School was out for the summer, and everyone was rushing home with big plans for the next three and a half months – some people were working all summer, while others were going on
vacation. I spent the majority of my summer at the movie theater, seeing as many movies as I could before heading back to campus in the fall.

Aladdin

The first Disney remake of the summer was “Aladdin,” the story of a street rat who falls in love with a princess and meets a genie.

Like Disney’s other live-action remakes, “Aladdin” featured some new songs and had more to the plot than the original cartoon. Jasmine (played by Naomi Scott) and Genie (played by Will Smith) had more to their characters than in the original. Genie found himself a love interest, while Jasmine’s character was stronger and stood up for herself more than in the cartoon.

While only receiving a 57% score on Rotten Tomatoes, people online seemed to love the movie. Some were skeptical about Will Smith taking over as Robin Williams’ Genie, but ultimately thought that he did a good job.

“Aladdin” was exciting and well-done, and it was fun to see the magic brought to life.

Toy Story 4

On March 19, Pixar released a trailer on YouTube for “Toy Story 4.” When the movie was first announced a few years ago, the release date for the movie was supposed to be on Jun. 16, 2017, but it got pushed back. It finally was released to theaters this year on Jun. 20.

The movie follows the toys after they had moved on from being Andy’s toys to Bonnie’s. A new toy made by Bonnie in kindergarten, Forky, is introduced to the group and helps push the storyline along. The movie has a bittersweet and satisfying end.

“Toy Story 4” currently has a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, and is loved by both audiences and critics.

Spider-Man: Far from Home

Fans of The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) were impatiently waiting to see “Spider-Man: Far from Home,” as it was the first movie after “Avengers:
Endgame,” which was
released earlier this year in April.

“Far from Home” picks up eight months after the events in “Endgame,” and follows Peter Parker and his friends as they go on a trip to Europe. We are introduced to a new character, Mysterio (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), and we watch as Peter tries to be a normal high school kid despite Nick Fury’s efforts to become the new Iron Man.

The way the movie shows Peter trying to accept the events of “Endgame” is done in a realistic way, and we’re able to see his growth throughout.

The mid-credits scene ends on a cliffhanger, and features a surprise
cameo from the original “Spider-Man” movies. “Far From Home” was a satisfying end to the MCU’s Phase 3.

Midsommar

Last summer, Ari Aster gave us “Hereditary,” and this year, we got “Midsommar,” a flowery nightmare of a movie about a Swedish festival.

“Midsommar” was released in the United States on July 3, with a runtime of two and a half hours.

The film is about a group of graduate students who visit Sweden to partake in a festival that only happens every 90 years. As soon as they get there, things seem off, and as the movie goes on, it only gets weirder; it’s more than what meets the eye.

“Midsommar” is in no way your typical horror movie, as it ends up being more than just that.

Crawl

“Crawl” is a drama/thriller movie about a Florida woman who gets stuck in her dad’s house during a hurricane – with alligators.

“Crawl” was released on July 12, and has since received the approval of both critics and audiences, and was given an 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The movie centers around a competitive swimmer, Hayley, who goes to check on her dad during a hurricane, only to find him injured from an alligator under his house.

“Crawl” begins with Hayley at a swimming competition, setting up a plot point for the rest of the movie, as most of the film takes place in water.

One of the things that makes the film so suspenseful is that Hayley isn’t your typical stupid scary movie character – she’s actually very smart. She makes the best decisions possible, using her swimming background to her advantage, yet things still go wrong. It shows that sometimes, even if you do everything right, some things are just out of your control.

“Crawl” is suspenseful, fun and will have you at the edge of your seat. The film is estimated to come out on DVD and Blu-Ray in October 2019.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

“Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” produced and co-written by Academy Award-winner Guillermo del Toro, was released on Friday, Aug. 9. The movie was based on the collections of stories published from the early 80’s to the early 90’s.

Rather than showing a bunch of random stories like the books, Director André Øvredal selected six of the stories from the books and put them all into one storyline.

“Scary Stories” centers around a group of teenagers who break into a haunted house and find a cursed book of scary stories, which the main character steals. This awakens the ghost who owned the book, and she begins to write more stories about the group and other people they know; this is where the stories from the collection of “Scary Stories” begin to come into play.

The movie focuses more on del Toro’s original plot than the stories the movie is named after. It was fun to see for the nostalgia, and to see some old favorite stories brought to life, but otherwise is simply not the same as the books.

The end of the movie did imply that a sequel is in order. “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is still in theaters.