Clockwise from upper left: Jaws (Screenshot), Do The Right Thing (Screenshot), and Iron Man (Screenshot)
This week, as America prepares to celebrate its independence, our question for the The A.V. Club staff is holiday-specific:
What’s the best movie to watch on the Fourth of July?
We kicked off this discussion by first posing it to readers on our Facebook page. Read on to find some of their picks along with The A.V. Club’s, and make your favorites known in the comments below. Happy Independence Day!
Jaws
Imagine you’ve been at a picnic all day. You’re sunburnt and dehydrated. That’s why you’re going home instead of to a park for fireworks (which, to be clear, is what you should be doing). Back in the air conditioning, you don’t want anything too heavy. You don’t want to sink (further) into the melancholy that comes from realizing how fast the summer is passing. You also don’t want to be bombarded with deafening action-movie shit. This is no time to watch the White House get blown up. It is time to watch a great white shark get blown up. may not be the most directly related to the holiday (though it does partially take place over a Fourth of July weekend), but when Brody shoots the oxygen tank, which the shark has been chewing on absentmindedly like a mouthguard, and its flesh explodes into the air, its skin and blood and organ chunks falling into the water, the gentle arc each piece makes is familiar enough. [Laura Adamczyk]
It’s so much a better story than the real story about Deep Throat that we learned later (which was just Mark Felt being upset at Nixon that he didn’t get the promotion he wanted).
A few years ago I read The FBI Pyramid, which was a book Felt wrote in 1979 about his FBI experience. I was curious about the book because of the knowledge that its author was secretly famous but hardly anyone knew that until 26 years later(in the book he strongly denies being Deep Throat). One thing in the book that’s unlikely to endear him to many people now is that he was a major J. Edgar Hoover fanboy.
It’s weird how Mark Felt (who was an obvious suspect at the time given his access to the dirty laundry of the Nixon administration and the motive to want to make it public) was dropped early on as a suspect merely because he basically said “Nope. Not me”.
It’s a shifty story but it’s what takes these guys down. Most of the testimony we are getting about Jan 6 is coming from people wronged by the president.
I think that’s common among people who don’t think of loyalty as a shared, reciprocal feeling—they say loyalty, but a more accurate word would be veneration.
It’s unfortunate the comments under the Mr. Freedom article have broken links now, with ellipsis in the urls. I’m guessing the earlier AV Club review of Mr. Freedom someone attempted to link was this:https://www.avclub.com/eclipse-series-9-the-delirious-fictions-of-william-kle-1798204208 Of course, now Kinja doesn’t permit clickable urls at all, and its own links to comments are broken.
Every year my household celebrates the traditional viewing of 1776. It was the musical about the Founding Fathers that made musicals about the Founding Fathers cool first. Our viewings are accompanied by singalongs and shouts of “Look! A serial rapist and murderer!” when various slave-owning characters are on screen. Because it’s about tradition, baby.
This is also my wife’s family’s tradition. However, they kinda hold a more reverential view of the Founding Fathers, so sadly that aspect of fun is missing. Ah, well.
Exactly. If anything 1776 was more in tune with modern sensibilities on this issue than Hamilton, which mostly just handled it by lampshading the fact that Washington and Jefferson were played by people of color, but not actually including much actual commentary in the text itself.
I remember this getting so-so reviews upon its release when I was a kid so I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how highly watchable it is and how much of it deals with slavery and the fact the Declaration of Independence is stained by inhumanity, greed and moral cowardice.Then there’s the scene where John Adams and Benjamin Franklin try to pay a visit on Thomas Jefferson only to have Martha Jefferson lean out a bedroom window and inform them that she and Thomas are too busy fucking (she’s played by Blythe Danner so, my god yes, bang away…)Also worth watching for the great and underrated William Daniels who is just terrific here.
I saw this on stage several years ago. The guy who sang Mama Look Sharp damn near broke the audience.Also, fun fact: 1776 holds the record for a Broadway musical with the longest time elapsed without a note of music played or sung between songs. Over a half hour elapses between The Lees of Old Virginia and Dear Mr Adams.
