Like Christmas candy that pops up at the grocery store in October, the start of the summer movie season is arriving earlier and earlier. May has only just begun, and already films are getting louder and sillier and superhero-heavy.
If you want to use your brain while sitting in a movie theater, you might want to wait until Oscar season. For now, you can relax while Godzilla demolishes cities, the Guardians of the Galaxy try to save the universe and Seth MacFarlane reinvents the Western. Read on for promising ways to while away a laid-back summer day or evening.
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Opening dates and ratings may change. Check goingoutguide.com/movies for updates.
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MAY 9
Drama
“Locke” (R)
Stars: Tom Hardy
The skinny: The movie takes place entirely in a car, which makes its dazzling early reviews all the more impressive. Hardy plays Ivan Locke, a man taking an urgent and mysterious road trip to London as his life falls apart, one Bluetooth call at a time.
Comedy
“Neighbors” (R)
Stars: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron
The skinny: Rogen plays a responsible adult for a change, taking on the role of a young father and husband who goes to war with his disruptive new neighbors — 50 frat boys led by a scheming super-bro (Efron).
Drama
“The Double” (R)
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn
The skinny: Prepare for a mind-bender as Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella lands on the screen courtesy of director Richard Ayoade. The darkly comic thriller follows a mousy office drone (Eisenberg) who becomes agitated when his new co-worker appears to be his physical twin, right down to the ill-fitting suit, but with a lot more charisma.
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MAY 16
Comedy
“Chef” (R)
Stars: Jon Favreau, Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo
The skinny: Everyone seems to be a foodie these days, so this movie, which blends breezy comedy with tomatillos and truffle oil, should hit the spot. Writer-director Favreau plays a talented chef whose hot-headed tweet gets him fired from an upscale restaurant, leading him to start a food truck.
Family, drama
“Million Dollar Arm” (PG)
Stars: Jon Hamm, Aasif Mandvi, Alan Arkin
The skinny: This summer’s feel-good sports movie stars Hamm as a sports agent seeking a quick fix and a fresh start after losing his job. Desperate times lead him to India, where he recruits cricketers whom he hopes to transform into major league pitchers.
Action
“Godzilla” (PG-13)
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen
The skinny: With some free time now that “Breaking Bad” is over, Cranston plays the role every apocalyptic film needs: the everyman who might save humanity from a city-crushing creature.
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MAY 23
Action
“X-Men: Days of Future Past” (PG-13)
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender
The skinny: Jackman can sing and dance with the best of them, but his real passion seems to be growling and brawling. He again returns to the role of Wolverine for another “X-Men” installment, which finds him time-traveling to the 1970s to alter history and potentially save man- and mutant-kind.
Comedy, romance
“Blended” (PG-13)
Stars: Drew Barrymore, Adam Sandler, Wendi McLendon-Covey
The skinny: It has been 10 years since Barrymore and Sandler played love interests in “50 First Dates” and more than 15 since they did the same in “The Wedding Singer.” History repeats itself with the story of two single parents who don’t hit it off on a blind date but coincidentally end up taking their children on the same African safari.
Drama
“Cold in July” (not yet rated)
Stars: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don Johnson
The skinny: Up-and-coming director Jim Mickle, who made the horror movie “We Are What We Are,” helms this 1980s-set thriller, which follows a Texas man (Hall) who kills an intruder and finds himself targeted by the deceased criminal’s father (Shepard).
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MAY 30
Comedy, action, romance
“A Million Ways to Die in the West” (R)
Stars: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson
The skinny: MacFarlane usually stays behind the scenes, but the writer-director is starring in his latest wacky dark comedy, which takes place in the old West. He plays a farmer just trying to survive until he meets a woman worth fighting (and very possibly dying) for.
Family-friendly, action, drama
“Maleficent” (PG)
Stars: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley
The skinny: Where does evil come from? That’s the question at the center of this live-action Disney adventure, which tells the origin story of the conniving queen from “Sleeping Beauty.” Jolie plays the title character.
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JUNE 6
Family-friendly, drama, romance
“The Fault in Our Stars” (PG-13)
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Willem Dafoe
The skinny: Don’t forget the tissues. The movie, based on a bestselling young adult novel by John Green, follows a teenager stricken with cancer (Woodley) who falls for a free-spirited boy (Elgort) set on teaching her how to live while she still can.
