Family Movie Night
by Karyn Bowman
Our family weekend consisted of plans that ended up getting squashed and re-configured.
We started with a plan to see Iron Man 3 at the drive-in theater in Gibson City. The Harvest Moon is our favorite for the great green spaces as well as the fine concession stand food.
If you have never had a Funnel Cake Sundae, you are missing out.
However, six people in a minivan trying to watch a movie while it is cold and rainy is not my idea of a good time. So instead we packed up the family and a friend to head over to Movies 10.
What we found was a Tony Stark trying to deal with everything he saw during the fight with the Avengers in New York. And he is not succeeding at it. Tony is up for days at a time and when he sleeps, all he can dream about is New York.
But when an explosion at the Chinese Theater injures his friend, Tony sends out a message to the man claiming responsibility, the Mandarin, that he will find him and bring him down. Meanwhile, we learn about an experiment to create super humans that has one fatal flaw.
Poster Image from IMDb.com
If anything, this movie is about masks. The masks men like Tony Stark and the Mandarin use in order to complete their objectives. It is also about masks that some of us wear while appearing to be a normal person. What heroics or villainy lies in our hearts is not always reflected in the clothing we wear. The most deceitful character, in my mind, is one you did not expect at all.
The action was incredible, as always. A full-fledged attack on Tony Stark’s Malibu home is devastatingly great. But the scenes of previous terrorist attacks by the Mandarin are perhaps the most profound. They are gripping in the sadness of loss of life for those people who were not a target per say but merely collateral damage.
Now, I know there are fans of the comic book that are going to be disappointed. They are not going to like how the Mandarin is portrayed, how it leans far away from the original story. But trust me when I say that this reveal of the Mandarin is everything we might want to believe of current figures that use/used televised messages. It is a dirty move and it is brilliant.
For our family, it was a good movie. Our eight-year-old watched it although if you think your child is more sensitive, I would recommend skipping it. I would have done that when my oldest was this age but now my youngest watches these movies with the older kids. It makes him feel as if he is just like them.
While I put my foot down for R-rated horror or intense action movies, Iron Man and the Marvel comic movies manage to keep the blood and gore to the imagination. That I can live with.
Until next week, see you in the rental aisle
Notes from Rumbly Cottage 
“What heroics or villainy lies in our hearts is not always reflected in the clothing we wear. The most deceitful character, in my mind, is one you did not expect at all.”
“this reveal of the Mandarin is everything we might want to believe of current figures that use/used televised messages.this reveal of the Mandarin is everything we might want to believe of current figures that use/used televised messages.”
Maybe I’ll go see this on after all.
It must be very difficult to find movies for the whole family now. Entertainment has such a different definition these days.
Thanks for the review
I think the biggest problem with family movies is finding one that has not been dumbed down or where effort to make a good movie was not a priority. Fart jokes only go so far to cover up a bad script.
things used to have levels of understanding/meanings carefully crafted – a skill not much in evidence now – or maybe it’s the rapid pace productions must move at these days.
I would say that is a yes and no response. Animated flicks, whether hand drawn or computer animated – take a few years to make. Some of the live action can take time depending on if it is a known group or not. Sometimes, it is the studio heads who muck up a story faster than anything else.
So agree with all that.
Just saw it tonight. Loved it. RDJ is so perfect as sassy Tony Stark.
He is becoming one of my favorite actors of all time. I am so glad he made it back from a very dark place.