Apollo 13 is amazing, and a great film. A stat I was recently reminded of was the US never lost a person in space until the shuttles. The work we put forward to bring 13 back was huge.
That is a point. Apollo 1 was lost on the ground. Challenger I guess was lost in atmosphere. As to Colombia maybe you could call that space? They had no hope of reentering given the problem. But I think the big point is we never let our astronauts die when we faced the problem head on. That’s something the Soviets did not do. In Apollo 13 we did everything we could do to bring them back, and we did.
I’m about as straight as they come, but Jason Isaacs with his hair down and then casually stabbing Heath Ledger is probably the closest I get to just embracing hidden thoughts.
Jaws is the obvious (and correct!) answer, and Men In Black is a terrific counter-point to every dipshit who thinks Independence Day is any good. Also, don’t forget ”The Rocketeer.”
Fun fact: Will Smith’s character clearly and unambiguously says “Welcome to Earth.”The whole “welcome to erf” thing is vaguely racist. (I know you’re just repeating a joke and are not a racist, but best to leave this trope in the trash.)
Will did lean into it as his catch phrase a bit since he did a show on Disney+ called “Welcome to Earth” which wasn’t bad. He didn’t say it after punching Chris Rock though
It’s simultaneously racist and entirely believable as a pronunciation Smith would use. I remember seeing it for the first time after “Earf” became a thing and thinking “hey wait…he doesn’t say it like that at all!” And feeling kind of guilty about it.
Independence Day is a fun stupid movie to watch on the 4th. It’s not any better or worse then Men in Black. Not gonna suffer this hipster “Too Kool for Skool” attitude about it, dammit!!!The Rocketeer isn’t a 4th of July movies because it’s a everyday movie!!!!
Went to see Nashville on 35mm yesterday as a part of an Altman-4th of July program, and it might be my yearly 4th of July film, now. Sure, it’s ostensibly about the country music scene in Tennessee, but it’s really a film about America at large, and it feels like it coulda been written yesterday
“White House Down” should have been about a President, wanting to set a good example to the people, turns down the thermostat in his home in winter and raises geese on the lawn in order to make his own parkas to keep himself warm. Hijinks ensue.
As much as I, given that I am a Serb, have misgivings about 4th of July it has to be remembered that it was a time when a small and beleagured group of rebels decided to take on an imperialist world power bent on conquering the world and unleashing unspeakable atrocities upon the planet. This is why a Partisan movie like Walter Defends Sarajevo is the most appropriate choice.
Oh, wait, you thought I was talking about the AMERICAN 4th of July? Nuh, uh.
On 4th of July, 1941 Partisans started the uprisings against Nazi Germany who recently conquered and occupied Yugoslavia.
For this reason I think a film like Judas and the Black Messiah is a great Independence Day film- much as fucking an imperialist power’s shit up is great to celebrate, is it great that the US institutions that followed have codified that “independence” is inherent to blood and skin? It’s a deeply dark movie, and darker events in real life, but the tenacity of people like Fred Hampton, Huey P. Newton, and Bobby Seale, and the Black Panther Party as an organization, especially in the face of impossible odds, that shit is what I think should be the real American nationalist propaganda.
JAWS! It’s not unusual for it to be shown in theatres on the 4th, and it’s so much fun in a theatre. Several years ago I got a group of friends to go with me who’d never seen it. Ugh, to people who think of the movie JAWS as “Jaws movies”, as in “I’ve never seen a Jaws movie”. There’s only one JAWS!They all loved it btw, bigly. After, we were deciding what to do next (it was a matinee) and one said plaintively “I want to see JAWS again!”
I’ve always been so envious of my mom’s first experience seeing that movie, back when she was in her 20s and before I was born: she actually saw it on Martha’s Vineyard. Jaws remains one of my favorite reasons to visit MV whenever I get a chance, given it largely looks the same now as it did in the movie.
