Here is a short list of movies you can watch while stressing out about all the tests you have to take this semester.
Rock-a-Doodle: One of Don Bluth’s, director of Thumbelina and Anastasia, early nineties classics. This live action/animated fantasy musical will satisfy all of your nostalgic needs and bring joy to your inner child. The story of a young boy taken from his home and put on a quest to save his family while making new friends along the way is heart touching and presents a potentially tearful viewing experience.
About Time: A 2013 romantic comedy starring Rachel McAdams, everyone’s favorite mean girl Regina George and star of The Notebook, and Domhnall Gleeson, from The Revenant and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This film comes from the creators of Love Actually and tells the story of an awkward young man coming into his own upon the discovery of a family secret.
Chef: This indie movie starring Sofia Vergara tells the story of a man who enters into a new phase in his career as a professional chef after a Twitter fiasco while building a relationship with his son along the way. The food in this movie will have you going back and forth to the kitchen trying to find a snack as mouth watering as Chef Carl Casper’s dishes.
Begin Again: A young British woman, Keira Knightley, is stuck in the states, while her musician boyfriend (Adam Levine) makes it big, and tries her hand at recording some music of her own with the help of a down-on-his-luck producer, Mark Ruffalo. This movie has some great songs and some comedic kick from James Corden.
Win Win: This 2011 comedy-drama tells the story of a struggling lawyer, played by Paul Giamatti, who takes in a young wrestling champion who is struggling with some problems of his own amidst family issues. You will feel for the complicated relationship between these two characters in their attempts to find some goodness in their lives.
Stuck in Love: Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins, and Nat Wolff play a family of writers living post-divorce and trying to find love in a world out of their control. This 2012 drama details a medley of relationships and the ways that they complicate things for this family over the course of a year.
Love and Mercy: A biopic about the life of Beach Boys singer-songwriter Brian Wilson shows the musicians struggle with abuse and mental illness both during and after his time in the spotlight. Paul Dano, John Cusack, and Elizabeth Banks combine their talents in this story spanning multiple decades. The movie features the most critically well-received music from the Beach Boys.
The Family Fang: This 2015 comedy-drama stars Nicole Kidman as an actress fighting a scandal and Jason Bateman as a writer who can’t seem to finish his new book. This movie tells the story of a brother-sister duo who have to live in the shadow of their performing artist parents who are still trying to shock the public after decades of hoaxes.
Photo courtesy of Gingerbot on flickr.com.