Summer is one of only two seasons in the Philippines. So unlike people from places with more exciting climates, we don’t really do a lot this time of the year. Being sweaty and sticky and irritable just dampens the excitement.

Some of us get lucky enough to be able to drive/fly/ride a boat to a nice beach, get wasted, meet an interesting person, get heartbroken, get wasted, and then return a better person. But most of us spend much of the two-month break comfortably nestled in our parents’ living room couch, taking advantage of their TV.

We feel for you, young millennials. So, we made a list of our favorite summer movies (in terms of theme, or setting, or just the coming-of-age feels) for you to live vicariously through.


Michael Cera plays Nick Twisp, a socially awkward, hormonal teenager who unexpectedly moves to a trailer park with his mom and her boyfriend Jerry (Zach Galifianakis). While there, he meets Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) and makes a connection with her but Sheeni has a boyfriend and Nick needs to return with Jerry and his mom to Oakland.

Basically, Nick’s a virgin and he wants Sheeni to deflower him but he’s too shy and things get too complicated so he creates an alter ego, François Dillinger, to help him achieve his goal, but chaos ensues.
 


“Wet Hot American Summer” doesn’t really teach you anything. It just makes you realize that sometimes children can be more responsible than adults because hormones.

And yep, Jon Hamm, Paul Rudd, Janeane Garofalo, Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler and Bradley Cooper in one highly underrated film.
 


Or more aptly put, One Fine Night in Hipsterville, features Nick (Michael Cera again, heehee) and Norah (“Two Broke Girls’” Kat Dennings) in their pursuit of the band Where’s Fluffy, getting over unhealthy relationships, finding the right person, and making that precarious first leap out of one’s comfort zone.

Like many items in this list, this one’s worth watching again (I’ve seen it more times than I’m willing to admit). And the soundtrack—featuring bands like Vampire Weekend, The Real Tuesday Weld and Band of Horses—will be well worth your precious iPod space.
 


Nothing should stop you, however ridiculous you may make yourself look, from getting the life (and the girl) you dream of. That’s what happens to Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg), a stuntman wannabe who thinks he’s living the life his late father would have wanted him to live. When his step dad gets sick, he takes it upon himself to raise the money to pay for the surgery.

Like anything with Andy Samberg in it, this feels like an extended SNL Short. But this one’s a strangely normal, wonderfully absurd story of family and friendship, and getting the girl of your dreams.
 


Jack Black plays Ignacio, a monk who’s spent most his life being put down by the people around him. He ends up living a double life as a luchador with his new found friend Esqueleto (who doesn’t believe in God, only believes in science).

It’s the type of film children would watch on loop from breakfast till bedtime till they’ve memorized all the lines because it’s full of good vibes and eagle powers. It’s so good that it’ll make you forget that you’re wasting your summer vacation watching too many movies.
 


Remember when your parents split up and it was sad and confusing and you felt like you hated everyone and that no one in this whole wide world could understand? This is the world of Duncan (Liam James) in “The Way Way Back” only made worse by an emotionally abusive sort of step dad (played by Steve Carell).

The film follows Duncan’s suffering and his effort (and luck) to find the kind of love you get from finding a “family” in an unexpected place.
 


If you’re 17 and Rolling Stone calls you to ask you to write for them, you wouldn’t even think about it. That’s exactly what William Miller (Patrick Fugit) did and he didn’t only get to travel with one of the biggest bands in their fictional universe, but he also got the experience of a lifetime.

Watching this now and seeing a younger Philip Seymour Hoffman just a couple of months after he died IRL makes the film a little more heartbreaking and sentimental.
 


Okay so there’s nothing summery about seeing Sean Penn looking like Robert Smith. But there’s also nothing as inspiring as seeing a man get a second chance at coming of age.

This Paolo Sorrentino film premiered in competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. And like most of Sorrentino’s lead characters, Cheyenne (Penn), at first comes off–white face, eyeliner, red lipstick and all–as an uncompromising, voluntary has-been. But life happens and he is forced to do things he would never have done.

And then there’s the Talking Heads theme song “This Must Be the Place,” which is all about resisting someone’s notion of home, when it’s where they’ve been all along.

Hi yo I got plenty of time/ Hi yo you got light in your eyes/ And you’re standing here beside me/ I love the passing of time/ Never for money/ Always for love/ Cover up say goodnight…say goodnight

 

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What are your favorite summer movies? Post the Youtube links and your feels in the Comments Section.
 

Jozza Alegre Palaganas

Jozza has two life pegs: Martha Stewart and Jonah Peretti. She dreams of one day owning a juicer and the Internet. In the meantime, she's 8List's managing editor.

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