Students are getting used to another semester of busy classes and their various extracurriculars. But before the semester really starts to pick up, take some time to watch a few films while you still have some time left. Kick back and revisit the past with these three throwbacks.

 

“Everybody Wants Some!!” (2016)

I know, I know. “2016? That’s not a throwback.” Trust me, Richard Linklater’s most recent project is a blast from the past.

“Richard Linklater? The guy who directed ‘Dazed and Confused’ and ‘Boyhood?’”

You guessed it, but this new project assumed new territory for Link. While “Dazed and Confused” surrounds the ins and outs of a ’70s high school summer, “Everybody Wants Some!!” explores new boundaries. Enter college — which for Linklater was an excuse to pump boobs, booze and bros into this coming of age tale of a college freshman. Set in the early ’80s on a college campus in Texas, “Everybody Wants Some!!” tells the story of the first week on campus for freshmen members of the university baseball team. Starring Blake Jenner as the new star recruit, the film’s quick wit and charismatic characters allow Linklater to really bring out the best of the 1980s. Jenner’s performance as a young pitcher intimidated by the new scenery adds a sense of bewilderment to the all relatable first weekend at college.

This period piece is a fun watch, with practical jokes and hijinks between teammates packed throughout. These interactions are extremely believable, but ultimately feel really loose, and add a lot of heart to the movie. The actors are all in their early 20s, which services their on screen camaraderie.

“Everybody Wants Some!!” is a great feel-good flick for any college movie night.

 

“Adventureland” (2009)

Set in 1987 in Pittsburgh, “Adventureland” surrounds protagonist James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) as he struggles to find success and happiness in his post-graduate world. When his parents aren’t able to help pay for graduate school, Brennan starts to work at Adventureland, a local, old, amusement park. While working at Adventureland, James falls for a girl (Kristen Stewart) and that’s when the real adventure begins.

I’m whatever on Jesse Eisenberg. I’m even more whatever on Kristen Stewart. “Twilight” — bro, don’t even get me started. Eisenberg is such a nerd. He’s always wearing a graphic tee under a zip up hoodie and jeans that are too big. Who wants to watch him slink around for two hours? Who wants to watch Kristen Stewart look like she just lost her puppy? They’re just so whatever.

But hey, in “Adventureland,” they are the right kind of whatever to pull off these roles. Both characters are bland by nature, seemingly possessing some kind of gloom while on camera. And it fits. Both the characters definitely have some baggage to bring to the table. Their lives are actually kind of crummy, so their miserable demeanors are actually justified.

Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig also star in this movie, the latter two performing as a couple who haphazardly run Adventureland. Any time Hader and Wiig are on screen, they steal the scene, as their marriage is just as uncanny as their own individual character quirks. Reynolds plays a middle aged guitarist working maintenance on the park, who comes across as the guy who used to be cool but now he just does maintenance on the park. Figures.

“Adventureland” works as a period rom-com, playing off the quirks of Eisenberg and Stewart in hopes of creating a genuine misfit romance.

 

“Election” (1999)

With the presidential election just a few months away, you’ve got to check out Alexander Payne’s “Election,” starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. Set in the late 1980s in Omaha, Nebraska, “Election” tells the story of high school civics teacher Mr. McAllister — Broderick — and his malintent quest to prevent popular senior Tracy Flick — Witherspoon — from winning the student body election. As they both become the bane of the other’s existence, the adversaries commit one dastardly deed after another in pursuit of the other’s destruction. All the while, McAllister and Flick maintain a hilariously calm persona to their constituents, creating a stage ripe for dramatic irony and dual meaning.

Personally, I am a huge fan of Reese Witherspoon. She’s been in some great movies — some bad ones too — but this is one of the goodies. She kills this role as a type-A personality, taking all the right notes and asking all the right questions. She is at times painfully prudent, and while she may be in charge of her own destiny, her mother — Colleen Camp — is in many ways steering the Flick Flag to the promised land of higher learning. If you ever had a friend with one of “those moms,” the dynamic between Witherspoon and Camp is a home run.

Matthew Broderick’s downfall in “Election” is among some of his best work. He is such a schmuck, painfully plodding through his career as a teacher and pathetically adopting his campaign against Tracy Flick as his poor man’s pipe dream. He is entirely pathetic and remarkably forgettable. So in that sense, more or less exactly like your high school civics teacher. Case and point.

“Election” is a great mix between comedy and drama, with its headlining actors delivering A+ performances.

 

Brian Hamlin is a junior communications and rhetorical studies major. His column appears weekly in Pulp. He can be reached at brhamlin@syr.edu.

Published on September 5, 2016 at 8:19 pm