Not only is this a cinematic version of the first concert to ever gross over one-billion dollars, but it’s also the overdue shake-up to the entire movie theater industry. Rather than how other major studios would normally tell theaters far in advance when to book their next tentpole movie release, Taylor contacted those theaters herself, blocking out all of October so that no other major releases would conflict with her film. As a result, the cinematic version of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became one of the biggest hits of 2023, making huge theater crowds lining up for a theatrical event a reality once again after the COVID-19 pandemic hurt the industry.
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For what feels like the first time, fans are able to experience a live concert without the messy crowds, loud noises, or expensive tickets that may discourage them from going. Yet these fans are still encouraged to wear friendship bracelets, t-shirts, and other T-Swift related merchandise, getting the freedom to participate in the theater the same way they would at the live concert. In fact, watching the concert this way provides the extra advantage of seeing Taylor more up close and personal; it’s easier to see how openly grateful she is toward her adoring fans. Thanks to this largely influential musician’s desire to make her body of work more accessible will save movie theaters, a new chapter to what the theatrical experience is all about has begun.

PG-13 (DLS)
Documentary/Musical
2 hr. 49 min.

Watch it for FUN.
Watch it to LEARN.
Watch it to feel HAPPY.

As director Greta Gerwig made the creative decisions for this ambitious blockbuster movie, she refused to go with what the adult in herself would’ve wanted, but rather what the little kid in herself would’ve wanted. Sure enough, her vision led to the set and costume designers using more shades of pink than anyone ever thought could exist. The sets resemble life-size Barbie houses- all authentically artificial and built to scale with the actors (the car Barbie drives is 23% smaller than an actual car). For the fun sequences of the bridge between Barbieland and the real world, scenes are depicted in various locations, all with moving background canvases and multiple layers of artificial set pieces that move.
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Every Barbie party outfit ever sold is referenced in the dance party scene, and even the brand’s more forbidden dolls are included in the cast, such as “Growing Up Skipper” and “Sugar’s Daddy Ken.” Makeup tests were done as well on Margot Robbie to make sure she looked as perfect as a stereotypical Barbie doll—a process that took approximately a year. This huge movie would be nothing however without the brash musical score and hit songs, which demonstrate what happens when filmmakers don’t take themselves too seriously and just have some fun. Yet these filmmakers balance that fun with a loving critique of the Barbie brand’s legacy, which is why Barbie will soon change future tentpole movies forever.

To create The Lion King, the animators poured their whole hearts and souls into each animal they put onto the screen. They even brought real lions into the studio as references for their work, just like what Walt Disney did with his animators for films like Bambi and The Lady and the Tramp. Other digital effects made the beautiful African landscapes feel bigger than life, such as by implementing mist, sunbeams, and changes in camera focus to give a sense of perspective. Together, all these ambitious techniques make possible the unforgettable moment when Simba sees the vision of Mufasa in the sky.
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However, the film’s greatest accomplishment is the stampede—an endeavor in computer animation that accomplished a vision impossible to be met by traditional hand-drawn animation. First, a digital wildebeest model was made off of a hand-drawn piece of animation, and then to get hundreds of these models running together, a new software was developed so the wildebeest wouldn’t collide with one another. Yet the hard work of these animators would’ve been futile without the legendary musical score, with talent including Tim Rice, Elton John, Hans Zimmer, and Lebo M- a South African composer. The result is a definitive motion picture event designed at the same grand scale as Hollywood epics such as Ben-Hur or Lawrence of Arabia. So today, it’s remembered as one of the most influential animated films ever made.

