Family Movie Night
by Karyn Bowman
The other day, we were at a party talking to people about streaming video.
They liked it for the ease and convenience of not having to go anywhere for a movie, especially if they remember at 8 in the evening. But then the wife said something I found interesting.
She stated she missed going to a video store and walking through the racks to find a movie. I couldn’t agree more because there is something to touching and feeling a movie box. I love reading the descriptions on the back, looking the pictures and seeing who is in the movie. I have stumbled on great movies because I was walking through the aisles, not knowing what I really wanted.
Streaming is easy, takes one errand off the list of things to do. That can be great when you have kids who cannot handle more than three stops before they get a treat. But there is something lost in not seeing all of the choice out there on a wall in front of your face.
What do you think about streaming?
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Poster Image from IMDb.com
This week my list of movies to see has just gotten longer with the release of One For the Money starring Katherine Heigl in the adaptation of the Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. The premise is that Plum becomes a bail bonds man after losing her job, moving back in with her parents, and recovering from a nasty divorce.
I know what the critics have said about this movie, I know it is bad. But sometimes a bad movie has its place – to laugh at its stupidity, to smile at the bad jokes, to go along gamely with the actors who know the movie is bad but decided to have fun with it. I love the smile on Heigl’s face as she brings in a guy who insists on being naked because “the ‘boys’ need air.”
As you can guess, this one is not for family viewing.
Poster Image from IMDb.com
How lucky for us that a good anime, family-friendly film has just been released to the home market. We saw The Secret World of Arrietty at the theater and loved it. The story is about little people who live in our world and take what they need but not in great amounts so it will not be discovered. It is based on the story of The Borrowers. This movie is suitable for children as young as kindergarten-age and their older siblings.
In this movie, Arrietty is a 14-year-old girl who is about to learn to art of borrowing from her father. The house that they live in has been inhabited only by a housekeeper. But now a boy, resting before major surgery, is moving in. And when he discovers Arrietty one night, her world faces major challenges.
This movie comes from the studios of Hayao Miyazaki, a film-making master. Many of his techniques are employed in this movie with beautiful animation, solid storytelling in a manner that is not rushed. And the voice over work by Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Bridget Mendler, David Hendrie and Carol Burnett are perfect for their characters.
Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.
I miss video stores, too! It’s kind of along the lines of writing letters or chatting on a house phone, little things that seem to have been phased out and replaced with easier alternatives.
Easier for whom, I wonder. My parents don’t text although they are on the computer.
I quite enjoy streaming, but I completely agree with walking the aisles and exploring the possibilities. Neither one of the films you mentioned are currently available on Netflix (streaming). Hopefully that will change at some point.
We have a rental place beyond our little store but the discs are almost always scratched in some way.
This review is perfectly timed. I was just contemplating ordering it on PPV but hadn’t heard anything good about it. Now I’m thinking a laugh is probably needed over at my house.
What attracts me is that Katherine Heigl seems to be having a good time and she is not always a happy person in her film roles.
Thanks for the reviews. I wondered if that last one wasn’t an variation of The Borrowers
It is and it was made in Studio Ghibli, which is Hayao Miyazaki’s outfit.
I agree that bad movies have their place. I’m not always in the mood for an Oscar nominated tear-jerker!
There is nothing like a good bad movie that makes you laugh.
I love streaming, like you say, for the convenience. But I can relate to the stroll through the video store. It’s like my memories of strolling through the bookstore with my mother as a kid. How wonderful and pregnant those moments felt. And I rarely stroll through a bookstore now. Instead, I have a constant list of must reads and order up my books online or through the library. Just not as tactful or as fulfilling as the tangible aspects of the bookstore. Even when I do go to the bookstore, I tend to hurry in, looking for a specific title and hurry out before I’ll be tempted to spend too much money.
I hear you on not trying to spend much but, like you, I miss walking through a video store and making accidental discoveries.