|
August 22, 2026 
|
|
Good morning. What makes a movie a summer movie? Is it the time of its release, or the way that it depicts the season itself? Or something else entirely?
 |
| María Jesús Contreras |
Sun screen
I saw “E.T.” at a drive-in movie theater on Cape Cod in the summer of 1982. The film itself takes place in fall (remember when they cloak E.T. in a sheet so they can take him trick-or-treating?) but it’s forever suspended in summer for me, inextricable from the sticky back seat and the sticky humidity in which I saw it. But “Die Hard,” which was released in the summer of 1988, takes place on Christmas Eve and — for me at least — is a winter movie. I’m sure I saw it the July it came out, but the film’s content transcends its summer blockbuster status.
What makes a movie a summer movie? In 2000, Terrence Rafferty declared in The Times, “Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jaws’ created the Summer Movie as we know it: the action-heavy ‘thrill ride’ sort of picture, aimed at sensation-hungry younger audiences, which moves into theaters around Memorial Day and remains there, partying hard, until the school year starts up again in September.” “Jaws” continues to be as bound up in the mythology of summer as Popsicles and beach balls, though a piece by Stuart Klawans in 2002 blamed it for turning the beach into “a site of isolation, anxiety and horror,” one that foreclosed the insouciance of “Beach Blanket Bingo” and its ilk, and gave way to “Cast Away,” “Titanic” and other pessimistic seaborne tales. (Those each came out in December, for what it’s worth.)
When I think about the movies that unfailingly evoke summer for me, I think of a feeling, a quality of light, an airy mood of expansiveness. The exemplar is the 1988 comedy “Mystic Pizza,” starring Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor and Annabeth Gish as three charming, brave, wisecracking pals working at their local Connecticut pizzeria the summer after high school. They each fall in love. They each have their hearts cracked, if not totally broken. They each presented to me, 14 when I first saw the movie, a romantic vision of what summer might look like when I was older, when I would have a job and go on dates and have my own heart broken.
When I asked people about their quintessential summer films, the answers weren’t surprising, but, aside from “Jaws,” they also weren’t Big Movies. They were the ones with an atmosphere of summer, the ones whose mentions fairly conjure the itch of a mosquito bite and the smell of a bonfire: “Meatballs.” “Little Darlings.” “Dirty Dancing.” “Do the Right Thing.” They’re films that, no matter when you watch them, transport you to some deliciously unattainable past. Unlike songs of summer, which are artifacts of one specific year, movies of summer are perennial, evocative of every summer all at once.
I haven’t seen anything yet this year that feels like it’ll enter the pantheon of eternal summer classics. “The Odyssey” probably isn’t a worthy contender, as entertaining as it is. But I’m planning to see “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” this week, which seems like it might hold genuine promise.
Trade
 |
| President Trump hit the Canadian steel industry with tariffs of up to 50 percent last year. Carlos Osorio/Reuters |
- The United States will impose new tariffs on some $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, on top of hefty tariffs already in place on major Canadian industries, after the two countries failed to reach a deal before a midnight deadline.
- President Trump announced that he would allow ground beef to be imported into the U.S. with lower tariffs over the next 90 days. The news seemed to surprise and anger American ranchers.
|
Trump Administration
Immigration
More Politics
Middle East
 |
| In Tehran last month. Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times |
Other Big Stories
Film and TV
 |
| Photo Illustration by Zachary Balcoff/The New York Times. Photographs: Magnolia Pictures; Mubi; A24; Getty Images. |
Music
- With the Kennedy Center shuttered for a two-year renovation, the National Symphony Orchestra plans to perform in six halls scattered across the Washington area. It will also embark on its first national tour in years.
- Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, is set to perform two stadium shows in St. Petersburg, Russia, this fall. The concerts would be the first in Russia by a major Western performer since the invasion of Ukraine.
|
More Culture
 |
| The New York Times |
- A production of “Les Misérables” at Tuacahn in southern Utah, staged outdoors against the region’s dramatic landscape, may be the most successful in the theater’s 31-year history. Michael Paulson, a theater reporter, traveled there to explain why. Click the video above to watch.
- Our dance critic writes about the champion surfer Caitlin Simmers: “Surfing can be an art, motion turned into magic. Simmers takes that a step further by matching her personal rhythm to that of the sea.” Read her profile.
- Rachel Cusk’s new novel, “Life of M,” is full of details that echo the life and career of Natalie Portman — though the writer refuses to concede that it’s about her. It left our critic cold.
|
Free this week: Play all 3 Crosswords.
You can access every new crossword puzzle through August 23. Whether you have seconds or 60 minutes, there’s a puzzle for everyone.
Start solving today.
 |
| Christopher Testani for The New York Times |
Zucchini Fritters
Easy to make but hard to stop eating, Melissa Knific’s golden, vegetable-filled zucchini fritters are a great place to use up all the summer squash that’s in season right now. The trick here is to squeeze the zucchini in a kitchen towel to remove all the excess moisture. This ensures that they turn crispy as they fry, rather than steam. Serve them with something tangy on the side — either lemon wedges for squeezing or a punchy sauce like ranch dressing or tzatziki for dipping.