There was a wave pool near my grandparents’ house that would show it on a pop-up screen while you watched from an inner tube. Of course there are smartasses swimming around grabbing people’s feet and such. Big fun when you’re 12.
The thing is if you go without seeing Jaws for a while, like I did, you forget how good it is. It’s just so brilliantly paced. I watched it with my wife and son recently and afterwards my son was like “Aren’t there sequels” and I said “No!”
You beat me to it. In fact, this was the movie me and my roommate watched this past 4th. Relaxing, hilarious, ridiculous and fueled plenty of quality quips.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ 1 and 2 were so fun and beachy, I watch them every summer. And while ‘Jaws’ is the obvious go-to, may I also suggest ‘Jaws 3D’ specifically for the everlasting hotness that is Dennis Quaid, romping around Sea World in short shorts, which are finally being embraced by a new generation of dudes who dgaf. I rest my case.
“Predator Again” kinda sounds like a sit com about a divorced Predator trying to get back into the . . . Predator dating scene . . . whatever that might be. I don’t always think this stuff through that much.
This weekend I was actually lucky enough to be at a lakehouse with some friends and their families and wound up watching Hot Rod with the kids, which somehow I hadn’t seen before, and was a pretty perfect 4th of July movie.
I don’t have a patriotic bone in my body but come on…It’s an insanely enjoyable movie from a studio not typically
remembered for its musicals and not just for the jaw-dropping excess of the
“Grand Old Flag” number but the all around marvelous craftsmanship and irresistible
combination of Cagney and Curtiz. The dripping patriotism of the film is just populist
sugar coating. Warner Brothers was the only Democratic studio in
Hollywood and they threw their support behind Roosevelt and America’s
entry into WW II in a huge way after they’d already gotten
into political hot water prior to this by producing a number of
films about the evils of fascism and the Nazis when this country was still
in hardcore isolationist mode.I’m actually going to watch this
today. I just picked up the Blu-ray of William Friedkin’s “Sorcerer” and
I’m saving it for tomorrow as that seems like a much better way to observe
the real spirit of America.
The entire premise is alien to me. 4th of July is a holiday where no movies are watched because there’s no time for sitting in front of a screen. I can’t be alone in this. Likely one of the key reasons there aren’t a lot of “4th of July” movies.
You okay outside all day in the heat, eat dinner and then got like 3 hours to kill until it’s dark enough for the fireworks. Why not grab a bit of AC and watch a movie?Honestly our tradition is seeing fireworks on the 3rd and then on fourth grilling at home and setting up the outdoor projector I have to watch ID4 while we watch the fireworks shows in the area from our backyard.
Food and beer comaPlus July where I am at also means thunder storms so a lot 4th of Julys end up rained out and inside. Suppose to rain today actually which is good since we saw our Fireworks show last night anyways
It’s clear Independency Day wasn’t on the list because as most of you might have missed with all the bad things they did over the last few weeks. The Supreme Court made it mandatory that every home watch it on the 4th of July. Don’t ask how or why, they just did. In the same ruling they also said it was not cruel and unusual punishment to force prisoners to watch ID4: Resurgence, so it was a mixed bag.
Episode 2 of John Adams, Independence. While the series takes a few liberties (some bizarre) with Adams’s life, that episode is probably as close as we’re ever going to get for an accurate screen portrayal of 1775-1776, why the Colonies revolted, the behind the scenes politics, and the incredible risk taken by those propagating it.
What? …Does ‘THE PATRIOT’ somehow NOT say Independence Day to you?? It takes place before and
during The Revolution….It displays the varied sensibilities of the
times…..It depicts the horrors of combat…It is beautifully and
dramatically filmed …..and, yet…’THE PATRIOT’ does not make a list of ‘Best Movies To Watch On The Fourth of July’….?? It certainly does in my house….It heads the list! Followed up closely by: ‘The Last of the Mohicans’….’National Treasure’, And ‘Captain America; The First Avenger’.
No one else has Yankee Doodle Dandy as a tradition? I did not see it in the comments anywhere. Cagney at his best, as a song and dance man even though he is not very good at either, just sheer force of will.
