19 Movies You Must See Before Summer '16 Ends

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Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 2:46 p.m.

Photo by David Appleby Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie: "It’s best to look at Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie as an ultra-long episode of the show. Edina and Patsy are like Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory, only replace the chocolate with cocaine, eternal-youth fetal-cell injections, Bolly (Champagne) and cigarettes." — April Wolfe

Read the full AbFab: The Movie review. 1/19

Photo by Vince Valitutti The Shallows: "The film is all forward motion with little to no filler — a get-in-and-get-out number that hits its marks. The Shallows transcends its formulaic plotting when the director takes the gloves off and gets a little disgusting." — Danny King

Read our full review for The Shallows. 2/19

Elevation Pictures Into the Forest: "This isn’t torture-porn dystopia; it’s a singular, honest, heartfelt portrait of sisterly devotion at the end of the world." — April Wolfe

Read the full Into the Forest review here. 3/19

Photo by Jon Pack Don't Think Twice: "It's an introductory course in improv stage comedy, a work of advocacy for the scene it surveys and — through its warm fascination with improv's trust-your-group ethos — something like a cult indoctrination." — Alan Scherstuhl

Don't Think Twice, read the full review here. 4/19

Photo by Agatha A. Nitecka The Childhood of a Leader: "The Childhood of a Leader is all dread all the time, and rich enough in mood that you may be inclined to forgive the familiarity of its narrative trajectory and anchoring psychology. Little of what happens will come as a surprise, but Corbet's narrative restraint coupled with his formal daring makes for a gripping experience." — Michael Nordine

Read our full review for The Childhood of a Leader. 5/19

Courtesy of Third Eye Motion Picture Company/Netflix Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru: "Joe Berlinger's intense and dazzling new documentary offers almost two hours of Robbins, mostly onstage, egging on his throng to take decisive action and rebirth themselves in his mold." — Alan Scherstuhl

Read our full review on the new Tony Robbin doc, available now on Netflix. 6/19

Courtesy of the Orchard Life, Animated: "The film is more cheery than you might expect, and not just because of the clips from The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan . Life, Animated is rich with insight about the role our popular culture plays in child development, but it's richer still in love." — Alan Scherstuhl

Read our full review on Life, Animated here. 7/19

Courtesy of Music Box Films The Innocents: "For every disturbing scream of labor or grunt of a Russian soldier bouncing off the walls, there’s a pure and perfect hymnal meditation carried by the angelic voices of the nuns. The most graphic depictions in this film are of female friendships." — April Wolfe

Read our full review on The Innocents here. 8/19

Emergent Order At the Fork: "John Papola’s documentary treads familiar ground: If you love animals, or are just a decent person, how can you eat meat? But his is a deeply personal and moving exploration given ballast by copious input from experts. Despite the complexities, though, it’s enjoyable, thanks to the crew’s substantial expertise." — Daphne Howland

Read more on At the Fork here. 9/19

Courtesy of Film Movement Men Go to Battle: "This isn't a film about the Civil War; it's about the minds of white folks so removed from plantation life that they feel they have no stake in it at all. It's not about back then — it's about being." — Alan Scherstuhl

For more on Men Go To Battle, read our review. 10/19

Courtesy of Icarus Films Under the Sun: "Hoping to shoot a documentary about Zin Mi, an 8-year-old girl in North Korea, Ukrainian-born filmmaker Vitaly Mansky goes along with the terms laid out by the state: He’s issued a shooting script, instructed on where and how to film, made to submit footage for review and, as described in a subtly arch opening text, “kindly” saddled with a “round-the-clock escort service.” Mansky’s parry in return isn’t to subvert these rules but rather to underscore them." — Eric Hynes

Read the full Under the Sun review. 11/19

Photo by Lisa Rinzler Don't Blink: Robert Frank: "'I hate these fuckin' interviews,' Robert Frank says just a few moments into Laura Israel's Don't Blink, a vigorous documentary surveying the career and life of the photographer/filmmaker/one-man Beat happening. — Alan Scherstuhl

Read our Don't Blink review. 12/19

Courtesy of Cinema Delicatessen Ants on a Shrimp: "Like a well-executed fine-dining experience, this sleek documentary entertains, delights and makes viewers comfortable without evident sweat." — Diana Clarke

Read our Ants on a Shrimp review. 13/19

Photo by Christopher Messina / Cochin Moon For the Plasma: "Not many movies can lay claim to having invented a subgenre, but Bingham Bryant and Kyle Molzan's 16mm curio For the Plasma — shot in 2012 and funded with a mere $13,500 of Kickstarter money — comes closer than most." — Danny King

Read our full review on For the Plasma, available on demand here. 14/19

Strand Releasing Summertime: "Catherine Corsini’s movie, which takes place in Paris and Limousin, France, is lusty without being overwrought. The sex scenes play not as remote extreme-sports training, as they do in Blue Is the Warmest Color, but as simple, primal displays of carnal appetite." — Melissa Anderson

Read our full Summertime review. 15/19

Courtesy of The Film Collaborative Hooligan Sparrow: "Early in Hooligan Sparrow, her tremendous documentary about Chinese activist Ye Haiyan (whose alias is the film's title), director Nanfu Wang turns the camera on herself. 'Please,' she beseeches the viewer. 'Seek justice for me.'" — Diana Clarke

Click here for more on Hooligan Sparrow. 16/19

Still Courtesy of HollywoodBeautySalonMovie.com Hollywood Beauty Salon: "These are stories crafted with care, with glimpses of the filmmaking process — a chance to see the camera operators and director themselves at times in awe of the fortitude they're witnessing." — Daphne Howland

Read more on Hollywood Beauty Salon. 17/19

Courtesy of Open Road Films Gleason: "We witness the relentless progression of Lou Gehrig’s disease as we watch Gleason go from being a garrulous, adventurous sports hero — who passed into Saints legend when he blocked a punt in the first quarter of the team’s first game back in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina — to a man who struggles even to breathe." — Bilge Ebiri

Read our full Gleason review. 18/19

Cabin Creek Films Miss Sharon Jones: "Kopple's film is intimate and rousing. It all builds to a clean bill of health, a triumphant tour, lots of TV appearances and a feel-good ending belied by the fact that the story hasn't ended." — Alan Scherstuhl

Read our full review of Miss Sharon Jones. 19/19

19 Movies You Must See Before Summer '16 Ends

Each month, our film critics wade through the best (and worst) releases so you don't have to. Their favorites from this month are stocked with docs, forbidden love, gurus and party girls. Check out their picks for July 2016, and find showtimes near you.

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