Action
“Edge of Tomorrow” (PG-13)
Stars: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton
The skinny: “Groundhog Day” meets “Pacific Rim” in this futuristic movie. Cruise plays a soldier defending mankind against an onslaught of aliens. The twist? Every time he dies, he gets a mulligan and is sent back in time to try again.
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JUNE 13
Family, action
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” (PG)
Stars: The voices of Jay Baruchel, Kristen Wiig, America Ferrera
The skinny: Following the success of the 2010 original, DreamWorks serves up a new adventure for Hiccup (Baruchel) and his flying fire-breather, Toothless.
Action, comedy
“22 Jump Street” (not yet rated)
Stars: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ice Cube
The skinny: “21 Jump Street” stormed the box office in the summer of 2012 — and wowed critics, too — and now Schmidt and Jenko (Hill and Tatum, respectively) return for more odd-couple buddy-cop hijinks. This time they’re going undercover at a college to try to infiltrate a drug ring.
Comedy, romance
“Obvious Child” (R)
Stars: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann
The skinny: If you’re looking for an edgy twist on the typical rom-com, writer-director Gillian Robespierre’s feature debut should do the trick. Slate plays a stand-up comedian who gets pregnant after a one-night stand and needs to find a way to tell the father (who she actually kind of likes) that she plans to get an abortion.
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JUNE 20
Comedy
“Think Like a Man Too” (PG-13)
Stars: Kevin Hart, Gabrielle Union, Michael Ealy
The skinny: All the characters from the 2012 hit travel to Las Vegas for a wedding. But bar fights, arrests and drunken mishaps threaten to stall holy matrimony.
Drama, action
“The Rover” (R)
Stars: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy
The skinny: Writer-director David Michod has a talent for portraying desolate and suspenseful scenarios, as in 2010’s “Animal Kingdom.” This time he sets his drama in a post-apocalyptic time when a man (Pearce) holds hostage the injured member of a gang (Pattinson) that is terrorizing the Australian outback.
Drama
“Venus in Fur” (not yet rated)
Stars: Emmanuelle Seigner, Mathieu Amalric
The skinny: Playwright David Ives won a Tony Award for this two-handed battle of the sexes, which Roman Polanski has adapted for the screen. The darkly comic movie follows a director (Amalric) unable to find an actress for his new play until Vanda (Seigner) shows up for the casting call with loads of talent, but also leather, whips and a taste for sadism.
Drama
“Jersey Boys” (R)
Stars: John Lloyd Young, Christopher Walken, Vincent Piazza
The skinny: Another adaptation of a Tony winner, this musical is directed by Clint Eastwood and tells the story of Frankie Valli’s rise to fame with the Four Seasons. Young, who played Valli on Broadway, reprises his role.
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JUNE 27
Action
“Transformers: Age of Extinction” (not yet rated)
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor
The skinny: Michael Bay is back directing the fourth “Transformers” installment. A new cast will help breathe life into the franchise, led by action-movie virtuoso Wahlberg.
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JULY 2
Comedy
“Tammy” (R)
Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Dan Aykroyd
The skinny: McCarthy is turning into the queen of female-driven summer comedy. After the success of “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat,” she takes the lead in this road trip movie about a woman whose lost job and cheating husband inspire her to drive to Niagara Falls with her lewd, alcoholic grandmother (Sarandon).
Action, horror
“Deliver Us From Evil” (not yet rated)
Stars: Eric Bana, Edgar Ramirez, Olivia Munn
The skinny: Horrifying exorcism movies tend to do well at the box office (see 2012’s universally panned “The Devil Inside,” which brought in more than $100 million worldwide). This movie has the potential to be just such a hit. Bana plays a cop who teams with a devil-banishing type of priest (Ramirez) to investigate a spate of crimes.
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JULY 11
Romance
“Begin Again” (R)
Stars: Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld
The skinny: John Carney, who wrote and directed the sweet crowd-pleaser “Once,” presents another music-driven dramedy. Ruffalo plays a recently fired record executive who stumbles upon a musician (Knightley) who has been living in the shadow of her rock star ex-boyfriend.
Drama
“Boyhood” (R)
Stars: Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke
The skinny: On the heels of an Oscar nomination for “Before Midnight,” writer-director Richard Linklater presents an unorthodox coming-of-age movie. Linklater shot the film over 12 years to show the real age progression of Coltrane, who is now 19. He plays a child of divorced parents, navigating the confusing, universal path toward adulthood.
