Alpha

Alpha takes place twenty thousand years ago in Europe. It is the story of a young man that goes out on his first buffalo hunt only to become stranded and injured. He sets out on his way home and comes across a wolf pack intent on making him dinner. A battle ensues and he leaves the alpha of the pack injured and unable to return home. Unable to kill the wolf himself, the man decides to help it heal and they soon become a pack of their own on a mission to find home.

This movie wasn't entirely what I expected it to be. After seeing the movie preview for what feels like forever, the anticipation kept building and I was looking for a showstopper. I would rate this movie a 6.5/10, which is pretty in-line with other ratings. IMDb gives this film a 7/10 and Rotten Tomatoes has it at a 79% audience score.

My biggest disappointment was that I had to read the whole movie. It's not in English. You didn't know that either did you? Go watch that preview one more time and notice how there's not a single word in it. Yep, I missed that too. There isn't a whole lot of talking in the movie anyway (it's a wolf and a boy, they don't have much to say), but the little that there is, had to be read from subtitles. I normally don't enjoy reading my movies; this one is an exception. I thought some of it was comical the way he would talk to the wolf as if it knew what he was saying. His version of training a dog isn't the same as mine, but it was interesting to watch all the same.

With a production budget of $51 million, this movie is on the lower end for money to use on the special effects. For example, Bumblebee (the new Transformers movie coming out on Christmas), has a production budget of $102 million. Because of this small budget, the CGI is, well...let's be honest...it sucks. The buffalo looked like a puppet in front of a horrible green screen. Luckily, Alpha is played by a real wolf named Chuck. He is a Czech wolfdog which, according to MoviePaws.com, is a mix between wolves and German Shepherds. He is quite the handsome wolfdog, if I say so myself.

Photo courtesy of http://www.movie-trailers-blaze.com/alpha-official-trailer-2-2018-adventure-movie-hd-2/

If you're looking for a feel-good movie, this one is for you. It seems like a long movie, with some slow parts, but it's definitely worth it if you like wolves and movies about finding family in unbelievable places. It's an uplifting film that makes you feel like you should never give up because someone is always going to be there to help you succeed. Plus Chuck is a cutie, and he could be a real star one day. Go see his first performance so someday you can say, "I remember when he first started..."
 

The Darkest Minds

Based on the series of books by Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds is about a mysterious "disease" named I.A.A.N. (see chart below) that kills all children under the age of 18, except for a select few. The adults are afraid of these surviving children and decide to send them away to entrapment camps. The children fight back and form a resistance group to survive.

This is an example of a movie that is receiving a mix of different reviews, and I bet you don't know who to believe. IMDb has this rated a 5.5/10....ouch. Rotten Tomatoes is at 78% for the audience score. Who do you believe? Me! This movie is much better than a 5/10. I think 78% percent is about right or maybe a bit higher than I would rate it, but it's definitely not a bad movie.

The Darkest Minds is very similar to Divergent, where they separate the kids based on their abilities. In this movie, they are categorized by colors:

The higher up on the chart, the more dangerous the child is. Any child that is rated an orange or red, is set to be terminated immediately. Enter Ruby Daly (Amandla Stenberg). She is an orange that has managed to survive the camps undetected, and with only 2 remaining oranges left in this world, she is unsure of her full abilities.

Let me just take a minute to explain what I.A.A.N. stands for. The chart below explains a lot.

Idiopathic Adolescent Acute Neurodegeneration - sounds like a jumble of random words. Basically it just means that it's a disease that shows up extremely fast in children and that it's because of a decline in the nervous system. The adults don't know why it is happening and they don't know how to cure it, so instead they decide to go all WWII and send the surviving kids away or kill the ones higher up on the chart. Have we not learned from our past mistakes? When do these camps ever work? But, that's how it was in the book, I guess, so that's what happens in this film.

I think some of the acting was a bit adolescent, and some of the jokes just a little too corny, but overall I really enjoyed The Darkest Minds. They covered a lot of stuff and at times I found myself thinking, "Wow this movie is long." It's really not though. It's only 1 hour and 45 minutes. They just cover so much in that time.

I hope that people disregard the reviews and go see this one. It is hurting in terms of box office income. At a little over $8 million in sales and a $34 million production budget, this is not looking good for the rest of the series. I would really like to see where this all ends up, so please go see this movie. If you hate it because you think it's too similar to Divergent, I understand that. In my eyes, this movie is based on a book series, and if that series was able to do well in book sales, then something really good must happen in it to compete with such a popular trilogy such as Divergent. Give it a chance to prove itself. Everyone deserves a second chance.

Christopher Robin

Christopher Robin is the newest Winnie the Pooh film meant for every person, adult or child, that has ever loved the Hundred Acre Wood. We watch Christopher Robin go from a happy child to a workaholic with very little time to give to his family. Then one day, Pooh can't find his friends and so he enlists Christopher to help him. Christopher soon learns that family and friends are more important than any job.

I loved this movie from start to finish. Winnie the Pooh was always a presence in my home, and continues to be to this day. My mom is even named after Christopher Robin (her name is Christine), so yeah Winnie the Pooh is sort of important to us! I was so excited to see this movie, and it did not disappoint. The reviews on every media site are absolutely true. If you loved Pooh Bear in the past, then you will love this movie as well.

At first, I thought it was starting a bit slow. The beginning starts with Christopher as a young boy and then we jump through the years almost like we are transporting through the important parts of the book. Once Christopher is an adult (played by Ewan McGregor) it really picked up and had me laughing the whole time. There was something almost sentimental to me throughout the film. They kept us entertained by reminding us of all the old shows and all the old jokes: Pooh with his hunny, Piglet with the acorns, Tigger's bouncing song, etc. It was like I was being brought back to an easier time where my Hundred Acre Wood friends were all I needed. Pooh's wisdom was beautiful throughout the movie, even if he thinks he's just a bear with very little brain.

The character animations were also very well done. When Christopher was interacting with them it was like they were actually there having a conversation or off searching for their friends. Pooh had me laughing the whole time, especially with his sticky, hunny fingers and his need to understand the "real world." Eeyore was hilarious as well with his somber statements like "Thanks for noticin' me." I've always had a soft spot for Eeyore though so maybe that's just me.

I highly recommend seeing this movie if you ever loved Pooh and his friends. Even if you never got into Pooh before, I think you will love this movie. It will definitely be a part of my collection of DVDs someday. I mean with reviews like 8/10 from IMDb and a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, you can't get much better than that.

P.S. There is a small scene during the credits that is a little weird, and not totally needed. It ends with the friends all sitting in some beach chairs relaxing by the ocean which was pretty cute.