This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at George Mason University chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
As a part of my new years resolution to stop doomscrolling, I have decided to dedicate my time to watching movies I have never seen before, whether they be old or new. Below are all of the movies I have watched for the first time since the start of the semester. I have included the title, star rating, and quick snippet of my Letterboxd review!
Before you start, I would like to note that there will be spoilers for each of these movies below so read at your own risk.
People We Meet on Vacation
★★★★ ½
“What Lucy Gray Baird wished Snow was like.”
Poppy and Alex are polar-opposite best friends who go on vacation with each other every summer. Poppy is a travel journalist who gets paid to vacation, and Alex is an English teacher who gets dragged along. After being apart for a few years, Poppy and Alex spend one more vacation together as they attend Alex’s brother’s wedding.
This movie was relatively enjoyable. I watched it back in January about a week after it came out.
As I always love to say when I read a book-to-movie adaptation, I did read the book first. I think they did a great job of capturing the characters’ personalities and they stayed relatively true to the plot.
There were a few details, like the deliberate planning of a bad vacation, that they completely left out. I think that would have made the story line better. In the book, Poppy wasn’t invited to the wedding, which made her more reluctant to attend with Alex. In the movie, however, she was invited, which kind of ruined that flair for me.
Overall, I enjoyed this movie. I thought it was a cute Rom-Com! I don’t always love Rom-Coms, as they aren’t my favorite genre, but I wanted to give this one a shot for Emily Bader and Tom Blyth. They nailed the essence.
Conclave
★★★★★
“Regina George does not want prom queen but is still getting voted for, yet she is also trying to sabotage the other candidates.”
Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading the Conclave while they are in the process of electing a new pope. As the election is in process, he begins to uncover secrets that expose his fellow candidates, all of which shake the foundation of the Catholic Church.
It is rare that I give movies five stars. It really has to affect me in some way. This movie did.
A lot of people talked about this movie after the election of the new Pope last year. I meant to watch it then but I never got the chance. After making my new years resolution this year to try to stop doomscrolling, I knew I needed to finally tackle watching this movie and cross it off my list.
Doom Scrolling Will Be the Death of Me
I thought the cinematography was beautiful. The suspense of the election was just how I remembered it for Pope Leo XIV. It also provided me with a lot of insight on the process of the election and what really occurs behind closed doors. I loved the costuming and everything about the casting.
The ending was completely unexpected and I yearn to watch more movies with that type of plot twist. The unforeseen ending definitely gave it that five star rating!
The Truman Show
★★★★
“What a bizarre concept for a movie. I loved it.”
Truman Burbank is an insurance agent who lives a picture perfect life. He wakes up, goes to work, and comes home to his wife every day. When a few odd encounters occur, offsetting his flawless life, he begins to suspect that his reality isn’t real at all.
I have seen this movie everywhere. I remember first hearing about it in high school, where someone I knew used “And in case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight” as their senior quote. I’ve seen reviews online and even TikTok edits. I had always wanted to see it. Subscriptions have held me back for a while, but I finally got the chance to this year.
As I already knew the synopsis and a good chunk of the ending, I was mostly watching this movie for aesthetics, filming, and the concept in general. As you can see from my Letterboxd review above, I thought the idea alone for a movie like this was astonishing.
The idea of a man’s life being on constant surveillance as a form of entertainment by the entire world is wild. I could not imagine being in Truman’s shoes, especially if your friends and family think you’re going crazy for believing in something that is true. Not to mention the fact that they were paid actors. I really enjoyed this movie as Truman’s confusion as a TV character was emulated well throughout the movie.
Cars 2
★★★★
“I can’t believe Doc died omg…”
Lightning McQueen and his best friend Mater head overseas to compete in a World Grand Prix race using a new all organic fuel called allinol. Simultaneously, Mater accidently gets himself roped into a secret mission that could affect the outcome of the races.
I think there is a chance I might have actually seen this but have no memory of it if I had. For some reason, I was under the impression that this was going to be another Piston Cup but it was not that at all. They still focused on Lightning McQueen, but also shifted the story to his underrated best friend, Mater.
As the Letterboxd review states, why did they have to kill off Doc? This is a Disney Pixar movie for children, not a dystopian anime where a person’s character development is dependent on their best friend dying in episode thirteen. I don’t think it was necessary but I will respect the decision (maybe).
I am glad that Lighting McQueen had some decent character development and he realized he doesn’t have to be completely stuck up to stay famous. Mater can be who he wants to be and McQueen can do the same, and they can still be friends. It was a good movie and I hope to watch the third one soon.
Movies are IN!
Dracula
★★ ½
“The gargoyles. What? Why were they there?”
15th Century Prince Vlad Tepes denounces God after his wife was killed, ultimately being denied death, becoming Dracula. 400 years go by as he searches for his reincarnated wife, not stopping until he finds her.
I enjoyed almost everything about this movie. I thought the story line was great, and I appreciated the tying in of Vlad the Impaler. I loved the costume design. Princess Elizabeth’s dress was absolutely gorgeous and the detailing was impeccable. Prince Vlad’s armor was incredibly fascinating to analyze. The makeup, not just for the female characters, but for the male characters as well, was just amazing. I am honestly running out of adjectives. The helmet hair was honestly one of my favorite details about the whole thing.
One point about this movie really ruined it for me. The gargoyles. For those who haven’t seen it, but are still reading, here’s what I’m talking about. Dracula lives in old castle and within that castle are gargoyles protecting the place. However, they aren’t stationary. The gargoyles come to life like henchmen to complete tasks for him.
They felt like the CGI was a last minute task and wasn’t fully thought out. To top this off, the gargoyles turned into bald children during one of the last scenes of the movie, which made no sense. It wasn’t explained––and maybe it’s some pop-culture or historical reference I am not picking up. However, I did not like it.
I would like to note, I did not realize who the director was until after I had already viewed the movie. I in no way, shape, or form, condone or support any of the actions Luc Besson has made in the past and I would not have watched his movie if I knew beforehand.
Overall, I think most of the artistic choices were executed perfectly. There are a few that were not, and that truly ruined the movie for me.
Zoolander
★ ½
“The humor was made for two types of people: Middle aged white men who hate that they’re married to their wives and middle school boys going through puberty.”
Derek Zoolander is a model who is at the end of his career. After getting hired by fashion designer Mugatu, he gets brainwashed to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
I did not enjoy this movie. I understood that the premise was that Derek Zoolander was supposed to be an idiot, but the humor did not really entertain me. I think if you feel the need to include blackface in a movie even once to enhance the plot then you might as well go back to the drawing board.
Though I have enjoyed Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in other movies, Night At the Museum and The Internship being some examples, this was not their best work. I find it really hard to enjoy stupid comedy in general, so perhaps I was just not the intended audience for this one.
I probably will not rewatch this again, as one time was enough.
My Final Thoughts
I have watched six brand new movies since the start of the semester! That’s basically one a week! There were a few new ones that I didn’t add to this list, as I just watched them and would not have enough time to write about them. Those were Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Marriage Story, and Miracle. Shoutout to the Men’s and Women’s USA Hockey Teams for winning Gold at the Olympics!
Out of all of the movies listed above, I think Conclave and The Truman Show have been my favorites. Their storylines kept me engaged and the plot twists were to be reckoned with! I have found that analyzing new movies is extremely fun and I can’t wait to see what other new movies I watch!
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