Action
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (not yet rated)
Stars: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Jason Clarke
The skinny: The movie takes place a decade after 2011’s surprise smash “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and finds primate Caesar (a CGI version of Andy Serkis) and his colony taking on mankind.
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JULY 18
Action, horror
“The Purge: Anarchy” (not yet rated)
Stars: Frank Grillo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez
The skinny: One of last summer’s biggest sleeper hits was “The Purge,” and writer-director James DeMonaco managed to churn out another installment in short order. The sequel follows a disparate group of people stranded on the streets when the annual 12-hour period of legalized murder begins.
Action
“Jupiter Ascending” (not yet rated)
Stars: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean
The skinny: The Wachowski siblings, the masterminds of the “Matrix” trilogy, wrote and directed this futuristic fantasy about Jupiter Jones (Kunis), a cleaning woman who finds out she’s destined to rule the universe. Apparently underemployment is a problem in the future, too.
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JULY 25
Action
“Hercules” (not yet rated)
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, John Hurt, Ian McShane
The skinny: The second Hercules movie of the year — Kellan Lutz starred in “The Legend of Hercules” in January — at least promises better casting. In this case, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays the muscled adventurous son of Zeus.
Drama
“A Most Wanted Man” (not yet rated)
Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright
The skinny: Don’t expect high-octane, Jason Bourne-level action in this cerebral spy thriller, based on a John le Carre novel. Hoffman, in one of his last movies, plays a German intelligence agent who will stop at nothing to figure out whether a mysterious immigrant has terrorist connections.
Comedy
Sex Tape (not yet rated)
Stars: Jason Segel, Cameron Diaz, Rob Corddry
The skinny: When a married couple, played by Segel and Diaz, try to spice up their romance by making a home movie, things definitely get interesting — but not in the way they expected. Their directorial debut inadvertently ends up in the hands of their friends and acquaintances.
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AUGUST 1
Drama
“Get on Up” (not yet rated)
Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Octavia Spencer, Nelsan Ellis
The skinny: Boseman’s star continues to rise. After playing Jackie Robinson in last spring’s “42,” he portrays another important historical figure: funk icon James Brown.
Drama
“Calvary” (not yet rated)
Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly
The skinny: Irish writers have the dark comedy thing down, and John Michael McDonagh (“The Guard”) is no exception. He re-teams with Gleeson for this movie about a priest whose life is threatened by a mysterious figure during confession. But who from his parish is out to get him?
Action
“Guardians of the Galaxy” (not yet rated)
Stars: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel (voice)
The skinny: Yet another Marvel adaptation hits the summer screen. Pratt, ever the unlikely hero, plays Peter Quill, the leader of a ragtag group of oddballs that might save the universe. But it probably won’t be pretty.
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AUGUST 8
Action, comedy
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (not yet rated)
Stars: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner
The skinny: Duuuuuuude. The artfully named heroes in a half-shell have awakened from their long slumber for a new live action adventure.
Action
“Lucy” (not yet rated)
Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Analeigh Tipton
The skinny: Writer-director Luc Besson knows how to create a memorable protagonist; just look at “La Femme Nikita” and “The Professional.” Here, he has Johansson playing the role of a woman with supercharged brainpower and killer instincts who sets out to take down the men who turned her into a warrior genius.
Comedy, romance
“What If” (PG-13)
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Adam Driver
The skinny: Kazan plays the manic pixie dreamgirl yet again in this romantic dramedy about a guy (Radcliffe) who falls for a girl; when he finds out she’s taken, they decide to be friends. Sure, like that’ll work.
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AUGUST 15
Drama
“The Giver” (not yet rated)
Stars: Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaites
The skinny: Lois Lowry’s Newbery Medal-winning young adult novel comes to life in this movie about a futuristic society where pain and suffering have been erased from memory through government-sanctioned injections. But when one boy learns the secret behind his numbed compatriots, he becomes the target of Big Brother.
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AUGUST 22
Action
“Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” (not yet rated)
Stars: Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson
The skinny: Director Robert Rodriguez ushers another stylized adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novels onto the screen. Like its 2005 predecessor, the movie follows the many inhabitants of a metropolis where unsavory characters abound.
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AUGUST 29
Drama, romance
“Love Is Strange” (Unrated)
Stars: John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei
The skinny: Picking up praise at the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals, this lightly comic drama follows a gay couple (Lithgow and Molina) living in New York. When they decide to get married after four decades together, one loses his job, and the men end up separated as houseguests as they try to find affordable living arrangements.