Five Feel-Like Movies Students Should Watch This Summer
by Zora Fiset Morin
With summer quickly approaching and students soon having more time on their hands, we created a list of summer feel-like movies that are easy and fun to watch for the upcoming months.
- “Mid90s” (2018) Directed by Jonah Hill
“Mid90s” follows the story of Stevie, (also nicknamed “sunburn”) a 13-year-old living in Los Angeles during the 90’s who spends his summer navigating puberty and his troubled home life. He meets this group made up of four older teenagers, Fuckshit, Fourth Grade, Ruben, and Ray at a skate shop. Stevie looks up to the group as mentors and wants to be accepted by them as he is trying to find his identity. Stevie finds himself in situations that would be harmful to a 13-year-old boy like smoking, drinking, and hanging out with people half his age, but instead finds it thrilling and later finds the courage to stand up to his abusive older brother. This movie is brilliant and brings out raw emotions. It moves the viewer by not sugar coating the scenes but instead shows the realness of what being a teenager who grows up in or near poverty or bad home life can be like.
- “The Florida Project” (2017) Directed by Sean Baker
If you are looking for an emotionally moving movie that will make you smile through the tears, “The Florida Project” is for you. The movie follows the story of an adventurous six-year-old Mooney, along with her two friends and her single unemployed mother who lives in a budget motel in Florida. Though Mooney lives in poverty, she has no problem making every day seem like the most fun ones. Mooney’s attitude makes the film seem alive and will make you feel the same emotions she is going through all throughout the movie.
- “Hot Summer Night” (2018) Directed by Elijah Bynum
Hot Summer Night is set right here on Cape Cod and its main character Daniel is played by none other than Timothee Chalemet. Daniel is in town for the summer and experiences new adventures every scene from selling drugs to falling in love with his partner’s sister. This movie was extremely well executed, so much so that you can feel the summer heat through the screen. This movie will leave you feeling like you were just in a fever dream in a way that makes you want to go back to it.
- “The Way Way Back” (2013) Directed by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon
Emotional is one word that sums up this movie. Duncan is being forced to go to a summer house by his mom, and new boyfriend Trent, along with Trent’s daughter. Trent bullies Duncan all throughout the movie and makes him feel worthless. Duncan decides that he no longer spends his day near his mother’s boyfriend and leaves the house every day to escape to a water park, until he one day convinces one of the owners to give him a job. This movie has all of the good summer movie elements as well as a real message about family that will have you in awe by the end.
- “Adventureland” (2009) Directed by Greg Mottola
This movie has a similar feel as “The Way Way Back”, minus the family drama. James is a college student who no longer has the money to go on the trip he had been planning. In order to collect enough money to go on the trip he decides to get a job at an amusement park for the summer. Though he was not excited for the trip, he immediately starts to change his thinking once he meets Em, one of his coworkers. He immediately falls in love with her and does everything to be noticed and liked by her. This movie is a true coming of age movie that is lighthearted while also putting some reality in it that can make anyone relate.
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