Oh hey, looks like you folks reposted an article from a year ago and forgot to mention it. Weird how that keeps happening. Nice to have another chance to read some of the stuff from all those writers you unceremoniously fired, though.
Recently saw “The Devil and Daniel Webster” (“Everything Money Can Buy”), which seems to be a good Red State movie. “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, I’d agree. “The Story of G. I. Joe” is a sad Fourth movie. “Glory”, with all its absurdity, is not bad.
110 Comments
I was going mention Dick if you hadn’t, since no one seems to bring it up. Great job, it’s totally underrated and under appreciated.
It’s so much a better story than the real story about Deep Throat that we learned later (which was just Mark Felt being upset at Nixon that he didn’t get the promotion he wanted).
A few years ago I read The FBI Pyramid, which was a book Felt wrote in 1979 about his FBI experience. I was curious about the book because of the knowledge that its author was secretly famous but hardly anyone knew that until 26 years later(in the book he strongly denies being Deep Throat). One thing in the book that’s unlikely to endear him to many people now is that he was a major J. Edgar Hoover fanboy.
It’s weird how Mark Felt (who was an obvious suspect at the time given his access to the dirty laundry of the Nixon administration and the motive to want to make it public) was dropped early on as a suspect merely because he basically said “Nope. Not me”.
I remember John Dean said he was surprised because he assumed Felt didn’t have enough information to be Deep Throat.
It’s a shifty story but it’s what takes these guys down. Most of the testimony we are getting about Jan 6 is coming from people wronged by the president.
Trump cracks me up because he commands unquestioning loyalty but will throw anyone over the side for any reason, at any time.
I think that’s common among people who don’t think of loyalty as a shared, reciprocal feeling—they say loyalty, but a more accurate word would be veneration.
Deep Throat is as Deep Throat does.
Ok, since nobody seems to have:
He was going to mention dick.
It’s unfortunate the comments under the Mr. Freedom article have broken links now, with ellipsis in the urls. I’m guessing the earlier AV Club review of Mr. Freedom someone attempted to link was this:https://www.avclub.com/eclipse-series-9-the-delirious-fictions-of-william-kle-1798204208
Of course, now Kinja doesn’t permit clickable urls at all, and its own links to comments are broken.
Every year my household celebrates the traditional viewing of 1776. It was the musical about the Founding Fathers that made musicals about the Founding Fathers cool first. Our viewings are accompanied by singalongs and shouts of “Look! A serial rapist and murderer!” when various slave-owning characters are on screen. Because it’s about tradition, baby.
Can’t go wrong with William Daniels singing about how he could still bang.
Watching it right now! One of my favorites on any day, not just the Fourth.
This is also my wife’s family’s tradition. However, they kinda hold a more reverential view of the Founding Fathers, so sadly that aspect of fun is missing. Ah, well.
The only way to make The Founding Fathers cool is if a metrosexual brother makes them all rap.
Same, with the addition of my inevitably observing, “You know, this is easily in the top ten all-time cinematic songs about the triangle trade.”
And they didn’t shy away from talking about slavery and the hypocrisy of the owners supporting independence…..
Exactly. If anything 1776 was more in tune with modern sensibilities on this issue than Hamilton, which mostly just handled it by lampshading the fact that Washington and Jefferson were played by people of color, but not actually including much actual commentary in the text itself.
I remember this getting so-so reviews upon its release when I was a kid so I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how highly watchable it is and how much of it deals with slavery and the fact the Declaration of Independence is stained by inhumanity, greed and moral cowardice.Then there’s the scene where John Adams and Benjamin Franklin try to pay a visit on Thomas Jefferson only to have Martha Jefferson lean out a bedroom window and inform them that she and Thomas are too busy fucking (she’s played by Blythe Danner so, my god yes, bang away…)Also worth watching for the great and underrated William Daniels who is just terrific here.
