Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

I don’t know where you are in the world, but the UK is an absolute scorcher right now. And though the days of “Summer Vacation” has long since been put out to pasture for me; Summer is Summer.

MOVIES

Everyone has experienced a different kind of Summer Holiday, and though on mine I didn’t discover any dead bodies, or jive and jazz with my besties at a luxury resort – the feelings these movies are reminiscent of have no barriers.

1. Before Sunrise (1995)
The first of Richard Linklater’s ‘Before’ trilogy, which stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as two young and hopeful individuals getting to know each other one day in a foreign city. It’s the sort of movie you watch that makes you think about the way you live your life, and face questions you didn’t know you had an answer to. The ultimate gap year love story for the lone wolf, and wandering soul.

2. Dazed and Confused (1993)
Coincidentally also written and directed by Richard Linklater, where Before Sunrise is all poetry and prose, Dazed and Confused explores the chaos of adolescence in the seventies. It’s the last day of school and in many ways the first day of vacation, and for the kids of Lee High School, everyone is looking to either leave their mark or turn over a new leaf.  And yes that is Ben Affleck, Parker Posey and Matthew McConaughey in his breakout role.

3. High School Musical 2 (2007)
Finally summer’s here, good to be chillin out – I’m off the clock, the pressures off now my girls what it’s all about. It would have saved a lot of time and heartbreak if Troy had kept his promise throughout the bulk of the movie. Say what you will about the franchise, High School Musical 2 was good clean fun that captured the youth and naivety of a wholesome summer, and the soundtrack is still an absolute bop.

4. Adventureland (2009)
In some ways and in absolutely no ways at all, I see this movie as parallel to Dazed and Confused. Set in the late eighties, college graduate Jessie Eisenberg sees his pre – Grad School plans to travel Europe take a less cultured turn when he ends up working the games booth at a run down Amusement park. Quirky characters, life lessons and learning to readjust.

5. Stand by Me (1986)
Narrated from an older and wiser vantage point, in 1959 four young friends take a trip through the woods to discover the rumored dead body of a child. Everyone has a specific point in their childhood that they can look back on with happy nostalgia and the remembrance of friends no longer kept in contact with. My favourite aspect of this movie is the retrospect. Looking back at how one has changed from a time almost forgotten.

TELEVISION

Short of featuring Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents and Love Island (Never) for the TV side of things, I did have to cheat ever so slightly when it came to the shows that screamed summer…

1. Phineas and Ferb (2007 – 2015)
There’s 104 days of summer vacation, and school comes along to end it… In the UK it’s more like 42 days. Either way, brothers Phineas and Ferb allow us to believe that even the most seemingly dull days holds the potential of turning into an extraordinary one. The adventures born from hanging out in the backyard with your friends is akin to those warm summer nights in adulthood that start with; one more drink.

 

2. Summerland (2004 – 2005)
Ava, a carefree fashion designer gains custody of her two nephews and her niece when their parents die in a car accident. Her new responsibilities force her to make child friendly adjustments to her lifestyle. Thankfully Ava’s flatmates are ready to step in and help raise the kids. This was a low key emotional show featuring the likes of a pre-High School Musical Zac Efron, 2000’s pop “sensation” Jesse McCartney, and Full House turned “Hallmark Movie” Queen Lori Loughlin as the shows star.

3. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015)
I won’t lie: I wasn’t a massive fan of this, show but I did like the idea of it… for the most part. In 1981 it’s the first day of camp for campers and councilors a like as they make friendships are formed, romance begins and they set up for the opening show. For me the comedy came from watching many of the actors reprise their role from the original 2001 movie the series is based. I’m talking a fully grown Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Bradley Cooper, and many more grown ass adults pretending to be eighteen. So strange.

4. Young and Hungry (2014 – Present)
A broke aspiring chef takes a job as a personal chef to a tech millionaire. A will they won’t they romance, crazy antics and slapstick comedy ensues exactly as you would expect. I know this is a cheat but the show airs in the summer and it’ a light and fluffy one that’s hard to hate. The characters may be predictable but they’re lovable too. Stars a grown up Emily Osment and is Executive Produced by Ashley Tisdale (I swear I didn’t plan all these Disney Channel Alums!).

5. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015 – Present)
Having been kidnapped by a Cult leader, Kimmy has lived in a bunker for most of her life. Finally free, Kimmy has a lot of life and lingo to catch up on. She heads to New York and is taken under the wing of an eccentric struggling actor. Akin to Young and Hungry – this Netflix Original series is a bright and carefree watch, that is perfect for those lounge about Summer afternoons…

And that is my Top Five.

Out of the ten, if I had to pick one summer to experience it would be Before Sunrise… followed ever so closely by Phineas and Ferb.

Young & Hungry and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt didn’t so much as scream summer as they did bleat it, so what you replace those shows with? I feel like I’m missing something really obvious…..

My Last Top Five: Book To Screen Adaptations
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