Megan and I went to see Jack the Giant Slayer today. The movie was in a new IMAX theater at a local place. As we sat down in the theater (and well before the movie started), Megan put on her glasses, started waving her hands around in front of her face, and said, “It’s like I’m actually in the theater!”
movie
Bacon and steak for dinner…
Lori and Megan were away on a trip to New York City last night, so I was on my own for dinner. That meant there was going to be bacon involved.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKUelDbMqRQ
Too Tired For Slippers
Megan and I were going to go to a movie, but decided to make one ourselves, instead. Here’s the result.
Megan is so tired that she doesn’t even have the energy to catch her slippers.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzXhYaH0Snk
Pixar’s UP Almost Ruined by Clueless Harpy
I love Pixar movies. Pixar has never made a movie that has even come close to disappointing me. They’re consistently funny, dramatic, beautiful, and even a little geeky if you know some behind-the-scenes stuff.
Given my penchant for their movies, I was excited to see UP. I planned it so my daughter and I could go see it in 3D on opening night at the best theater in our area. We showed up an hour early just to make sure we could get tickets and get a good seat dead smack in the center of the screen. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as I’d expected, so we had no trouble at all… perfect seats.
Except for one thing.
Two rows behind me, sitting slightly to the left, was a woman who evidently lives in her own self-centered, egotistical bubble of inconsideration and, in an almost conversational volume, kept up an inane, non-stop commentary of the movie’s events to her child, stopping only to indignantly shush him when he made any comments or noises of his own.
“Awww…”
“Oh, look at that!”
“Wow!”
“Oh, they parked right where he wanted.”
“Look at all the balloons!”
“Uh-oh. The balloons are popping.”
“The bird wants her babies.”
“Awww… ” (again)
“Ha! Ha! Ha! That’s so clever!”
“Oh, the poor dog.”
“He’s sad.”
“Awww…” (oh yes… over, and over, and over…)
I’m very non-confrontational, so for a long time, I sat there and tried to ignore her. At one point, I got frustrated enough that I turned around and looked at her, displaying the universally accepted “shut the hell up” expression. Sadly, we all had the 3D glasses on, so the laser-focused, burning heat of my baleful glare didn’t have its fully intended effect.
A short while later, I took a page from her own playbook and turned around and shushed her. Sadly, the shush had a lasting effect of about 60 seconds. In retrospect, there’s a good chance she thought I was shushing her son. I think she was completely unaware of the extreme obnoxiousness of her behavior.
I really should have turned around and said something like, “Lady, would you please knock off the running commentary so the rest of us can enjoy the movie.” I probably would have gotten applause from the people sitting around me.
As it was, it took a lot away from the movie for both me and my daughter. I still loved the movie, though, which is a testament to Pixar’s genius, and I love going to real movie theaters. I really think, however, that it’s not the high prices of movie tickets, popcorn and drinks that will lead to the demise of theaters. It’s inconsiderate, rude, obnoxious, graceless, ignorant people (like the clueless harpy I encountered) that will bring them down.
Next time, I’ll speak up.
One Year in 40 Seconds
I just saw this video on YouTube and thought I’d share. It’s about 46 seconds and is a time-lapse movie of a woodsy area for an entire year. Very cool.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmIFXIXQQ_E
Religulous Gets the Laughs
Last Friday (October 3rd), a friend and I went to see Bill Maher’s new movie Religulous. It wasn’t showing locally, so we had a forty minute drive to get to a decent theater and we got there well ahead of time to make sure we weren’t thwarted by crazy crowds of Friday-night movie-goers. We had both been eagerly awaiting this movie for months and had very high expectations.
I’m happy to say that my expectations were easily met and even somewhat exceeded. From what I had understood about the movie from reading reviews and interviews, Maher was going for laughs. He was under no delusions that he would be coverting the “faithful” or changing peoples’ minds about their religious beliefs. He hit the nail on the head. Almost from the first minute, the whole audience was laughing. It kept on that way until about the last five minutes of the movie when the tone got more serious (but fitting) for the conclusion.
Maher is very deliberate to point out that he doesn’t describe himself as an atheist, which he defines as someone who knows God doesn’t exist. He says he is a doubter, since nobody can be sure one way or the other. However, what he is scathingly critical of is the unwavering faithful belief in something for which there is no evidence and which amounts to downright absurdity in many cases.
Thoughout the movie, he is extremely adept at pointing out these absurdities in many religiously cherished, irrational beliefs. For the most part, he simply asks questions in a variety of interviews with people from around the world. Most of his actual commentary comes in the form of video outtakes or in monologues delivered while travelling between interviews. Almost all the people he interviews are good natured and are happy to answer his questions. There are a few tense moments with a couple interviewees, but nothing major.
His simple questions and “what about this” scenarios do a great job at exposing the irrationality of religion… with hilarious effect. Whether he’s questioning Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Scientology, or Catholicism, he gets great laughs and even some of his interviewees join in the merriment. It’s a light-hearted journey for such a globally serious topic.
Maher will surely offend those who hold dear those same irrational beliefs that he amusingly questions, but for the rest of us, it’s a delight. I’ve even read some comments by people who have a great dislike for Maher, and even they enjoyed the movie. Of course, those who align with his beliefs will be the most appreciative of his religious mocking and it’s that crowd that will stay with him at the end of the movie when the tone gets serious, calling for an end to irrational, dangerous, dogmatic beliefs before it’s too late.
I stayed with him.