Beach
reads, grilled corn, baseball: These are the indulgences of summer. Movies,
too, especially when it’s hot as blazes outside and the coolest remedy is to
stay at home with a film and a pitcher of cold lemonade.
اضافة اعلان
Summer is the
season for fantasyland, for getaway cinema, which is why we asked each of our
genre columnists to choose a streamable film that screams summer. Blame it on
topsy-turvy 2022, but their picks turned out to be not all that sun-kissed.
Instead, there’s a runaway bus, an alien invasion, a woodland psychopath, and
sweaty elitists with blase dispositions.
In these films,
it’s summertime all right, but the livin’ ain’t easy. It sure is fun to watch,
though.
Action: ‘Speed’ (1994)Rent it on Amazon or YouTube.
Pop quiz, hot shot: Why is
“Speed” a fantastic, rip-roaring summer spectacle? Maybe it has to do with a
manic Dennis Hopper playing Howard Payne, an embittered, retired police officer
planting bombs around Los Angeles so that he might reap a reward far higher
than the flimsy gold watch he received from the department upon his retirement?
Or maybe it’s the kooky, murderous glee he displays when he manipulates young
and whip-smart SWAT officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) onto a bus primed to
detonate if the vehicle stops, slows below 50mph, or if Jack tries to evacuate
any of the hostages?
In those ways,
director Jan de Bont’s “Speed” is emblematic of other big, 1990s blockbuster
action-thrillers, such as the “Die Hard” series or “The Rock,” wherein major
explosions and grand chases are instigated by terrorist foes.
What separates
the film from others of its ilk, however, is the dynamic and youthful romance
shared by Reeves as Jack and Sandra Bullock as the unassuming wildcat and the
bus’s accidental driver, Annie Porter. Jack and Annie’s passion grows with
every hairpin turn, bracingly stitched together by editor John Wright, and
every intimate close-up of Jack guiding Annie through Payne’s multiple bids to
destroy the bus.
“The film’s
signature scene, in which Jack and Annie escape the vehicle, wrapped in each
other’s arms as they glide atop a floorboard across an airport tarmac, is the
swooning stuff that action movies are made of.” — Robert Daniels
Horror: ‘The Final Terror’ (1983)Stream it on Tubi.
One of my horror guilty pleasures is this summertime slasher film that was shot
in the Northern California wilderness in 1981, which was almost called “The
Forest PrimEvil.” The film is creepy, atmospheric, and boasts a starry cast —
for the ’80s, that is — that includes Daryl Hannah, Rachel Ward, and Adrian
Zmed.
The story is
pure formula: Young folks from a rural camp go to the woods to get intimate,
test their survival skills, and share ghost stories, including one about a
deranged woman who lives among the trees. The kids should have listened to
their bus driver (a wild-eyed Joe Pantoliano) when he warned them not to take
this trip, because a hulking sicko, camouflaged in a cloak of forest detritus,
is killing their friends. The final reckoning with the maniac is so
eye-poppingly directed, you will forgive the abrupt ending.
What makes this
a terrific summer scare is how director Andrew Davis (“The Fugitive”)
simultaneously finds beauty and menace in the season’s natural pleasures:
rushing waters, campfire camaraderie, sunlight through towering Redwoods. Much
of the action takes place in the wild, giving the thrills a sweaty, survivalist
edge, but Davis still pauses to paint quiet moments with artful, spectral
spookiness. I’m also a fan of the interracial cast — unusual for early ’80s
horror — and the 83-minute run time. Plus, it’s free to stream.
“Stick to ‘Friday the 13th’ for summer horror you
know. For an unexpected alternative, this sleeper is worth your time.” — Erik
Piepenburg
Science fiction: ‘Independence Day’ (1996)Stream it on Hulu.
Twenty-six years ago, Roland Emmerich delivered the epitome of the
summer blockbuster: big, loud, and unabashedly fun. The timing could not have
been better, either: Not only did the film come out on July 3, but the action
takes place over the three days of the title holiday. That time span, however,
is the only thing restrained about “Independence Day,” which revels in joyous,
ridiculous over-the-topness.
The pitch is
simple: Aliens have picked the American holiday to attack Earth, and only
President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), fighter pilot Steven Hiller (Will
Smith), and sexy engineer David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) are standing in their
way. “I could have been at a barbecue!” Hiller rails in a classic scene.
Humanity thanks him for his service.
“Independence Day”
is packed with supersize shots, such as Air Force One taking off in front of a
firestorm and a fleet of RVs crossing salt flats. But the film’s effectiveness
lies in its canny balance of the oversize and the minute. One second,
spaceships are wiping out entire cities; the next, Smith is punching an alien
in the face. And let’s not forget the memorable character actors beefing up the
supporting roles, from Brent Spiner’s Area 51 scientist to Randy Quaid’s
crop-dusting pilot.
“Despite clocking
in at two and a half hours, ‘Independence Day’ is remarkably brisk, especially
compared with our modern lumbering giants. Perhaps we need to thank Emmerich, a
disaster auteur with a genuine knack for entertainment, for his service as
well.” — Elisabeth Vincentelli
International: ‘La Ciénaga’ (2001)Stream it on HBO Max or the Criterion Channel.
You could watch “La Ciénaga” in an air-conditioned room in the chilly
depths of winter, and you would still find yourself wiping sweat from your
brow, swatting at imaginary mosquitoes, and reaching for a glass of cold wine.
Lucrecia Martel’s film swamps us in the sounds and sensations of a humid
Argentine summer: The whir of fans, the rumble of distant thunder, and the
snores of sleeping, perspiring adults fill the decrepit country home where
Mecha (Graciela Borges) and her cousin Tali (Mercedes Morán) gather their
families for an escape from the city.
There’s no
straightforward narrative arc in “La Ciénaga”; instead, the oppressive heat is
the plot, and Martel studies the instincts that it unleashes in her petty,
middle-class characters. At the start of the film, a group of adults drink and
lounge listlessly beside a fetid pool, and when Mecha trips and falls over a
tray of glasses, bleeding profusely, the others barely even twitch. The sun and
the wine have brought out the worst of their sluggishness and self-absorption,
and their lethargy permeates the film like smog. Their children, meanwhile, are
manic and restless, trying to combat the ennui of summer with adventures that
often end in injuries.
“Then there is the Indigenous help, attendants who
hover at the edges of the chaos, enduring crude insults, and endless demands
for ice and towels. Who gets vacation, and who works vacation? Who gets to be
idle, and thanks to whose labor? In ‘La Ciénaga,’ even the summer is an
unequally distributed resource, its malaise laying bare deeper social ills.” — Devika Girish.
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