Step 8: Howl with the Wolves...er, Wolf-Dogs? I mean, Siberian Huskeys.

Quick Points

Reality vs. Movie
Finding the Balto statue in Central Park really is as difficult as Grandma Rosie and her granddaughter make it seem.

Soundtrack/Score
I never realized how pretty it was when I was a kid.

Really a Kids Movie?
Yes, definitely. Oh, sure, there are a few suspenseful moments, but the polar bears and Boris were clearly put in the movie to counteract any life-traumatizing scenes.

Still Good After all These Years?
I'd have to say yes. Even though the jokes seem lame now, the story still pulls at your heart.

For "the true story of an American Hero," this movie is filled with a ton of inaccuracies. But that's ok, because it's still a good tail (pun intended).

The story of the Siberian-husky-now-turned-wolf-dog-by-Universal-Studios had enough suspense in it before the animators added bright colors and talking animals. Nome, Alaska faced a terrible diptheria outbreak that threatened the children of the city, and the only way to get the antitoxin was by racing through treacherous terrain and freezing snowstorms. Add in a little identity crisis to your hero, and you've got the perfect plot.

It can't be all seriousness in a children's film, though. That's why you have the animals exchanging witty banter and cracking jokes. And while I did let lose a few half-hearted chuckles at Uncle Boris' expense, the comedy in this movie is clearly aimed at a younger audience. The real aspect of the story that has withstood time is Balto's character development as he goes from the out-casted underdog to the confident hero. Even though it's a super predictable change, you can't help but cheer Balto on. All children should see this movie if they haven't already. If you're an adult and somehow missed out on Balto when you were younger, I would say go ahead and give it a shot if you like dog movies.

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Step 7: Envision a "Better" America

Quick Points

Original vs. Sequel
You're lost on the streets versus being lost in your house on the night of the Purge. Yeah, it's gonna be better.

Favorite Character
IMDb has him listed as Sergeant, played by Frank Grillo. I don't think they ever said his name in the movie. I called him Batman.

Soundtrack/Score
Creepy, like you'd expect it to be.

Fright Factor
It's terrifying in the idea that people would actually come up with this as a solution to the problems in America, not so much in the "don't go down that way, the monster's going to jump out and get you!"

Once a year, for an entire night, the American people are allowed to just go crazy without any sort of consequences. Everything is legal, including murder. This is the Purge.

James DeMonaco's follow-up to the 2013 dystopian thriller The Purge dives just a little bit deeper into the America that could allow such chaos to plague its cities, while still providing plenty of action. The Purge: Anarchy follows five characters who, for one reason or another, have found themselves outside on this terrible night and must work together in order to survive until dawn (and by working together I mean following whatever Sergeant tells them to do). Along the way, they discover that the wealthy and government officials can be just as cruel (if not more so) than the thugs roaming the streets.

This movie really gets you thinking about the problems America's going through right now--high crime rates, overpopulation, poverty, ect. Though it's just plain creepy that someone can come up with a solution such as the Purge, I'm not above praising the movie. In a way, it is a lot of senseless violence (which horror movie fans have come to expect), but at the same time, it's justified senseless violence. So if you're looking for a horror film that will actually make you use your brain, this is a good one to see.

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Step 6: Remember the Classics

Quick Points

Happy Birthday!
Today marks the 30th anniversary of The Neverending Story's theater debut.

Soundtrack/Score
Who doesn't love The Neverending Story's theme song? It's got such a catchy beat! And the rest of the music is just so emotional.

Movie vs. Book
Yes, the movie about a book is based off of a book. And though I own the book, I've actually never read it, so I can't actually tell you.

Animatronic Puppets
Better than some of the CGI we now have.


Wolfgang Petersen’s movie adaptation of Michael Ende’s book, The NeverEnding Story, has continued to entrance me since the age of five. With its unique style of storytelling, interesting characters, and deep social issues that a young child could never truly comprehend, the viewer becomes so engulfed in the movie that they actually become Bastian Bux (played by the adorable Barret Oliver). 

The story takes place in a school's old storage room. Yup. Bastian teaches kids the value of skipping class to read a book that he stole from bookstore owner Coreander (played by Thomas Hill, who, by the way, died here in Indiana in 2009 ohmygodIcouldhavemethim!). But Bastian has a good reason for doing all this--he's had confidence issues ever since his mother died and he started being bullied, so he latches onto the confidence of the heroes in his favorite books. The latest page-turner Bastian's found in his possession is a book called, you guessed it, The Neverending Story, which follows the young hero Atreyu (wonderfully performed by Noah Hathaway despite him being a white boy playing an Indian) as he travels across the magical world of Fantasia in search of the one thing that can stop an invisible yet powerful entity called The Nothing from ripping apart his home.

While I won't give away the ending, I will say that this movie shows us all, regardless of our age, how powerful our imaginations can be and how important it is to just believe in your own hopes and dreams. Everyone should have watched this film as a child, but if you were unfortunate enough to miss out, I highly recommend you watch the movie with someone who grew up with Bastian and Atreyu and the Childlike Empress and Mr. Coreander and Falcor and the Rockbiter and all the other crazy and amazing characters in The Neverending Story. Since the film is 30 years old today, the lack of special affects and old-movie-feel of the film may detract from a new viewer's enjoyment of the show, but if you're watching it along with someone who's never let their imagination leave Fantasia, you can't help but let your own mind wander into this mystical, inspiring land. 

