For this summer soul, school starting back up is pretty much the worst. I figured I wasn’t the only one getting super depressed at the thought of resuming classes. So let me help you get up and out of the dumps with a Back-to-School Marathon!
1. Can’t Buy Me Love
See Patrick Dempsey before he became Dr. McDreamy. A geek, Ronald, who mows lawns in order to buy a telescope gives it all up to pay the most popular girl in school, Cindy, $1,000 to pretend to go out with him for a month. Dempsey plays Ronald as the lovable nerd gentleman ideal and Amanda Peterson gives an unforgettable performance as Cindy, the trendy girl who refreshingly doesn’t have it all figured out.
2. The Breakfast Club
I instantly loved this film after my parents took the liberty of introducing it to my sister and me. The iconic movie from the 80s revolves around a jock, a nerd, a punk, a princess, and a Goth, and how they all report to detention on Saturday. Once they get to know each other, they find they have more in common than they think. The film’s underlining idea is that no matter your standing, everyone feels like an outcast at some point.
3. Pretty In Pink
This film is another classic and extremely popular teen comedy-drama from director John Hughes and starring Brat Pack leader Molly Ringwald as a smart girl with her own individual outlook and style, who is torn between her affections for a rich, popular guy at her school and her best friend. This film highlights the tension that comes with dating someone from a different social sphere in a stylish yet thoughtful fashion. Besides, you can never have too much of the Brat Pack.
4. Mona Lisa Smile
With a predominantly female cast, including all-stars such as Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Ginnifer Goodwin, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal, this film is one of my absolute favorites. The plot centers on Katherine Watson, a recent UCLA graduate hired to teach art history at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College, in 1953. Watson disregards societal expectations and is determined to not fall prey to the outdated mores of society and the institution that embraces them. She challenges and inspires her traditional students to defy the lives they are expected to lead.
5. Dead Poets Society
"Carpe Diem!" is the takeaway from this story of freethinking educator John Keating, who arrives at the Tony Welton Academy in 1959, armed only with Whitman, Tennyson and the desire to encourage self-determination in his young male students. A classic of its genre made all the more poignant after the passing of the film's lead, Robin Williams. This film is sort of the definition of bittersweet for me. With an inspiring plot and fantastic cast of characters, it is a film you won’t soon forget.
6. Good Will Hunting
Will Hunting has a genius-level IQ, but chooses to work as a janitor at MIT. Will unintentionally catches the eye of a professor when he solves a difficult graduate-level math problem. The professor, fascinated with Will’s incredible mathematics skills, decides to help the misguided youth reach his potential. However, when Will is arrested for attacking a police officer, the professor makes a deal to get leniency for him if he will get treatment from therapist Sean Maguire, played by the late Robin Williams. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon both wrote and star in this fantastic depiction of a boy coming to terms with his tortured past to finally become a man. Robin Williams only ever won one Academy Award for "Good Will Hunting," but it was definitely well deserved.
7. Rushmore
Max Fischer is Rushmore Academy’s worst student. However, he’s the member, founder, or president of a bunch of extracurricular activity clubs. He meets one of the school’s teachers and falls madly in love with her. An industrialist named Herman Blume befriends Max and also falls in love with the teacher. Max moves from one point in his life to another as if nothing is ever connected. Even in his extreme eccentricity, I feel like most students can relate to Max in one way or another. This film is also a classic and a must-see for any Wes Anderson fan.
8. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
In the dead of night, a young orphan is visited by a giant and discovers he has magical powers and must attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At the school, he will learn his craft and uncover his true destiny. Based on the first novel of the hugely popular series of "Harry Potter" books by British author J.K. Rowling, the movie follows Harry as he makes what will become lifelong friends, develops his magical gifts, and learns that darkness lies in wait in the form of "he who must not be named." This film is perfect for reminiscing how much you wished you had received your own Hogwarts letter.
9. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Okay, more 80s, I know. This movie is about high school senior Ferris Bueller and how he decides to skip school, bringing his girlfriend and best friend with him. They spend the whole day getting into all kinds of shenanigans and hiding from their school’s dean, and its hilarious. Slapstick comedy is balanced by tender moments between the film’s three central characters.
10. Napoleon Dynamite
If this movie doesn’t get you excited for back to school, I don’t know what will. This movie is hilarious, and revolves around awkward teen Napoleon Dynamite, who has trouble fitting in. With him befriending the new kid, helping him run for class president, and an epic dance moment, this just shows some of the better times you’ll have in school.
Anyway, I hope you have a killer time this semester.
