I Was On The News!

Hi everybody! I hope everyone's having a good summer! I've been really busy for the past week because I was in a play for the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival! For those who don't know, the Fringe Festival is a national theatre festival all over North America. People from all over the world submit plays for the festival. The plays submitted are chosen at random and even if you don't get picked, you can still be in the festival if you set up and pay for your own theatre venue. There are some good plays, and some bad ones, but overall, the Fringe is my favourite part of the summer! I have been a theatre kid for pretty much all my life, I LOVE watching and performing shows, but this is my first time in a Fringe show and it went great! The show we did was called All I Really Need To Know I Learned By Being In a Bad Play, and I played the lead role, The Narrator. The show is all about the life lessons that can be learned from being in a terrible play. I relate to this show a lot because I have learned and experienced many things that I otherwise would never have learned or experienced if I never got into theatre. The best part of theatre is being an important part of a larger community. As an Aspie, I have a hard time fitting in at school. Unless someone knows me really well, they just think I'm weird. However, in the theatre community, everyone is quirky and they don't care if you're weird because, well, everyone is! The theatre make you feel like you belong. If you are a person who has a hard time fitting in, get into theatre! You will discover your people!

Here is the article and the video: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-teen-with-asperger-s-syndrome-shines-in-fringe-play-1.3158325

Special thanks to my directors; Theresa, Emily, and Augusta the Stage Manager! Thanks so much for this awesome experience! Thanks so much for your support and I hope to continue working with you for as long as I can! :)

Aidan the Aspie Critic: Inside Out

Welcome to another review that brings you to a place that we all know but never have explored! This is Inside Out!

Inside Out is PIXAR's first offering for 2015. They are releasing another movie later this year to compensate for not releasing a movie last year. The movie is about a little girl named Riley and her emotions, Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear, and Sadness. Riley's emotions help her through her life from the control centre in her brain, Headquarters. The emotions record all of Riley's memories and keep them safe. Riley's Core Memories, which shape her personality, are protected specially in Headquarters to power the 4 islands of Riley's personality. Riley is a very happy child and she has a nearly perfect and problem-free life. That is, until she and her family move from Minnesota to San Francisco, leaving behind her entire life. A new Core Memory is created, coloured blue, a sad memory. Joy attempts to get rid of it so Riley can stay happy, but Sadness insists it be added to the Core Memory bank. Joy and Sadness, as well as all of the Core Memories both end up getting sucked through the Memory Tube out of headquarters. Without Joy and Sadness, Riley can't feel sad OR happy. Without the Core Memories, Riley is losing what makes her herself. Can Joy and Sadness get back to Headquarters and set everything right? Or will Riley be doomed to a lifetime of depression? Watch Inside Out to find out!

Wow! This movie is FANTASTIC! This is PIXAR's greatest and most emotional movie since Toy Story 3, and that was 5 years ago! While Monsters University and Brave were good, they weren't quite up to the bar that Toy Story 3 set. Inside Out has set that bar even higher! The concept is incredibly original and creative, the characters are all likeable, the animation is fantastic, and the story is really freaking depressing! The performances given by the cast are excellent and the comedy is spot on! The world of Riley's brain is a very well developed world. The movie shows that there are other characters who work in Riley's brain like Riley's imaginary friend, Bing Bong, and other various workers. I do wish the movie showed more of other people's brains. We only get to see Riley's parent's brains and a random pre-teen boy's brain, and those scenes are hilarious, but really brief. You do get to see other various character's brains during the credits, which are also hilarious, but I think more situations like that needed to be added to the main movie. Also, there are a couple are unanswered questions, like "Why are Riley's Anger and Fear male when Riley is a girl? All the other female or male characters have all female or male emotions, so, why doesn't Riley? Subtle gender identity commentary, or just laziness so the movie can be more marketable?" or "Why do Riley's emotions all look nothing like her when all the other character's emotions look like the character?" or "Does Dream Production get material from The Subconscious, Abstract Thought, Long Term Memory, and Imagination Land as well as Riley's day?" etc etc etc. These unanswered questions are a lot less distracting than in Frozen and they don't take away from the overall quality of the movie, they are only nitpicks, so I guess they aren't too much of a problem. This movie isn't also as kid-friendly as PIXAR's other movies. Sure, kids can watch it, but I don't think they will really understand, and the themes of depression might be a bit much for them. This is more of an adult movie, but the kids should still see it. Overall, this is must-see movie this summer! It's fantastic! It is up there with Toy Story 3, Up, and Cars 2 as one of the greatest and most depressing PIXAR movies! Man, Cars 2 was depressing. It was PIXAR's greatest failure and it was depressing that they sunk to that level.... But it's good to know that they've recovered from the Cars 2 incident! I'd give this movie a 4.9 stars out of 5! It's a great feeling to know that PIXAR can still make a movie this good!

