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Summer cinema 2016

Photo credit: Marvel Studios, Marvel Entertainment

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The hot summer movie season is upon us! Captain America: Civil War, aka the Marvel Comics conflict that'll instigate a pair of Infinity War epics, kicks it off May 6. We know it'll be great already, thanks to overseas critics who saw it first. Thus, we can recommend it to anyone who isn't completely superheroed out after Deadpool and Batman v Superman. That's one down, with nine top picks to go. Let's take them in chronological order.

The Nice Guys is a violent comedy from writer-director Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3). It stars Ryan Gosling as a hapless private investigator who's obliged to work with a thumb-breaker (Russell Crowe) to find a missing girl in '70s L.A. The trailer is hilarious. That film debuts May 20.

After three big-budget family films duke it out over Memorial Day weekend, the wizards of Pixar rise on June 17 to rule the summer. Their superweapon this year is Finding Dory, the sequel to 2003's instant classic Finding Nemo. That film made close to a billion dollars. This amnesiac adventure should do just fine.

Roald Dahl has been dead for a quarter of a century, but his work and tone still dominate children's cinema. Pair his classic The BFG, a study in supersize bullying, with Steven Spielberg, the demigod who all but invented summer blockbusters, and you have a recipe for magic over Fourth of July weekend.

Ask an animal lover which movie he or she most eagerly awaits. The answer is likely to be The Secret Life of Pets (July 8), computer-crafted by Illumination Entertainment, home of Gru and his Minions. Illumination's gift for physical comedy is on full display, while Louis C.K. and Kevin Hart rock the voice-over microphone.

Online crybabies oozed from the woodwork to manwhine about Paul Feig's distaff update of Ghostbusters (July 15). That's embarrassing. Feig's take on the franchise stars four of the funniest performers in the English-speaking world. He's the genius who gave us Freaks and Geeks, Bridesmaids and Spy. So when someone asks you if Paul Feig is a comedy god, you say, "Yes!"

If adventure has a name in the 21st century, it must be Jason Bourne. Under the shaky-cam aegis of unimpeachable director Paul Greengrass (United 93), Matt Damon tears up Athens and the Las Vegas strip July 29. If Greengrass' prior episodes are any indication, the chase scenes alone will be worth the price of admission.

The Founder (Aug. 5) stars Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc, the traveling salesman who bought the Golden Arches out from under brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. Expect a razor-sharp script by Robert Siegel.

Comic book junkies are slobbering for Suicide Squad (also Aug. 5), in which Harley Quinn and the Joker somewhat-unite with a lineup of lesser DC villains. Their mission: unknown. Their major malfunctions: antisocial and borderline personality disorders. Their standout performance: Jared Leto, going full Method guano-psychotic as the Clown Prince of Crime.

For our 10th pick, we considered several high-budget spectacles saddled with dubious writing credits and/or troubled production histories:  Alice Through the Looking Glass, Independence Day 2: Resurgence, Star Trek Beyond, Warcraft, and X-Men: Apocalypse. We settled on Ben-Hur (Aug. 19), the remake of a not-so-great epic best remembered for one killer chariot race. Now imagine Ben-Hur slathered with CGI! Clearly Timur Bekmambatov did. He's the Kazakh maniac who gave us Night Watch, Wanted, and other effects-driven popcorn flicks that look rather better than they are. If that isn't your cup of Coca-Cola, try War Dogs, a dramedy about first-time arms dealers, that weekend.

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