This Yuletide classic originated from the idea of commercialism taking over Christmas, coupled with the question, “What if Santa Claus himself saw all this?” Furthermore, it was conceptualized and released as a real feud went on between the department stores Macy’s and Gimbels, of which the film focuses very heavily on. The problem though is that neither store would agree to have their names featured in the movie until they saw the finished product—if they didn’t like it, 20th Century Fox had to go back and reshoot virtually every scene! Considering the production even went as far as filming at the real Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, this was an enormous risk. Yet thankfully, both department stores were very happy with the finished product.
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And thank goodness they were! Miracle on 34th Street ended up being a delightfully jolly motion picture that perfectly encapsulates what Santa Claus would be like if he were a real person. Yet it also doesn’t shy away from its cynicism about the Christmas season, particularly in how major corporations try to turn Kris Kringle’s selfless intentions of helping customers into a big marketing stunt. So little is left to the imagination about why this classic for the holiday season has been so influential, even generating three remakes based on its timeless story. But the original remains the best—the ultimate testament to what makes the most joyous time of year so magical.

NR
Comedy
1 hr. 36 min.

Watch it for FUN.
Watch it to LEARN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY.

Frozen is the finest example of a modern Disney classic that embraces the newness of computer animation to generate something truly spectacular. Animating the snow and ice proved to be a tremendous endeavor, seeing how the production crew programmed a snowflake generator that created over 2,000 unique snowflake shapes. Animating Elsa’s ice powers was also a tremendous showcase of how deep the animators’ attention to detail dove, seeing how in the scene where Elsa created her ice palace, the ice is animated to branch out the same way an actual snowflake does. Furthermore, whenever Elsa loses control over her ice powers, the ice she generates looks harsh with sharp edges, but once she gains control by using them out of love, the ice looks circular with soft edges.
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It's especially worth knowing that the now iconic song “Let it Go” was the reason why the writers rewrote Elsa’s character so that instead of her being the villain like originally planned, she was a co-lead for the audience to root for. That ended up being the right decision because, without the touching sisterly relationship between Anna and Elsa, this instant Disney classic would never have gone on to define an entire generation. It would never have pushed the Disney brand, or other child-focused industries, toward greater diversity with independent, active female protagonists who can teach kids healthy standards on what true love is all about.

PG (D)
Fantasy/Musical
1 hr. 42 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY and SAD.

Based on the book, “Alias Madame Doubtfire” by Anne Fine, director Chris Columbus describes Euphegenia Doubtfire, one of the most beloved movie characters of the 1990s, as “the grandmother you’ve always wanted.” Certain actors offered the role of Mrs. Doubtfire included Warren Beatty and Tim Allen, but it ultimately proved itself to be a role only Robin Williams could bring to life. Every single joke he improvises is absolutely hilarious, and that especially goes for the many deleted/alternate scenes that showcase more of his comedic power! To transform him into his iconic role, Robin had to sit through 3-5 hours of makeup prosthetics every day, and the result turned out so convincing that he wasn’t recognized even by his fellow cast members.
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When working on the screenplay, there was a point when the studio wanted the main divorced couple to get back together in the end, but that idea fell through because those against this ending knew it would’ve been really phony. This turned out to be the right decision—the movie ultimately found that healthy balance between expressing sensitivity toward the topic of divorce while also being one of the funniest pieces of family entertainment ever made. No other movie exists like Mrs. Doubtfire: a textbook example of how to do comedy, as well as a new gold standard on realistic makeup effects to transform an actor into a completely different person of a separate gender and age.

PG-13 (DLS)
Comedy
2 hr. 5 min.

Watch it for FUN
​Watch it to feel HAPPY and SAD.

Despite its goofy plot and bad acting, this spooky little movie could very well develop a cult following someday from those who were kids when they first saw it. And it’s understandable why it would: it’s a twistedly magical piece of family entertainment with a teeny tiny house that erupts in surrealism. Moving into this house is an orphan, Lewis, who must embrace the concept of being the family’s black swan as he lives with his uncle (Jack Black) and neighbor (Cate Blanchett), forming what resembles a mock-Addams family. Outside their front porch, jack-o-lanterns adorn the scene, inside the moonlit walls, the tick-tock sound of a clock is heard, and when the climax hits, the blood-red tint of a lunar eclipse takes over. Everything about the aesthetic of this little fantasy world just screams Halloween.
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As far as the humor goes, Jack Black pulls out a saxophone solo that makes dogs howl and his sentient griffin bush cover its ears, then that same griffin bush, like a family cat, poops in the backyard pond against the uncle’s orders. These little funny bits help balance out the unsettling atmosphere while sustaining that edginess to make kids watching feel like they’re in Lewis’s place; in turn, those kids and kids-at-heart who feel a little weird within their own families could potentially resonate with Lewis. So while The House with a Clock in its Walls isn’t perfect, it’s perfect for Halloween!

