The best movies to start this summer off right

Polygon’s readers, have a great summer. As the weather warms up, there’s plenty to do. Go to the beach. Join your buddies in a sport! Get a great book to read! Watch the latest blockbuster movie in an air-conditioned cinema!

No matter what your plans are for the summer, we’ve got movies that will go with them. We’ve put our heads together as a staff and came up with a selection of movies to help get you in the mood for summer, and then augment your enjoyment of the season once you get there. Each week, we’ll update this list with an additional entry, so you can join us in Polygon’s informal summer movie festival.

Enjoy!

All Want Some!!

Paramount Pictures

Year: 2016
Genre: Funny
Run time: 1h 57m
Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, Tyler Hoechlin

Enjoy the Summer with the Best Coming-of-Age Movies The following are some examples of how to get started: One of the most popular summer films in recent years.

Richard Linklater is back to his college comedy roots with this film about a Texas baseball team during the 1980s. The story takes place at the end of the summer vacation before school starts. New freshmen are moving in, upperclassmen are establishing their superiority, and everybody’s looking to have a good time.

This movie, which highlights the experiences of youths who are confident and have plenty of time to themselves, works thanks to its grounded environment and excellent cast. Wyatt Russell, Glen Powell, and the rest of this cast are all excellent in their scenes-stealing roles. The movie brings to life both being on an athletic team as well as being a student on campus. —Pete Volk

All Want Some!!Pluto TV is offering the stream for free, with advertisements. It can be purchased or rented digitally on Amazon, AppleGoogle Play, Vudu.

The Sun Rises

Columbia Pictures

Year: 1995
Genre: Romance
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Richard Linklater
Cast:Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy

Summer is the season of romance. Whether it’s friendships that blossom into lifelong love or situationships that peter out into lifelong lessons, the essence of the summer months is inseparable from the rush of excitement that comes with being with someone who truly gets you for who you are. The Sun Rises’s Jesse and Céline, played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, exemplify this perfectly. Their love is at once archetypal yet multifaceted; simple yet inevitably complicated by the feeling of never quite having enough time to do, say, or fully feel everything that’s on your heart and mind. Linklater’s Before trilogy is one of the greatest love stories ever committed to film, and it’s truly no coincidence that every installment in the series takes place during summer. There’s a season for all things, but no other season gets love quite like the summer. —Toussaint Egan

The Sun RisesYou can rent or buy digital copies of the film on Amazon, AppleGoogle Play, Vudu.

Summer of Soul

Image: Searchlight Pictures

Year: 2021
Genre:Documentary
Run time: 1h 58m
Director: Questlove
Cast: N/A

Questlove’s Oscar-winning documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival is the perfect watch for you and your loved ones this summer. While the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival coincided with Woodstock with a similar musical line-up, it was overlooked in comparison to other New York musical events at that time. This documentary explores this issue of lack of access and awareness, while highlighting the amazing talents of Nina Simone and Mahalia Jackson.

With fantastic musical performances and insightful context from modern-day interviews, it’s equally suited for a summer movie to watch or to put on in the background as a mood-setter while you brunch or play games or do other summer activities. —PV

Summer of Soul The streaming is on Disney PlusYou can also find out more about the following: HuluYou can rent or buy the digital version of. Amazon, AppleGoogle Play is available on Android devices. Vudu.

Then What?

Photo: Radius-TWC

Year: 2014
Genre: You can also read about Horror
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Cast:Maika, Keir, and Olivia Luccardi

The summer is one of those seasons that feels uncanny. Twilight Zone dimension. The weather gets hotter, and people just start acting… well, Weird.You Will Follow certainly isn’t the first supernatural horror thriller set during the summer, but in my humble opinion, it’s one of the best.

David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 film is my go-to summer film because its world exists on the border of mundanity and surreality, desolation and idyllicism, adolescence and adulthood. It’s about a group of teenagers tackling a vicious supernatural curse that stalks them like the spirit of puritanical punishment made manifest, where adults are either suspiciously absent or pointedly uninterested in the horrors surrounding them to the point of nearly bordering on complicity.You Will FollowThis is a really good film, one which feels perfect for summer viewing. —TE

Then What?It is now available as a digital download or rental on Netflix Amazon, AppleGoogle Play is a free app that allows you to download and install apps. Vudu.

Recess: School’s Out

Image: Walt Disney Pictures/Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Year: 2001
Genre: The Family
Run time: 1h 24m
Director: Chuck Sheetz
Cast: Andrew Lawrence, Rickey D’Shon Collins, Jason Davis

The summer is my favourite season. Recess: School’s Out. It was around that time, when I finished grade school, that the direct-to video movie of the adventure comedy series from 1997 came out and it hit me right in the face. You can also find out more about. After I realized that my friends were growing older, and becoming more distant from me, TJ’s story hit close to home.

The movie is the perfect summary of what made original so great RecessThis series was so much fun: zany characters, perfect jokes and a ridiculously absurd plot of an ex-secretary of education trying to eliminate summer vacations across the country with his army ninjas. If you take all of that out, however, what remains is a touching story of a child learning to accept the fact of growing older and to live in the present. —TE

Recess: School’s OutThe streaming is on Disney PlusYou can now rent or buy digital copies of the. Amazon, AppleGoogle Play, Vudu.