The mercury is rising constantly and the schools have already closed down. Yes, folks it is summer vacation time! The best thing about summer vacation is that it provides ample time to lounge in your PJs
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The mercury is rising constantly and the schools have already closed down. Yes, folks it is summer vacation time! The best thing about summer vacation is that it provides ample time to lounge in your PJs, laze around, commandeer the couch and watch some movies that revolve in some way around holidays. This week You! brings a list of films that you could enjoy in your time off...
Directed by Cameron Crowe, ‘Almost Famous’ centres on a 15-year-old rock journalist named William Miller. William begins writing for Creem and a few California newspapers. He later gets the call from Rolling Stone. William’s vacation of a lifetime is actually a semi-autobiographical story based on Crowe’s own experiences as a teenage writer for Rolling Stone. Parallel to his story is that of Penny Lane (Kate Hudson). A groupie, Penny steals the hearts of just about everyone she meets-including William, who is no match for her. He’s light-years behind when it comes to worldliness, but that doesn’t stop him from stepping up and being her only true friend when it really counts.
Set on the last day of camp, in the hot summer of 1981, ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ is directed by David Wain. The plot of the movie revolves around a group of counsellors who are each trying to complete their unfinished business before the day ends. The camp director, Beth (Janeane Garofalo) develops a crush on an astrophysicist, Henry, who is vacationing in a nearby cabin, which is played by David Hyde Pierce. The other major romance involves Katie (Marguerite Moreau), who has the hots for a callous hunk named Andy (Paul Rudd). The entire summer of unresolved post-traumatic stress, pending separations and the talent show, all weigh heavily on the minds of counsellors and campers alike.
A little girl called Olive (Abigail Breslin) has a shot at winning the Little Miss Sunshine contest in Redondo Beach, California, and for various reasons of economy and propriety, her whole crazy family has to accompany her there, travelling hundreds of miles together cross-country in a clapped-out old VW van. The sanity of everyone involved is stretched to the limit as the group’s quirks cause epic problems as they travel along their interstate route. Written by Michael Arndt, and directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ is a genial and breezy film, with a neatly engineered dramatic twist - yet the satiric intent is weirdly uncertain.
Directed by our favourite comedian Woody Allen, ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ refers to its three characters - Vicky, an earnest, cerebral young woman played by Britain’s Rebecca Hall; adventurous blonde Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) and the third character is the city of Barcelona itself. But all three are effortlessly upstaged by Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz), the passionate and crazy ex-wife of a moody Picasso-ish artist called Juan Antonio Gonzalo (Javier Bardem). This film involves affluent characters at various levels of sophistication, involved in the arts and the intrigues of love.
Starring Josh Peck as Luke, a down-and-out teenager living in New York City during the summer of 1994, the movie dishes up some prime ‘90s style and a cute coming-of-age story. ‘The Wackness’ is a surprisingly affecting story about how Luke and his therapist, Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), connect on a trip to Fire Island. Luke has girl troubles and self-esteem issues and the doc has problems of his own - his deteriorating marriage and midlife crisis. Over there they find their shared failures in love and a little marijuana, and a few good mix tapes that help them bond.
The movie is directed by Greg Mottola, and the story is about the summer of 1987. Recent college grad, James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) can’t wait to begin his long-anticipated dream trip to Europe. Unfortunately, James’ plans come to a screeching halt when his parents announce that they are unable to subsidize his trip. Forced to take a job at the local amusement park, James prepares for the worst summer ever, until he finds love with a captivating co-worker named Em (Kristen Stewart). Between awful shifts and shifty co-workers, the two form a bond that just outlasts summer vacation.
‘Taking Woodstock’ which is directed by Ang Lee is based on the book ‘Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life’ by Elliot Tiber. It is essentially a small, intimate film into which is fitted a peripheral view of the landmark event that took place on Aug. 15 through 18, 1969, on a dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y. The plot revolves around Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin), a painter and designer taking time out from his Manhattan day job to help out his overbearing parents at their rundown Catskills motel and goes into business with the festival’s hippie organisers. The movie is a gentle, meandering celebration of personal liberation at a moment when rigid social barriers were becoming more permeable, at least among the young.
Director J.J. Abrams in ‘Super 8’ shows the year 1979. School is out and so is some elusive, supernatural presence, which is released after a train collides with a pickup truck. Several youngsters (Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso) are making a zombie movie with a Super-8 camera. In the midst of filming, the friends witness a horrifying train derailment and are lucky to escape with their lives. They soon discover that the catastrophe was no accident, as a series of unexplained events and disappearances start to follow. Deputy Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler), the father of one of the kids, searches for the terrifying truth behind the crash.
