Iron Man 3 – Dealing

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

Advertisement

Another Round of Oscar Movies

Movie Poster, image from IMDb.com

Movie Poster image from IMDb.com

 

Family Movie Night

 I get really excited when some of the Oscar movies start coming out to the home theater market.

 Because our life is pretty hectic with the kids’ schedule of activities getting out to the movies on a regular basis is pretty difficult. I am happy to be able to watch Dancing With The Stars on a regular basis.

 So imagine my happiness when I looked at the DVD release schedules to find that between this week and last, four movies that were nominated for Oscars are coming out.

 Last week, Country Strong starring Gwyneth Paltrow as a country singer making her comeback after a too short stint in rehab. She is a great singer and her husband, played by Tim McGraw, knows that the stage is the only place she can be happy.

Garret Hedlund stars as the rising singer she goes on tour with along with beauty queen-turned-singer Leighton Meister. I love country music, love Gwyneth and Tim McGraw and plan to watch this movie.

While Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1only received nominations for its technical magic, I am looking forward to seeing this movie once more. I have been following the series since the first movie, have re-read the books and feel ready for the final movie.

 Harry, Ron and Hermione have left school to search for the final pieces to destroy Voldemort. Life has never been so tenuous or dangerous. Never have the stakes been higher. Oh, I am so looking forward to watching this flick with a huge bowl of popcorn.

 Yesterday saw the release of the DVD for Rabbit Hole starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as parents who are facing the loss of their young son by a sudden accident. It is a movie that will break your heart as these two people work to rebuild everything they knew to be true. I love these two actors and look forward to watching how two people deal with the ultimate grief and how they allow each other to grieve as well.

 On the same day the big winner at the Oscars, The King’s Speech, comes out as well. While my husband has no interest to see this movie, I cannot wait. Colin Firth has been a good actor for such a long time that his performances are rather seamless. It appears that he is not acting at all.

 He finally won the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance as the King of England who must get over his speech problem in order to be the reassuring voice his subjects need to hear. He is the king, their sovereign and he must appear to be confident. That is when the Queen finds a speech therapist who helps the King find his voice. Because I also love Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, my level of excitement is quite high. This last movie is best for younger family members (grade school and up) despite the momentary swearing that is used to help the king.

 Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.

 Let the world know about your latest pick for Family Movie Night and drop a note below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How High Can You Go?

Sunday night the husband called me over so I could watch the Grammys with him.

I was going back and forth because I was doing stuff, important stuff like facebook and checking the numbers on the blog. I might have been looking around at other blogs as well. Despite being a big music person, I am not interestd in the Grammys.

The husband called me over because it was time for Cee Lo to perform. I love Forget You  and may have forced the husband to watch the Glee episode when Gwyneth Paltrow sang his song. I did make him watch SNL when Cee Lo was on and he became a fan.

Christian Louboutin Leather Peep-Toe Ankle Boots in Brown. Only Gwyneth gets custom colors. Picture from http://www.net-a-porter.com

 

It is a fun performance with muppets and Cee L0 in some crazy outfit. That is when Gwyneth shows up on the top of the stairs. She is wearing heels that are impossible tall. Some heels do a trick where the front part of the sole of about 1 – 1 1/2 inch platform to make the heel less high and less dangerous. Gwyneth’s shoes had this but the heel still looked to be about six inches long.

“Holy Cow! I could never wear shoes like that,” I am thinking. I notice that Gwyneth appears to be holding on that rail and the piano for balance. She’s a pro because I would have been holding on for dear life.

The amazing thing is I go looking around for these shoes and find them at She Finds. Not only am I right about the platform height but I ‘nailed’ the heel height as well. However, I am not buying these Christian Louboutin’s anytime soon because they cost $1095 and only come in a brown color.

If I am going to put myself in mortal peril (you have never seen me walk in heels and don’t know how true this statement is), I can do it for free. Even though I desire a pair of Louboutins with the trademark red under color, I have better things to do with that amount of money. Like pay my mortgage.

So to celebrate crazy shoe choices let’s watch that clip of Cee Lo and Gwyneth singing with muppets one more time.