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Directed by: Lee Issac Chung

A Korean American family moves to California in 1983. Father Jacob and mother Monica move with their two American-born children, a mature girl named Anne and a six-year-old boy named David, to farmland in Arkansas. Jacob hopes to build a sustainable farm growing Korean produce to sell to vendors in Dallas and live the American Dream. As Jacob and Monica busily work, Monica’s mother, Soon-ja, travels from South Korea to help watch the children. Soon-ja is a mischievous but loving character. She adjusts to life in America and tries to bond with the children despite David avoiding her as she does not conform to his idea of a “normal” grandmother. The family deals with many issues that test the resilience of the household, and through the pain and struggles, the family becomes closer and stronger together.  

The film showcases spectacular cinematography, excellent story-telling, and beautiful acting. Minari captures a family of immigrants who came to America in hopes of a better life and the struggles they faced doing so. The message from the film is something that will stick with me forever. The film teaches you that as a family, we can overcome and navigate our way through the challenges in life. It is okay to struggle at times and fall down, however, we must remember to keep going together. I love how the storyline was simple, yet still thoughtful and well delivered. This is a perfect film for the whole family to enjoy and take away an inspiring message.  

Emily K.

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directed by Pete Docter and Kemp Powers

5 Stars

Joe Gardner is a middle school band teacher whose life hasn’t gone exactly how he expected. He feels unfulfilled at his current job, and he knows that with his excellent piano skills, his true passion is jazz. One of his former students informs Joe of an opening in the band of the legend Dorothea Williams. Dorothea is impressed by Joe’s piano playing and offers him a job immediately. Joe gets the amazing opportunity to play at the best jazz club in town that night. However, in the streets of New York, Joe falls down a manhole transporting his soul into the “Great Beyond”, a foyer with a long walkway, where souls line up going to a white light. Not wanting to die so soon, he escapes the pathway and ends up in the “Great Before”, a place where young souls are mentored to discover their personalities and sparks before going to Earth. Because Joe is determined to get back to Earth somehow, he pretends to be an instructor who trains souls. Joe is given a girl who is only known by her number, 22. 22 is a soul who does not like Earth and finds it pointless. Joe desperately tries everything he can to get 22 to find her purpose and passion. Doing so, Joe learns what it means to have a soul.  

Soul is a funny, moving, and incredibly animated film. The film is all about life journey and finding your “spark”. The movie showcases the journey of finding your true purpose by helping each other. The concept is unique and thought-provoking for older audiences, yet still funny and relatable for children. I loved the deeply moving message of appreciating the gift of life. This is a must-watch for the entire family!  

Emily K.

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by Robert Zemeckis

5 Stars

Forrest Gump (1994) - IMDb

Forrest Gump, directed by Robert Zemeckis, is a critically acclaimed drama film starring Tom Hanks in the lead role and a winner of 6 Academy Awards. The movie follows the main character, Forrest Gump, throughout his fascinating life, filled with unexpected twists and turns, all told from Forrest’s point of view. 

Forrest, a kind-hearted man with an IQ of 75 (10 points under the average of 85), recalls the story of his life to curious strangers while sitting on a bench at a bus stop in Georgia. He recounts the many events he has gone through in his life, including achieving a football scholarship to a renowned college and even fighting for his country in Vietnam. President Lyndon B. Johnson awards Gump with a Medal of Honor for his efforts in Vietnam, where he rescued many of his fellow soldier’s lives, bringing them to safety. 

Though he had accomplished so much in his life, it never mattered to him. All he ever cared about was his childhood friend and love interest, Jenny Curran. Once he receives the Medal of Honor, he gives it to Jenny as a gift, telling her he only received it by doing what she told him to do in his childhood when he was relentlessly bullied “Run, Forrest, run!”. 

This is a fantastic film that explores the fact that a person born with difficulties is only ever limited by their own thoughts and if they put their minds to it, are able to accomplish anything. I recommend this movie to anyone 13+. It is a definite 5/5 film that explores important issues.

Vlada E.

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by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck 

5 Stars

Disney Frozen 2 Original Movie Poster | Frozen film, Disney movies, Disney animation

After lifting the curse of eternal winter in Arendelle, Queen Elsa now rules the kingdom and enjoys a joyful life with her sister, Princess Anna. Despite this, Elsa finds herself oddly unsettled. A strange, mysterious voice continuously calls Elsa, keeping her awake and inviting her to an enchanted forest that her father mentioned long ago. Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven all embark on a journey, following the mysterious voice into the unknown. In the enchanted forest, they are revealed to the truth behind the kingdom of Arendelle, their family’s past, and the origin of Elsa’s extraordinary, magical powers. Frozen 2 showcases the adventures of Elsa, Anna, and their friends in the ancient, enchanted woods as they seek to find long-awaited answers and save their kingdom once and for all. 

