Grab Some Popcorn – It’s Our Summer Movie Guide

For many, summer is a great time to catch up on entertainment of all kinds. We’ve recently given you some recommendations for good books to read. But long days in the summer can also call for curling up and watching a good movie. Whether you’d rather go out to see the latest films in the theaters with popcorn in hand, or just Netflix and chill, we’ve hand-picked a list of movies to seek out this summer, from big screen releases to our personal digital screens.

Don’t forget that SUNY campuses and alumni have had their presence on the big screen through history as well. So if you’d like to see your campus on the big screen or witness the talent of SUNY alumni captured on film, we have included several movies with a SUNY connection on this list for your viewing pleasure.

Read on for our list, and let us know if there are others like these that are worth a watch!

In Theaters

Finding Dory

(Friday, June 17)
Millennials and young children alike will surely be flocking to see this sequel to the beloved 2003 film Finding Nemo. Ellen Degeneres’s forgetful character, a blue tang fish named Dory, is living in a tropical reef after the events of Finding Nemo when she remembers she has a family who may be missing her and decides to set out to find them. The sequel follows her journey and introduces Nemo fans to the new characters and sea creatures who help her in her quest.

The Infiltrator

(Wednesday, July 13)

Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston has turned the tables for this film, in which his character, a U.S. customs agent, goes undercover to infiltrate powerful drug cartels. The film is based on a true story: Robert Mazur’s autobiography of the same name describes his experiences undercover as a money launderer for cartels in the 1980s.

Ghostbusters

(Friday, July 15)
This remake of the 1984 classic has taken some flak, simply for being a remake, and also for featuring a predominantly female cast. However, many have also spoken up in support of the new Ghostbusters, excited to see female leads revitalize a classic in a new way. In it, comedians Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, authors who have been laughed off for their belief in ghosts team up to save haunted New York.

Jason Bourne

(Wednesday, July 29)

The self-titled, fifth movie in the series brings us back into the world of super spy Jason Bourne. Here, our hero resurfaces during an unstable time in the world. Thrown into the mix of these events, Bourne goes on a mission to uncover the hidden truths about his past and learn what made him the man he is today.

Suicide Squad

(Wednesday, August 5)

Instead of superheroes, this movie will take us into the lives of the supervillains of DC Comics fame. In this movie, a secret government agency needs help carrying out some dangerous missions. To get the job done, agents recruit the supervillains who are locked up in jail to execute the dangerous black ops missions to save the world from a powerful threat in exchange for clemency .

New to Netflix

Jurassic Park

Three films in this franchise, including the original, just became available for streaming at the beginning of June. The franchise follows the disastrous effects of bringing dinosaurs back from extinction and keeping them in an amusement park. You may have seen Jurassic World last year, but if by some miracle you haven’t seen the movie that started it all, be sure to catch up with it on Netflix this summer.

Orange is the New Black, Season 4

(Friday, June 17)
This isn’t a movie, but it is one of the most popular things on Netflix. The new season of OITNB will feature a whole new host of problems for Litchfield Penitentiary and its inmates. The prison will face overpopulation, while the female prisoners will struggle with racial and economic tensions, violence, and romantic entanglements.

Spotlight

(Wednesday, June 22)
Having won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, Spotlight will be a significant addition to Netflix streaming movies this month. The biopic tells the true story of the Boston Globe “Spotlight” team who uncovered child sexual abuse in the Catholic church in the early 2000s. (Bonus SUNY connection: Stanley Tucci, who plays an attorney in the film, is an alumnus of SUNY Purchase class of ’82!)

A SUNY Connection

The Rewrite

Binghamton University students get to see their school on the big screen in this film. The romantic comedy was written and directed by Binghamton alumnus Marc Lawrence, and it was filmed on campus! It features Hugh Grant as a screenwriter in a slump who feels refreshed when he begins teaching a screenwriting class, and falls in love with a single mother who is a student at the university. The Rewrite is available for DVD rental on Netflix.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Fans of the Coen brothers may be surprised to hear about the SUNY connection to this film: John Turturro, who plays an escaped convict named Pete, studied theatre arts at SUNY New Paltz. Set in the Great Depression era, this movie follows three men who break out of prison and encounter strange people and events that parallel Homer’s Odyssey. You can rent O Brother, Where Art Thou? as a Netflix DVD.

The Shawshank Redemption

You’ve likely already seen this classic, but you may not have known that Tim Robbins, who plays main character Andy Dufresne, attended SUNY Plattsburgh before finishing college at UCLA. The movie follows Andy’s struggles with violence and injustice as he is sentenced to the rest of his life in prison for a crime he did not commit. It is currently streaming on Netflix.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

This goofy movie, which has inspired some bizarre Internet memes, stars Kevin James as a mall cop whose overzealous dedication to his job ends up saving the mall and several employees and shoppers in the midst of a heist. You may know Kevin James from the TV show The King of Queens, but you may not have known he studied at SUNY Cortland, where he played football. This movie is available for Netflix DVD rental.