Summer is filled with blockbusters that are sure to rock the box office. These are not those movies.
When thinking of summer movie season, it’s easy to think of the relentless number of blockbusters that dominate the season. We’ve already seen Avengers: Age of Ultron and Mad Max: Fury Road, and more such as San Andreas, Jurassic World, Ant-Man, and Fantastic Four are still to come.
It’s easy to forget about the other movies to be released in the summer, and we’ve done the remembering for you. These are the movies you may have forgotten about that you need to see this summer.
‘When Marnie Was There’
When Marnie Was There is the last movie that Studio Ghibli will be releasing for the foreseeable future, and it’s worth seeing for that reason alone. Luckily it looks it’s a pretty good movie too. Currently Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s movie holds an 83% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In a review in Time Out New York, critic David Ehrlich said “among the many bittersweet pleasures of When Marnie Was There is that its virtues confirm what Ghibli stood for, and its insufficiencies (however modest) confirm that it’s time to say goodbye.” That quote certainly makes it sound like a must see for any Studio Ghibli fan.
Release date: May 22
‘Aloha’
Any time Cameron Crowe makes a movie it’s a big deal, and Aloha is his first movie since We Bought a Zoo in 2011. That movie wasn’t his best, and he hasn’t really made a great movie since Almost Famous 15 years ago. However, his early career was so strong that there’s always hope that his latest will be a return to form.
Aloha stars Bradley Cooper as a military contractor who returns to the place that saw some of his greatest triumphs with the military and reconnects with a former love (Rachel McAdams) and begins falling for the Air Force watchdog assigned to him (Emma Stone).
Release date: May 29
‘A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence’
Roy Anderson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is the third part in his “Living” trilogy, the first two being Songs from the Second Floor and You, the Living.
The movie currently sits at a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and its supporters have been really enthusiastic about it, especially its long takes.
Release date: June 3
‘Love & Mercy’
In Love & Mercy, Paul Dano and John Cusack play Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson at different points in his life. According to the official synopsis, “in the late 1960s, the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson (Dano) stops touring, produces ‘Pet Sounds’ and begins to lose his sanity. By the 1980s, Wilson (Cusack), under the sway of a controlling therapist, finds a savior in Melinda Ledbetter.”
Love & Mercy currently has a 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and also stars Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti. It’s Bill Pohlad’s first directorial feature since 1990.
Release date: June 5
‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and the Audience Award for U.S. Drama at the Sundance Film Festival this January and was acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures for $12 million, the most ever out of the festival. It got great reviews at Sundace; the movie currently has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is the story of a teenage filmmaker who befriends a classmate with cancer. The hope is that the movie can attract the audience that made The Fault in Our Stars a success last summer.
Release date: June 12
‘Dope’
Dope is another Sundance success story. It too has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie has been described as a coming of age movie for the post hip hop generation. According to the official synopsis, Dope “tells the story of Malcolm (Shameik Moore) who is carefully surviving life in a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles. A chance invitation to an underground party leads him into an adventure that could allow him to go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself.”
While its cast is made up of virtual unknowns, Dope has a lot of star power behind the camera. The movie was produced by Forest Whitaker (who also narrates), executive produced by Pharrell Williams, and co-executive produced by Puff Daddy. The cast includes Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Blake Anderson, Zoë Kravitz, A$AP Rocky, Tyga, Keith Stanfield, Casey Veggies, Vince Staples, Chanel Iman, and Rick Fox. The movie was written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa.
Release date: June 19
‘The Overnight’
The Overnight is yet another movie to premiere this January at Sundance and currently hold a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It stars Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman, Adam Scott, and Judith Godrèche.
Written and directed by Patrick Brice, this is a movie about one weird night. According to the official synopsis, “Alex, Emily, and their son, RJ, have recently moved to Los Angeles’s Eastside from Seattle. Feeling lost in a new city, they are desperate to find their first new friends. After a chance meeting with Kurt at the neighborhood park, they gladly agree to join family pizza night at his home. But as it gets later and the kids go to bed, the family ‘playdate’ becomes increasingly more revealing as the couples begin to open up.”
Release date: June 19
‘Infinitely Polar Bear’
Infinitely Polar Bear debuted at Sundance in 2014, and Maya Forbes’ movie is finally getting released now. So far it’s received pretty solid reviews; it currently holds an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Mark Ruffalo stars as a manic-depressive mess who tries to win his wife (Zoe Saldana) back by attempting to take full responsibility of their two daughters. Forbes’ own daughter Imogene Wolodarsky stars as one of the daughters in the movie.
Release date: June 19
‘Amy’
After debuting less than a week ago at the Cannes International Film Festival, the Amy Winehouse documentary Amy will see its theatrical release this summer. The movie currently holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Amy will look at Winehouse’s life and career and how her enormous talent was met with equally enormous tragedy.
Release date: July 10
‘Trainwreck’
Perhaps a Judd Apatow comedy wouldn’t normally qualify as “lesser-known,” but given that its lead Amy Schumer has never starred in a movie before, it’s going on the list. Schumer is most known for her TV series Inside Amy Schumer (which is doing groundbreaking work this season) and her stand up.
Schumer wrote the movie and will star with Tilda Swinton, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, Barkhad Abdi, Mike Birbiglia, Jon Glaser, Vanessa Bayer, John Cena, Ezra Miller, LeBron James, Method Man, Jim Norton, and Norman Lloyd.