On a side note, never ever bother watching either of the two sequels! :)

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Step 5: Go See a Kick-Ass, Action-Packed Sci-Fi

Quick Points

Soundtrack/Score
This movie had a soundtrack? I couldn't hear it over all the explosions! Listening to it separately--I give it a "Meh." The song on the trailer is the only memorable one.

The Aliens
Totally bad ass, and how they function together is very unique.

Special Effects
Also bad ass. Gotta love the suits.

Time Traveling
Executed very well, and surprisingly doesn't get boring after repeating the same day over a hundred times.


When watching the trailer for this movie, one might reflect back on the 2011 sci-fi thriller Source Code. While Doug Limen's Edge of Tomorrow features aliens on a European battlefield instead of terrorists on a train, the idea of a US military man having the ability to repeat the same day over and over again until he can stop the bad guy is the same. Viewers will be happy to know that despite this glaringly obvious similarity, this latest time loop film is completely it's own unique movie.

In lieu of spoiling just how Tom Cruise's Major Cage comes to posses the ability to restart the day, I'll just say that Cage is a pretty terrible soldier at the beginning of the movie. With the help of love interest Rita Vrataski (an awesome "Woman Power" character portrayed by Emily Blunt), and, of course, plenty of time to practice, Cage's character develops into a strong, determined hero who's not afraid to crack a joke here and there despite the severity of the situation (a nice bonus for an action science-fiction movie).

And the situation is pretty dire. It's your traditional "aliens land and try to take over Earth" story, and while they never really get into why the extraterrestrials are there, the writers did a great job of creating a unique way for the aliens to work together and fight, making it all the more difficult for Cage and Rita to save the day. The best stories are those where you think to yourself "There's no possible way for them to win this," and (spoiler alert) while there's just a touch of Disney-happy-ending-magic in this film, Edge of Tomorrow still packs a powerful kick-ass, bodies flying everywhere ending. Definitely worth a viewing.

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Step 4: Watch Channing Tatum *Fangirl Sigh*

Quick Points

Original vs. Sequel
I don't remember laughing that much during the first one (in fact, I don't remember much of 21). 22 had me cracking up, though, so I'm going to go with sequel!
  
Soundtrack/Score
Comedy movies rarely have good soundtracks--this movie is no exception.

Favorite Scene
When Tatum runs around the Jump Street headquarters after a hilarious plot twist is revealed (you'll know the scene).

Is Channing Tatum hot?
Yes. Yes he is.

I wasn't going into this movie with high expectations. Yes, I think Channing Tatum is cute and performs well in these kinds of roles. Yes, Jonah Hill can be pretty funny. And yes, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are awesome because they made The Lego Movie. But the first Jump Street just didn't grab me when I watched it back in 2012, so I wasn't expecting the follow up to be much better.

Every once in a while, though, you get a sequel that's better than the original, and the fact that 22 Jump Street acknowledges that it's a sequel that, by all intents and purposes, probably shouldn't exist helps initiate this movie into the elite frat house whose members include Shrek 2, Terminator 2 and frat president The Dark Knight. The characters, especially Ice Cube's Captain Dickson, are constantly ripping on how much money they've spent on this new case that's supposed to be the exact same as the first one, which creates a lot of laughs.

Unfortunately, they're not joking too much when they say it's the same case. The basic plot's very similar to the first movie, so most of the show is your typical "try to find clues while making clowns out of ourselves" routine. And while there is a twist to the end, it's not a very unique twist. So go ahead and gather a bunch of your comedy-enjoying, Tatum-loving friends, but don't spend a whole lot of money on this movie.

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Step 3: Watch an Oscar Nominated Film

Quick Points

Soundtrack/Score
Different, but sometimes pretty.

Favorite Scene
The video game scene! (Warning, contains major cussing!)

Least Favorite Scene
When Theodore has phone sex with a chick who likes to be strangled by dead cats. Yes. That's a real scene.

Should it Have Been Nominated for an Oscar?
Eh... I guess. It was a neat concept with some nice shots throughout the movie, but it was too long and a bit too weird.


If phone sex with a crazy cat lady doesn't turn you on, maybe this will--sex with your operating system. In Theodore's defense, his OS was voiced by Scarlett Johansson, and despite never actually seeing her on the screen, she does an amazing job of being a fun, caring girlfriend for the recently divorced writer portrayed creepily by the unrecognizable Joaquin Phoenix.

The best part of this Oscar nominee was the acting, but even with all that talent the viewer's still hoping Theodore will throw himself off the roof by the end of it all. It's just too long. You can only care so much about an awkward guy's awkward relationship with his computer. For the last half hour of the movie I was fast-forwarding through multiple scenes of Theodore staring sadly off into the distance with what I'm sure was light piano music playing in the background. These types of scene are all good and well--often times, they add a sense of deep, thought provoking beauty to a movie--just not when there's so many of them that they could create their own stand-alone film.

