It's the middle of July, so that means we're smack dab in the middle of my favorite season. A few days ago, I wrote about my affinity for summer flicks and why I love them so much. After much deliberation, I have composed a list of my personal favorites. These movies weren't necessarily released in the summer, but did a memorable job in capturing the glory of this treasured time of year. My list is not ranked and is in no particular order.
"Jaws"-Hollywood's first summer blockbuster was about a terrifying summer on the fictional Amity Island (played by Martha's Vineyard)
"61*"-fantastic HBO drama about Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris's pursuit of Babe Ruth's single season home run record during the magical summer of 1961. The best and most realistic baseball movie I've ever seen
"Independence Day"-classic summer blockbuster about an alien invasion in the first week of July. Pure entertainment and defines the phrase "popcorn flick"
"American Pie 2"-hilarious romp reunited the original cast at a house on Lake Michigan for their first summer back from college
"Gone Baby Gone"-Ben Affleck's masterpiece about a missing child investigation during a sweltering Boston summer. In my top five
"Super 8"-I discussed this more thoroughly in my other post, but it's about a group of kids in a small Ohio town during the summer of 1979. They're making a zombie movie when a train crash unleashes a mysterious monster near their homes.
"Wedding Crashers"-raunchy summer comedy where the incomparable duo of Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn take advantage of wedding season
"Crooklyn"-Spike Lee's semi-autobiographical portrait of an African American family's summer in 1970s Brooklyn and a fond recollection of innocent youth
"Bobby"-underrated drama about that fateful June day in 1968 when Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down in the Ambassador Hotel
"Mississippi Burning"-powerful movie depicting the FBI investigation of the strange disappearance of three civil rights workers in Mississippi during the turbulent summer of 1964 "when America was at war with itself" (the movie's tagline). One of my all time favorites
"Do the Right Thing"-the best of Spike Lee's storied career. Racial tensions bubble over on a sizzling summer day in Brooklyn, and Lee makes you feel the heat with an intensely red and orange color palette. You'll want an ice-cold glass of water after this one
"The Wackness"-Josh Peck as a lonely pot dealer/high school graduate drifting through the summer of 1994 in New York City. The movie is divided into three parts; June, July, and August, the three best months of the year
"Stand By Me"-Rob Reiner classic about four boys looking for a dead body during Labor Day weekend, 1959. Full of nostalgia for a simpler time
"Disturbia"-Shia Labeef is under house arrest for the summer when he begins to suspect his next door neighbor is a murderer
But for me, the best has to be...
"The Sandlot"-the summer of 1962 was a great time to be a kid, and this movie captures a magical time for nine ten year-old boys that just wanted to play baseball every day. This is the ultimate summer movie as far as I'm concerned since it has scenes involving baseball, the Fourth of July, campouts and a community swimming pool. 'Nuff said
Missing any of your personal favorites? Feel free to comment and let me know
how would you know that 1962 was a good time to be a kid? did you take your transporter and go back in time? thought so. for all you know maybe it was a bad time to be a kid.
ReplyDeletebased on the movie and my parents' (who grew up in the 60s and 70s) experiences
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