It seemed too good to be true. A movie in Central Park for free! Or maybe it’s actually accurate, and I’m just a first-year who doesn’t know the city all that well. I take every excuse that I can get to go into the city, so it was a no-brainer that I would be attending. Given that I am not well-versed on New York City subway routes, I grabbed my friend and after my math class, we sprinted to catch the Metro-North for our exciting expedition. After transferring to the R train, we set out for the short walk to the park while admiring all the beautiful architecture.  

It was a cool Thursday night, and our bags were filled with Trader Joe’s snacks, candy and a picnic blanket to spread out our treats. We were itching to find where the movie would take place. 

I was ecstatic to see “How to Train your Dragon” (2025). I’d never seen it, butI had heard from movie critics that it was one of the best live actions that has come out. The film fanatic in me was yearning to see what all the hype was about. 

I guess I’ll never know. You might be confused, but imagine this: we made the trek to Central Park and walked over to Wollman Rink, finding the perfect spot to set camp. It was a great environment — there was free popcorn and people walking around with their dogs. The evening quickly turned to night, and the skyline looked stunning from where we sat.  

We scrolled through social media to pass the time, and I went on Letterboxd to get even more excited for the movie. Suddenly, I began to see the opening credits pop up. I froze. “Did Warner Bros. Make this movie? I thought it was Dreamworks … ” I thought to myself. I assumed I was wrong. 

Then I saw it. The undeniable sight of a creeper on the screen. And no, I don’t mean a weird or freaky person. I mean the creeper from the Mojang Studios video game “Minecraft.” I felt myself filling with dread but hey, a free movie is a free movie, and I’m not going to turn that down.  

We sat through the whole hour and 41 minutes of “A Minecraft Movie” (2025). Now keep in mind, I’ve already seen this movie and knew I didn’t like it, so this was quite a change in events. I won’t turn this into a film review, but there is a thin line between a movie that is supposed to be “bad” but in a “camp” way, and a movie that is supposed to be “bad” but is genuinely horrendous. This film is not my cup of tea, and I’ll leave it at that. 

After the movie, we got up,discussed our respective opinions and were happy to realize that we felt the same way about the film. We decided to head to an Irish pub near the park after to enjoy the beauty that is pub fare. After, we walked to Grand Central and waited for the train back to Fordham after a long night.  

We reunited with our friends and told them about our eventful evening. It brought in a lot of laughs, and I wondered, “why did the venue change the movie?” I decided to check the flyer again and realized that there was actually no reason for me to be upset because I quite literally just misread the Instagram post. It very clearly stated that Sept. 11 would be showing “A Minecraft Movie” (2025).

So, would I recommend coming to this event? Yes! I think it’s a very fun and cheap thing to do with friends, and allows students to explore the city and appreciate it to its full advantage. I highly recommend bringing snacks and taking cute photos while laughing with your friends in the middle of Central Park which, frankly, you can’t do anywhere else. However, if you do choose to do this and are a somewhat snobby movie lover like me, I urge you to please triple check and make sure you like the movie you’re going to be watching!