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20th Century Women (2016)
Available on: July 1
Director:Mike Mills |Runtime:1 h 59 min
Cast:Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Annette Bening, Billy Crudup
This coming-of-age film is a well of knowledge, focusing on how female role models are pivotal in a boy’s upbringing. In20th Century Women, a single mother named Dorothea (Annette Bening) is struggling to connect with her teenage son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). To guide him into becoming a respectable man, she asks her punk-rock tenant Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and her son’s best friend Julie (Elle Fanning) to help her raise him. As a result, Jamie grows up being exposed to different points of view and learns to power through all the challenges that come at a time of his life when everything feels uncertain.
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Good Will Hunting (1997)
Director:Gus Van Sant |Runtime:2 h 6 min
Cast:Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård
This two-time Academy Award-winner not only starsMatt DamonandBen Affleck, but its script was also written by them. The film is centered on twenty-year-old Will Hunting (Damon), a Math genius who was recently paroled from jail. While working as a cleaner at MIT, he caught the attention of Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgård) by answering a complicated math problem on the blackboard anonymously. To help Will have a fresh start, Lambeau offers him the opportunity to study Math under his supervision if he agrees to attend psychotherapy sessions with Dr. Sean McGuire (Robin Williams).
V for Vendetta (2005)
Director:James McTigue |Runtime:2 h 12 m
Cast:Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Rupert Graves, Stephen Rea
This DC Vertigo Comics adaptation to the screen appeals to various audiences because it has elements of sci-fi, romance, action, and dystopia all in one. Not to mention an intelligent and easily digestible script.V for Vendettafollows V (brilliantly portrayed byHugo Weaving), a masked vigilante known for orchestrating multiple terrorist attacks in other to overthrow the fascist totalitarian government that took over the UK. The film questions the role of the population when the authorities ruling the nation are no longer just.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Director:Quentin Tarantino |Runtime:2 h 34 min
Cast:Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis
This list would fail to overlook one of Tarantino’s masterpieces, which has just landed on Max.Samuel L. JacksonandJohn Travoltaplay two hitmen in charge of retrieving their boss' (Marsellus Wallace played byVing Rhames) stolen suitcase. While out on their mission, these two cross paths with Wallace’s wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), and washed-up boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis). Despite these individuals having nothing in common except being associated with Wallace, they go through all sorts of comical and violent situations together.
Dunkirk (2017)
Director:Christopher Nolan |Runtime:1 h 46 min
Cast:Fionn Whitehead, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy
War films are challenging to make and difficult to engage with viewers from start to finish.Christopher Nolan’sDunkirkis one of the rare few that is successful at doing both. Set in World War II, the film takes place at the beach in Dunkirk, where more than 300,000 Allies were stranded for over a week. What makes this production stand out is the way it is told from three different perspectives: soldiers on land, soldiers at sea, and soldiers in the air. It barely has dialogue, but the cinematography, visual effects, and sound (with music by the one and onlyHans Zimmer) are on point.
Election (1999)
Director:Alexander Payne|Runtime:1 h 43 min
Cast:Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Broderick, Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell
BeforeReese Witherspoonbecame Elle Woods, she played an annoying and nerdy high school student named Tracy Flick in the 1999 comedyElection. Flick was the only candidate running for student council president until civics teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) encouraged a varsity football player to be her runner-up. Although the plot seems goofy, the film essentially shows how in the world of politics, people can do whatever it takes to keep themselves on top. Morals and ethics are universal themes that speak to audiences regardless of their age range, and it is interesting to see these topics playing out through a student-teacher dynamic.
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Serendipity (2001)
Director:Peter Chelsom |Runtime:1 h 30 min
Cast:John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, Jeremy Piven, Bridget Moynahan
In case you are in the mood for a rom-com,Serendipityshould be on your radar. Like every good love story, it starts with a whirlwind romance during the holiday season. Jonathan (John Cusak) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) meet for the first time in their 20s, and it seems like love at first sight. Everything indicates they are a match made in heaven, but they live on opposite ends of the globe. Ten years later, these two must decide whether destiny should bring them back to each other. This film doesn’t have an over-the-top story but is an ideal comfort watch.
