Ultimate Movie Year finds the best released films from weekends past to build an all-star lineup of cinema.

"Jaws"
Released June 20, 1975
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Where to Watch

We need to talk about summer movies, often considered the savior and bane of the film industry.

High-concept, big-budgeted movies marketed to the broadest audience possible tend to elicit scoffs from critics, and for a good reason. These movies have increasingly forsaken originality for familiarity, investing in tent-poled franchises that pump out derivative sequel and spinoffs. For the studios and producers, profitability is the goal, and quality is more of a happy accident. If watching multiple movies a week is your job, or you're a consumer paying to take your family to the theater, you can quickly see how the relentless march of blockbuster IP is exhausting.

And yet, when that happy accident happens, and you're in the theater surrounded by people, all fully engaged in the spectacle happening onscreen and reacting as one communal being, is nearly unbeatable as an experience. As the covid-19 pandemic has shuttered theaters across the world and delayed many high-profile projects, I can't be the only one who feels the loss of sitting in a dark auditorium with other fans to enjoy two to three hours of escapist entertainment.