April 30, 2021
Binge-Worthy Movie Series
With the end of the spring semester fast approaching, hopefully we’ll all get to spend less time doing schoolwork and more time relaxing—and what better way to do that than by having a movie marathon? Here are our recommendations for the best series binges!
The Twilight Series: Even if you’ve never read the books or seen the movies, chances are high that you still have a pretty good idea as to what the infamous Twilight saga is all about. Based on the novels written by Stephenie Meyer back in the mid-to-late 2000s, this five-film series follows human high-schooler Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) who, after moving in with her father in a small Washington town called Forks, falls for her enigmatic and enchanting classmate, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). But he has a big secret, one that Bella quickly unravels: he’s actually a vampire. Both know a relationship would be dangerous and forbidden, but they just can’t help the magnetic connection drawing them together. Then there’s Jacob (Taylor Lautner), Bella’s handsome friend and confidante, who’s actually a werewolf and also in love with her. That’s only the most basic of plot points, but I don’t want to give too much away! Just trust me when I say that Twilight is jam-packed with all the best elements of a guilty-pleasure movie series: forbidden relationships, wicked adversaries, epic battles, contentious love-triangles, and loads of suspense and angsty teenage drama. So, whether you’re an eternal Twilight saga stan, totally new to the franchise, or just haven’t seen the films in a while, my advice is the same: it’s time for you to carve out a day or two in your busy schedule to marathon-binge one of Gen Z’s biggest cult-classics! Available on Hulu and to rent on other streaming services.
The Indiana Jones Series: Binge-watching may be a guilty pleasure, but honestly, the Indiana Jones series is zero guilt, all fun for me. The first movie, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, takes place on the eve of WWII and introduces us to Dr. Indiana Jones, a mild-mannered college archaeology professor who occasionally dons a fedora, a whip, and a shirt that won’t button all the way up to swashbuckle his way around the world in search of treasure.
A pair of Army intelligence officers visit his classroom one day to let him know that Hitler has his eye on the Ark of the Covenant, the chest in which Moses stored the original Ten Commandments. Hitler believes the Ark has magical properties that will make his Nazi army invincible, and the US military isn’t taking any chances. The pair send Jones off to Nepal to seek a gold medallion that may hold the key to finding the Ark. The catch? It’s in the possession of Marion Ravenwood, the daughter of Indy’s now-deceased mentor. Unfortunately, it becomes clear as soon as he sets foot in the bar Marion owns that the two of them had an affair in the past, and that Indy, at some point, did her wrong; Marion would rather spit in his eye than help him. But when the Nazis catch up to them, the two end up on the run together, bouncing from Nepal to Cairo to an island in the Aegean Sea, solving archaeological puzzles as they track down the Biblical chest. Will they find the Ark before Hitler’s forces get their hands on it? Will the magical properties that seem to actually be a thing destroy them both? Or will Marion murder Indy first?
Raiders is the best of the quadrilogy, with the third movie in the series, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, taking a close second. The next film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, is marred by a cliched portrayal of a cannibalistic cult in India, as well as the incessant screaming of love interest Willie Scott, a far cry from tough-as-nails Marion. The fourth film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, suffers from a terrible script, a lack of Nazis, and Shia LaBoeuf, though the return of Karen Allen’s Marion Ravenwood makes it worth at least one watch. Binge it all now, as rumor has it Harrison Ford is about to don the famous fedora for a fifth outing as one of my two favorite action heroes from the 1980s. (The other? Han Solo, of course!) Available on Paramount+ and to rent on various streaming services.