2015 Summer Movie Report Card

Team Sandwich breaks down their Summer movie faves and hates.

Story by Matt Cummings, John Meneghetti, and Brandon Wolfe.

With the 2015 summer movie schedule winding down, it's time for us to look back on the winners, losers, disappointments, and clear bombs. Although August has experienced a blood bath, down over 60% from the same month last year, the industry is up a mere 0.2% for the season. But that's what you get when your second highest-grossing August movie is The Fantastic Four. Yikes.

Still, it was a fruitful summer, filled with lots of surprises, big performances, and incredible duds. Did your movies make any of our lists? Read on to find out! We've also included reviews for every review here, so feel free to back to them.

To be clear, the Summer movie season is defined as the first Friday in May through the Labor Day Weekend.

SandwichJohn

Best Movies
Straight Out of Compton
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Mad Max

Most Disappointing
Terminator Genisys - Was hoping for a return to the franchise. Trailers killed this movie.
Inside Out - Pixar usually brings their A game but they fell short on this movie. Telling you how you should feel.
Self/less - Great cast, somewhat of an original film. Just didn't work
Tomorrowland - Too much hype and the movie fell on its face. I didn't even finish watching it.

Most Surprising:
No Escape - Was not expecting this movie to be good at all.
Trainwreck - Not expecting anything from this film. But it kept you laughing through most of the film. (LeBron) James stole the film.
Ant-Man - Zero exceptions for the film. Was pleasantly surprised.

Worst:
Vacation - Knew it wasn't going to be great. Like I said, I wanted to walk out on this film.

Brandon

Best Movies
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Jurassic World
Trainwreck

Most Disappointing:
Inside Out
Age of Ultron - And even though it's on my Best list and it was good, it's not as good as it should have been, or as good as the original (or even some of the other Marvel movies). Tomorrowland should have been a lot better, too.
Most Surprising
Spy, Ant-Man, and Ted 2 were all better than I was expecting them to be.

Worst
Terminator Genisys gets this spot all to itself. One of the worst sequels ever and most pathetic and unsuccessful attempts at franchise resuscitation I've ever seen.

Matt

Best Movies:
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Mr. Holmes
Spy

Worst
The Fantastic Four - Poorly cast and conceived, Sony's misery knows few bounds. A terrible Doctor Doom and obvious CGI makes this among the worst films of the year.
Terminator Genisys - A largely uninspired attempt to reboot a franchise that doesn't know it's dead. Although its strong overseas performance guarantees a sequel, I think it's time to bid this franchise a fond farewell.
Vacation - An utterly terrible film from start to finish. Nothing redeemable or even funny from this flop. There's usually one or two things to laugh at in a comedy - not here, and it sounds like many of you felt the same.
The Gallows - The worst film of the year, hands down. Makes Fantastic Four look like cinematic mastery, and that's saying a lot.

Most Disappointing
Jurassic World - I'm gonna come out and say it: JW took an old formula and did exactly nothing with it. Pratt and Howard have zero chemistry and the mayhem is no better than any of the other films. Any of you who spent money on this utter disappointment should be ashamed of yourself. And don't try to tell me that it deserves to be the #1 box office gross, because I'll want to hurt you.

Most Surprising
Spy - A terrific, fun little action comedy that makes as much fun of the genre as it tips its hat to it. I dislike Melissa McCarthy less now.
Trainwreck - I wasn't sure what to expect from the Amy Schumer/Judd Apatow comedy, but its great big heart surrounded by New York sluttiness made for a hilarious time at the theater. The ending goes on too long, and it could have been 15 minutes shorter, but those are minor points when you're laughing hysterically.
No Escape - Yes I know it's got Owen Wilson in the lead, but this family survival flick is the most savage and brutal film of the summer. Lake Bell acts her brains out, and Pierce Brosnan proves he can still channel his Tailor of Panama performance. Go see this one.


Conclusion

Overall, it was a great summer, filled with a wide range of films that appealed to almost every demographic. With news that Universal has now made more money than any studio in history, will history remember Summer 2015 for its financial or critical success? Perhaps a bit of both?

Which of our movies made your list? Which ones did we miss? Get in the conversation by commenting below!