Frozen 2 is an excellent movie and ranks among one of my favourite Disney films. After watching the first movie, I had high expectations proceeding to watch the sequel, and they were met. It was a sequel worth the wait and had a compelling storyline. Compared to the first movie, this film touched upon many deeper themes and showed growth and maturity within the characters. Though I felt that at certain points, the plot seemed to be all over the place, the movie wrapped up nicely. My favourite part of the movie was the range of absolutely stunning visuals. The scenery was precise and detailed throughout the entire film. Such as great film for younger and older audiences to enjoy.

Emily K.

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by Marc Webb

5 Stars

Gifted (2017) | CineMuseFilms

Boat repairman and former philosophy professor, Frank Adler is raising his seven-year-old niece Mary by himself in a small town in Florida. Frank has been a guardian to Mary since she was first born and when her mother, Frank’s sister, committed suicide. Just like her mother, Mary is a genius and has shown remarkable mathematical talent, but Frank hopes she can have a chance at a normal childhood, unlike his sister. After years of homeschooling, Frank decides to enroll Mary in a public school for first grade, and on her first day, her teacher is impressed by her incredible mathematical abilities. The school’s principal suggests that she should be transferred to a school for gifted students, but Frank declines. Mary’s controlling grandmother eventually gets an insight into the situation and hopes to gain custody of Mary and move her to Massachusetts as she believes that Mary should dedicate her life to mathematics, just like her mother. Frank and his mother get into a legal battle over her custody, with his mother wanting to force Mary to complete her mother’s project and Frank wanting to give Mary the life her mother never had. 

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film as it was gripping and kept my attention throughout. Chris Evans, who plays Frank, and McKenna Grace, who plays Mary, have amazing chemistry and showcased wonderful acting, which made the movie very enjoyable to watch. The math scenes were my favourite as they were beautifully and simply portrayed without lots of exaggeration. Gifted is truly a heartwarming film that many will enjoy!

Emily K.

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by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck

3 Stars

Frozen II - Wikipedia

The movie Frozen 2, directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, is about an ice queen named Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel), discovering some hidden secrets in the enchanted forests, or what she called the “unknown”. Elsa, her sister Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell), and her friends Olaf, Christoff, and Sven go searching for the mysterious voice that has been calling out to her. Elsa soon discovers the hidden secrets of her families’ past and discovers her most inner persona.  

Frozen 2 is a continuation of the first Frozen movie. I would recommend someone who is planning on watching this movie to watch the first movie of Frozen. Frozen 2 is a very good family movie. It has some humour and a lot of drama. There are also a lot of songs and singing in the movie. The songs are very nice, but in my opinion, I feel like there was a bit too much singing. Many of the songs were unneeded and took over a large part of the movie. Personally, I would consider this movie as sort of a musical rather than a drama. I feel like the first movie of Frozen was better than the new one because it had fewer and simpler songs that you could sing to, and the songs connected well to the plots of the movie. The plot of Frozen 2 is very good, and the resolution is very appealing and ties all the loose ends together. Overall, I would rate this movie a 3 out of 5 stars. I feel like it would be a lot better if there were more drama and action than singing. 

Liza P.

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by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane

5 Stars

Spies in Disguise, directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, is a movie full of comedy and action that every family member can enjoy together. It is a movie that I enjoyed and would recommend others to watch. It has many exciting and “weird” moments that cause suspense and bring laughter.  

Spies in Disguise - Wikipedia

The movie is about a super-spy named Lance Sterling, voiced by Will Smith, and a scientist named Walter Beckett, voiced by Tom Holland. This duo is complete opposites who have to work together. Lance Sterling is a smooth, independent spy whose goal is to protect the world from evil. Walter Beckett is a smart, inventive scientist who lacks social skills. These two characters have to work together because Lance turns into a pigeon when accidentally drinking one of Walter’s inventions. The question throughout the movie is, will Lance Sterling return to human form? Will he be able to defeat evil as a pigeon? Lance was always used to working alone but, as a pigeon, he had to depend on someone else. He had to learn to work with Walter.  

The movie focuses on the idea that it is okay to be weird or different, and that people can work as a team even if they are different from each other. In the part of the movie where Lance Sterling says, “Let’s get weird”, this is associated with Walter always being considered the “weird kid” in school. It showed that all the work Walter did on his inventions was not just something weird but actually ended up helping Lance fight evil. When they worked together, they both became better versions of themselves. The movie also has a lot of action. There is a sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat moment where a viewer would fear what was going to happen next. There are a lot of close-calls, and some events happen that you would not expect to happen in the movie. The movie showed Walter’s inventions in creative ways, and some of the things that happened to him and Lance throughout the plot were interesting and creative. The characters in the movie are funny, and the choices that they make cause them to seem silly and careless. The movie will grab the attention of everyone and give everyone a chance to stay on their toes and laugh. Overall, I would recommend this movie for all ages, and it is a good movie for a whole family to watch together. I would rate this movie 5 stars. It is funny, exciting, and would be enjoyable for everyone in the family to see. 

Liza P.

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