After 2020, I wasn’t sure that movie theaters would make a comeback. Flash forward to the summer of 2024, and I went to see many movies. Looking back, I am shocked about how many movies will come out in the summer of 2024. Going to the movies is a perfect summer activity, especially during the hot weather. Some of the movies I watched over the summer were Inside Out 2, Twisters, It Ends With Us, Despicable Me 4, and Reagan.
I started the summer with Inside Out 2. This story follows Riley as a teenager. This means that she starts to get new emotions, such as Anxiety, Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment. We still have the emotions we met in the last movie, Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness. The original emotions met the new emotions and got off to a rocky start. Anxiety takes over the headquarters and causes Riley to self-doubt and struggle to fit in with her peers. The movie focuses on the original emotions and their journey back to Riley’s headquarters after Anxiety pushes them out. One thing I liked about this movie was it showed the complexities of our emotions as we grow up. It also showed how teenagers’ emotions can shift very fast. This movie really pulls at your heartstrings, but it is definitely worth the watch.
After that, I watched Despicable Me 4. This focuses on Gru’s family welcoming Gru Jr. and facing a new rival Maxime Le Mal (a high school rival). The family is forced to hide from Maxime and go under witness protection. They have to move to the suburbs and adjust to their new identities. Maxime can find them and wreak havoc on the family. This one was very nostalgic for me because I remember when the first movie came out when I was very young. I have always gone to watch these movies for that reason. It wasn’t my favorite movie, but also I am not the target demographic anymore. For younger kids, I think they would enjoy this movie and fall for the gimmicks.
After this, I watched It Ends With Us. This was a book adaptation, and it follows a young aspiring florist named Lily Bloom. It follows her falling in love, and then the relationship spirals as we get flashbacks of her first love. This film deals with heavy topics, so look up trigger warnings. I was interested in this film because I am a fan of Justin Baldoni (director and male lead). I liked this movie, it wasn’t my favorite though. It had some fashion choices I didn’t love and some cringy lines.
Twisters was next on the movies I watched. This movie follows storm chasers trying to collect data on tornadoes and testing new storm-chasing equipment. This movie had cool special effects and it was visually stunning. I thought it was a sequel to Twister (1996), and it was, but you do not need to see Twister (1996) to follow the plot of Twisters. I’m not sure the science behind their lines was accurate, but it is a very fun summer movie. If you like country music, you will probably like this movie.
The last movie I saw was Reagan. This movie came out this past weekend, so it is not technically summer, but it was so hot this weekend I consider it summer. This is a biography of the 40th president, Ronald Reagan. Reagan was played by Dennis Quiad and he was perfect for the role. He has the same charismatic characteristics as the real Ronald Reagan. This movie taught me a lot about Reagan and his involvement in the Cold War. The Cold War, to me, is an interesting topic, so I enjoyed this movie. The movie was a little bit long for me at two hours and twenty-one minutes, but other than that it was pretty good.