Release date: July 17
‘Irrational Man’
Woody Allen seems to release a good movie every year. Midnight in Paris was great; To Rome with Love wasn’t. Blue Jasmine was great; Magic in the Moonlight wasn’t. If that pattern continues, we could expect Irrational Man to be pretty good. Of course, a pattern like that is far from a science. It premiered a week ago at the Cannes International Film Festival and holds a barely positive 60% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but not only a handful of reviews have been filed so far.
Even if Irrational Man is a lesser Woody Allen movie, it’ll still be worth seeing because it’s a Woody Allen movie. Nobody makes movies the way he does, and given his age of 79, he probably doesn’t have that many left in him. Given its strong cast that includes Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, Parker Posey and more, this is a must see movie this summer.
Release date: July 17
‘Mr. Holmes’
Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes. What more do you need? Sold.
Release date: July 17
‘Southpaw’
Antoine Fuqua at the helm of a movie doesn’t automatically make for a good movie. In fact, he’s made more clunkers than not, but his most recent outing The Equalizer was pretty solid. Luckily his latest movie stars the always great Jake Gyllenhaal as well as Rachel McAdams, Naomie Harris, and Forest Whitaker, so Southpaw should at the very least be interesting.
For Southpaw Gyllenhaal gained 15 pounds of pure muscle, and he looks far different from the slimmed down physique he sported in last year’s Nightcrawler. Will this transformation finally net him his first lead actor Oscar nomination? He certainly deserved one last year, and transformations like this typically only aid in attention from the Academy.
Release date: July 24
‘Paper Towns’
For regular readers of this site, Paper Towns shouldn’t exactly qualify as a lesser-known movie, but I’m guessing that it’s not quite on the top of the radars of those less in tune to the John Green fandom. Paper Towns the novel certainly didn’t have the success of The Fault in Our Stars the novel, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Paper Towns the movie doesn’t quite have the financial success of The Fault in Our Stars the movie.
It does have a lot of things going for it, however. Director Jake Schreier has seen a bit more critical success prior to his John Green adaptation than Josh Boone had, so there’s no reason to believe Paper Towns shouldn’t be at least at the level that The Fault in Our Stars was. Sure, it doesn’t have the very talented Shailene Woodley, but it does have the ready to explode Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne. The cast is largely comprised of new faces, so that should be exciting (but not exactly a box office draw either).
Release date: July 24
‘The End of the Tour’
One of the most buzzed movies out of the Sundance Film Festival this year was The End of the Tour. While it might not share some of its counterparts unblemished Rotten Tomatoes ratings, it sits at a very strong 94%.
The film stars Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel in the story of journalist David Lipsky’s (Eisenberg) five day interview with author David Foster Wallace (Segel) for Rolling Stone.
Release date: July 31
‘Straight Outta Compton’
Straight Outta Compton follows the rise of N.W.A., one of the most popular hip hop groups of all time. The movie will focus on the background of the members of the group — Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and MC Ren — and the dynamics of N.W.A. from its inception to their successes to its eventual disbandment.
It will be especially interesting to see how Straight Outta Compton plays out given how culturally relevant its themes of equality are at the current time. The riots we’ve seen a lot in the past year are seen echoed in the trailer below.
Release date: August 14
‘Mistress America’
Noah Baumbach already released one of the best movies this year in While We’re Young, and the buzz out of Sundance made it seem as if his second could be even better. Mistress America holds an 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and some of its supporters are really high on it.
Mistress America stars Baumbach’s life partner and frequent collaborator Greta Gerwig as well as Lola Kirke. As per the official synopsis, this is “a comedy about dream-chasing, score-settling, makeshift families, and cat-stealing.” If that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will.
Release date: August 14
‘Digging for Fire’
Prolific indie director Joe Swanberg has eased up on the throttle a bit, and his movies have been the better for it. He’s been on a roll in recent years with Drinking Buddies and Happy Christmas. Both of them were aided by the presence of Anna Kendrick, and she’ll be back for Digging for Fire. It got generally favorable reviews at Sundance and currently holds a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Swanberg often is the sole credited writer on his films (though most of them are incredibly improvisation heavy), but Digging for Fire credits Jake Johnson alongside Swanberg, and this is Johnson’s first feature writing credit. Johnson will star in the movie alongside Kendrick, Brie Larson, Rosemarie DeWitt, Orlando Bloom, Chris Messina, Sam Rockwell, Melanie Lynskey, Jenny Slate, Ron Livingston, Mike Birbiglia, and more.
Release date: August 21
‘Sleeping With Other People’
Leslye Headland’s Sleeping with Other People sounds like standard Sundance indie fare, and if you’re into that, this one should be enjoyable. It didn’t blow critics at Sundance away — it currently holds a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes — but it should find an audience regardless, especially given its cast that includes Alison Brie, Natasha Lyonne, Jason Sudeikis, Adam Scott, Amanda Peet, and Jason Mantzoukas.
Sleeping with Other People is about a good-natured womanizer and a serial cheater who just want to be friends but, you guessed it, are attracted to each other.
Release date: August 21
‘American Ultra’
Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg were quite good together in Adventureland, and hopefully they’ll rekindle that magic in American Ultra. They’re two immensely talented actors whose careers have only upswung since that movie. Nima Nourizadeh’s first movie Project X was far from great, but he’ll probably be working from a better screenplay this time around given that the movie was written by Chronicle scribe Max Landis.
American Ultra sounds very fresh and unusual. The official synopsis states: “A stoner and his girlfriend’s sleepy, small-town existence is disrupted when his past comes back to haunt him in the form of a government operation set to wipe him out.” This sounds like the kind of movie that will be a great late summer addition.
Release date: August 21