28 April 2009

Listless Tuesdays: Top 5 School's Out Movies: Urban

It’s about that time. May is here and another year of school is about to be in the books. With that in mind, here are my Top 5 School’s Out movies.

5. Say Anything

This one begins with the music. It ends with one of the most poignant and often copied scenes in film history (most directly in Night at the Roxbury). One of those films that defined relationships and what was cool in the greatest decade for teen films, the 80’s.

4. Can’t Hardly Wait

Jennifer Love Hewitt headlines this film that carries a barely there storyline with an ensemble cast. The point isn’t whether or not the guy and the girl end up together. The point, is the end of the year party. Here, unlike during school, all elements of high school society are combined and allowed to enact their love, hate, revenge, scoring fantasies. This one also contains a great soundtrack headlined by GNR’s “Paradise City”.

3. Superbad

Easily, the film with the best one liners in this list. This film is laugh out loud funny the entire way through, but also tells a great story about the meaning of moving on.

2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off


While technically, this isn’t a last day of school film, it might as well be. The themes, setting, and feeling are all the same. This film portrays the cleverness of the Western World in all of its glory. Ferris, triumphs against every adult in the film, not because of his strength or will, but because of his quick thinking and the willingness of others to go the extra mile to help him, based on the confidence that he has earned from his peers.

1. Dazed and Confused

Linklater’s classic is certainly rooted in a time and place, but it hasn’t stopped this film from receiving more attention as time passes. The characters are impossibly cool. The cars are even cooler. I don’t have room here to go on about the music. Suffice it to say that the feeling of school being over pervades every frame. That presence makes this film not only the best on this list, but among the greats in my book.


One thing that I noticed from making this list, is that in many of these films the last day of school is important not because of the future that is unlocked, but rather because of the impending “no later than” date that they provide. They also happen to have great soundtracks.



1 comment:

  1. Cool concept for a blog... The 80's did have the best teen movies. Say Anything, Ferris Bueller definitely, and I would add Sixteen Candles (just say Jake Ryan to any girl over 20 and she'll know), St. Elmo's Fire, and The Breakfast Club.

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