Hey there! So, I'm currently in the middle of making a blog post series on every movie I watched in 2022, but I'm also taking a film class for my junior year of high school....I decided that it would be fun to document every movie that we watch in film class, and give you a little review on them.
Here we go!
1. Spider-Man
The first movie we watched in film was Spider-Man. We watched the very first Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire which I love. If you didn't know, the Spider-Man movies are my favs, and I watch every new one that comes out. I have no idea who my favorite Spider-Man is though. It might have to be Tom Holland if I'm being honest.
2. Jumanji
Next, we watched Jumanji, which I've seen several times before. That's another good movie!
3. Gravity
Another movie we watched was Gravity. This is probably one of my least favorite movies we watched in my film class. It was boring, and I didn't really like it. It just followed people in space, and then one person trying to survive and get back to Earth.
It was also nervewracking to watch because the whole time you're scared that the main character isn't going to make it at all.
4. Titanic
I've known what this movie was about for a while, but I just never watched it all the way through. And, it was just so sad, and there were some things they included in the movie that kinda repulsed me. But, it was good? I don't know if you can call a movie based off of a tragic love story good? Well, I guess it wasn't tragic, but it was sweet and sad at the same time. I'm not sure...
5. Wonder
If you have not yet seen this movie...WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Go watch this movie! It's a masterpiece!
I read the book for summer reading in middle school, and absolutely loved it. Also, Hope from Legacies plays Miranda which is cool! And, yeah! I love everything about this movie, and it has such a great life lesson. I wish Mr. Brown was my teacher.
6. Freedom Writers
Another movie we watched in Film was Freedom Writers. I'm surprised I had never heard of this movie because it was really good. It's also based on a true story which is so good. Erin was definitely my favorite character in this movie, and I think she was a really amazing teacher.
7. Forest Gump
I had definitely heard of this movie before I watched it in Film, and it was an interesting movie. I didn't really think Jenny was a good friend, but I really liked Forrest Gump's character! It was a good movie!
8. Hocus Pocus 2
I feel like this movie was really hyped up because everyone loved the first one so much, and I thought it was really cool that they made a second one, but honestly I didn't really like it all that much. It's been a while since I've watched the first one, and I'm probably going to end up re-watching that, but I just did not like the plot of Hocus Pocus 2.
It just wasn't my favorite, but I do think Lilia Buckingham did a really good job in this movie. I've never really gotten to see her act before so that was cool.
Yeah, not my favorite.
9. Knives Out
When this movie first came out, I heard a lot of people raving about how good it was, but I guess when I looked up what it was about I just didn't find it that interesting.
Honestly, I don't know what I was doing when I decided this movie did not look interesting because it is now one of my favorite movies. If you haven't yet watched Knives Out, please go watch it!
It's SO good! And, I couldn't even guess the ending. And, what's exciting is that the second one is coming out in November on Netflix! I'm so freaking excited for it, and Madelyn Cline is in it so that makes it even better!!
10. The Ring
I'm not brave enough to look up a poster of this movie, so there's no poster for you to see about this movie.
Have I ever mentioned on this blog that I hate horror movies? Because I hate horror movies. A lot.
This was probably the first horror movie I've ever watched that was actually scary. I mean, I watched A Quiet Place a few years ago, but that wasn't really super scary. There were a lot of jump scares, but that was it.
I thought I was going to have trauma from watching this movie. (Okay, I exaggerated that..) I was paranoid for days after watching this movie. And, we watched it over a course of a few days, so that didn't help.
I don't recommend this movie, or any scary movie. I don't understand why people like horror movies. I will never understand. Paranoia is not fun. Paranoia is not fun. I listened to Christian music every single time I had a shower to make me feel better, but I was still scared that someone was going to be on the other side of the shower curtain.
Yeah...I'm getting scared just writing about this movie. But, I'm doing better. Once I stop writing about it, hopefully I'll forget about it again.
11. The Ring 2
We were supposed to start A Quiet Place and then watch A Quiet Place 2, but with my luck, we ended up watching the second Ring movie. Thanks be to God that we're not watching the third one. I think I would have had to be absent from school for a few days if we had done that.
The second one ended better than the first, but I was still not having it. I'm not okay after watching these two movies. That's all I'm going to say.
