Toy Story 3 - Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack

Real Teen Award
- Best Animated Movie of 2010

The Gist

In the years Andy has been growing up his toys have always been there for him in the corner of his room but as he gets older he spends more time hanging out with friends and doing other things that he has no time to play with them.  In the final story of the Toy Story trilogy Andy has finally become old enough to go off to college.  Woody, Buzz and the gang quietly wait in the box to await their fate to spend the rest of their lives in the dusty attic.  While packing for college Andy chooses to bring Woody to college and leave the rest of the toys in the attic.  When a mix-up occurs Andy’s mom throws the toys on the curb to be thrown out and they luckily save themselves and they all think that Andy was trying to throw them out.  Woody tries to tell them of the mix-up but they won’t listen and they decide to go to a daycare center called Sunnyside and by chance Woody joins them.  When they get there they are all greeted with open arms, but Wood still thinks that they have to be loyal to Andy and go back to his house.  All of the other toys are reluctant and so Woody leaves all by himself.  Later that day the toys learn that Sunnyside isn’t all that it is cracked up to be and maybe being played with again shouldn’t have been their top priority.  When they try to leave some things prevent them from doing so and they are stuck at Sunnyside and have to find a way out before it is too late.


What We Think

Reviewed by The North Star

Run Time: 108 Minutes

Rating: G

I have to say the this Toy Story was pure magic.  I don’t care if it took them 50 years or 2 years I didn’t mind having to wait for this movie.  Toy Story 3 was the definitely the best out of the three.  I don’t know where to begin.  Well first off, Pixar is brilliant.  I don’t think there is one movie made by Pixar that I didn’t like.  They take a long time developing their stories and making sure that every little detail was perfect and their were no holes in the story.  Just to say this movie almost made me cry and pretty much everyone else in the theater was crying and no one in my theater was younger than 12.  Only one person was 12 and that just happened to be my sister almost everyone in the theater was 30 or above.  Another thing that I love about this movie was that I was constantly laughing and when I wasn’t laughing I was almost crying.  The animation in this movie is also perfect.  There is one part with Mr. Potato Head and you wonder how they made things so life-like when it’s not real.  The other great thing about this movie was that in the 2nd movie I did not like Jessie and in this movie she really grew on me.  I loved the relationship she had with Buzz and I think that it was really cute.  I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this movie and I could watch it 20 more times and still not get tired of watching it.  Some fun facts from the movie are, the garbage man who comes to pick up the toys is Sid from the first movie and he is still wearing the same T-shirt.  Ken has 21 outfits all throughout the movie.  Pizza Planet is named in all of the Pixar movies except The Incredibles. There is a postcard on Andy’s dresser addressed from Carl and Ellie Fredrickson from the movie Up.  Finally, Buzz Lightyear’s batteries are from Buy ‘N’ Large and store used in Wall-E.  In summary, the jokes are extremely original and hilarious, and everyone all ages should see this movie (no exceptions).

Real Teen Rating~ A+: If you haven’t seen this movie you are a deprived soul!!!


Reviewed by Dream Catcher

Toy Story 1 and 2 were fantastic. Toy Story 3 is even better. Not only did I laugh and look back on the movie fondly (as I did with the first two) I gasped and cried!  That’s right. A cartoon movie made me cry. A few tears. Right near the end. I tried to hold them in. But then I coughed and against my will I was crying. That’s how you know it’s a good movie.  When I saw that they were making a third Toy Story I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Yay, another Toy Story! or This can never compare to the first two! Third – when it comes to movies at least – is never the charm. The plot is always fluff and nothingness. It’s just never as good. But this was one of the first third movies that was actually as good, if not better than the first one. The dialogue was hilarious at times and horribly sad other times. There were parts I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe and my dad especially thought the entire movie was pure genius comedy. The new characters were welcomed with open arms to the Toy Story family and were great additions to the story that added humor and romance (ex: Ken and Barbie). Characters that were especially funny in my opinion were Mr. Pricklepants, Ken, and Spanish Buzz. Some say those characters weren’t needed, but I loved them and thought they were a great part of the movie. I love the original characters, but they had to add new characters or it wouldn’t have been as interesting. The plot was also really interesting and totally not just fluff. I loved the fact that they all went to day care. It was complete genius, and the villain of story was so…NOT NICE! He made me mad. So I guess that makes it a good movie too. Overall the movie was so good I would see it multiple times and not get tired of the jokes or the plot or the characters. Seriously, I plan on seeing it again soon, that’s how good it was. I’d go see it again in THEATERS! That’s a good movie right there. So go see it in theaters, or rent it when it comes out, or whatever. JUST WATCH IT ITS SOO GOOD! Really.

Real Teen Rating~ A+ : If you haven’t seen this movie you are a deprived soul!


Reviewed by ShoreWhisperer

I went to see this movie at a drive in. This was my first time seeing a movie at a drive in so I was pumped. I am glad that this was my first drive in movie experience. I felt like a kid again, sitting there, eating candy and watching a movie about talking toys. This movie was defiantly the best of the three in my opinion. I had never liked the Toy Story movies. I had watched them a couple times with my cousins who were obsessed at the time. I would never have thought “Wow! I want to watch that again!”. So when the movie started I was really confused. Like what is going on and what is the evil pig space ship? But then the movie got going. I had always liked Disney/Pixar films and this one lived up to its standards. I will even admit to tearing up at the end of this movie. I thought that the plot was well thought out and quite ingenious actually. The characters were funny and sweet and lovable, just like they were when the first Toy Story came out. These characters will forever live in our hearts and this movie wrapped it up nicely. As always Pixar put in jokes for adults, which made it enjoyable for every age group. Toy Story 3 is one of the best Disney/Pixar films that i have seen, along with UP and Finding Nemo. Everyone who sees this movie will be returned to their days of imaginary friends, dolls, and stuffed animals. This movie also shows us friendship and trust, it is truly a genuine movie.

