This weekend I had a chance to see 4 (count 'em Four) movies. We normally don't see that many, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to sit back and relax and watch some flix.
Van Helsing
My wife and I got the rare opportunity to rent a couple of DVD's without worrying about the girls. They were both at sleep overs Friday night, so being crazy, impulsive and most importantly, without kids, we did what any red blooded couple that are passionately in love...we rented movies and got Chipotle burritos. OK, we're boring. Van Helsing was pretty good. The special effects were staggering, but almost in an obtrusive way. The level of effects is so high that we are beginning to not appreciate them I feel. But this one had some nice effects. The story was a little confusing, more so for Kristie, as this was not really her type of movie. And it seemed like they chopped it up a bit for what ever reason. But all in all, it was an okay movie, not one that I would let my girls see, but a bit of a distraction for a couple of hours.
50 First Dates
Kelly, my daughter who is 14, has been asking to see this movie for a while, based on the "strength" of the trailer. She loves a good slapstick type of comedy and the trailer presents this as such. We have a pretty strict policy that the girls don't get to see movies PG-13 without us (or a highly reliable surrogate) previewing it first. Anything with Adam Sandler & Rob Schneider are locks for the preview category. And I'm glad we previewed it. First the positives: it had some very funny moments (I'm a sucker for the scene when Rob Schneider gets wailed on by Drew B. with a baseball bat...) and overall a cute, positive little love story. But the negatives were too large for us to ignore. Schneider (while funny in a really warped way) is just too freakin' weird and gross. Too much talk about sex (we're a little prudish about that, but they are 12 & 14 year old girls here). All in all, it could've been a good movie for the girls to see. Adam Sandler is actually pretty good in the movie playing the usual goof ball but seemed a little more human. And Drew Barrymore was cute like always. But just not something I want the girls to watch and that's the deal when you live in my house.
Peter Pan
We decided to rent this because we'd heard good things about it. And they were true. It was just like watching the book unfold on the screen. They guy who played Father/Hook was terrific and even the kid who played Pan was good. Makes you realize how closely to the book the "original" Disney cartoon was too... There were scenes in this movie that Kelly instantly recognized from the Disney cartoon (something that she'd seen 100's of times, but not in years. We haven't been into Peter Pan in years.) Good effects, nice rendering of the Victorian London crowd. If you have kids (not teeny kids 'cause they'd be bored) it was a fine movie.
The Incredibles
Being the cheap skates that my wife & I are; we buy the discounted movie coupons from the Entertainment Book and Gold C books. 4 people times like $9.00 for a movie is uncool. $5.50 is bad enough. But to get this rate, you have to wait 2 weeks. And that kills the girls, especially Kelly. She's definitely the "let's see the movie on opening night" type of person. But we made them wait to see Pixar's latest. So we ambled to the theater for one of 3, maybe 4 movies that we see in the real movie theater. We see very few movies in theaters and most of them are this crummy theater called the "Elvis Cinema" that charges $2.00 a ticket. Our TV has better sound. But when we go to the real theater, it's an event. And the Incredibles didn't disappoint. What a great movie. Very clever and witty, like I'd expect from something from Pixar. Brilliantly done, the 3-D CGI stuff is amazing. The only negative comment I'd even try to forward is that little kids might find it kind of boring. It has a well done plot and maybe it'd play down. But for my kids, it was perfect. They got it, totally. It's been nice "growing up" with Pixar. Toy Story was Allison's 2nd movie and Kelly's 3rd, they were both teenie tiny girls. And I remember that they sat there, spell bound and didn't budge. As they got older, the stories got better...Bug's Life was little more deep than either Toy Story, then Monsters, and Nemo, now Incredibles.
Van Helsing
My wife and I got the rare opportunity to rent a couple of DVD's without worrying about the girls. They were both at sleep overs Friday night, so being crazy, impulsive and most importantly, without kids, we did what any red blooded couple that are passionately in love...we rented movies and got Chipotle burritos. OK, we're boring. Van Helsing was pretty good. The special effects were staggering, but almost in an obtrusive way. The level of effects is so high that we are beginning to not appreciate them I feel. But this one had some nice effects. The story was a little confusing, more so for Kristie, as this was not really her type of movie. And it seemed like they chopped it up a bit for what ever reason. But all in all, it was an okay movie, not one that I would let my girls see, but a bit of a distraction for a couple of hours.50 First Dates
Kelly, my daughter who is 14, has been asking to see this movie for a while, based on the "strength" of the trailer. She loves a good slapstick type of comedy and the trailer presents this as such. We have a pretty strict policy that the girls don't get to see movies PG-13 without us (or a highly reliable surrogate) previewing it first. Anything with Adam Sandler & Rob Schneider are locks for the preview category. And I'm glad we previewed it. First the positives: it had some very funny moments (I'm a sucker for the scene when Rob Schneider gets wailed on by Drew B. with a baseball bat...) and overall a cute, positive little love story. But the negatives were too large for us to ignore. Schneider (while funny in a really warped way) is just too freakin' weird and gross. Too much talk about sex (we're a little prudish about that, but they are 12 & 14 year old girls here). All in all, it could've been a good movie for the girls to see. Adam Sandler is actually pretty good in the movie playing the usual goof ball but seemed a little more human. And Drew Barrymore was cute like always. But just not something I want the girls to watch and that's the deal when you live in my house.Peter Pan
We decided to rent this because we'd heard good things about it. And they were true. It was just like watching the book unfold on the screen. They guy who played Father/Hook was terrific and even the kid who played Pan was good. Makes you realize how closely to the book the "original" Disney cartoon was too... There were scenes in this movie that Kelly instantly recognized from the Disney cartoon (something that she'd seen 100's of times, but not in years. We haven't been into Peter Pan in years.) Good effects, nice rendering of the Victorian London crowd. If you have kids (not teeny kids 'cause they'd be bored) it was a fine movie.The Incredibles
Being the cheap skates that my wife & I are; we buy the discounted movie coupons from the Entertainment Book and Gold C books. 4 people times like $9.00 for a movie is uncool. $5.50 is bad enough. But to get this rate, you have to wait 2 weeks. And that kills the girls, especially Kelly. She's definitely the "let's see the movie on opening night" type of person. But we made them wait to see Pixar's latest. So we ambled to the theater for one of 3, maybe 4 movies that we see in the real movie theater. We see very few movies in theaters and most of them are this crummy theater called the "Elvis Cinema" that charges $2.00 a ticket. Our TV has better sound. But when we go to the real theater, it's an event. And the Incredibles didn't disappoint. What a great movie. Very clever and witty, like I'd expect from something from Pixar. Brilliantly done, the 3-D CGI stuff is amazing. The only negative comment I'd even try to forward is that little kids might find it kind of boring. It has a well done plot and maybe it'd play down. But for my kids, it was perfect. They got it, totally. It's been nice "growing up" with Pixar. Toy Story was Allison's 2nd movie and Kelly's 3rd, they were both teenie tiny girls. And I remember that they sat there, spell bound and didn't budge. As they got older, the stories got better...Bug's Life was little more deep than either Toy Story, then Monsters, and Nemo, now Incredibles.