Summer movie preview: Retro flicks

Welcome to the summer of 1985.

I’m not talking about the theme of time travel, that staple of warm-weather movies. But there’s something in the cinematic zeitgeist that reeks of 30-year-old Drakkar Noir. From George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” to “Straight Outta Compton,” there’s a distinct air of nostalgia in the multiplex for Reagan-era America.

Look at “Poltergeist,” a remake of the 1982 ghost story. Then there’s “Pixels,” an action-comedy about gamers defending the planet from weaponized Pac-Man monsters. “Terminator Genisys”? The fifth film in the sci-fi franchise takes place in 1984 – the year the series launched – as well as in 2017 and 2029. Even “San Andreas” feels like a throwback to a bygone age of disaster flicks, which peaked in the late 1970s.

It’s not just the popcorn flicks, either. The Brian Wilson biopic “Love & Mercy” jumps between the 1960s and the ’80s.

Pop star Rick Springfield makes an appearance – as Meryl Streep’s love interest – in the dramedy “Ricki and the Flash.” Playing a middle-aged rock singer, Streep covers songs by ’80s stars Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty.

In more contemporary news, this is the summer of Kristen Wiig and Paul Giamatti. Look for former “SNL” star Wiig in “Welcome to Me,” “Masterminds” and “Diary of a Teenage Girl,” the last of which isn’t a comedy. Giamatti is now officially the hardest-working man in showbiz, with appearances in “San Andreas,” “Love & Mercy,” “Madame Bovary” and “Straight Outta Compton.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Summer movie preview: Retro flicks."