With a few less of these artistic shots, the plot itself wouldn't be half bad. It was a very interesting idea for the story--a society where people are so attached to their electronic devices that they actually form relationships with them--and it really gets you thinking about our own culture and how connected we are to our laptops and smartphones and tablets, and how this connection could affect our relationships with living human beings. I would say go ahead and give this movie a view, though I wouldn't recommend watching it with your parents or your children since there are some pretty strange sexual scenes.

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Step 2: Watch an Awesome Animated Sequel

Quick Points

Movie vs. Book
You can't really compare the two because the first movie is only loosely based on the first book, so the second movie can barely follow the second book. BUT they do have some nice throw backs to the series.

Really a Kid's Movie?
Like the first movie, no! Though nothing can be as shocking as Hiccup waking up without a leg, there are some very intense scenes.

Favorite Scene (Semi-Spoiler?)
When Hiccup meets his mother after blowing her mind with his mad dragon mastering skills.

Favorite Dragon
Night Fury, duh! 

When you've waited years for a movie that's either based off of or a continuation of a story that you're obsessed with, it's really hard to step back from the excitement and take a critical look at the film. So, here's me showing some good faith and being objective.

Things I didn't like about the movie: the villain's story and motives seem more ridiculous with each viewing, Tuffnut becomes a pansy girly-girl who's only interested in muscular guys, and WHY IN THOR'S NAME DID THEY REVEAL THAT HICCUP'S MOTHER WAS ALIVE BEFORE THE MOVIE CAME OUT?! (Sorry if that last bit was a spoiler, but if you've managed to go this long without finding out about her then you did what I failed to do, and I applaud you.)

Now that that's out of the way, back to how awesome the movie was. Everything in it was beautiful (except for Tuffnut's face whenever she sees hunky Dragon Trapper Eret--it's just creepy). The scenes were breath taking (especially in 3D), the interactions between the characters were emotional, the dialogue was witty when appropriate and deep when not (except, again, whenever Tuffnut and Eret are involved), and the music... oh, the music can bring you to tears faster than the scenes themselves, then have you up and dancing by the end of it all (you go, John Powell and Jónsi!).

While the overall story simply wasn't as grabbing as the first movie (and I blame that on the weak antagonist and Dreamwork's idea that revealing the movie's biggest plot twist in it's trailer is a good idea), it still makes for an exciting continuation of Hiccup and Toothless' adventures and will have fans freaking out in their seats (not that I'm speaking from experience). I definitely recommend that everyone see it, if not for the love of the story then for the artistic value of the exquisitely crafted individual scenes, and I highly recommend that you see it in 3D to get the full effect. I'm not a huge fan of this new style that most movies are getting into (in fact, the only other movie I'd say benefits from being viewed in 3D is Avatar), but the feature adds such a sense of realism that you feel like you're actually one of the Dragon Riders and are flying right alongside them.

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Step 1: Support Your Locals

Quick Points 
 
Movie vs. Book
Book. You get more insight on what's going through Hazel's mind. Plus, it's nice not having to worry that others are going to hear you cry if you're enjoying the book in the comforts of your own home.

Soundtrack/Score
Not super memorable in the movie, but going back and listening to it now, it's not bad.

Favorite Scene (Semi-Spoiler)
Augustus' first plane ride. 

Audience Reactions while Watching the Movie
Augustus and Isaac will make you laugh, and of course there will be an extreme amount of crying.

Bet the city of Indianapolis is wishing they'd worked a little harder to accommodate Josh Boone and his crew while they were filming The Fault in Our Stars. Theaters all across Indiana (as well as the rest of the United States) were filled this weekend with sobbing young adults as this tragic love story went from page to screen in the movie adaption of local author John Green's award winning novel.

The movie sticks pretty close to the storyline of the book, making only a few (and in most cases, appropriate) changes and cuts to the cancer-hindering-love-life of Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort). The grabbing tale transitions smoothly to the big screen with the help of these two up-and-coming stars (both of whom were also in fellow Young Adult book-to-movie Divergent), especially Elgort's calm and cool portrayal of metaphor-loving, grand-gesture-doing, occasional goofball Augustus.

While the acting and plot are very good, more character development would have pushed this movie to great. As the story draws closer and closer to it's heart-wrenching finale, Hazel and Augustus seem to stay in their pre-climax selves (both mentally and physically). While it's unclear whether it was the acting, writing, or directing that forced Hazel and Augustus to finish their story in nearly the same emotional state that they started in, make-up and special effects could have been used more liberally to show us a change in their physical appearances.

As a whole though, this movie did an amazing job of giving viewers an insight into the very real lives that many children and young adults are experiencing. While embellishing those lives with beautiful dialogue and perhaps less-than-realistic methods of courting, this movie shows that even through hardships you can find happiness. Though I wouldn't go out of my way to see this movie again on my own, I would happily re-watch it if some of my friends asked me to. I highly recommend that everyone see it at least once, and since this story is supposed to take place in Indianapolis, Hoosier's are especially encouraged to watch it. Okay? Okay.

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