6) Dazed and Confused
If there is one movie to watch to remind you that school is way better than you think, and that the whole time you are waiting for it to end could be time spent enjoying the marrow of everyone moment, Dazed and Confused is that movie. While it may be a freeze frame of a time none of us ever experienced, that matters little. Again, despite when it takes place, all the same elements are there. The nerds, the underdogs, the stoners, the frat guy douchebags, the pretty girls, the party girls, the different groups, the hazing, the learning, and the growing. That is REALLY what I am trying to stress here with this piece. Your school experience is not in the least bit unique. This is how it works. And Dazed captures those last few moments before graduation better than any other film.
The film has a great cast, a perfect soundtrack, and is a time capsule back to an era when we all wish we could have been there, in the woods, fighting, smoking, and partying along with them. Dazed is the movie to watch when you think you HATE high school, because it shows you that through the act of hating it that you are actually missing the best things about it.
It also does a marvelous job of showing the stoner subculture in an INCREDIBLY honest light. We are not thieves or bullies. We are nothing like druggies or pill heads. We are just a bunch of chill cats who like to be even chiller. The chillest, if I may be so bold? Sorry, did I say WE? I meant they, they. I know NOTHING about that lifestyle at all.