Our writers share their thoughts on some of the movies they’ve seen this year.

Barbie

Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of barbie land. However, when they get to the real world to discover the lives of humans. Barbie learns the importance of friendships, courage, and following her dreams. The only flaw was some of the commentary about women was not true the movie is well thought out and is worth watching because the producers used an all-around loved toy and focused on the different beauty standards and the film allowing us to relate to. The film can be seen in theaters.  -Jordyn Burgess

The Barbie movie released July 21, 2023 had so many mixed reviews and interpretations on what the true meaning behind this movie is and here’s how I view it. Personally, I loved it, with a beautiful meaning to the movie.  There couldn’t have been such a better movie to emphasize the significance of growing up and the impact that society displays for young women. I feel that girls relate to this movie more than anything, that’s why it such a perfect example of the standards that are conveyed for girls now. And while others don’t have that feeling while watching this movie, it made me feel emotional. The meaning of the movie was generally, finding yourself, and to not get sucked into the standards that society has for people, more so women. Becoming raw and genuinely you. This movie can easily be overlooked by the meaning but simply, to find yourself. To grow up with obstacles society hold for us which are simply unattainable. With different interpretations, the way I view this movie, it focuses on growing up, and how different it is once you experience the standards that society has placed. To find your inner happiness in such a complicated world.  

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Princess Shuri ,Queen Ramonda , M’Baku, Okoye also Dora Milaje fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers when king T’Challa death. They have to move on with life, they fight Talocan because they did not want Wakanda to kill the scientist he keeps Shuri hostage also the scientist and shows Shuri the underground land and tells her the background of his history and how his mom died Infront of him. Then Nakia saves her which make the king of the underground world angry, and he decided to invade Wakanda. They got into a huge fight and the Queen dies for trying to save the Scientist and then Wakanda Wins. At the end of the movie Shuri puts all there stuffing a fire to let the death of her brother and mother go so she can do what she must do in life and meets her nephew. The movie is very impowering and it gives good details and helps a lot of people understand grief is okay and everyone goes through it and its very entertaining. The movie should have explained a lot more because why did they make the mom die because she was an important person in the movie and made everyone really disappointed. -Zephania Crouthers

The Black Phone

Imagine one day you were walking home from school after you had just found out about kidnappings going on around your town. On your way home, you saw a random man with balloons in the back of his black van. He convinced you to get in just by the balloons in the back of his van. Now you’re stuck in a room in his basement with a bed and a black phone. You’re fighting to escape quickly before anything happens and you just so happen to pick up the black phone and now there are spirits helping you to have an escape. This movie is called “The Black Phone” made in 2021 based off a short story called “The Same Name” by Joe Hill made in 2004. Overall, this movie makes you feel incredibly involved in the story line, set, and cast. This movie is recommended to fictional realistic fans and can be seen today on prime video, apple tv, Vudu, or Redbox. -Zaharra Altman

Elemental

Elemental is an allegory about being a person of color with immigrant parents, and the guilt and responsibility that comes with that. Many people made the decision not to give the film a chance, due to the idea of fire and water falling in love seeming cheesy and outdated. To be fair, the movies marketing did not give the impression that it would be a standout film, and the concept has been done before. While it is not an incredibly original movie, it has reasons to watch it. First off, the animation is beautiful, and every species from fire to water has a different animation style. Secondly, Ember’s struggle with living up to her father’s wish is engaging, and can even be relatable to some viewers. Thirdly, while the romance isn’t revolutionary, it is very cute and overall is written well. These are all reasons why you should watch Elemental, which is available in theaters and on Disney Plus. -Jordyn Newsome

The Equalizer 3

On September 1, 2023, the third movie of the equalizer was released. In the movie it stars Denzel Washington as Robert McCall. I have never heard of this movie or the previous one. But the one thing that makes this movie stands out with the older generation is that it has Denzel Washington. The movie is about Robert McCall retired marine and DIA officer. He gets injured from his last mission and ends up in somewhere Italy. While Robert is healing, he is really starting to love the town in which he is in. But what he is about to find out is that the town is full of gangs that terrorize the town, and he will do whatever it takes so that the town can be at peace once again. This movie is a action pack movie that will make you laugh and cheer for the good guys. You can find this movie is only at movie theater right now. -Alexis Justice

Ghoster

The 2023 Action- Romance movie Ghoster starts off with Cole Turner (played by Chris Evans) meeting secret CIA agent Sadie Rhodes (played by Ana de Armas) while watching over his friends farm stand. The two “hit it off” or more like get into an argument ending with Sadie leaving in a huff. Cole decides to ask Sadie out and the two spend an amazing day together full of adventure and fun. Cole falls in love with Sadie but it seems she doesn’t feel the same as she doesn’t respond to any of his texts. In the heat of the moment Cole decides to book a flight to London where Sadie somehow ends up but this leads them into a spiral of events almost ending up with them almost dying, being kidnapped, and somehow jumping out of a plane. This movie showcases an amazing cast with many cameos from actors like Sebatian Stan, Anthony Mackie and Ryan Reynolds. You need to watch this movie if you like comedy’s filled with action, romance, and romance. Overall this movie made me laugh lots and was definitely leaving me wanting more. -Pari Kahlon

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion, released July 28, 2023, is  about the main character Ben, who gave up his career for his wife, to continue her ghost tours. Alyssa has died in a car accident, which leads him to deep sorrow, and grief which also contributes to him being a main soul that Crump, the ghost who has been searching to take the last soul that benefits him from being set free, Crump has been on the hunt leaving only one of 999 souls to keep him from his goal. Ben, who has been depressed for a while, meets a so called “Father Kent”, introduces him to do a task for money, which is to take pictures of a haunted house with his own invention that he gave up on. Hesitant at first, he agrees and visits the house. Suspiciously, he found the owner of the house a joke, because of how foolish they seemed while explaining that there are ghost in their mansions, which claims to be haunted. The minute he steps into the haunted mansions, he was automatically haunted, which causes supernatural events to happen, having spirits follow him. Leading to the main problem of the movie which is later on resolved. Him, and a group of other people, are trapped in the house, with no way to leave, they figure out the difficulties and weaknesses that this place secretly has. With many different interpretations and history of the house itself, it definitely is a recommend. With a thriller, but also funny comedy, this movie is definitely a must watch.   -China Cloutier

Shazam: Fury of the Gods

Shazam 2 is a DC film and came out March 17,2023, and was released by the Warner Bros. This film’s background is about a young boy named Billy Baston who gains the ability to transform into a superhero. Him and his foster siblings are learning how to juggle their teenage life with their adult superhero alter egos. When a sister trio of ancient gods arrives on earth in search of the magic stolen from them a long time ago. Their extensions weren’t good at getting the magic back so shazam and his siblings got into a horrible battle for their superpowers, their lives and the fate of the world. This film is worth watching because in the movie you can relate to the team work and juggling two difficult things at once in your lives. You also can relate on the family part because they all have eachothers backs and how they are there for each other emotionally and physically.  

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) reunites with his close friend Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld). He encounters the spider society by following Gwen. This team is a variety of different spider-people. The different spider people are so alike but so different it’s interesting to see. Miles gets entangled in a journey across the spider-verse to stop the villain spots. At every stop of the way, miles is told he doesn’t belong due to a secret kept from him. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is streamed on Prime video, YouTube, Apple tv, Google play, Amazon prime, and Vudu.