The weather outside may be frightfully cold. Inside you may be bundled up in sweaters, blankets and fuzzy socks while the fire roars…but, with just the click of a button you can transport yourself to a warmer climate, where beauty and sunshine reign supreme! Pick one of these films and find yourself in summertime, where the living is easy, the temperature is perfect, and there is time to sit outside and watch the lightning bugs glow.
Now and Then (1995)
This coming-of-age movie involves four girlfriends who have an unforgettable summer in 1970. They save their money to buy a treehouse from Sears, spend the summer conducting séances, trading pranks with the local group of terrorizing boys, and riding their bikes all over town. The girls reunite as adults to support one of them through her first pregnancy and find themselves reminiscing about their past and how their lives were shaped by it. Starring Demi Moore, Melanie Griffith, Rosie O’Donnell and Rita Wilson.
The Notebook (2004)
Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling), a mill worker and Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams), a girl from a wealthy family, meet and fall in love in 1940s South Carolina. Allie’s family does not approve of the relationship and sends Allie away to college in New York. After their split, Noah goes off to serve in World War II, and Allie meets and gets engaged to Lon Hammond (James Marsden). When Noah returns from war and reconnects with Allie just before her wedding, it becomes very clear that their love for each other is anything but over.
Mama Mia (2008)
Set on a beautiful Greek Island, Donna (Meryl Streep), an independent hotelier, is preparing for her daughter Sophie’s (Amanda Seyfried) wedding with the help of two old friends. Through reading her mother’s diary, Sophie discovers one of the three men that are written about could potentially be her father, and she invites all three of them to the wedding without a word to her mother. Her hope is to have her real father escort her down the aisle on her wedding day.
The Long Hot Summer (1958)
Handsome drifter and conman Ben Quick (Paul Newman) arrives in a small Mississippi town (one his late father called home) and quickly insinuates himself into the town’s richest family, the Varners. The proud young man’s determination eventually wins over civic leader Will Varner (Orson Welles), who concludes Ben might be the right man for his daughter, Clara (Joanne Woodward). This decision does not sit well with others in the family.
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
If you’re looking for some big laughs with a side of inappropriate humor. This “camp” comedy will meet your criteria. Set on the last day of camp, in the hot summer of 1981, the movie follows a group of counselors who are trying to tie up loose ends before the day is over and everyone goes home. Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Janeane Garofalo, Bradly Cooper, Elizabeth Banks…and too many other funny people to mention star in this film that will have you laughing your head off at stupid, juvenile jokes that are so funny you’ll forget all about the freezing temps outside.
Rear Window (1954)
An American mystery thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film stars James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr. It is considered by many filmgoers, critics, and scholars, to be one of Hitchcock’s best and one of the greatest movies ever made. The story involves a news photographer who is confined to a wheelchair after an accident. He spends his time watching the occupants of neighboring apartments through a telephoto lens and binoculars. After witnessing a series of events he does not understand and is not mobile enough to investigate, he becomes convinced that a murder has taken place.
How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
Stella (Angela Bassett) and her best friend Delilah (Whoopi Goldberg) head to Jamaica for a vacation, where Stella, a 40-year-old, hard-working stockbroker, meets Winston (Taye Diggs), a handsome 20-something who seems great for a fling, but nothing beyond that. As the vacation comes to a close, Stella and Winston begin to realize the depth of their feelings for one another and have to make some decisions about whether or not the relationship has a chance to move forward.
Beaches (1988)
Hillary (Barbara Hershey) and CC (Bette Midler) meet as children vacationing in Atlantic City, N.J., and remain friends throughout the decades. As CC, a loud, outspoken New Yorker, pursues a singing and acting career, Hillary, a stoic, reserved Californian, becomes a successful lawyer. They come into and out of each other’s lives, often quarreling and distancing themselves, but always coming back together when one really needs the other.