Have you seen Inside Out? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Aidan the Aspie Critic: Jurassic World

Welcome to another review 65 million years in the making! Because that's how long it takes for me to put out one of these reviews... This is Jurassic World!

Jurassic World is the 4th instalment to the Jurassic Park series and is the true sequel to the original 1993 classic, Jurassic Park. Yeah yeah, I know we also have The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, but those movies are awful and, aside from starring some of the same characters, in no way continue the story from the first movie! Jurassic World finally gives the series the true sequel it deserves! Set 20 years after the events of the first Jurassic Park, the movie is about 2 kids who go on vacation to Jurassic World, a Universal Studios/Disney World style theme park featuring living dinosaurs, to see their Aunt who is one of the directors of the park. At first, things are going great! Sure, the kids' parents are getting divorced and their Aunt is too busy to spend any time with them, but who cares?! There's DINOSAURS!!!!!!! However, it turns out that people are tired of seeing live dinosaurs after the park has been open for 10 years. They want something more! The Jurassic World scientists have created that something. A brand new hybrid dinosaur, the Indominus Rex! But, big surprise, the Indominus Rex breaks out and goes on a rampage throughout the island! Can the kids, their Aunt, a Veloceraptor trainer, and the Jurassic World Veloceraptor security system stop the Indominus Rex's rampage? Watch Jurassic World to find out!

This movie was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This movie is so fun! There are lots of intense, awesome, and very well done dinosaur chases and fights, the story is simple and engaging, and the characters are likeable! What this movie did great was creating the atmosphere of Jurassic World itself. It actually feels like a place that you can actually visit, and it makes you want to go there, even if you do get eaten by a dinosaur! The acting is good, and there are a lot less scenes that go nowhere than in the first movie. There are still things that weren't explained, but it was more subtle and you forget about it. There is also some good comedy, too! The characters seem more genuine, relatable, and likeable than in the first movie, for the most part. There are no stuttering Jeff Goldblums or jerk lawyers or Al from Toy Story 2 in this movie! There were lots of little references and homages to the original Jurassic Park that are really clever, and I won't DARE spoil them here for you, the reveals are too mind blowing! If there is something bad about this movie, it would be that the special effects aren't very convincing. Like, at all. I never actually felt like the dinosaurs were actually there, I never felt like you could reach out and touch them. Maybe I was half convinced they were real at a couple points, but overall, the dinosaurs look really fake. In the original Jurassic Park, the special effects were a mix of puppets, CGI, costumes, and animatronics. In Jurassic World, it seems they only used CGI. Now, that wouldn't be so bad, but here's the thing. At times, the CGI in this movie looks worse than in the original Jurassic Park! In some scenes, I didn't feel like the dinosaurs were as finely polished or as finely integrated into the scene than in the first movie. This is extremely disappointing, but it's all a matter of how much you care about the special effects. They aren't bad in this movie, some dinosaurs, like the Indominus Rex for example, look great, but there is also lots of slightly sub-par special effects in this movie as well. If you are a special effects enthusiast, this movie leaves a little bit to be desired, but if you care about the story and characters more than the special effects, then I think you'll like this movie a lot better. Overall this is a really fun movie to go see this summer! It's not fantastic, none of the Jurassic Park movies are, even the first one, but it is just awesome! I'd give this movie a 3.9 stars out of 5! Clever girl!

Have you seen Jurassic World? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Aidan the Aspie Critic: Monsters University

Welcome to another movie review! Today I will be reviewing Monsters University. It is 2013's PIXAR movie, and it is a prequel to Monsters Inc, as I said in my review of Brave. I'm a little late on getting around to this one, this was supposed to come out in 2013, but I'm a busy, busy man!

