Companion.” And this is also a film that I really didn’t know what it was going in. It’s writer/director Drew Hancock. It stars Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher. She plays an A.I. robot companion. Really, really good science fiction, the kind of science fiction that it’s not about the effects, but it’s about the concept and what it has to say about the human condition.

Jeffrey Brown: All right.

Ann Hornaday, a couple of smaller films?

Ann Hornaday: Well, Celine Song made a breakthrough movie of a couple of years ago with “Past Lives.”

Jeffrey Brown: Yes, a wonderful film.

Ann Hornaday: Yes, a wonderful film.

And she’s made her next movie is “Materialists” with Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal. And I think Celine Song is trying to confront a lot of really thorny issues about dating and relationships and especially around issues of class and looks and those sort of surface, superficial values that people don’t like to admit matter to them.

Dakota Johnson, Actor: I like the way you pick up the bill.

Pedro Pascal, Actor: I do it really well, don’t I?

Dakota Johnson: You do.

Ann Hornaday: She’s trying to get into the psychological depth of that. So being marketed as a rom-com, but it’s not quite — it’s a little bit more dramatic than that. And I thought it was interesting.

There’s one that’s just rolling out now called “To a Land Unknown” by a filmmaker named Mahdi Fleifel.

Actor (through interpreter): Are you guys Palestinian?

Actor (through interpreter): Yes.

Ann Hornaday: It’s about two young Palestinian men in Athens who are on their — trying to make their way to Germany to start a new life. And it has this kind of ’70s energy, this sort of realism, naturalism, but with a little bit of poetry thrown in there.

I just thought it was — it had a lot of really interesting mood and atmosphere behind it. And it’s a story that in one sense is timeless, in another feels utterly new and urgent. So I strongly urge people to check that one out.

Jeffrey Brown: We got time for maybe one final bonus pick. It could just be something that either surprised you or that you find yourself still telling friends about because they might not have heard about it.

Mike, what have you got?

Mike Sargent: I have got to recommend a film called “KPop Demon Hunters.”

(Laughter)

Mike Sargent: It’s an animated fantasy. It is. It blends K-pop, girl energy and demon slaying. And it’s got a really fun soundtrack. And it’s a film from Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans. And it’s doing a lot better than “Elio,” which is the Pixar film, because it’s so much more original and so much more interesting.

Actress: The world will know you as pop tariffs, but you will be much more than that.

Mike Sargent: You have to appreciate just how much fun, the energy. And there’s a reason why it’s doing so well.

Jeffrey Brown: All right, Ann, you got one bonus pick.

Ann Hornaday: You know, the one that really snuck up on me is a movie called “The Life of Chuck” by a guy named Mike Flanagan, who has a huge following on Netflix with his horror series.

This is not a horror movie. It is adapted from a Stephen King short story. It’s a coming of age movie that’s dealing with identity and mortality and the end of the world. And it has some terrific dance sequences, one performed by Tom Hiddleston, the other by Jacob Tremblay.

It’s just a very quirky, humanistic, sweet movie that I was thinking about for days and days afterwards.

Jeffrey Brown: All right, some of the great and good movies to see this summer.

Ann Hornaday, Mike Sargent, thank you both very much.

Ann Hornaday: Thank you.

Mike Sargent: Thank you.