At the Movies
(Image via Wikimedia.)
I love movies, but since having children, I don’t go see them very often, or at all, really. I think that’s a normal side effect, and thank goodness for Netflix. But over the holidays, I saw two movies in an actual theater! I think it’s been about five years since I last saw a movie, and I remember that Ryan watched a very tiny James one afternoon while I went with a friend back in 2009. And then I had Rhys, and one thing led to another, and I don’t even know the names of the actors nominated for Oscars any longer. That makes me sad, since that was once my thing, and if I have to make a resolution for 2014, it’s to see more movies in a theater!
It helps that Ryan recently took me to a very nice theater about 30 minutes from our house, one of those places that serves meals and drinks while you lounge in leather recliners and watch a fabulous film. A girl could get used to that, and I’m hoping we get to make it a monthly event. I should mention, too, that I am super snobby picky about what movies I see in the theater, and I have a laundry list of the type I refuse to watch. That makes it hard to go with Ryan or anyone else, and I know it’s a problem, but I just can’t help myself. I don’t do hobbits or action or zombies or James Bond, so I stay home with the boys while Ryan goes with his friends. I used to go by myself a lot before I had children, and I think that’s a great way to watch a movie.
So Ryan let me pick, and I chose American Hustle, which has a really fabulous ensemble cast, including an almost unrecognizable Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, and Bradley Cooper. The film is set in the late 1970s, and the fashion and music are phenomenal. Amy Adams is very sweet and convincing in her role, and her constant cleavage is not at all distracting. I read that she has a no-nudity clause, and this movie literally skirts around it the entire time. Clearly, she burned her bra and is not looking back. But it’s Jennifer Lawrence who steals the show with her portrayal of the depressed housewife who sets fires all day long, both literally and metaphorically. I think she will be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress award, and she is so hilarious and pitiful, at the same time. I also really love this song from the movie, an Arabic version of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit,” sung by Mayssa Karaa.
And then we took the boys to see their very first movie in a theater. I heard and read wonderful things about Frozen, and I thought the boys would enjoy it. James loved the movie and the entire experience, but Rhys was really bored once he ate all the popcorn. I was really disappointed in the movie, too, and I thought it fell so flat. The music was really lackluster compared to other Disney movies I’ve seen in the past (I’m from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King generation) and the characters weren’t developed at all, aside from that weird little snowman who showed up halfway through the movie and provided a bit of much-needed comic relief. The animation was beautiful and I loved Elsa’s transformation to a real Snow Queen (her eyeshadow was gorgeous!), but other than that, I felt a lot like the writer of this article. I think Disney’s Secret of the Wings, a Tinker Bell movie, is extremely similar (two sisters, lots of snow) and much, much better. Plus, it’s streaming on Netflix right now.
Still, it was great to visit an actual theater twice over the holidays, and I’m making a list of other movies I want to see. Have you seen any new movies lately?
The closest theatre to us is five hours away, now that the one in town shut down (it went into tax arrears and closed, but it was kind of awful anyway — they always left the lights up and it was literally filled with garbage). Matt and I have seen two movies the whole time we’ve been together! Last summer we went to a 3D IMAX movie, the last showing of the day, and I felt really old after because we were both like ‘man that was overstimulating and now I’m tired.’
I think the theatres with the swanky dinners are so cool!
Wow, we don’t see movies all that often, but that’s crazy to not have seen hardly any movies in the entire relationship! I’m not crazy about 3D movies either, they tend to make me feel kind of dizzy.
Shayla, do you guys have Netflix? Now that we have kids, I can’t watch a movie without the PAUSE button.
Allie, I don’t think I could do a 3D movie these days, either. We saw a preview for one of those Paranormal movies with the shaky camera, and it made me feel queasy.
It’s funny because now that we have kids, movie and dinner at the alamo are part of our regular routine. When I am exhausted at the end of the week, it can be a thrill to sink into the dark atmosphere there and relax without kids. I also loved Frozen, but I was probably paying less attention to the movie than to William, who was so enthralled with the buttered popcorn, big screen, folding seats, etc. There’s a bit of escapism and magic to be found in going to the movies. 🙂
I’m not a fan of the big wooden table slat at Alamo, or at the one near us. I find it really hard to eat that way in the dark, but I’ve heard the newer locations are better. We went to the Movie House on 620, and it has personal trays that are nice, if slippery. I almost lost my salad in the dark. You have to watch the Tinker Bell movie! It is a thousand times better than Frozen, I promise.