This movie is set a few years prior to Monsters Inc. And, where Monsters Inc. was focusing mainly on Sulley, Monsters U is focusing mainly on Mike. (Voiced by Billy Crystal.) Now Mike never really fit in at school when he was a kid. He thought there was no hope for a Monster like him, until his class went on a field trip to the Scare Factory, where all of Monstropolis' power comes from children's screams. Mike had a dream to become a scarer, so, when he was an adult, he enrolled in Monsters University to learn about scaring. There, he meets a friend, a dork named Randy Boggs, (Randy is short for Randall! Wait a minute, wasn't Randall the bad guy in Monsters Inc?...) and a jerk named Jimmy Sullivan. (Sulley for short. Voiced by John Goodman.) Everybody just assumes that he's a better scarer just because his father is Bill Sullivan, the world famous scarer. Mike is determined to beat Sulley, after all, all Mike does is study and all Sulley does is party. Finally, the day of the scaring finals arrived. Both Sulley and Mike end up getting kicked out of the scaring program  by Dean Hartscrabble for being too rambunctious and not scary. However, Mike and Sulley join a fraternity, Oozma Kappa, to compete in the Scare Games to get back into the scaring program. Only one problem, the Oozma Kappa monsters aren't really scary, so can they win the scare games and get into the scaring program? Watch Monsters University to find out!

As always from PIXAR, this movie was great! It is essentially a parody of '80s college films, but the story still is original! I do admit that the first 2 acts are a little bit predictable, but the 3rd act completely makes up for that! There were a few missed opportunities, like Randy's transition from good to bad, but that's only a small problem. I think there should be a short that could go more in-depth about him, because Randy is a pretty interesting character! The animation did get an upgrade from the original, and that's saying a lot! PIXAR always has great animation, even in their worst movie! *cough* Cars 2! *cough* This is a great movie. Although, coming from PIXAR, I think we've all come to expect that. If you are going to see it, watch Monsters Inc. first, it will help you understand a lot in this movie. I'd give it a 4 out if 5 stars! Going back to school has never been this good!

Have you seen Monsters University? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments! 

Aidan the Aspie Critic: Frozen

Welcome to another movie review! Today I will be reviewing Disney's Frozen! Based (Extremely loosely!) on the story, "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Anderson, the author of The Little Mermaid. It is NOT about the conspiracy theory that Walt Disney is frozen under The Pirates of the Caribbean ride waiting for all the Jews to die! I just wanted to get that out of the way!

It is the story of 2 sisters, Princess Anna and Princess Elsa. Elsa has the magical ability to create snow and ice. Don't ask why or how, it's just Disney magic. Anyway, it is all fine and dandy at first, but when Elsa got older, she accidentally injured Anna because she is losing control of her powers and her powers are getting stronger. She grows up afraid of herself, afraid that she might hurt somebody or herself. Eventually, the King and Queen die and Elsa's coronation as Queen comes. She tries her best to control her powers, but she lets her power loose. Afraid and ashamed, she runs off into the snowy mountains alone. Anna goes into the mountains to find her and meets a ice salesman named Kristoff, a reindeer named Sven, and a snowman named Olaf. Can Anna find her sister and restore peace to the land, or will the kingdom be doomed to endure eternal winter? Watch Frozen to find out!

This is not actually from the movie, just in case if anyone's wondering.

This was a pretty okay movie! I know, everyone's sick and tired of it now, thank you very much Let It Go, but the first time we all saw this movie, we all thought it was pretty good! I wouldn't call it Disney's best, and I certainly don't think it deserves the attention it is currently getting, (SERIOUSLY???? The highest grossing animated film of ALL TIME????? There's no WAY this movie is better than Toy Story 3!!!!), but as a movie, it is just pretty okay! The animation is great, and the songs are pretty good. Not the best songs Disney has to offer, but it is nice to finally have another traditional Disney musical. The comedy was also pretty good. I do think a lot of things weren't explained, leaving quite a few plot holes, which can be distracting at times, like "How can Elsa create life out of snow?" or "Who ruled the land when the King and Queen were dead but Elsa was still isolated?" or "WTF is up with these random rock trolls!?" or "Why is everyone shocked about eternal winter when their main export is ice?" or "Why did Anna choose to be shut inside the castle too? Couldn't she leave at any time if she isn't a threat?" or "How does Elsa have ice powers in the first place!?!?!?!?!?!?" Etc, etc, etc. I do think there were a lot of missed opportunities as well, but I can't say anything because it would ruin the story. Let's just say that the shocking villain reveal near the end of the movie is almost completely pointless. Some scenes in this movie go absolutely nowhere and serve no purpose, which can get annoying, but there aren't a lot of those, so it doesn't really matter. Overall, this is a pretty okay movie. It's no masterpiece, but you should get some enjoyment out of it. I would give it 3.5 stars out of 5. I would give it a -1,000,000,000,000 out of 5, but that would be rating on a level of how sick I am of this darn movie! It's freaking over a year old by now, move on to another thing! I will kill myself if I hear Let It Go one more time or if you ask me if I wanna build a snowman! This movie just makes me so angry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, this is a good movie, but remember, anything that is good can become bad if it becomes oversaturated. I'm warning you, Disney. Be wise about this film.

