Productivity Is A Movie

Senior Ally Pea breaks down the top five best films she has watched at school over the last four years

BY ALLISON PEA

Over the last four years, I have become known for being easy to find as I spend the majority of the school day sitting on my couch. My famous spot is located in the theater lobby. It is the red one, on the right and I prefer sitting on the side closest to the plant.

I am sure that many people who have walked by have wondered what I spend my time there doing since I am pretty much constantly there. Allow me to let you in on my little secret, I have been lucky enough to use my time spent there watching hundreds of movies. I’m not even being dramatic like I usually am. For example, when I was a sophomore, I had a goal to watch a movie every day for a year. While I only tracked it for 159 days, I can assure you that I have not stopped watching movies or tv shows since.

I thought that since it is what I will most likely be remembered for, I shall share what I have learned with the next generation. That being said, here are my top five movies to watch during the school day (disclaimer before we start: I watched all of these movies for the first time at school, this is not a list of my favorite movies and they are in no particular order).

1. Moulin Rouge:

This is one of my more recently viewed films but, I decided to start with this treasure for two reasons: one, because it is incredible, and two, because it is incredibly fitting given the location of my spot. Moulin Rouge is a phenomenal muscal starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan Mcgregor.

It is a story about a writer named Christian, who falls in love with a showgirl named Satine, whose main goal is to be famous. To achieve this, her manager sets her up on a date with a Duke who promises to make her famous and fund her next production; however, she has to agree to date him exclusively because he gets jealous (which is so toxic). So Christian and Satine have to hide their love from the Duke and then things go down and it is iconic. As someone who used to be obsessed with musical theater, this one blew me away in ways I could not have imagined. I genuinely think it resurrected my love of musical theater. Now, I am aware that some people will see this and say ‘ew’ which I understand, but, give it a chance. If you’re not into that, at least watch it for the costumes because as a soon-tobe fashion major, they are amazing. If you don’t trust my opinion, then look no further than the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine herself, Anna Wintour. She said it is one of the best-costumed movies of all time so if you don’t trust me, then at least trust the ruler of the fashion industry and remember, in Anna Wintour we trust.

2. Bring It On!:

I picked this one because we are a sports school and I think every athlete in particular needs to watch this at least once. Now, I know this is a movie about high school cheerleaders but I better not see any of you calling it a chick flick. That is discounting an entire movie just because it is about cheerleaders which is not very feminist of y’all. Anyways, this movie is about a girl named Torrence, who is crowned head cheerleader of a three-time national champion team at the beginning of her senior year. However, she finds out that all of the routines that she has been taught over the last four years were stolen from another school. She has to make it right so the team works together to create an entirely new routine before they go to nationals against the school they stole the routines from. Plus there is a super cute little love story at the heart of it all.

This movie does an excellent job of showing that a good team is nothing without integrity. Personally, the best message in this movie is that sometimes you have to work harder than everyone else if you want to be the best. Honestly, it really should be shown at the beginning of every football season to promote teamwork and comradery and if nothing else, it is very iconic.

3. When Harry Met Sally:

This movie is a classic and it is stunning. Enough said.

4. Gone Girl:

I want to give a PSA that this one is not exactly safe for work but it is incredible and I’m graduating so I will still include it. This movie is about a guy whose wife goes missing and he is blamed for it so he works to try and solve her murder so he does not go to prison. It is loosely based on the story of Scott Peterson and his wife, Laci. If you don’t know the story because you have been living under an actual rock, then I highly recommend learning about it because it genuinely is super interesting.

Even though it has a pretty dark tone, it is really good. The cast is incredible and the twists and turns are just fabulous. I loved this movie and I highly reco mend it if you like true-ish crime.

I’m not going to lie, this one just showed up first on Netflix so I watched it but I was so pleasantly surprised. This story is about a girl named Drea, who wants revenge on her ex-boyfriend, and Eleanor who is trying to get revenge on her exbest friend. Together, the two team up to get revenge on their respective exes. While on the surface, this movie seems like another terrible attempt at trying to relate to teens, this movie is one of the better Netflix movies I have seen. It’s clever and incredibly witty. It also has an amazing twist but you didn’t hear that from me. I think it provides an excellent commentary on he way society views different people simply based on social class. I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t done so.

And with that, my final story for the Irish Megaphone concludes. Thank you to my readers and supporters. It’s been real everyone.