Movies

The girls and I went to see The Giver.

We all loved the book.  I was especially excited to finally have a new release to see asap with J, because M and I had gone to see The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Catching Fire for their opening nights, but J hadn’t read the books in time (she’s since caught up with two out of three). I was a bit shocked by how empty the theater was.  Bottom line: the book’s better than the movie, but the movie didn’t ruin the book. We enjoyed it, mostly, although we all thought it would be confusing if we didn’t know the story ahead of time. And the ending was much less. . . ambivalent in the movie. Also, the lead boy was a cutie-patootie. M said, “In the book he wasn’t supposed to be attractive, but I’m totally okay with him being hot.”

But before the movie, we watched a huge pile of previews. And since my lovely daughters were fighting over custody of the popcorn and slushy, I did my best to ignore them. Instead, I focused all of my attention on the previews and took mental notes to share with you.

(For some reason my “More” link isn’t working properly at the moment–there is more, and you can click the title of the blog post to read it.)

First, When the Game Stands Tall:

This one seemed like it might be good, but mostly it just reminded me that I should go home and put Remember the Titans in my Netflix queue. And then Netflix reminded me of The Blind Side and Rudy. So now I guess we’re going to have some sort of Football Film Festival.

Then we’ve got Interstellar:

What troubles me about this movie is that Matthew McConaughey is mostly in an astronaut suit. I really prefer it when he plays characters who are shirtless most of the time. Also, it’s possible that the whole we-must-go-into-space-to-save-civilization thing has been done before. Does that sound familiar to anyone? But I guess this has the added angle that Even If You’re Saving The World As We Know It, Your Tween Daughter Is Likely To Think That You Are A Sucktastic Parent Who Doesn’t Love Her Enough. Which might be a dramatic revelation to some viewers, but it is already abundantly clear to me.

Next, Unbroken:

Damn, I’ve got to read that book. I’ve got that strict must-read-it-first rule. This was one of the previews that piqued M’s interest, too. I suggested it might be a good nonfiction book to read. “Didn’t the middle school sheet say that you should try to read some nonfiction over the summer?” I asked. Answer: “I don’t know. Whatever.” Yep, we’re all primed and psyched up for 7th grade. Good luck to those teachers.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies:

Okay, can I just say that I hate movies offered in 3D? Even if I don’t choose the 3D version, they do so much diving and swooping that I can’t even watch the damn things without getting sick to my stomach. Seriously. Of course, I was already weakened by the Regal Cinemas promo where they act like the filmstrip is a roller coaster. I have to close my eyes and look away, because even with my eyes closed the flickering  acts like a seizure-inducing strobe light on my eyelids. I understand that this is pathetic. Anyway, if you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know that I fell asleep during the first Hobbit movie, so maybe Cute W can bring the girls without me. Which means another week-long vacation for me–whoop, whoop! . . . Get it? Because those movies are very, very long.

The Maze Runner:

This one begs the question: at what point will movies based on current dystopian YA novels cease to be box office gold? I think that this one will be another rousing success due to an abundance of cute boys. Neither of my daughters has read this novel, and M claims that she has no interest in it, but I’m wondering if she will bow to the pressure when she realizes that 6 or 8 of her besties are lining up for opening night. We’ll see.

Paddington:

A book based on Paddington Bear? Okay, first of all, how did I not know that this was coming? Second of all, how did we fail at parenting so badly that neither of my children had heard of Paddington Bear before? I mean, I was never a huge fan of Paddington, actually, but he’s an important cultural icon, right? Not quite as  noteworthy as that epic parenting fail when J referred to our Christmas Nativity set as “the Jesus Set-Up,” but still.  This trailer’s toothbrush bit had me almost throwing up in my mouth, but J laughed out loud. Plus Robert Crawley’s in it, and you know how J feels about her Downton Abbey.

St. Vincent:

Okay, I got pretty excited about this one, just because I love, love, love bot Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy. I’m especially glad to see my dear, sweet, loved-her-since-she-was-Sookie-in-Gilmore-Girls Melissa playing a normal person, instead of an outrageously foul-mouthed nut-job. I just feel like that role’s been a little overplayed. On the ride home, both girls said that they thought the movie looked funny; however, when I told them that Bill Murray is widely considered to be super-cool, they were extremely skeptical based on his performance in the trailer.  That, my friends, is Acting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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