I'm sticking to Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and Spooksville from now on.
12. Don't Be Afraid of The Dark
So, I haven't finished watching this movie yet, but so far I really like it! I had no idea what it was when we started it, and I was afraid I was going to be paranoid yet again, but then I saw Bailee Madison, and I was excited.
If you didn't know, Bailee Madison is one of my favorite actresses of all time. And, she was in this movie when she was younger.
I know by the poster above it looks creepy, but I promise this movie isn't really even that scary. It's just about monsters, not people getting possessed like The Ring. SO, this movie was definitely a step up for me and made me feel much better after the torture I went through watching that other one.
Update: I finished the movie, and I also learned that it's rated R. I'm honestly so amazed by the fact that this is rated R and I had no idea. Also, it wasn't scary at all. At all. It's just so weird because I've never watched anything rated R before, and to think that this was my first rated R movie is kinda funny. I think it's only rated R because of violence and gore which I did look away for those parts.
Honestly, it's not that I would recommend this movie, but if you're looking for a kinda scary movie, definitely choose this one over The Ring.
13. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
This movie is really good!! It was such a good thing to watch in film class, and I'm really glad that we watched it.
If you haven't heard of this movie, it's basically about a boy who pretends to be sick so he can miss school, and then it follows him and shows what he does during that day. It's so fun!
14. Almost Christmas
The next movie we watched was Almost Christmas. This was just a very heartwarming movie that showed a family learning how to be a family again after so much conflict. Yeah, it was a pretty good movie!
15. Free Birds
We didn't end up finishing this movie in class, but we kinda just watched it on the last day before Thanksgiving Break. I watched this movie a long time ago, and since then I've disliked animated movies...I guess it's because I'm older (not saying you should stop liking animated movies when you're older), I don't know...I just am not a big fan of animated movies anymore. I would rather watch live action.
But, this is a cute movie regardless!
16. Christmas Vacation
Apparently this is a very popular Christmas movie, but before film class, I had never seen it. It's kinda just a funny little Christmas movie. There isn't really anything special about it, but it was cool to watch. I definitely didn't like all of the inappropriate dialogue and stuff, but....that's the world...soo...
17. How The Grinch Stole Christmas
If you have not yet seen this movie, then what are you doing? Honestly, I think everyone has seen this movie because it's just such a classic. And, fun fact: The girl who plays Cindy Lou in this movie actually played a character in Gossip Girl which is a really popular show. I have not gotten very far in Gossip Girl yet, but I did start watching it like a month or two ago.
Another cool thing about this movie is the special effects. After you watch the movie you should definitely look up some behind the scenes videos because it's super cool!
18. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
This movie is such a classic! I used to watch this so much when I was younger, and it was really nice to get to watch it again! The abominable snowman always scares me lol; it's so funny.
But, for some reason I actually enjoy watching movies with clay figures. It's just so fun.
19. Frosty The Snowman
Technically this isn't really a movie because it's just twenty minutes long. But, we also watched part of this in film. Yet another classic, but it's not as iconic as Rudolph.
20. Rush Hour
I really enjoyed this movie! The downside to it is that it leaves Netflix on the 31st and I kinda want to watch the second and third movie before then. Anyway, it was so funny and I'm glad we watched it!!
21. Krampus
I promise I picked the least scary cover.
Anyway, of course my class wanted to end the year off watching yet another scary movie. I hate scary movies, but thankfully this one wasn't about anyone getting possessed, so I did not have any nightmares.
It was still so twisted and creepy and I didn't like it, but I'm just glad it didn't make me paranoid.
And, we were almost done with it by the time class ended, but we did not finish it. So, I looked up the ending because I was secretly hoping it ended well. But, spoiler alert: according to Google it did not end well...
And, that's it! Those are all of the movies I watched in my film class this year. Film was super fun, and along with watching movies, we also got to make a short film! I'm not going to share that on here because privacy, but that was just such a good experience. I'm definitely going to be taking media arts next year, but I wish there was another film class.
If you have a film class at your school, please take it. It's so much fun!!
My favorite movie we watched in class was definitely Knives Out. I'm super duper excited for the sequel to come out next week! Anyway, thanks for reading! ~Ella