In a summer full of comic book adaptations, sequels, and animated kids movies, there were still a number of worthy movies, mostly smaller, and more adult movies. Here is a mix of some of the best (and a few of the worst) movies of the summer.

Best

Before Midnight
The best film of the summer. It had no explosions, no car chases, and no end of the world mumbo jumbo. This is the third film in Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy, the first two being “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset,” and it follows the relationship of Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke). One film has come out every nine years, and it is an absolute joy watching two intelligent adults talk, and just talk, for long periods of time. The final act of the film is the two of them having a huge argument. I was more riveted with their words and performances than I was with any digital effect this summer.

The Bling Ring
Based on a true story, this comedy directed by Sofia Coppola is the best crime drama film of the past five years. The film captures, in a cold, matter-of-fact way, the lives of a group of teenagers and twenty-somethings who went around Los Angeles waltzing into celebrities’ homes and robbing them. I sat in disgust and disbelief for 90 minutes watching these stupid, horrible, vapid people. And I laughed throughout, especially at Emma Watson’s brilliant turn as an airhead thief.

The Conjuring
James Wan has improved greatly since the original “Saw.” This is not an original movie (it draws inspiration from “The Amityville Horror,” “The Exorcist,” “Poltergeist,” and “The Haunting,” just to name a few), but it is an economical one that relies on performances and tension rather than gore and violence and C.G.I. Even though it’s “based on a true story,” 95 percent of it has to be absolute hogwash. It doesn’t matter. It gets right what many modern horror movies get wrong: silence and suggestion is much scarier than sudden noises and cheap scares.

Fruitvale Station
Another movie “based on a true story,” this searing drama tells the infuriating and disheartening story of Oscar Grant III (Michael B. Jordan), a young African-American male who was shot and killed early on New Year’s Day in a subway station in 2008. Except for a few moments and scenes that pull on the heartstrings a little too hard, the film is a realistic, powerful portrait of a man who is shown not as a flawless martyr or a no-good, lowlife criminal but a complex man with a troubled past who was trying to get his life back in order. This is one of the few films so far this year that has serious Oscar buzz.

Love Is All You Need
Susanne Bier directed this Danish romantic dramedy that is frothy and fun but also deals with serious issues such as cancer, infidelity and aging. Bier has taken aspects of her previous films (believable characters and how they interact with each other) and placed them within a wedding surrounded by lush scenery à la “Mamma Mia.” This seems like it would not work, but it does beautifully. “Love” is genuinely sweet without being saccharine.

Pacific Rim
This is the best blockbuster of the summer. This is Guillermo del Toro’s big, loud take on Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots and the Japanese monster movies of his youth played on a massive scale. He and his writers created a wildly original universe in which giant robots fight giant monsters. There is a wit and even a grace to this smashing action film that is missing from most multi-million dollar extravaganzas.

Star Trek into Darkness
The only parts of the “Star Trek” franchise I’ve seen are the first five or six episodes of the original 60’s television show and J.J. Abrams’ 2009 film, but I thoroughly enjoyed this sci-fi sequel. It is exciting and fast with witty dialogue and well-drawn characters. Abrams knows how to make high-grade popcorn entertainment.

Worst

The Heat
I did not laugh once during this buddy cop comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. The leads are both gifted comediennes, and they have good chemistry, but the script just isn’t funny. The film wastes comic actors in serious supporting roles and also uses them in roles that would have been funnier for serious actors to play. McCarthy’s character is so loud and obnoxious that she is no fun to be around, especially for 117 minutes. Putting two females in a buddy cop movie seems like a good idea, but there needs to be laughs.

R.I.P.D.
This empty, bombastic comic book adaptation is a mix of “Men in Black” and “Ghostbusters” but without any of the fun of those movies. Ryan Reynolds plays a crooked but generally good-natured cop who gets killed in the line of duty and is transported into the R.I.P.D., the Rest in Peace Department. Basically he teams up in the afterlife with Bridges to capture Deados, criminals who have died and escaped judgment. To further explain the rules or the universe of this movie would be futile. The movie itself does not explain why most of the action is happening. A Guillermo del Toro or a young Terry Gilliam could have taken this intriguing premise and done something with it, but this movie just dies on the screen. Reynolds has no screen presence and just can’t act, while Jeff Bridges is very un-Dude in a grating, over-the-top variation of Rooster Cogburn of “True Grit,” and the two of them have no chemistry. There is one scene in which Reynolds hits a slobbering C.G.I. Deado in the crotch with the monster’s own severed arm, and it farts and vomits up gold on the sidewalk. This is not cinema at its finest.

We’re the Millers
Jason Sudeikis stars as a smalltime drug dealer who finds himself having to smuggle a load of pot back from Mexico. He decides to convince his lowlife neighbors and a homeless girl to pretend they are a family going on vacation, a charade to help distract the border guards from his actual reason for traveling. This “high” concept movie has a funny premise, but it chickens out and never becomes raunchy or funny enough. Mel Brooks said, “If you’re going to go up to the bell, ring it.” Like “The Heat,” this comedy is much too long. It takes detours along the way that go on forever and make the plantation scene in “Apocalypse Now” seem like a 30-second commercial. The characters don’t feel real (especially the “son” who feels like he is from a different movie, like a live action version of some cartoon show), and they often say lines that are meant to be funny but seem unnatural and untrue to the characters. Just re-watch National Lampoon’s “Vacation.”