For many of us, the season of summer holds happy memories, positive vibes, and being outside. Here’s the best movies that will help you feel all nice and warm inside when the January blues hit!
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)
Cheaper By The Dozen follows comedy God Steve Martin as blundering father of twelve, Tom Baker. The first film was pretty good, featuring a hilarious scene of a dog attacking Ashton Kutcher’s crotch, but nothing can beat the summer vibes of the sequel! The Bakers head to their old lake house (*ahem* large cabin next to a lake) which promises water sports, holiday romances, and camping, but, as usual, toxic masculinity spoils the party! The lake house sits opposite the Murtaugh’s swankier mansion, where Murtaugh patriarch and arch nemesis of Tom, Jimmy (Eugene Levy) boasts a hot wife (Carmen Electra), better behaved children, and no crotch-attacking dog! The two fathers engage in a classic competition of ‘Whose kids are better at sports day’, but *spoiler alert*, no one wins! Instead, family love wins!
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is the perfect summer movie that makes you long for a lake house vacation in the countryside with your family. The film is brimming with nostalgic vibes that make you miss the fun of summer as a child, and you also get to see dance legend Alyson Stoner in her first movie roles! Win-win!
By Amy Scott-Munden
Via 20th Century Fox
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
In all honesty, I was never particularly attached to the season of summer when I was young. Yet, it undeniably captures a special kind of point and mood in all our lives. The word immediately springs to mind certain hazy memories of our youth, seemingly locked away at the back of the mind. It was a time full of warmth, of gleeful abandon. The desire for adventure and rebellion, of mischief. A time for newfound love, the endless possibility of self-discovery. Finally, of them all, there was change. All those moments, so soft and bright, absent of worry as we simply let ourselves go, remain tucked comfortably into the recesses of our mind.
And then, you grow old. You look back, and you can’t help doing so with some newfound slight of melancholy – some strange, alienating tinge of sadness at what has been lost. You realise something: it cannot be reclaimed. We simply cannot go back. The flame of the summer heat has ceased. Yes, it was beautiful. But it was also always temporary.
For me, no other film has managed to so perfectly capture the enormity of this complexity, and of the essence of summer, and in such a short time more than Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. Not just because the film is as delightful and sincere as the rest of Anderson’s work, with his masterful comprehension of youth as my personal ultimate favourite of his films, Rushmore, likewise evokes. Not just because it is downright hilarious, utterly heartfelt and visually impeccable, as is the Anderson standard. But because it helped me finally love summer – to be grateful for the sun as it shines down upon us in this moment. Just as Sam will paint the Moonrise Kingdom for eternity, searching to return, we, too, hold on with hopes of remembering what has been lost forever.
By Callum Nelmes
Via American Empirical Pictures/Indian Paintbrush
Aquamarine (2006)
There’s no doubt in my mind that my favourite movie to revisit each summer is Aquamarine (2006). I watch it as frequently as you’d watch Elf at Christmas, or eat an Easter egg in April. It’s one of those cosy movies that I’d quite happily watch again and again as it brings back fond memories from when I was younger. I was first introduced to Aquamarine at a sleepover. I remember my friend falling asleep whilst I stayed awake, loving the idea of mermaids and magic. From this point I became obsessed, and since then, I’ve introduced the film to my niece who is around the same age I was when I first watched it and equally obsessed.
Two best friends, Claire (played by Emma Roberts) and Hailey (played by JoJo) face their final summer together before Hailey has to move away. Desperate for her to stay, they make a wish to the universe which subsequently leads to a mermaid falling into their laps (not literally- more the local outdoor swimming pool). One night they discover a storm has flooded the beach-front swimming pool with debris from the sea. Oh and a mermaid! They decide to keep this find a secret when they learn that after helping Aquamarine (played by Sara Paxton) they get granted a wish. So begins a journey of a beautiful friendship with a mermaid that changes their world entirely.
At the heart, it’s a story of friendship with topics such as loss, love and growing up. It was very meaningful at a young age to see how much strength there is in friendship. Plus how love comes from friendship too. I highly recommend this movie to those who haven’t seen it. I for one am glad that I got to introduce it to my niece who equally can see how important friendship is.
By Rosie Spurrier
Via Twentieth Century Fox