Are you my brother? My parents do this every year
I saw this on stage several years ago. The guy who sang Mama Look Sharp damn near broke the audience.Also, fun fact: 1776 holds the record for a Broadway musical with the longest time elapsed without a note of music played or sung between songs. Over a half hour elapses between The Lees of Old Virginia and Dear Mr Adams.
“Sit down, John, you fat mother….!”
Apollo 13, because it’s my favorite movie and I think it celebrates American hard work and ingenuity in a non-jingoistic manner.
This is also my answer, for those exact reasons. If any movie on earth makes me feel patriotic, it’s this one.
Yeah it’s one you can enjoy and not have to be ironic about it or anything, it’s a legit good movie
Apollo 13 is amazing, and a great film. A stat I was recently reminded of was the US never lost a person in space until the shuttles. The work we put forward to bring 13 back was huge.
There was Apollo 1. 3 people died, though they weren’t actually in space.
The Challenger and Columbia were destroyed while in Earth’s atmosphere, so technically it’s still true that no American has ever died in space..
Bullshit:
That is a point. Apollo 1 was lost on the ground. Challenger I guess was lost in atmosphere. As to Colombia maybe you could call that space? They had no hope of reentering given the problem. But I think the big point is we never let our astronauts die when we faced the problem head on. That’s something the Soviets did not do. In Apollo 13 we did everything we could do to bring them back, and we did.
The Patriot, obviously
I’m about as straight as they come, but Jason Isaacs with his hair down and then casually stabbing Heath Ledger is probably the closest I get to just embracing hidden thoughts.
A terrible and deeply dishonest movie.
Which makes it perfect to watch when celebrating this mostly fake holiday celebrating a country that feels less free by the day.
1. Jaws2. 19413. A League of Their Own4. Field of Dreams5. Independence Day
Jaws is the obvious (and correct!) answer, and Men In Black is a terrific counter-point to every dipshit who thinks Independence Day is any good. Also, don’t forget ”The Rocketeer.”
What’s wrong with welcoming someone to Earf?
Fun fact: Will Smith’s character clearly and unambiguously says “Welcome to Earth.”The whole “welcome to erf” thing is vaguely racist. (I know you’re just repeating a joke and are not a racist, but best to leave this trope in the trash.)
Will did lean into it as his catch phrase a bit since he did a show on Disney+ called “Welcome to Earth” which wasn’t bad. He didn’t say it after punching Chris Rock though
It’s simultaneously racist and entirely believable as a pronunciation Smith would use. I remember seeing it for the first time after “Earf” became a thing and thinking “hey wait…he doesn’t say it like that at all!” And feeling kind of guilty about it.
The Rocke-who?
Independence Day is a fun stupid movie to watch on the 4th. It’s not any better or worse then Men in Black. Not gonna suffer this hipster “Too Kool for Skool” attitude about it, dammit!!!The Rocketeer isn’t a 4th of July movies because it’s a everyday movie!!!!
Went to see Nashville on 35mm yesterday as a part of an Altman-4th of July program, and it might be my yearly 4th of July film, now. Sure, it’s ostensibly about the country music scene in Tennessee, but it’s really a film about America at large, and it feels like it coulda been written yesterday
White House Down: The “Die Hard in the White House” movie that SHOULD HAVE been a big hit and spawned a franchise. Fucking “Olympus Has Fallen.”
“White House Down” should have been about a President, wanting to set a good example to the people, turns down the thermostat in his home in winter and raises geese on the lawn in order to make his own parkas to keep himself warm. Hijinks ensue.
The Carter presidency?
As much as I, given that I am a Serb, have misgivings about 4th of July it has to be remembered that it was a time when a small and beleagured group of rebels decided to take on an imperialist world power bent on conquering the world and unleashing unspeakable atrocities upon the planet. This is why a Partisan movie like Walter Defends Sarajevo is the most appropriate choice.
Oh, wait, you thought I was talking about the AMERICAN 4th of July? Nuh, uh.
On 4th of July, 1941 Partisans started the uprisings against Nazi Germany who recently conquered and occupied Yugoslavia.
