If you’ve been busy this summer or haven’t had the funds to make it to the theater, here are three of the most worthwhile films you missed.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”

The Marvel Cinematic Universe continued its third installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy on May 5. James Gunn returned to direct the film after the previous Guardian movies were widely successful in the box office and by fans. 

For the past year, Marvel fans have expressed their distaste for Marvel’s newer movies, as the past films such as “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “Eternals” have disappointed fans. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” did the opposite and showed that the franchise can still produce great movies. It was obvious that Gunn wanted to pull the audience’s heartstrings which is why this Marvel movie stood out among past films such as “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” which failed in the emotional aspect.  

The film follows Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and his team as they once again venture into space to complete a race against time mission that puts Rocket’s (Bradley Cooper) life at risk. The film explores Rocket’s past as a lab experiment, often switching between the present and Rocket’s past. 

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) returned in June to show the world how a movie about the multiverse is supposed to be executed. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” continues Miles’ story as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man while introducing the multiverse and thousands of different Spider-Men with it. These variations of Spider-Man make up the Spider-People who protect the existence of every universe and who begin to see Miles as a threat to the multiverse. 

The animation game has been upped in this film, resembling what a comic book would look like if the pages were enlarged and sped up. In some scenes, ink lines can be seen outlining a character or object to make it look like the hand of an artist is still present. 

New characters such as Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) and Spider-Man India (Karan Soni) embrace the young, comedic charm of the film, making them easy to fall in love with. “Across the Spider-Verse” proved to be the film of the summer with its cast of characters, animation and comic book style dialogue.

“Barbie”

Director Greta Gerwig is known for creating empowering films for women such as “Lady Bird” and “Little Women.” Her film “Barbie,” which was released on July 21, follows the same theme, and is arguably the most important film of the summer, if not the year. 

Based on Mattel’s famous and recognizable Barbie dolls, the movie follows Barbie (Margot Robbie) as she ventures from Barbieland into the real world with Ken (Ryan Gosling). As Barbie and Ken go down different paths after returning to Barbieland, Barbie represents every girl who grows up and realizes what an awful place the real world is. 

The film delves into themes such as patriarchy, gender equality, feminism and toxic masculinity, building off of issues that are present in the world today. Seeing the movie with no expectations ahead of time will have you surprised by the genius dialogue – and the fact that Gosling is a singer.