When my 9-year-old self saw Emmett (Chris Pratt) become “The Special” and join the ranks of the greatest master builders to defeat Lord Business’s (Will Ferrell) regime, I thought it was one of the greatest movies of all time. Ten years later, I hold a similar opinion. Having recently rewatched “The Lego Movie” for old time’s sake, I realized that the film should not be taken at face value. 

Daughter of a jewelry designer born into the peaks of British high society, Emerald Fennell made a career transition from acting to writing and directing with her television series “Killing Eve” and has since received many accolades and awards and great recognition for her work. Fennell’s sophomore project “Saltburn” is a film that aims to provoke, much like her debut “Promising Young Woman.” The latter film, for which Fennell received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay – one of the more puzzling decisions on behalf of the Academy in a history of many puzzling decisions – was sold as a poppy, high-brow feminist take on the rape-revenge film. However, in reality, it was a film composed of empty platitudes and pulled punches, with little to say about its subject matter.

Every year at the Academy Awards, there are a few types of films that are bound to be nominated: the blockbusters that dominated the box office, the arthouse hopefuls and the little indies that could.

There is a scene in “The Holdovers’’ in which boarding school teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) asks Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a troubled student whom he is the guardian of over winter break, what the bottle of pills on his bed is for. Angus quickly brushes them off as being for his “low energy,” to which Paul bluntly responds, “You mean for depression?” Angus changes the subject and walks out of the room while Paul takes a few of the pills.

The slasher film “Thanksgiving” was released in theaters on Nov. 17, scoring big with fans and critics alike. The film has notched an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes with mostly positive reviews for director Eli Roth’s latest horror installment while also grossing $36.8 million against a $15 million budget as of Monday, Dec. 4.

Nothing could prepare audiences for “Saltburn,” the psychological thriller and black comedy that was released on Nov. 17. The film follows a young university student who becomes obsessed with a wealthy student and his family, ultimately spending the summer with them at their Saltburn estate.

“The Hunger Games” franchise continued on Nov. 17 with the release of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” a prequel movie to the original trilogy. The new movie, directed by Francis Lawrence, tells the story of the 10th annual Hunger Games, highlighting Coriolanus Snow. 

In 2022, Elvis Presley reentered cultural consciousness through the flamboyant eyes of Baz Luhrmann. Austin Butler’s portrayal – and the exuberant stylistic elements of the film – depicted the well-known and beloved Elvis. Sofia Coppola’s new film “Priscilla” demands her audience of something greater: nuance. She demands the King of Rock to be seen through the eyes of his ex-wife, Priscilla Presley. Represented in this movie is a far-more nuanced and loveable icon because he is understood through the woman who loves him. What’s more, Coppola is able to acutely delineate how it is that a woman can lose herself in love and crafts a sophisticated story that honors the lived experiences of women.

The recent release of the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie on Oct. 27 has reignited the franchise’s popularity, and fans of the games swarmed the theaters. The majority of the fans of the original game of the same name, which came out on Aug. 8, 2014, are now adults; however, the film’s financial success at the box office proves that older fans were still eager to rush to the theaters to see it.

With over $1 billion in unadjusted worldwide grosses and a massive, devoted following, “Saw” is one of the most successful horror franchises in existence. Starting off with a “Seven”-esque thriller and quickly morphing into a wildly elaborate and excessively gory soap opera, the soon-to-be-ten-film series has repulsed critics and general audiences alike but has ensnared the hearts and minds of horror fans around the world for nearly two decades.