How Our Favorite Apps Would Change Our Favorite Films

There comes a time in all of our lives when we are watching one of our favorite movies and we reach the scene where the protagonist is faced with a difficult dilemma. At that point, we stop and think to ourselves – wait, isn’t there an app for that? Okay, maybe that doesn’t happen to everyone. But I’ll bet you’re thinking about it now! This fun Friday blog post re-imagines some popular movies and what they would be like if the characters involved had access to a modern smartphone and a few downloaded apps. (Note: these might not actually be our favorite films, but they get the ball rolling for you to think of others!)

Film: The Wizard of Oz (1939)

App: Waze

Though we all love the warbling voices of the Munchkins singing Dorothy off to her destiny, wouldn’t it have been simpler to just use Waze? The tornado would toss Dorothy into Oz, she’d land, and with just a few clicks on her smartphone she’d be headed straight for the Wizard – no aimless wandering required. Waze’s convenient voice guide would be able to provide accurate directions all the way to the Emerald City – “You are no longer in Kansas. Follow the Yellow Brick Road for 40.6 miles. Destination will be on the left.” Of course, many of Waze’s unique features would be of great assistance in the strange and confusing world of Oz. Crowdsourced data reports would make sure that Dorothy was aware of the problems en route to her destination: “Avoid the Angry Apple Orchard, objects in road.” She would see fellow Wazers like Scarecrow, Tinman, and Lion and be sure to meet up with them along the way. She would even be able to dodge those nasty run-ins with the Wicked Witch as she kept an eye on user reports of the Witch’s location. And who knows, were she ever to return to Oz, the app probably would have learned a better route thanks to data collected from other tornado-transplanted Midwesterners.

Waze and the Wizard of OZ

Film: Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

App: Instagram

Pretty much everything about the movie would remain the same except for one, itsy-bitsy alteration:

Iwo Jima With Instagram

Film: Rocky IV (1985)

App: MapMyRun

Come on, who really liked Rocky’s trainer, Duke Evers, anyway? Sure, he was a great guy, but any time he occupied the screen was time we didn’t get to see Rocky! Rocky! Rocky! Ro…sorry. I was getting a little carried away there. Anyway, this time around, Rocky would cut out the middleman and fly solo into the USSR with nothing but his stamina and a smartphone. And on that smartphone there would only be one app –MapMyRun. The excellent exercise app that keeps track of users’ daily workouts and lets them monitor their routines over time, would allow Rocky to efficiently monitor his progress and share it with his buddies back in the good ol’ US of A. Of course we’d still get those classic workout montages, but they’d be in the form of status updates posted from MapMyRun to Rocky’s Facebook page.

Rocky Balboa Map My Run

Film: Twister (1996)

App: The Weather Channel

This one’s easy. Remember the scene where everyone is sitting in the drive-in movie theater, calmly enjoying the film and unsuspecting of the massive tornado that’s about to make them feel like grass clippings under a leaf blower? Yeah, well, with The Weather Channel app we could imagine that scene going a bit differently:

John: Hey! You interested in going to see a movie with me tonight down at the Wichita Drive-In?

Lisa: Sure! But wait, let me just check what the weather’s going to be like, you know, since we live in the Midwest and there’s always a chance of storms…