Staff Picks
Cinephile Summer
Collection
Feel the heat with these summertime flicks.
12 Angry Men
Published in 2011
A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system as riveting as it is spare, the iconic adaptation of Reginald Rose's teleplay stars Henry Fonda as the initially dissenting member of a jury of white men ready to pass judgment on a Puerto Rican teenager charged with murdering his father. What results is a saga of epic proportions that plays out in real time over ninety minutes in one sweltering room. One of the most radical big-screen courtroom dramas in cinema history.
Adventureland
Published in 2009
When James Brennan has to cancel his dream summer vacation and make some money for grad school, the only job he can get is at Adventureland, a tacky amusement park where the games are rigged and the rides make you hurl. But it's where he meets Em, and his rollercoaster ride to nowhere turns into the best summer ever.
Afire
Published in 2024
While vacationing by the Baltic Sea, writer Leon and photographer Felix are surprised to encounter Nadja, a mysterious young woman staying as a guest at the holiday home of Felix's family. Nadja soon distracts Leon from finishing his latest novel, not only because of her passionate liaison with lifeguard Devid but also because her brutal honesty forces Leon to confront his artistic inadequacies. As Nadja and Leon grow closer, an encroaching forest fire threatens the group and pushes the writer to discover whether he can truly care for anything beyond himself. Christian Petzold's acclaimed latest film was the winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival.
The Before Trilogy
Three Films by Richard Linklater
Published in 2017
Before sunrise: When a young American and a French beauty meet on the Eurail, he convinces her to spend time with him before he has to go back to the U.S. in the morning.
A Bigger Splash
Published in 2016
It's the story of a famous rock star vacationing with her lover on a remote Italian island. While the couple basks in the foreshadowing heat of the Mediterranean sun, their lives are soon disrupted by the unexpected visit of an old flame and his seductive daughter, creating a whirlwind of jealousy, passion and, ultimately, danger for everyone involved.
Body Heat
Published in 2006
A lawyer has a love affair with a woman and gets involved in a plot to kill her husband. Includes three new featurettes and interview footage from 1981 with Kathleen Turner and William Hurt.
Booksmart
Published in 2019
Told from a wildly original, fresh, and modern perspective, this is an unfiltered comedy about high school best friends and the bonds they create that last a lifetime. Capturing the spirit of the times, it is a coming-of-age story for a new generation.
A Brighter Summer Day
Published in 2016
Set in the early sixties in Taiwan, it is based on the true story of a crime that rocked the nation. A film of both sprawling scope and tender intimacy, this novelistic, patiently observed epic centers on the gradual, inexorable fall of a young teenager.
Call Me by Your Name
Published in 2018
It's the summer of 1983 in Italy, and Elio, a precocious 17-year-old, spends his days in his family's villa transcribing and playing classical music, reading and flirting with his friend Marzia. One day, Oliver, a charming American scholar arrives as the annual summer intern tasked with helping Elio's father, an eminent professor. Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.
Dazed and Confused
Published in 2006
America, 1976. The last day of school. Bongs blaze, bell-bottoms ring, and rock and roll rocks. Eavesdrop on a group of seniors-to-be and incoming freshman.
Dirty Dancing
Published in 2017
In the summer of 1963, innocent 17-year-old Baby vacations with her parents at a Catskills resort. One evening, she is drawn to the staff quarters by stirring music. There she meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, who is as experienced as Baby is naive. Baby soon becomes Johnny's pupil in dance and love.
Do the Right Thing
Published in 2019
It's the hottest day of the year in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Tensions are growing, with the only local businesses being a Korean grocery and Sal's Pizzeria. Mookie is Sal's delivery boy. Radio Raheem has the letters of love and hate written on his hands. He is defiant and together with a motivated Buggin Out, push Sal and his sons to their breaking point. The cops intervene, using force and brutality to apprehend the large Radio Raheem. He is unwilling to succumb to the over-excessive brutality of the police and the racist views of Sal and his family. The overzealous police officers don't understand the repercussions of the violence they just unleashed. The neighbors band together to protest this extreme form of pure, toxic bigotry. Mob mentality takes over and the other local non-African American store owners become threatened. Tempers flare and rage is in the air.