There’s a subtitled version on YouTube that I’m now going to have to watch.
Nah. We knew what you were talking about. The American 4th of July was mostly about a bunch of rich slave owners not wanting to pay taxes.
For this reason I think a film like Judas and the Black Messiah is a great Independence Day film- much as fucking an imperialist power’s shit up is great to celebrate, is it great that the US institutions that followed have codified that “independence” is inherent to blood and skin? It’s a deeply dark movie, and darker events in real life, but the tenacity of people like Fred Hampton, Huey P. Newton, and Bobby Seale, and the Black Panther Party as an organization, especially in the face of impossible odds, that shit is what I think should be the real American nationalist propaganda.
CaddyshackFast Times At Ridgemont HighPiranha DD
Is that the piranha’s cup size?
Nuff said
If only there were some sort of movie set or themed around Independence Day . Possibly with Will Smith and a cheesy presidential speech.
Southland Tales is my go-to July 4th movie since it’s set during the holiday.
But it’s terrible, so there’s that.
Terribly awesome.
So is Blue Valentine. You could make a double feature?
JAWS! It’s not unusual for it to be shown in theatres on the 4th, and it’s so much fun in a theatre. Several years ago I got a group of friends to go with me who’d never seen it. Ugh, to people who think of the movie JAWS as “Jaws movies”, as in “I’ve never seen a Jaws movie”. There’s only one JAWS!They all loved it btw, bigly. After, we were deciding what to do next (it was a matinee) and one said plaintively “I want to see JAWS again!”
I’ve always been so envious of my mom’s first experience seeing that movie, back when she was in her 20s and before I was born: she actually saw it on Martha’s Vineyard. Jaws remains one of my favorite reasons to visit MV whenever I get a chance, given it largely looks the same now as it did in the movie.
There was a wave pool near my grandparents’ house that would show it on a pop-up screen while you watched from an inner tube. Of course there are smartasses swimming around grabbing people’s feet and such. Big fun when you’re 12.
The thing is if you go without seeing Jaws for a while, like I did, you forget how good it is. It’s just so brilliantly paced. I watched it with my wife and son recently and afterwards my son was like “Aren’t there sequels” and I said “No!”
I know this is trite, but the book kicks the movie’s ass.
I’m impressed by the fact that we’ve discovered the list that can include both Live Free And Die Hard and Do The Right Thing.
Live Free And Die Hard And Do The Right Thing:
It’s an action movie with an important message.
I would say the first National Treasure, but to be honest that’s the perfect movie to watch anytime.
Also the perfect movie to watch never.
A cinematic emetic if I ever saw one.
You beat me to it. In fact, this was the movie me and my roommate watched this past 4th. Relaxing, hilarious, ridiculous and fueled plenty of quality quips.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ 1 and 2 were so fun and beachy, I watch them every summer. And while ‘Jaws’ is the obvious go-to, may I also suggest ‘Jaws 3D’ specifically for the everlasting hotness that is Dennis Quaid, romping around Sea World in short shorts, which are finally being embraced by a new generation of dudes who dgaf. I rest my case.
Master & Commander: The Far Side Of The World.
Russell Crowe sails around the world and discovers . . . Cow Tools . . .
We watched Summer of Soul today (the Fourth) and THAT was absolutely the perfect movie to watch on the holiday.
Predator again.
“Predator Again” kinda sounds like a sit com about a divorced Predator trying to get back into the . . . Predator dating scene . . . whatever that might be.
I don’t always think this stuff through that much.
Predators don’t just date, they predate.
our july 4 marathon was as follows:goodfellasescape from new yorkjackie brownspeed
This weekend I was actually lucky enough to be at a lakehouse with some friends and their families and wound up watching Hot Rod with the kids, which somehow I hadn’t seen before, and was a pretty perfect 4th of July movie.
Cum Buns VII
Lars Von Trier’s “The Idiots” obviously.