Have you seen Frozen? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Aidan the Aspie Critic: The Nightmare Before Christmas

Hiya, folks! Welcome to another review! Today I will be reviewing the Christmas classic, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas! I know it's out of season, but this was supposed to come out 2 years ago! I'm lazy and/or busy, okay? 

It's about a small town called Halloween Town, and, you guessed it, they are in charge of Halloween. The weird and crazy characters in the town are ruled by Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, which is weird because he isn't a pumpkin. He looks like a skeleton! I actually kinda think he looks like Slender Man, but with no tie and with a face. Anyway, Jack is getting bored with doing the same old thing year after year, so he takes a walk to clear his head. On his walk, he comes across Christmas Town. He learns all about Christmas and decides that Halloween Town will be doing Christmas this year, for all the world! However, some rogue trick-or-treaters kidnapped Santy Claus so Jack could take his place, and feeds him to the Boogeyman, the Oogie-Boogie! Will Jack and Halloween Town do Christmas successfully without Santa? And will Santa survive the Oogie-Boogie? Watch The Nightmare Before Christmas to find out!

While this movie IS a classic, it has a LOT more flaws than people give it credit for. It is very strange, but the good kind of strange. The character designs are very unique and creative, and the animation and songs are excellent! None of the songs feel unnecessary, which is good, because the movie is mostly in song. The moral was unique as well, it is good to try new things, but don't bite off more than you can chew! What I don't like is that some of the characters are underdeveloped, and the villain, the Oogie Boogie, is pretty weak and doesn't even seem to have a motive to be evil. Don't get me wrong, the Oogie Boogie is still a very fun and entertaining character, and his villain song is one of the best songs and animation sequences the movie has to offer! I think Oogie Boogie had a lot of potential to be an interesting character, but he just couldn't pull it off. Overall, this is a great movie in it's own right. It isn't the kind of good that PIXAR puts out every year (Except for 2011! Cars 2 sucked!), but it is an entirely different style of movie than PIXAR. What it is is a creative, fun, family musical, which is good to watch around Halloween AND Christmas, and it did just that very well. Just take this movie for what it is! I'd give it 4.5 stars out of 5! What an awesome movie!

Have you seen The Nightmare Before Christmas? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Aidan the Aspie Critic: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Welcome to another movie review! I just finished reading the Hobbit book with my Mom and brother. It only took us a bit over a year! Anyway, since we read the book, we wanted to watch the Hobbit movies. We were going to watch the old animated Hobbit movie, but we couldn't find it in good quality, so we watched the Peter Jackson one instead. This is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey!

The first movie is about a young Hobbit named Bilbo. One day, a wizard named Gandalf and 13 dwarves come to visit. They tell Bilbo that a big dragon named Smaug took all their gold and the orcs ran them out of their kingdom. They told Bilbo they needed his help to get back the treasure and the Arkenstone to kill Smaug and the orcs and take back their kingdom. Bilbo said yes, because he didn't have anything better to do. This sets them off on an epic adventure! Will Bilbo and his friends survive the journey to the Lonely Mountain? Will they get their treasure back? Will this be worth being split up into 3 films!? Watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to find out!

This movie was awesome, but not great. It doesn't follow the book that well, and it heavily touches upon things in the book that were barely explained in a sentence! There were lots of characters and events in the movie that weren't in the book at all! They were only added in to tie the movie in with The Lord of The Rings films better. The orcs were annoying, obnoxious, and pointless. They were just a bad addition. It was a lot more violent and "epic" than was necessary. However, the special effects and cinematography were great. You can always count on Peter Jackson to give us some amazing visuals! He's a brilliant director! The performances are great as well! Overall, this is a movie that is worth your time, but fans of the book will not like it, and if you are going to watch it, read the book or watch the old animated version first. Not great, but still good! I'd give this movie 3.5 stars out of 5. An awesome adventure that you will not soon forget!

