It’s the Summer Holidays, and time for some great films. But just because it’s the holidays that doesn’t mean that we need to stop with the education! This issue then, we take a look at summer blockbusters – big budgeted, action-packed, family-friendly (mostly) films that don’t take forever to watch and usually don’t need much thinking power to enjoy.
The added bonus is that each of these films have been carefully selected for not only their entertainment factor but also their ability to teach us something, with each film focused (loosely) around a different subject at school.
Dunkirk, iPlayer
Time for some History! Well, if History can be told through three different “speeds” and perspectives of the same events. With Oppenheimer out at cinemas Christopher Nolan is once again in the forefront of many minds, so it’s time to revisit this, one of his very best.
Telling the story of the evacuation of allied forces from Dunkirk in World War 2, Nolan brings his love for interesting manipulation of time and unique perspectives alongside classic features of a war film. Given that many will be broadly familiar with the real-life story (and if you’re not, the film does a great job in providing plenty of real-life detail and facts) the film instead takes an interesting approach to telling the story from three perspectives: the air, sea, and land.
The relative ‘speeds’ of each means that how each scene both feels and unfolds has its own perspective but also its own tone or feeling, and as they begin to culminate to reveal the overall picture of the event, the film provides a fascinating and compelling viewpoint. We’ll avoid ‘final third’ spoilers here but if you’re watching and struggling to work out “where it’s all going”, just wait until the final 30 minutes when you’ll be rewarded with a genuinely tense, spectacular, and innovative ending. A modern war classic.
Bill, iPlayer
Time for some drama! William Shakespeare lived over 500 years ago and during a time period of immense change and interest. He also lived during a time where record keeping wasn’t especially thorough, so there’s a lot we don’t know about ‘Bill’ Shakespeare. Using the fact that we don’t know a lot about certain parts of his life, the genuinely hilarious team behind children’s TV show Horrible Histories recreates a possible life story of Bill playing in a local band in Stratford (called Mortal Coil,) before he shuffles off to London to make his fortune as a playwright.
As with all Horrible Histories, the gags come at a rapid pace, the characters are varied, stupid but hugely entertaining and there’s an enjoyable mix of facts and real history alongside moments of made-up nonsense. The repeatable lines and jokes will win over even the most reticent of viewers and for those who like their films to be well-made, keep an eye on the camerawork. It’s really well-handled throughout and an excellent introduction to the world of film studies-look at how the placing of characters in the frame tells us about their status in the world. Plus: the film is only 80-something minutes short, so even if you’re not keen, it won’t stay around for long!
Deep Water Horizon, Netflix
Time for some geography! It’s not often that we’d recommended a film mostly for its sound mix, but this is a great example of a summer blockbuster really making the most out of its budget to do something quite spectacular. Yes, the CGI and action set-pieces are impressive and yes, resemble the classic Disaster films of the 70s and early 00s, (think The Towering Inferno and Day Before Tomorrow), but the sound here is genuinely something to pay attention to and to have as loud as possible.
Obviously, there’s an important message here with an exploration of what could be the largest environmental disasters in human history, but as a piece of dramatic entertainment, it’s a great way to understand what happened, why it happened and how it could be avoided in the future.
Sing, Netflix
Time for some music, obviously. For our money, Sing 2 is one of those rare beasts, a sequel better than the first film, but this is still great. As with any animation, the film lives and dies by the quality of its voice cast and Matthew McConaughey has no right being this charming as a koala bear with a dream. The soundtrack is excellent – a really nicely curated selection of classics and the voice cast are equal to the choices.
The whole thing is just about held together with a perfectly enjoyable narrative, but it’s the music and the performances that will stay with you and have you listening long after the film has finished.
She’s The Man, Netflix
Time for some Literature. Based on the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night, She’s the Man is a silly, throwaway teen comedy with laughable ideas, implausible moments and scenes of American teenagers playing football in a hugely unconvincing manner. But’s it’s also oddly hilarious and features Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum in early roles that suit the often-illogical nature of Shakespeare.
This doesn’t sound like a recommendation, but it is, partly just for the absurd fight scenes, but it’s an accessible and highly enjoyable introduction to Shakespeare.
Rocky 4, Amazon Prime
Time for some PE. And a bit of History. And some economics. And a bit of sociology. Everyone has probably seen this film numerous times, but here’s a reminder that it’s great, is less than 90 minutes long, features a robot butler, is mostly told in montage with some absurdly 80s music and by the end sees Rocky defeat communism through a very poor victory speech. It’s still great though.
