By David Slifer

This summer was a phenomenal season for the big screen. Success was reachedby many companies; talents and creatives made names for themselves; indie projectsdominated audiences, franchises returned and records were broken. To say that movies did pretty good would be a massive understatement.

“Michael” was the anticipated biopic following the life of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Although it had been released before the summer, the film continued to stay in theaters longer than expected as it kept smashing records left and right. The movie was directed by Antoine Fugua and starred Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson and Colman Domingo as his father, Joe
Jackson. Both performances were standout. Domingo as Joe was a suspenseful character that shook people’s core when he was put on screen. Jackson knocked it out of the park. This performance stuck out to many for two main reasons: one being that this was Jafar Jackson’s first acting performance and the second being that he is the nephew of Michael Jackson. He put
everything he had into this performance making it feel, sound and sometimes look as if it was actually Michael. The film grossed $1 billion making it the highest grossing biopic. The story was stellar. You should watch it if you have not already. There is a sequel in pre-production
following more of Michael’s life as this film ended in 1988.

“Scary Movie 6” saw the return of the Wayans and much of the original cast to bring back everyone’s favorite spoof franchise. With over 15 years of horror media to come out in that time, the Wayans put a lot of it into this film and made sure it got spoofed in some way. This film brought a lot of what people are needing these days, which is just to laugh. It was successful in that mission and it begs us to wonder and hope for another parody from the masters themselves.

“The Odyssey” was direct ed by Christopher Nolan and starred Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, John Leguizamo, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya and Benny Safdie. Like most Nolan films, this one was no different. There was very little use of CGI, constant switches of time and multiple points of view. The film was amazing. With how Nolan wrote and structured this film the worry of characters overshadowing each other can be a concern, but that is not the case here. Of course, many are mostly focused on Odysseus but the change in perspective does not take the viewer out of the moment. So much was going against this film, but it pulled through like the Trojan’s pulling the horse. Nolan molded an amazing adaption of one of Homer’s most notable works.

The big heavy hit ters of the summer though were “Obsession” and “Backrooms.” Both were indie horror projects with Gen Z directors Curry Barker on “Obsession” and Kane Parsons on “Backrooms.”

“Backrooms” starred Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor. The film follows Clark (Ejiofor), a furniture store manager who is living in his own store and does not feel like anything is going his way. All that changes when he finds the Backrooms, a space that has no end or over all design. It is everything and anything. Mary (Reinsve) is Clark’s therapist who is reeling over her past, and it only gets worse when she joins Clark in the Backrooms. The film has grossed almost $400 million on a budget of $10 million.

“Obsession” starred Inde Navarette, Michael Johnston, Megan Lawless and Cooper Tomlinson. This film was dark and twisted as we see through the perspective of Bear (Johnston), his control, ego and selfishness take away the freedom of choice from his crush Nikki (Navarette). This movie is a story that sparked conversation as with the film being from Bear’s perspective, he did not think what he was doing was wrong. Barker, having not only directed the film, also wrote the script. The story he wanted to tell was crafted so well and the actors showed that they cared about what they were telling. Navarette was definitely the standout star of the film. Her character required performing as two different people within the same body. Showing the fight
and differentiation of those sides was a masterful performance. Since its release, Navarette has become one of Hollywood’s most requested performers, going on to play Rogue in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe. The film has also grossed over $500 million at the box office on a budget of just $750k. Barker has already signed a deal with Blumhouse for future projects.

And to close it all out, Marvel released the highly anticipated “Spider-Man:
Brand New Day.” The film was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starred Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Tramell Tillman and Mark Ruffalo. The film takes place four years after “Spider Man: No Way Home.” Peter is all alone after the events of Dr. Strange’s spell. This movie resonated with many people as the themes focused on the balance of one’s life and the importance of not going through life and situations alone. This truly felt like a comic book come to life and the movie is still being praised and has many already excited for the next Spider-Man film. The film had made $2 billion on a budget of $225 million.

The past few years have been mediocre in the line up of summer blockbusters. Not saying those films were bad, but that people felt like the films promised what they preached, which they did. This gives hope to many young creatives and shows that this industry is not going to die without a fight.