Dog Day Afternoon
Published in 2015
Based on the true story of a 1972 bank heist gone wrong. A robbery that was supposed to take ten minutes ends up being twelve hours, and turns into a media circus.
Falling Down
Published in 2009
After he's downsized from his job, an emotionally unstable man slowly loses his mind, unleashing on those that he sees as a detriment to society. Special features include commentary by Michael Douglas and Joel Schumacher, Deconstructing D-Fens: A Conversation With Michael Douglas, and theatrical trailer.
The Florida Project
Published in 2018
Set over one summer, the film follows precocious six year old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Disney World.
Jaws
Published in 2012
When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist and a grizzled shark hunter embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again.
The Kings of Summer
Published in 2013
Verging on adolescence, Joe finds himself more and more aggravated by his dad's attempts to control his life. Declaring freedom, Joe and his best buddy Patrick, along with an odd kid called Biaggio, escape to the woods. He declares that they're going to construct a house, just for them, with no parents or responsibility. There they discover that they are in control of their destinies, all alone out in the forest.
La Ciénaga = the Swamp
Published in 2015
"With a radical take on narrative, disturbing yet beautiful cinematography, and a highly sophisticated use of on- and offscreen sound, Martel turns her tale of a decaying bourgeois family, whiling away the hours of one sweaty, sticky summer, into a cinematic marvel. This visceral take on class, nature, sexuality, and the ways political turmoil and social stagnation can manifest in human relationships is a drama of amazing tactility and one of the great contemporary film debuts." -- Back of container.
Lady Bird
Published in 2018
The adventures of a young woman living in Northern California for a year.
The Long Hot Summer
Short stories create a drama of a domineering Southerner and a wandering handyman, who decides to stick around and marry the daughter. Newman and Woodward's first film together.
Low Tide
Published in 2019
Alan, Red, and Smitty spend high summer on the Jersey Shore, roving the boardwalk and getting into trouble. But the discovery of good old-fashioned treasure sets the friends on an escalating course of suspicion and violence in this atmospheric thriller.
Luca
Published in 2021
On the Italian Riviera, an unlikely but strong friendship grows between a human being and a sea monster disguised as a human.
Mamma Mia!
Published in 2019
Join the music, laughter, and fun of this irresistibly charming movie. This is a musical celebration of mothers, daughters, and fathers, and true loves lost and new ones found.
Mid90s
Published in 2019
The story of Stevie, a teenager growing up in Los Angeles. He struggles with his family, including his abusive older brother and co-dependent single mom. He also struggles with his richer friends at school. When Stevie befriends a crew of skateboarders, he learns some tough lessons about race, class, and privilege.
Midsommar
Published in 2019
After a family tragedy, a young American couple joins some friends at a midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village. What begins as a carefree summer holiday takes a sinister turn when the insular villagers invite their guests to partake in festivities that grow increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing.
Moonrise Kingdom
Published in 2015
On an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, two twelve-year-olds fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore, and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle.
Mr. Bean's Holiday
Published in 2007
Mr. Bean wins a camcorder and an all-expense paid vacation to the French Riviera, and along the way falls into a series of mishaps that are all caught on camera and entered into the Cannes Film Festival! Includes deleted scenes, featurettes, and more.
Only Yesterday
Published in 2016
After living her whole life in the city, 27-year-old Taeko decides to visit her relatives in the countryside. As she travels, memories of her youth resurface. And after meeting young farmer Toshio, she wonders if she's been true to the dreams of her childhood self.
Queer
Published in 2025
Lee, a solitary American in Mexico City, falls for a beautiful, elusive former soldier. Journeying together into the jungle, Lee sees, for the first time, the possibility of an intimate and infinite love.
