Frozen

I’m a huge fan of Disney films (and I’m also quite a critic of them), so when Disney announced their next project way back when—Frozen—I immediately found myself opposed to the movie. It struck me as uninspired (from the very title. I mean, no one thought of anything more original than Frozen? That and it sounds too similar to Tangled), and I scrutinized everything about the production. And in retrospect, I did so unfairly. The promotional material was juvenile, but so was Tangled’s. And I love that movie. After a while, I opened my heart up to the film, and decided to see it. And I’m glad I did.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games is in many respects a series that deserves acknowledgment for how it stands out within its Young Adult genre. The themes handled are mature in comparison to those of its kin—even when the execution isn’t consistent as such. Such themes are present in the second installment of the Hunger Games trilogy: Catching Fire—where we get to see the consequences of Katniss and Peeta’s survival at the conclusion of the last film’s games. Consequences which have set their world on the verge of a revolutionary rebellion—a rebellion that can either be sparked or pacified seemingly only by Katniss. But as we delve into the film, we learn, as Katniss does, that there are larger puppeteers at hand.

12 Years a Slave

The topic of African slavery is one that Hollywood has never shied away from, but has rarely executed in a wholly satisfactory manner. And to be fair, this is a feat that would be daunting in the eyes of any writer—especially with a work based on real events. How does one properly tell a story set in unarguably the darkest era of America’s history, which continues to bare negative repercussions on many of the country’s people to this very day? Especially with the Political Correctness Brigade waiting round every corner, and every individual just waiting to be offended by misrepresentation or unjust shaming. In their latest film, 12 Years a Slave, director Steve McQueen and writer John Ridley successfully tell the engaging story of a free man unjustly enslaved for over a decade, and his quest to survive and reclaim freedom, without also losing his hope.