Lessons From Summer Flicks

We are blessed to have a movie-theatre in our town, where, for just over $10, you can treat the entire family to a current feature on a big screen with surround sound . We have ensconced ourselves in its cozy filth (not in subject matter but matter under the seats,) twice already this Summer, and without further ado, here are my highly anticipated reviews:

UP. A cute and entertaining show about the unlikely pairing of an old man and a little boy...and a dog..and a weird bird thing...and a flying house ..and..well watch the movie yourself why don't you?

Lessons learned: Senior citizens, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose. Oh relax, I'm just kidding. If you aren't as cultured as me and did not recognize it, that's a line from the enduring classic, Dumb and Dumber. (John and Susan, I hope we can remain friends ;)

The real lesson? Stuff is ultimately...stuff. You can't take it with you. Even the stuff that is special and sentimental , you will eventually have to part with. So if your stuff is holding you back in life, keeping you from progressing and living your bliss, you may as well part with it sooner rather then later.

Night at the Museum 2: Sequel to the other one, which I did not see, but I enjoyed it enough that I will probably break into my vacationing neighbour's house to see if she has the original for my viewing pleasure. (Don't you wish you were my neighbour and could leave your house-keys in my care?)

Lessons learned: Do what you love, even if it doesn't make you rich and famous. (Ok, so this was the lesson they want you to learn) but what I really took away from the movie was a scene where the blood-thirsty Egyptian wannabe Pharoah, with a lisp, (played by Hank Azaria, one of the most hilarious men on the planet) is threatening to kill the museum guard if he "crosses this line".

The guard of course, repeatedly does so, and the Egyptian would-be ruler-dude becomes increasingly apoplectic with rage over this. His threats escalate along with his rage, but since the guard has something he wants, which requires him to be alive, his threats are somewhat empty. His impotent fury and disbelief ,with its accompanying spluttering, eye-bulging ranting, had me (and my husband) almost rolling in the aisles as it reminded us so vividly of ourselves in a stand-off with one of our kids. Once you make a threat that you can't follow through on, man, your power is GONE. And kids 'aint dumb. They know the difference between the ones you can/will, and the ones you can't/wont.
Lesson? Think, before you throw down the gauntlet. Especially if you are a would-be world dictator or a parent.

And since we are getting philosophical here, I will leave you with this last question to ponder :
Is it morally wrong to smuggle grocery store candy into the movies? Actually, I'm not sure if I want to hear the answer to this. So don't say yes, ok? Thanks.

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9 comments:

Shannon said...

We liked UP! too. And...it is morally wrong to charge that much for movies and the junk food they sell! Bring whatever you want as long as you share!

Lori said...

We saw UP this past week and I was touched by the sweet love story portion of it. (Which was completely lost on the kids, FYI.). But it was a nice family movie. I wanted a water while we were there but was not going to pay $3.25 (YES, that's what they were charging!) for a bottle of water that I could get at the gas station for $1.30 or so! We are hoping to see the Battle of the Smithsonian soon just to check it out!

Melody said...

How nice that you have a theater that you can go to with the family and not have to take out a second mortgage! Cool!

And I always hit CVS pharmacy before going to the movies to get my Milk Duds. That is required movie snacking for me. And I have no guilt!

Stephanie said...

Until the movie theaters stop the diabolical practice of GOUGING movie-goers for their ever-shrinking and ever-lower-quality snacks, it is NOT immoral to sneak in the cheap snacks from home.

Even better: We went to the world's largest drive-in (OK, the largest I've seen at least) a couple of weeks ago to see "UP," which I loved. Six screens, each showing a double feature, $7 per person, children under 5 were free, and we could bring all the snacks we wanted--and we did. We also brought pillows and blankets and made a bed in the back of the car, threw open the hatch and enjoyed the night air while we watched our movie. MONEY WELL SPENT.

Blaine said...

Kirsty,

The first Night at the Museum was better, IMHO. They "recycled" several jokes from the first movie in Smithsonian, and I wished we would have gotten more Robin Williams in the sequel. That being said, the co-star in this sequel is my new favorite actress for family fare, Amy Adams. I loved her in Disney's 'Enchanted', and she was perfect in the Smithsonian sequel.

We haven't seen UP yet, we are waiting for it to come out in the 2nd run theater. Same quality picture and sound, just have to wait a few weeks or months (depending upon how popular the movie is) for it to be surrendered by the $13.00 for each adult and $10.50 per child assault on the pocketbook.

Laurel @ Ducks in a Row said...

We don't go to the theaters often - it's a realy special treat. We did love Night at the Museum and can't wait to see the sequel. Especially after your review. Thanks.

Unknown said...

Mike always stops at the Dollar Tree for candy before he takes the kids to the theater! We went to see UP out here at a real imax 3D theater. My mom had tickets but we still had to pay the surcharge and it ended up costing us Over $25 but it was worth it for the Kids. We opted not to pay $10 for the popcorn. After the movie was over the Dad and daughter that was sitting in front of us left there large barrel of popcorn so Will grabed it on our way out. Usually I would not let him do such a thing but it was a full bucket and they left it for some poor worker to take care of. So really we were helping a poor sole in his cleaning! Yea, thats it we were just helping.

MrsM said...

I think it is nothing short of criminal the prices they charge for movie candy! By not buying their candy you are teaching them how to efficiently run a business-it's not morally wrong, you are helping them adjust their prices to current market value!

Janet said...

Nothing morally wrong with smuggling in snack IMHO. The prices theaters charge is insane. We've seen and enjoyed Night At The Museum 2 and so true about the lessons. Hoping to see up this weekend. I've heard great things about it.