Rear Window
Published in 2012
A wheelchair bound photographer spies on his neighbours from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
Roma
Published in 2020
"In Mexico City's upscale Colonia Roma district, a quiet but swift change is on its way. Pivoting around Dr Antonio's middle-bourgeoisie family, the lives of two women--the devoted live-in maid and housekeeper of Mixteco heritage, Cleo, and her academic employer, Sofía--become inextricably intertwined, as a seemingly ordinary business trip to Quebec paves the way for a bitter heartbreak. Over a span of one long year--from the quadrennial 1970s World Cup to the blood-drenched Corpus Christi Massacre--the unforeseen and sometimes unbearable complications of love; a new life amid death, and an almost stubborn will to find good in evil, pepper Sofía and Cleo's daily routines. And before irrevocable transformations and startling revelations, life always finds a way."--IMDb.
Roman Holiday
Published in 1953
A modern-day princess, rebelling against the royal obligations, explores Rome on her own. She meets an American newspaperman who, seeking an exclusive story, pretends ignorance of her true identity. But his plan falters as they fall in love. Stylishly directed by William Wyler, it's a romantic comedy that ranks as one of the most enjoyable films of all time.
A Room with a View
Published in 2015
A young, independent-minded, upper-class Edwardian woman who is trying to sort out her burgeoning romantic feelings, divided between an enigmatic free spirit she meets on vacation in Florence and the priggish bookworm to whom she becomes engaged back in the more corseted Surrey.
Stand by Me
Published in 2002
In a small woodsy Oregon town, a group of friends, sensitive Gordie, tough guy Chris, flamboyant Teddy, and scaredy-cat Vern are in search of a missing teenager's body. Wanting to be heroes in each other's and their hometown's eyes, they set out on an unforgettable two day journey that turns into an odyssey of self-discovery.
Stranger by the Lake
Published in 2014
Franck spends his summer vacation searching for companionship and sexual encounters at a popular cruising spot on the shores of a picturesque lake in rural France. One day, he meets Michel, an attractive yet darkly mysterious man and falls blindly in love. When a death occurs, Franck and Michel become the primary suspects but they choose to ignore the dangers and instead continue to engage in their passionate and potentially lethal relationship.
A Streetcar Namded Desire
Published in 2010
Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the restless years following WWII, this is a story of Blanche DuBois, a fragile and neurotic woman on a desperate prowl for someplace in the world to call her own.
Summer of 85
Published in 2021
When Alexis capsizes off the coast of Normandy, David comes to the rescue and soon opens the younger boy's eyes to a new horizon of friendship, art, and sexual bliss. David's worldly demeanor and Jewish heritage deliver an ardent jolt to Alexis's traditional, working-class upbringing. After Alexis begins working at the seaside shop owned by David's mother, the two lovers steal every possible moment for a fugitive kiss, a motorcycle ride, or a trip to the cinema. Their relationship is soon rocked by a host of challenges, including an unexpected sexual rival and a romantic oath that transcends life itself.
Summer with Monika
Published in 2012
Seventeen-year-old Monika and nineteen-year-old Harry Lund meet in a cafe. They spend a happy summer together, and soon Monika discovers that she is pregnant. They marry, but Monika is bored with taking care of the baby and the responsibilities of married life. She begins an affair with a former lover and their marriage falls apart.
When Marnie Was There
Published in 2015
When shy, artistic Anna moves to the seaside to live with her aunt and uncle, she stumbles upon an old mansion surrounded by marshes, and the mysterious young girl, Marnie, who lives there. The two girls instantly form a unique connection and friendship that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. As the days go by, a nearly magnetic pull draws Anna back to the Marsh house again and again, and she begins to piece together the truth surrounding her strange new friend.
Whisper of the Heart
Published in 2018
A schoolgirl named Shizuku, who longs to discover her true talents, meets the mysterious Seiji, a boy who is determined to follow his dreams, and The Baron, a magical cat who helps her listen to the whispers in her heart.