First things first, let me say, I love movies. For me, watching movies is an amazing pastime activity. Depending on what you’re interested in, watching movies can be fun, sad, or scary. Personally, I find movies to always be a rollercoaster of emotions.
The kind of movies a person likes is a great tell of character. I can confidently say that I come across as a person who dislikes horror movies. I can say the same about my love for romance and comedy movies. I absolutely love talking about them.
To start, I asked my friend Angel Rivera ’26 what her favorite movie was. Hers is, The Sandlot, a comedy from 1993 about an 11 year old kid called Smalls and his first summer in San Fernando, California. Starting off as a kid with no friends, our main character follows a boy, Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez, to a raggedy baseball field with his friends. The movie goes on to show how Smalls spends his summer with Benjamin and his baseball gang.
Depending on the browser you use, when you search the movie, you’ll often see it labeled as a “Family/Comedy” as per Google, or “Children” from Yahoo. This movie was absolutely hilarious. It’s actually appalling how comedy is only the secondary genre. In terms of movies that are actually comedies, I think this was the funniest that I’ve watched.
All the unique characters, unusual experiences, and overall tone made this a great watch. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone willing to watch, but I must say, there definitely are some odd scenes. Seeing as the movie is told from the perspective of a gang of immature children, it can get a little strange. Overall, this is a great movie pick from Rivera.
Next, I will discuss a movie that my friend Hana Cleemann ’26 recommended to me a little while back. This is my all-time favorite movie. About Time is a 2013 romcom set in Cornwall, England, where the main character, Tim, goes upon his romantic search. When Cleemann told me about this movie, I wasn’t aware of its main gimmick and where it gets its “supernatural” aspect from.
Going into the movie blind made it such a fantastic experience watching it. Late at night, I was thrown in a loop, sent on an emotional roller coaster, and brought back to the ground all in one movie. The character development is genuinely one of the best I’ve ever seen in a movie. The movie explores a grand set of potential choices that could have been made and still shows how they would have happened in the movie. It’s truly impressive how good this movie is.
It was mandatory that I rewatch the movie as it was shortly removed from Netflix, but it was absolutely worth a rewatch. Rachel McAdams is my favorite actor of all time, and this movie just solidified that. Whether or not it’s a romance, action, or a comedy movie, she plays all her roles amazingly. Specifically in About Time, she does a great job at playing her role and keeping the cheesy romance enjoyable.
Now, there’s only one movie that comes to my head when I think of movies that I watched that I wasn’t recommended. On a long bus trip, I watched what I found to be one of the best movies I’ve ever watched. Despite falling second on my list behind About Time, The Gorge is another movie that left me complete. Realistically speaking, the movie is better; however, I am biased.
In the movie, the Gorge is a top-secret location that very few in the world know of. One person from the west is sent to patrol the western front, and one person from the east is sent to patrol the eastern front. They share a common goal of patrolling the Gorge for one year and making sure nothing comes out of it. The two soldiers selected are people who have nothing to lose with practically no loved ones to miss them back home “if” they don’t make it.
Despite being allowed no contact, the two break this rule and enjoy each other’s presence. As much as I would love to keep rambling on about this movie, I can only say so much without giving any spoilers. This movie was impeccable. The acting, the story, the action–I can only dream of watching anything as good with the genres of action and horror. Despite the horror tag, there’s not a single thing scary about this movie in my opinion. It’s a great mix of action and romance.
The penultimate movie I’ll speak about was a movie recommended to me earlier this week. Despite not watching many movies, Valentina Wan ’27 told me that her favorite movie was 12 Angry Men. Upon hearing this, I was immediately thrown off because not only have I never heard of it, but when I searched for it, it was released in 1957 under the tag “Thriller/Crime.”
In her words, “I thought it was an extremely well-written movie that captured my attention despite taking place in a single room the entire film. ” I had no idea what I was getting myself into. A movie in black and white, almost as old as my grandparents, based on a play? When I finished watching it, I was just left dumbfounded.
As Wan said, the bulk of the movie takes place inside a single room where twelve jury members argue. The twelve men are discussing whether or not the defendant on trial for murder is guilty of murdering his father. We as the viewer aren’t sure if the boy killed his father or not; however out of the twelve jurors, eleven of them believe he’s guilty. The premise of the movie is the one man who voted not guilty, attempting to change the minds of the other eleven men. In order to make a decision on the boy’s status, the jury must be unanimously in favor of one decision.
Despite the straightforward nature of the movie, everything about it is so mysterious. We’re not given the name of any of the characters until the very end, where it reveals the actors’ names; it takes a little while to learn where the movie takes place; we only leave the jury room twice; and we never get to know whether or not the boy actually killed his father. Despite my reluctance to watch this old film, I’m sort of happy I did because it was a fantastic watch. I definitely recommend it.
The final movie I watched was on a whim. While scrolling through Rachel McAdams’ movies, I stumbled upon The Time Traveler’s Wife. This caught my eye instantly because the main gimmick in her other movie I loved, About Time, was also time travel and marriage. I quickly gave it a watch, and here I am to report.
This movie was phenomenal. The emotional depth of this movie is what made me thoroughly enjoy this movie. As a time traveler, our main character, Henry De Tamble, was present in multiple timelines over the course of the movie. The main timeline that the majority of the story takes place in introduces us to his wife. Clare Abshire and Henry first met when Clare was a child and Henry visited her from the future. Even though he didn’t remember their first encounter, they immediately hit it off, and their relationship developed as the movie progressed.
As he jumps through different timelines uncontrollably, a version of Henry from the future inexplicably falls into his home and disappears. It’s not unordinary for Henry to see himself from the future, as it’s one of the first scenes; however this was different. He not only knew nothing about this future, but he also had no idea why he came and passed through in such a short time. Without saying too much, this mystery is further developed and solved as he continues to leap through time. This enigmatic aspect to the movie was truly engaging, especially because the actors played their roles exceedingly well.
Whether it’s a love story told across time or a courtroom drama from decades ago, each film had it’s way of leaving a mark. Sometimes, it’s just about a quiet moment, a strong character, or an honest conversation that lingers with you. And just like that, what started as a random list of movies turned into something I spent a lot of my time changing.
First things first, let me say, I love movies. For me, watching movies is an amazing pastime activity. Depending on what you’re interested in, watching movies can be fun, sad, or scary. Personally, I find movies to always be a rollercoaster of emotions.