Real Teen Rating~ A: You MUST watch this movie!

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Princess of the Midnight Ball - Jessica Day George

Princess of the Midnight Ball
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The Gist
The twelve princesses of Wesfalin are under a terrible curse and have been since the day they were born. They must dance from dusk until dawn every night, and they are powerless against the horrible creature that holds them to an unfair contract. Galen is a foot soldier who has just returned victorious from a bloody war. Both parents dead, Galen heads to Bruch, the capital of Westfalin to see if he can find work with his aunt and uncle until he can find another place to stay. Back at the castle, the princesses wear out their dancing slipper every night, and their father is not happy. Getting work as an under-gardener for the King’s gardens (with his uncle as the head-gardener) Galen hears of the slipper scandal first-hand. He notices the princesses’ exhaustion especially when the eldest princess, Rose, falls ill and does not recover for three months. Prince after prince arrives at the palace in hopes to solve the mystery of the worn dancing slippers and win the hand of one of the princesses. One by one the princes fail and one by one they mysteriously die. Galen isn’t rich or nobly born like all of those princes were, but he has a feeling he can discover the princesses secret and free them from their curse.


What We Think
Reviewed by Dream Catcher

Number of Pages: 280
Well, first off the title itself isn’t too enticing. But I read it because I liked the other books this author has written. So there. It was pretty good. Nothing to rave about, but still it wasn’t bad. It’s a fairytale retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, with weird twists added in. The characters and the plot were pretty good in my opinion, but there was one thing I didn’t like at all about this book.  And that was all the religion. There were bishops and other clergymen prancing around everywhere. Granted, they were mostly antagonists in the story. I thought I’d just warn all those who don’t want to read about the church.  Don’t get me wrong, the book is certainly not based on religion, but there is a lot of talk about religion (the cross, God, Jesus, ect.). Just thought I’d warn you. But if I could get through it,I’m sure most people can get through it. Moving on, the plot, though not the most original (because it was based off a well-known fairytale) was entertaining. I love fairytale retellings, especially when the author adds something new and unexpected to the story. Like with this story. I’d always imagined the twelve dancing princesses danced willingly. Here, it’s their curse, and Galen would be their hero if he was able to free them from it. I really liked the idea of this story. The characters however were portrayed a bit awkwardly at times.  Galen, though extremely polite, often winked and joked where he should not have joked. It was like he was polite under-gardner then BOOM flirtatious suitor. What happened? I have no idea. But most of the time he was a pleasant protagonist. There were so many sisters, also. Throughout the story you learn all of their names, but by the end I only knew a fraction of them. She mostly focused on four or five sisters, and left the others out for most of the time. It was a little weird. Overall though, I enjoyed this book and think it was worth the read. It’s a good book to read when you don’t want to read something overly complicated or heavy. Light, but interesting.

Real Teen Rating~ B : Read it, but there’s no rush.

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Mystery Science Theater 3000- Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy

Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy
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The Gist

The first movie is about how these random trains and oil plants start blowing up all over the world and no one has any idea why.  Some scientists think that it is people from the moon coming to destroy us so they send up one of the scientists to talk to the moon people to see is what going on.  When he gets there the aliens do not want to cooperate and have other plans in store.  In the second movie, a guy walks into a room full of people (who have no idea why they are there)  and tells them that the most incredible thing has happened to him.  They sit there as he tells them of how a couple of months ago they found how long ago this civilization used to do sacrifices.  Intrigued he went down with a couple of his buddies to see what was happening down there and they found jewels beyond their wildest dreams.  There plans are ruined when a mummy comes back from the dead and tries to destroy their plans.  Meanwhile Joel and the robots are being attacked by space dogs that think their ship is a bone.

What We Think

Reviewed by The North Star

This was one of the WORST Mystery Science Theaters that I have ever seen.  I recently watched it with Dream and we couldn’t even finish it, it was so terrible.  First off, it didn’t make any sense what-so-ever, they started off with one movie which was pretty funny and then half-way through they switched to another movie which was terrible and not funny at all.  The first movie was really stupid and really confusing, but the comments were some-what funny.  The second one was just plain awful, nothing about it at all was funny, not even the comments made by the peanut gallery.  Dream and  I tried to get into it but we just couldn’t, we sat there wondering when some funny comment was going to be said.  Sadly, that never happened, and we ended up not finishing it just fastfowarding to the end to see what happened with the skit.  You know that a Mystery Science Theater has gone bad when someone wants to see what happens in the skits and could care less about the movie comments.   I would also like to point out that although there was an Aztec Mummy there was no robot.  I really have nothing to say about this Mystery Science Theater but NEVER, NEVER watch it.

Real Teen Rating~ The actual movie: O: seriously that is a zero

Mystery Science Theater: F :I wouldn’t waste my time

Reviewed by Dream Catcher

All I can think to say are these two things: I am extremely happy I didn’t have to write the gist and I completely agree with everything the North Star has blogged about this Mystery Science Theater. Why am I glad I didn’t have to write the gist? Well, I did not understand this movie at all. How could I summarize it if I had no idea what was happening while I was watching the movie. And yes, I agree with the North Star on this. It was a terrible Mystery Science Theater. The only times I ever laughed was at the very beginning, and it wasn’t even a good laugh. Barely a chuckle. I laugh at a lot of things, half of which aren’t very funny. If this can’t get me to laugh, it can get no one to laugh. It was confusing, it was weird, and it was boring. I think I’m going to leave it at that.

Real Teen Rating~ The actual movie: O : Seriously, that is a zero.

Mystery Science Theater~ F : I wouldn’t waste my time.

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Allison Iraheta-Just Like You

Reviewed by Dream Catcher

Song Time: 44 Minutes and 21 Seconds

Just Like You
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In season 8 of American Idol, Allison Iraheta came in fourth and has since came out with one single and one CD. I had always liked Allison on American Idol, in fact, I’d hoped she’d come at least in second. Sadly she did not, but she hasn’t really suffered for it. Just Like You is a good album that is definitely worth listening to, especially if you saw and liked Allison on American Idol.


Robot Love- 6/10 – Basically, the song is as weird as the title is. It’s techno almost. She’s singing about how angry she is at her boyfriend. Why? Because he spends too much time texting , or on facebook, or myspace, or what-have-you. Too much useless technology in her opinion. It’s a pretty angry song though. Weird, but it kind of grew on me.


Just Like You- 8.5/10 – A boy cheated on his girlfriend and now she’s getting back at him. The beginning is kind of slow, but it speeds up a little as the song progresses. The chorus is definitely my favorite part. I find myself singing along and bobbing my head to the beat. The melody and the lyrics are best there, in my opinion. Other than the chorus, the song was all right, but not fantastic.


Don’t Waste the Pretty- 5/10 – Everything about this song was eh. There was simply nothing remarkable about it. The melody was eh, the lyrics were eh, and there’s this long stretch of the song that repeats “don’t waste the pretty” over and over again with the same notes. Endless. Kind of annoying, really. But I guess the message is good: don’t waste your time on a guy (or a girl, if you’re a guy) if they’re not treating you well. Yeah. That pretty much sums it up.


Scars- 8.5/10 – I really like this song. The whole meaning is pretty, well…meaningful. “It doesn’t matter who you are, we all have our scars”. I think that’s pretty nice. Her vocals in this song are really great, too. Overall? Yeah one of the better songs on the CD. At least in my opinion.


Pieces- 8.5/10 – About her wanting to take chances and live life to the fullest while there’s this person who doesn’t want her to get hurt. Kind of like he cares about her so much he protects her too much, while she’s saying to leave her alone. Independence and all that. Good song. Not too slow, not obscenely fast. The lyrics are pretty good too. Not the best in the CD, but still one of my favorites.


D is for Dangerous- 8/10 – The title makes it sound like the song will be incredibly stupid. That’s what I thought when I first saw it, at least. And it is weird, but I kind of like it.  It starts with A and said that A stood for all I want, and then B stood for battling, and so on.  She goes through the alphabet, which is interesting, but the weird thing is she stops on L.  I think she should have at least finished all the letters. It’s almost incomplete. What is it about? She’s falling for a guy. The end. Simple as that. The song’s pretty good, overall.


Holiday- 9/10 – This is my favorite song on the CD. The lyrics are kind of crazy and the melody is awesome. Kind of edgy, kind of rock. Really intense.  I’m pretty sure it’s about her changing her life for the better and rubbing it in the faces of all who thought she couldn’t do it. Cool, right. I likein-your-face songs. They’re really songs you can rock out to, which is always important.


Still Breathing- 9/10 – Okay, so the lyrics in the song aren’t the best, but they’re good enough. The melody and  the vocals are really great, so that kind of makes up for the lack of amazing lyrics. Seeing as the song is given a 9, you can safely assume it’s one of the better in the CD. Basically it’s about a guy who is too (not quite sure if this is the right word, but…) clingy. He doesn’t let her have her own life, so when they break up she’s not sad at all. Nice, huh? Well, the song’s pretty good, anyway.


Trouble Is- 9/10 – Another good song on the CD. This with better lyrics, I think. She’s going away for awhile and she made a promise to her boyfriend that when she was away nothing would change between them, but now she’s not sure what will happen. Not too shabby. Love the melody, love the vocals. Simple as that.


No One Else- 9/10- Bunch of good songs in  row, I guess. Yeah, I think this is a decent song. She’s singing about some guy who’s always there for her no matter what. I think that’s pretty nice. Don’t hear too many songs like that, anymore. It’s all about breakups and heartbreak. But not this song. Yay. Love the chorus. It’s a good song to sing along to.


Beat Me Up- 3.5/10- Ugg. This is simply not a good song. At the end of ever line she would repeat the last word three times and it was simply horrible. And, to make everything worse, the song is about loving someone even though they “beat her up”.  That is not a good message to send out to the world. It was brainless, it was stupid, and certainly not something worth listening to.


You Don’t Know Me-8/10 – This was a pretty good song. A guy’s trying to get her to change but she doesn’t want to because she knows herself. How inspirational. Well, the melody and vocals are pretty good, but not anything fantastic. Ta daa. That’s basically it.


El Viernes Te Olvido Yo- 7.5/10 – Yes, this song is sung entirely in spanish. It’s Friday I’ll Be Over U (her single) in spanish. That’s all there is to it. Though I can’t understand any of the words in the song (I take french not spanish in school), I still think it’s pretty entertaining. I like to sing the english version while this version is playing. Maybe that makes me weird, but I think it’s pretty cool.


Overall (I say overall a lot, I realize) I think this is a pretty good CD. Certainly not one of my all-time favorites, but still a good CD I do enjoy listening to on my iPod.

Real Teen Rating~ B : Check it out, but, really, there’s no rush.

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Nightlight - The Harvard Lampoon

Nightlight
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The Gist

 Belle Goose has recently moved  from her beloved home in Arizona to the desolate town of Switchblade, Oregon to live with her dad. As the town window-washer, her father Jim knows the majority of the town and made sure that everyone knew of Belle’s arrival. Everyone knows who she is and why she came to Switchblade. But none of this  matters to Belle, because her first day of school brings trouble in the form of the computer fanatic, Edwart Mullen. Handsome, smart, and moody, Edwart intrigues Belle the moment she sees him in the school cafeteria. She instantly comes to the conclusion that Edwart is a vampire. She knows that she will do anything – even become a vampire herself! – to be with him.


What We Think

Reviewed by Dream Catcher

Number of Pages: 154

Let’s get something straight here: this is not a book copying Twilight. This is a book making fun of Twilight.  That’s the only reason I read it at all. Sadly, it was a let down. At the beginning everything was fine. Funny, actually. With her attitude, Belle Goose effectively and hilariously made fun of Bella Swan’s whiny moods and obsessive thoughts. The plot of Nightlight was as weak as Twilight‘s. But then everything started to get annoying.  I got tired of Belle ranting about Edwart’s beauty (though Bella does talk about it a lot in Twilight) or Belle going on and on about Edwart’s vampirism. Also, Belle had a huge ego. And huge ego in main characters is something I simply can not tolerate.  She was convinced that everyone was in love with her when, in reality, no one was. It was seriously annoying to read. Every so often, because of the characters’ ability to annoy me, I had to put the book down so I wouldn’t throw it across the room. Belle’s annoying habits and whining, though quite similar to Bella’s (but a bit exaggerated) got old fast. There was also little to no character development which was weird considering the characters had a lot of room to develop. But perhaps the authors were trying to point out that in Twilight there was hardly any character development. So if they were trying to make a statement: Bravo! If not, then they seriously should have added character development. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m big on character development. All in all, it was a relatively wierd book which I would only recommend if you have an extreme tolerance for ego, and enjoy making fun of the well-loved (and well-hated) book known as Twilight.

Real Teen Rating~ D+ : Use it as an excuse not to do things.

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The Game – Michael Douglas and Sean Penn

The Game
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The Gist

Nicholas Van Orton is a super rich banker.  He is spoiled, self-centered, and pretty depressing.  He’s also a complete jerk.  For his 48th birthday, his confident and slightly screwy brother Conrad gets him an invitation to a live-action game.  Soon, he’s sucked into a twisted game with no warnings and no rules.  He’s playing for his life, and he’s trying to find a way to get out, before he loses the game.


What We Think

Reviewed by Living Destiny

Run Time: 129 Minutes

Rating: R

My dad made me watch this movie last night.  I thought it would be a stupid movie, and it sounded really weird.  He said if I didn’t like it we could change it, and I fully expected to be doing a review on When In Rome right now.  I was so very wrong.

This movie totally sucked me in.  I literally couldn’t look away, or even speak, from five minutes into the movie onward.  It was strangely addicting.  And the reason it’s so addicting is because it’s confusing.  Mind-blowing and confusing.  I still don’t understand half of it, but in a good way.  There are so many twists, I think the plot actually makes a circle if you draw it out. It kept me on the edge of my seat too.  There were some parts that were so freaky and intense, I was hyperventilating.  (Just kidding).

The whole concept of ‘the game’ was very sketchy to me.  I couldn’t understand why anyone would go along with it, but I guess if I was in that circumstance then I might check it out.  Or maybe not because it was super duper creepy.  The main character, Nicholas, went along with the whole thing.  I don’t know if that was because of loyalty to his brother or his stubbornness but it certainly got him into a mess.  He was a weird character, way too paranoid and cranky, but there was something likable about him too.  A lot of the characters were like that, very twisted or messed up in some way, but also likable in some other, basically indescribable way that was all their own.

This movie definitely tapped into my freak-out senses.  It’s not like a horror movie, some pop-out-from-under-the-bed thriller, but it is a thriller/mystery in its own little way.  It was more of a tension-freaky, like an I-don’t-know-what’s-going-to-happen-next-but-there’s-creepy-music-and-I’m-freaked-out sort of thing.  Very intense.

The plot simply can not be described.  My only advice would be to not blink, and pay attention the whole time, or you will miss something.  This is not a movie you can come in halfway through and understand (believe me, my grandma tried and it failed).  My only real complaint is that there were a lot of swears (although I have to admit that after it was over I didn’t say anything, because anything I could think to say was riddled with the same profanities the movie was so heavily laced with).  This movie was mind-blowing, and kind of epic, in its own twisted little way.

Real Teen Rating~ B+: Worth watching

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Shrek: The Final Chapter - Starring Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Julie Andrews

The Gist

Shrek 4
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Shrek finally has everything that he wants.  His beautiful wife Fiona, three ogre babies, and living back on his swamp with his family and friends.  Lately, it feels to him that everything is repeating itself and he is stuck in a cycle of cleaning and changing diapers, making bottles for the babies, and having no time to relax by himself.  When his kids have a birthday party he quickly jumps at the chance to get away from his very protected schedule and finally relax a little.  When things don’t go exactly as he planned he screams and storms out of the room, wishing he can have one day back to himself, to be an ogre for just 24 hours.  Meanwhile, Rumpelstiltskin  has sworn vengeance on Shrek because he ruined his life 10 or so years ago.  Rumpel soon see’s the chance for his revenge and tells him that if Shrek gives him a day then Rumpel will give Shrek a day to be an ogre again.  Shrek agrees in a heartbeat and is quickly sent back down into the world where he was feared and chased with pitchforks.  To Shrek everything is perfect, but he is starting to miss his old home so he takes a quick trip to his swamp, only to find that there is nothing there.  His home is no longer there and Fiona and the kids aren’t there anymore.  Wondering what happened Shrek sets off to town only to find that Rumpel has taken over Far Far Away and erased Shrek from the world.  Now Shrek must bring together his old friends (who don’t know him) and beat Rumpel before the sun comes up or the world will be stuck forever. 
this space is here


What We Think

Reviewed by The North Star

Run Time: 93 Minutes

Rating: PG

Finally, this was the last Shrek movie ever made.  Before I start bashing this movie, I would like to say that before seeing this movie I had already in my head put it down to a B because it was Shrek the 4th so to get me to like it, it had to be extremely impressive.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t.  This movie was not needed at all (but they also didn’t need the third movie) and the only reason they made it was for the money.  The story has been done about a million times and they said the moral in the movie.  They literally said the moral, “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone”.  That is a word for word line from the movie.  When they said this the movie completely jumped the shark for me.  Shrek was very “stuck-up” in this movie, because he couldn’t handle having kids.  They were either always too loud or too stinky or too crazy.  I’m pretty sure that when you have kids the first couple years are going to be tough and Shrek didn’t seem to understand that so he left.  This movie was also something that you saw it and RIGHT after you though ehhh it was OK maybe a  C-.  Then you get home and let it sink in and you realize that it wasn’t a good movie at all.  Or at least that’s how it was for me.  I really didn’t like this movie but there was a light at the end of the tunnel.  There was one character that every time they came on I couldn’t help but laugh my head off.  That was a little kid who at ended the birthday party who kept telling Shrek to do the ogre roar. His voice was very interesting and I thought that he was the best part of the movie and is the reason that this movie isn’t getting an F.  In summary, this movie was not even close to the 1st and 2nd movies but not as bad as the 3rd movie!

Real Teen Rating~ D: Use it as an excuse not to do something…


Reviewed by Dream Catcher

Ahh, the fourth of the Shrek series. Some must be jumping for joy that another has come out. Others will be banging their head against the wall in agony and cursing whoever came up with the idea. Well, I must place myself in a third category. For those of us who are impartial and wouldn’t care if another Shrek came out or not. I went into the movie theatre with me family open-minded (mostly because my dad would probably be placed into the first of the three categories) and hoping that this fourth could be just as good as the second, which wasn’t as good as the first, but still. I had no hope that it could be better then the original. What sequel is meant to be better than the first? No normal sequel, that’s for sure. I came out of the movie pleasantly surprised. Of course it had not lived up to the first, but it was still pretty good. At least in my opinion. There are people like my dad who thought the movie was genius; pure gold; something they would see a thousand times over and never get tired of. And then there are others like the North Star who absolutely hated it and would destroy any copies of the movie that they could find. I can see where both sides are coming from, but also don’t agree with either. The plot was interesting, but not amazing. The jokes were funny, but not hilarious. The movie overall was good, but not great. That’s all there is to it. But the new character, Rumpelstiltskin, was really sketchy though, which I thought was a nice touch. At least for this movie. Like I said, good but not great.

Real Teen Rating~ B : Rent it to save for a rainy day.


Reviewed by Living Destiny

Shrek Forever After.  As in the fourth.  That was my first thought when I heard this movie was coming out.  THE FOURTH!  Why this movie series had to turn from entertainment to cold hard cash opportunities is way beyond me, but then, i haven’t been crippled with the greed and corruption of the production industry.  It seems to me the life and spirit has been sucked out of these movies, and personally, I thought they should have stopped at two.  The third one was terrible, and I blocked most of it out of my mind it was so bad.  So I’m not going to lie and say I had high hopes for a movie that in retrospect should never have been created.  But this movie surprised me.  It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, as awful as the third one was.  It wasn’t as good as the first or second, but it still wasn’t painful.  I loved Rumpelstiltskin’s character because he was so utterly sketchy.  He had the craziest hair styles, and he was sort of creepy-calm whenever he got super mad.  It was awesome.  I liked Fiona in this movie a lot, because she wasn’t the damsel-in-distress that she was in the first movie.  She was tough, and she was a warrior princess.  It was fun to see.  I also really liked Cookie, a new character, because he was always happy and goofy, and he was all about food.  Even when they were making war preparations, he talked about food.  Shrek struck me as very whiny in the beginning of the movie.   I mean, he was willing to trade a day of his life to go back to his life before family.  I know that life can be overwhelming sometimes, but I’m pretty sure I would never trade away a day of my life just because my family, friends, or loved ones were getting on my nerves.  If your life is monotonous, change it!  You have that power!  Some people (and ogres) just don’t realize that, I guess.  He got much better later in the movie, but not enough to completely make up for his irritating actions in the beginning.

I think what made this movie so much better than the third Shrek movie was that a little bit of soul had crept back into the film, unnoticed by the producers.  There was just a little bit of the same spirit that’s in the first two movies put into this movie.  Probably just a fluke on the part of the management of this movie, but it made it funny and likable, and it felt like Shrek again, rather than a cash machine.  Bottom line: this movie was not too bad, but let’s just stop it here, shall we?  Face it, that little touch of soul will never be able to creep in again.

Real Teen Rating~ B: Rent it to save for a rainy day.

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Young Artists For Haiti – Wavin’ Flag

Reviewed by Living Destiny

Song Time: 3 Minutes and 41 Seconds

Wavin’ Flag is a song I randomly stumbled upon while surfing through iTunes one day (because i was bored).  I’m really glad I found it because it is rapidly becoming one of my current favorite songs!

First of all, Wavin’ Flag is to benefit the people of Haiti, whose lives and homes were turned into total disaster zones after the earthquake hit.  The song has t-shirts and stickers and other fun little things that can be purchased, and the money goes to Haiti.  That in itself is pretty cool.

The song is also really amazing.  It’s one of those songs that gets stuck in your head and doesn’t let go of your brain for hours, but it’s ok because even after hours it’s still catchy.  The lyrics are really powerful, and the chorus is something that i think about a lot, because it sort of sparks something inside me that makes me think.  The song was actually remixed, and is being used as an ‘anthem’ (sort of) for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  I’m glad it’s starting to get recognition, because it is so good!

The most epic part about this whole song is the fact that it brought so many artists together.  I don’t know if it’s from the cause or the song or what, but there are so many different singers all working together in this song.  It makes me shiver a little just listening to what all these talented people can do when they all work with each other, and it makes me wonder why it isn’t done more often.

(Random fact: all the artists are from Canada – so I’ve heard)

The artists are: Soloists (in order of appearance)

K’naan

Nelly Furtado

Sam Roberts

Avril Lavigne

Pierre Bouvier (of Simple Plan)

Tyler Connolly (of Theory of a Deadman)

Kardinal Offishall

Jully Black

Lights

Dereck Whibley (of Sum 41)

Serena Ryder

Jacob Hoggard (of Hedley)

Emily Haines (of Metric, Broken Social Scene)

Hawksley Workman

Drake (solo rap)

Chin Injeti

Pierre Lapointe

Elisapie Isaac

IMA

Esthero

Corb Lund

Fefe Dobson

Nikki Yanofsky

Matt Mays

Justin Nokuza

Justin Bieber

This song is so amazingly awesome, and it’s rapidly becoming my absolute favorite song of right now.  I sing it all the time in school and around the house, and just everywhere.  This song is great, both musically and otherwise.  The power singers have is really pretty high, and it’s nice to see them putting their talents to a good cause, and creating something beautiful from it!

Real Teen Rating~ A+: Look it up RIGHT NOWWWW!!!!

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The Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac - Gabrielle Zevin

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
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The Gist

 Naomi Porter worked for her school yearbook team. She played tennis, had a popular boyfriend, and knew who she was. She had a co-editor and best friend who knew everything about her while she knew everything about him. All that changed when she fell down a flight of stairs and suddenly became a teenage amnesiac. After waking up in a hospital with severe head trauma, Naomi doesn’t know what to think, or who anyone is. Is that boy across from her a friend, or complete stranger? It turns out to be the latter. James, a new boy at school, was lucky to find Naomi right after she fell down the stairs. Naomi is inexplicably drawn to James who, she learns, transferred because of “girl trouble” .  And the boy who arrives the next day to visit her? A boyfriend? No, of course not. Her best friend and co-editor of the Phoenix (the yearbook) Will.  Though she can’t remember anything about him, or why he keeps calling her Chief, he sticks by her side, helping her with her memory and explaining what needs to be explained. Meanwhile she learns that her parents have been divorced. For two years. And she had completely forgotten. While trying to decide about her conflicted feelings about her mother, and her complicated feelings about her crush, James, and her boyfriend, Ace, Will and her dad constantly fuss over her health. Will makes mixed CD’s with hidden meanings and inside jokes she can’t remember. All she wants to do is hide until her memory comes back. But she just can’t do that. Because, the truth is, she may never remember the last four years of her life again. Though the doctors can’t prove the theory, she may remain an amnesiac forever.


What We Think

Reviewed by Dream Catcher

Number of Pages: 271

The plot has some potential, right? That’s what I thought too. Well, the idea itself…not so bad. It’s execution? Terrible. Here’s what I absolutely hated about it: the characters, the non-existant character development, the horrible execution of plot, and the way it somehow managed to be boring and infuriating.  First thing first. The main character was the most annoying main character I’ve ever read about. Combine every jerk in every book you’ve ever read, then combine every selfish person in  every book you’ve ever read and you’ll get this girl. I was so annoyed by her rudeness towards everyone that I couldn’t read this for long periods of time. I found myself yelling at the pages of a book which, I knew, couldn’t possible hear the “constructive” criticism I was giving it. I’m pretty sure that since the girl’s an amnesiac, I should feel bad for her. Well, I don’t. Not at all. She’s whiney, mean, and an extreme liar. And her boyfriend? All he cared about was himself, and tennis. It was really pathetic to read about him. Don’t even get me started on her mother. There are no words to describe my hatred for her. Ugh. So basically, I hated most of the characters in this book. Thankfully, Naomi’s friend Will was tolerable. Still, I think that’s something that the author seriously needs to work on. Making her characters less horrible. Naomi’s attitude was what made the book so hard to read. Now, the plot. Like I said, it had potential. Losing all the memories from four years of your life? That’s got to be a good story. That’s what I thought before. Now I’ve learned that any plot can be butchered by bad writing. The whole story was the last sixty pages. It was like I had to suffer through a 200 page long introduction to the story before anything interesting happened. So I, being a reader impatient for the book to get a move on and start quickly, couldn’t stand this. That wasanother reason why it took me months to read. Now onto the point I always like to point out. Character development. Or, for this book, the lack of. When I’d finally deemed Naomi a jerk I thought about it for a while. Okay, I’d thought, this is fine, as long as in the end she learns something from her horrible behavior and tries to change. Well, this never happened. She’s as much of a jerk in the end as she was in the beginning, which I find simply unacceptable. A published author should know how to develop her own characters! To end on a positive note, because I’m not giving this an F, the writing style itself was good. Certainly not the best I’ve ever read, but not that bad either. So, to recap, this book does not deserve an F because the writing style is good, Zevin had the right idea for the plot, and truthfully, the ending wasn’t that bad. But still, I wouldn’t recommend anyone read it. P. S. this isn’t an actual memoir. The title is inaccurate.

Real Teen Rating~ D-: If you have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to read.

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Mystery Science Theater 3000 – Future War

Future War
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The Gist
Aliens-cyborgs have gone back in time and captured two things: humans and dinosaurs.  The humans are their slaves, the dinos are their trackers (sort of like bloodhounds).  When one of the humans escapes to Earth (which the slaves think of as  ‘heaven’), the dinos and one of the cyborgs follow him to recapture him.  So he flees and meets a prostitute-turned-nun-in-training named Ann, who eventually vows to help him fight off the dinos and cyborgs and keep him on Earth.

What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
This is the best Mystery Science Theater I’ve ever seen.  Hands down.  The movie itself is absolutely terrible.  I don’t even understand it.  The plot is weak, the acting is pretty terrible, and the special effects are especially horrible.  There’s one scene where you can literally see the wire holding up the prop.  It’s pathetic.  The jokes the MST 3000 crew make totally make up for the lack of any decent entertainment material in the actual movie.  I laughed so hard!  This is another Mike episode, and Mike outclasses Joel all the way (in my opinion), so I already had high hopes.  I was not disappointed.  Tom and Crow were very witty the whole time, Mike was great as always, and the skits were very good too.  My favorite skit was actually one that came at the end of the movie, in the theater (where there are never skits).  There were so many amazing comments that I still go around quoting.  And there was even a reference to another MST 3000 episode (Werewolf, anybody?)!  So awesome! That was pretty much my favorite part.  There were a couple…lets say overweight…people in this movie, and the cast jumped all over that.  You couldn’t go five minutes without there being another fat joke pulled by someone.  It sounds insulting, but when you hear them, you can’t not laugh.  The actual movie was a total failure, but the MST 3000 was the best one.  Ever.  If you’re new to MST 3000, start with this one, and you won’t be disappointed.
Real Teen Rating~ The actual movie: D-: I wouldn’t bother at all.
Mystery Science Theater: A+: DEFINITELY WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!!!

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The Tooth Fairy – Dwayne Johnson and Julie Andrews

Real Teen Award
-Worst Character/Actor in 2010: Dwyane Johnson

The Tooth Fairy
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The Gist

Derek Thompson is a minors hockey player.  His nickname is ‘the tooth fairy’, because whenever he glides onto the ice, someone is going to get hit.  And probably lose a tooth.  When he almost tells his girlfriend’s daughter, Tess, that the tooth fairy isn’t real, it’s the final straw.  He’s summoned into tooth fairy headquarters, and is commissioned as a tooth fairy for two weeks.  Suddenly his life is turned upside down, and he has to handle his job, his girlfriend, his girlfriend’s kids, and the tooth fairy business.  Oh yea, and if he tells anyone he’s a tooth fairy, he’s commissioned for life.


What We Think

Reviewed by Living Destiny

Run Time: 102 Minutes

Rating: PG

I watched this with Dream Catcher and North Star after coming back from the movies one day.  We thought it would be lame, but tolerable.  It was just barely tolerable, and definitely lame, so I guess we were right.

I hated Dwayne Johnson’s character with a burning passion.  He was a dream killer.  He was supposedly ‘telling it like it is’, but what 12 year old kid wants to hear that he’s an ok guitar player, but will never make it in life with his guitar, and will never ever be a rock star?  I’ll answer my own question: NO 12 YEAR OLD KID WANTS TO HEAR THAT!  Derek is just a bitter guy who’s major league dreams were crushed, so now he needs to take it out on other people.  Hated him.  I also really didn’t like Tracy, the little fairy helper dude.  He was so very creepy, I don’t even know how to describe his creepiness.  Now that I think about, the only characters I really liked were Randy and Tess (Derek’s girlfriend’s kids).  Tess was a cute little girl, and Randy was a smart and kind of sly kid.  That’s literally it.

The plot was pretty bad.  It probably had some potential at some point, but it got killed during the course of this movie.  It was really lame and not too funny.  There were a couple things that I laughed at, but it might have been the mixture of lateness and caffeine, and not the actual content.  I found it weird that Ryan Sheckler was in it.  Isn’t he a skate punk?  Why is he acting?  But whatever, he can do what he wants, and if he wants to be in stupid movies, that’s his choice.

What disappointed me the most wasn’t the main character, or the plot, or even weird Ryan Sheckler.  It was the fact that Julie Andrews was in this movie.  I mean, she’s an amazing actress, and I love her.  But why in the world is she in this movie?  It’s terrible, so how did she get sucked into it?  If this is what she’s acting in right now, people have either lost respect for her (which is sad), or stopped writing movies of any entertainment value and depth (which is also sad).  Seeing her in this movie left me rather dazed and confused.  I didn’t get it watching the movie, and looking back, I still don’t get it.

This movie was horrible.  That’s all there is to it.  Maybe if you need to entertain a couple of 7 year olds, it might suffice.  Or maybe not.

Real Teen Rating~ D+: It passes time…..barely…..


Reviewed by Dream Catcher

Seriously, I don’t know what I should say about this movie. The three of us had come back from a movie at the theaters – now I even forget what the movie was – and being weird, as usual, we decided to rent a movie on demand. Who’s idea was it to watch this oh-so-wonderful movie? I guess you can say it was all of our faults for being subjected to this torture. We decided we needed something bad to review. So we picked a movie we all knew for a fact would not be good, enjoyable, or at all entertaining. It was worse that I thought it was going to be. Okay, so there was hardly a plot, the characters were…not good (there’s really no other way to describe it), the acting was mediocre, and the jokes weren’t funny. Now to elaborate. Plot: there was none. So a mean dream-crusher is forced to be a tooth fairy. Um…the word that comes to mind here is awkward. Especially when he’s transformed into the only ballerina-outfitted, hockey-gear-wearing, smirking tooth fairy in existence. It’s just not right, and certainly not natural. Perhaps the intention was to be funny. It wasn’t funny, it was creepy. Dwayne Johnson in pink tights is creepy. Overall; no plot. Characters: my favorite thing to bash in a bad movie. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters or any of their emotions, and I didn’t particularly want to.  I always know it’s a good movie when I feel empathy for a character. Here I felt no empathy. First of all, the main character was a creep, ego-maniac, and thought way too much of himself to be at all likeable. Rule number one in most movies: at some point, the audience must like the main character. No.  This was an epic fail. Also, this guy’s girlfriend must have been pretty desperate. No matter what he did she didn’t care. She was momentarily mad and then he brought her flowers and she instantly forgave him. This gave me the impression that the woman was spineless. This irks me. She should have got up the courage to leave him, or break up with him. The fact that she didn’t was kind of a let down. Finally, Tracy. I know you must be expecting a girl. No, this was a full-grown yet awkward man who’s life-long dream was to have wings so he could become a tooth fairy. Not only was that statement beyond weird, but the character was too awkward. I think the point was for him to be the level of awkward that can be funny. He never once made me laugh. So I guess that was another epic fail. In a movie, I think it’s a little important for the people watching to like what they see. So when I never did, it made the movie seem sloppy and the characters seem utterly (and disgustingly) one-sided. Acting: EHHH. That it all. Not good. Not bad. Somewhere in between. Which is never good. Why would I remember ehhh acting? I wouldn’t. So that means I won’t remember this movie (I hope I won’t, at least) which, in turn, means that this was a very unsuccessful movie. Not good. To say one good thing about the movie, so you don’t think I’m a complete jerk, I must admit, a rare joke made me laugh, not hysterically, but still. Laugh. That’s a start. It was also pretty easy to make fun of, so if you watch it with a group, then you’ll help each other through it with your own added jokes. I think I’ve elaborated enough on my main points. Basically, you can forget everything you just read if you remember this one thing: DO NOT WATCH.

Real Teen Rating~ D- : I wouldn’t bother at all.


Reviewed by Shore Whisperer

I was dragged out of my house to go see this movie. I wasn’t all that excited. I’ve never really enjoyed Dwayne “the rock” Johnson. I think the last time I saw him on tv was when I was watching the Game Plan. This movie was beyond boring to me. This movie is something that I would put on to make myself fall asleep at night. Even if I changed my point of view… let’s say that I was going to see the movie, and I actually wanted to go to see it… it still wasn’t good. The best part of it I would say was Julie Andrews. She was good. Dwayne Johnson has a typecast. In every movie I’ve seen him in he is either the big sports dude that in time learns the meaing of the word family, or… he is this stuck up “super hot” guy with a huge ego. Let’s not mention the fact that he is also involved with Disney, so most of the time he just isn’t growing in his acting career. I think that if he tried he could be a decent actor. This movie did him no justice whatsoever. The whole premice of the movie reminded me a little of the Game Plan but now it just has a mystical feel. There is the kid who doesn’t want to cooperate or like him at all. There’s the big shot who doesn’t want to have kids and hates them. Then there is an epiphany that -”OH MY GOSH! I love this kid”- and by that time he has to do something to help the kid and blah blah blah… It’s really quite annoying. Also I didn’t like the portrayal of the fairies. They were a little too cliche for me. The outfits especially when Dwayne was wearing them left me scarred for life. Men should NEVER EVER wear TUTU’S. It is the most un-masculine thing you could ever do. I really think it depletes the amount of testosterone. But seriously what was the point of this movie? I think my parents deemed it “cute”. I deemed it “a waste of my time.”. I have seen the plot before, the message is still engrained in my memory. They were trying for some tear jerking scene but it wasn’t there. The ending was just BAD! It ruined the whole movie it was more awkward than the rest of the movie. The whole movie screamed awkwardness too. I was squirming in my seat when his voice was high and when he was small. It was just NOT a good movie. I think that I have said that though. I think you get my point. If you really want to watch this movie fast forward to the parts with Julie Andrews and then it won’t be such a waste of time.

Real Teen Rating~D- : I wouldn’t bother at all.

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