I don’t have a patriotic bone in my body but come on…It’s an insanely enjoyable movie from a studio not typically
remembered for its musicals and not just for the jaw-dropping excess of the
“Grand Old Flag” number but the all around marvelous craftsmanship and irresistible
combination of Cagney and Curtiz. The dripping patriotism of the film is just populist
sugar coating. Warner Brothers was the only Democratic studio in
Hollywood and they threw their support behind Roosevelt and America’s
entry into WW II in a huge way after they’d already gotten
into political hot water prior to this by producing a number of
films about the evils of fascism and the Nazis when this country was still
in hardcore isolationist mode.I’m actually going to watch this
today. I just picked up the Blu-ray of William Friedkin’s “Sorcerer” and
I’m saving it for tomorrow as that seems like a much better way to observe
the real spirit of America.
I mean, c’mon now… Welcome to Earth!(in fairness, we watch 1776 first…)
The first Captain America and Pacific Rim are the standards in our house
The entire premise is alien to me. 4th of July is a holiday where no movies are watched because there’s no time for sitting in front of a screen. I can’t be alone in this. Likely one of the key reasons there aren’t a lot of “4th of July” movies.
You okay outside all day in the heat, eat dinner and then got like 3 hours to kill until it’s dark enough for the fireworks. Why not grab a bit of AC and watch a movie?Honestly our tradition is seeing fireworks on the 3rd and then on fourth grilling at home and setting up the outdoor projector I have to watch ID4 while we watch the fireworks shows in the area from our backyard.
Also known as nap / recovery time.
Food and beer comaPlus July where I am at also means thunder storms so a lot 4th of Julys end up rained out and inside. Suppose to rain today actually which is good since we saw our Fireworks show last night anyways
It’s clear Independency Day wasn’t on the list because as most of you might have missed with all the bad things they did over the last few weeks. The Supreme Court made it mandatory that every home watch it on the 4th of July. Don’t ask how or why, they just did. In the same ruling they also said it was not cruel and unusual punishment to force prisoners to watch ID4: Resurgence, so it was a mixed bag.
Episode 2 of John Adams, Independence. While the series takes a few liberties (some bizarre) with Adams’s life, that episode is probably as close as we’re ever going to get for an accurate screen portrayal of 1775-1776, why the Colonies revolted, the behind the scenes politics, and the incredible risk taken by those propagating it.
Society
Nah that’s more a of Thanksgiving watch
MacGruber and Jaws are our go-tos.
Sometimes Escape From New York.
What? …Does ‘THE PATRIOT’ somehow NOT say Independence Day to you?? It takes place before and
during The Revolution….It displays the varied sensibilities of the
times…..It depicts the horrors of combat…It is beautifully and
dramatically filmed …..and, yet…’THE PATRIOT’ does not make a list of ‘Best Movies To Watch On The Fourth of July’….??
It certainly does in my house….It heads the list!
Followed up closely by: ‘The Last of the Mohicans’….’National Treasure’, And ‘Captain America; The First Avenger’.
No one else has Yankee Doodle Dandy as a tradition? I did not see it in the comments anywhere. Cagney at his best, as a song and dance man even though he is not very good at either, just sheer force of will.
Movies that are pre-Spielberg or pre-Star Wars don’t count on Internet websites
Oh hey, looks like you folks reposted an article from a year ago and forgot to mention it. Weird how that keeps happening. Nice to have another chance to read some of the stuff from all those writers you unceremoniously fired, though.
Yeah I just noticed some of the comments are a year old. That is some lazy shit, even for a slide show
Fuck. Yeah, they got me.
Reading the AVClub’s reposted slideshows, a new 4th of July tradition?
Evidently. The names in the byline should have been a bit of a hint.
My god, the AV Club is such garbage now. I wish it would just die with what little dignity it has left.
Recently saw “The Devil and Daniel Webster” (“Everything Money Can Buy”), which seems to be a good Red State movie. “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, I’d agree. “The Story of G. I. Joe” is a sad Fourth movie. “Glory”, with all its absurdity, is not bad.
JAWS
The Santa Clause 2
None of these are The Return of Captain Invincible. For shame.
Matt Damon