Have you seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Aidan the Aspie Critic: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Welcome to another movie review! This one is, sing it with me now, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Heroes in a halfshell, turtle power!

I'm not even going to explain who the Ninja Turtles are. I'm pretty sure you all already know. Starting out as a small, independent comic book in the '80s, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became quite a hit, inspiring more comics, action figures, video games, countless TV and movie adaptations, mountains of disgusting junk food, and even a live concert tour. The movie I will be reviewing today is the most recent Ninja Turtles movie called, well, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, produced by Michael Bay. Oh no.

The movie is about April O'Neal, a young reporter in New York. She hates her job because she never gets to do anything exciting. That is, until the evil Foot Clan and their leader The Shredder attack New York. April witnesses one of the attacks, but then spots something even more strange, 4 giant turtles fighting the Foot. April tells people about her encounter, but everyone thinks she's crazy. Undiscouraged, April investigates more, and eventually meets the turtles, 4 giant pizza eating, Kung-Fu fighting, crime stopping, wise cracking brothers named Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. The turtles bring April to the sewers where she meets the turtle's master, a giant rat named Splinter. Splinter explains the great danger the Foot Clan poses and tells of their evil plan to take over New York and the world. Will the TMNT and April defeat the Shredder and stop the Foot Clan's plan? Watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to find out.

This movie wasn't especially good, but it wasn't especially bad either. Michael Bay didn't ruin the Ninja Turtles. Everybody thought that the Ninja Turtles were going to be aliens, but those rumours were untrue. He DID change a lot of stuff from the original, but it mostly worked to the movie's advantage. There was only one change I took issue with, they gave Donatello glasses. These huge, taped up, nerd glasses that he wears OVER his mask! Okay, Donnie is a pretty nerdy character, but he didn't need freaking glasses! Why not give him glasses that are actually goggles? That would've been fine, and it would look cool. These giant nerd glasses just look SO STUPID!!! That and Splinter's re-design is pretty ugly. And the Foot Clan's re-design is pretty bad. They don't even look anything like ninjas! The movie changed the turtle's and Splinter's backstories to something that made a LOT more sense than their original backstories. I didn't take any issue with the turtle's re-designs. I think they actually look pretty good, except for maybe the faces. They gave them different body shapes and clothing to tell them apart! This is a lot more cool than only giving them different coloured masks and different weapons. The Shredder is one of the coolest villains EVER in this movie!!!!!! Instead of just making him a samurai Darth Vader/Wolverine rip off, they went all the way and made him one of the most deadly and threatening villains I have ever seen! Instead of just having knives popping out of his hands, he can now shoot knives from anywhere in his body! He also has magnets built into his suit so he can pull the knives back! AWESOME!!!! However, as threatening as Shredder is, his evil plan makes no sense. But then again, Shredder has never had very good evil plans in the past, either. I really liked all the little references and homages to the original Ninja Turtles comic and even the original cartoon. For example, the opening and end credits are done in an Eastman and Laird comic book style and Shredder says that tonight he was going to dine on turtle soup. The humour was okay, but not great. The jokes coming from Will Arnett were not funny at all. I didn't even crack a smile. The humour coming from the turtles always got a giggle, but their humour consists of absolutely nothing but pop cultural references, giving the movie a pretty dated feel. There were lots of important Ninja Turtles characters that didn't appear in this movie, like Casey Jones, Bebop, Rocksteady, and Kraang, but they will probably make appearances in later instalments. There is an obvious setup for a sequel. In conclusion, this movie is bad. The story makes no sense, some of the acting is pretty bad, and it just has Michael Bay written all over it. HOWEVER, this is still an enjoyable movie. It's not high-class entertainment, it's a popcorn flick. It's not that bad at all if you just want a fun movie! It could've been a lot worse, Michael Bay has made much worse movies based on '80s cartoons than this one. *cough*Transformers 2*cough*! Just take this movie for what it is. This movie gets 2.3 stars out of 5. Not a good movie, but you will still enjoy it!

Have you seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!