PG (DL)
Comedy/Fantasy
1 hr. 44 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY and AFRAID.

Coco had its world premiere in Mexico the weekend before Día de los Muertos, the very holiday the movie takes place on, and there are many more instances that prove how far Pixar went to authentically portray the Mexican experience in this feature film of theirs. The Land of the Dead depicted is full of careful details taken straight from Mexico’s history, such as how the buildings are stacked on top of each other as a reference to the city of Guanajuato, and how these buildings at the bottom look primitive with pyramids, then gradually look more modern as they get closer to the top.
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Creating the Land of the Dead was one of the longest most laborious processes Pixar ever undertook; there were over 500 individual outfits made, and when using them to dress the skeleton characters, a problem quickly came up. The clothing kept clipping into the bones of the skeleton models, so the animators had to develop a new program called, “Continuous Collision Detection” to stop this from happening. Animating the guitar playing was also a challenge, yet the team pulled it off with the fingers of the guitar players always forming the correct chords. There’s clearly much sincere love here for not just music but family as well, which will ultimately make this landmark Pixar production a classic that leaves every eye moist by the end every time.

PG (DS)
Fantasy
1 hr. 45 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY, SAD, and AFRAID.

Steven Spielberg’s most personal film went against the trend of other alien invasion movies by other filmmakers; unlike other popular movies of the genre like War of the Worlds or Alien, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial featured aliens who, similar to Spielberg’s other movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, don’t want to hurt humans. To create this non-threatening lovable alien adopted by a lonely boy, the designer for E.T. took inspiration from wise old people like Albert Einstein, with the alien voice provided by an elderly woman whose voice afterward was electronically modified and mixed with animal sounds. On set, many techniques were utilized to bring him to life, such as hiring a mime to control his hands, yet at other times, the E.T. puppet had to be controlled entirely by wires and computers.
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It may have been a kids’ movie, but Steven Spielberg understood what kind of film he was working on and spoke to the kid actors at their level. He did this by keeping the order of scenes filmed throughout production chronological to the story’s timeline so the kid actors wouldn’t be confused—the kids weren’t even told what would happen next in the story until the day of shooting each scene. And it all worked out: this nostalgic portrait of the 1980s suburb is one of the most influential movies of the decade and made possible many of the sci-fi movies of today.

PG (DL)
Sci-fi
1 hr. 55 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY, SAD and AFRAID.

This first ever “high school musical” redefined cinematic musicals with its roller coaster of an experience that anyone can sing along to. Up until the 1970s, Hollywood musicals were known for their squeaky-clean adaptations of the classics, like The Sound of Music or Mary Poppins; any more mature musicals like Cabaret or The Rocky Horror Picture Show were not designed for the masses. Grease on the other hand went against the grain by focusing on teenagers in the 1950s, with music from the culture, and numerous sexual references that could only be made in the ratings system era. The result of this daring direction entertained all the teenagers of the time who wanted something which spoke directly to them, striking that balance between mature content and wide mass appeal.
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While not a “good” movie by any stretch, this grand achievement in writing more modern music for a more modern musical film paved the way for what types of motion pictures people wanted to see. G-rated family fare like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory weren’t really “cool” anymore, just like the rest of the 1970s in Hollywood, the musical genre was growing up, and now even Broadway is willing to make more entertainment exclusively for the adults. The main takeaway isn’t just that daring content will leave an impact, but that anything with catchy songs and a nostalgic time period will more likely entertain the masses.

PG (DLS)
Musical/Historic
1 hr. 50 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY.