Do you remember what it was like to walk through the woods, to have conversations with the trees, to envision gateways, portals to other worlds, filled with all manner of creatures? Do you remember what it was like to transcend the boredom of an ordinary day through the use of the one thing that every child possesses–the imagination? I do. Some days I feel the many years that have come and gone since I was a boy doing just that; on other days a mere scent in the air or a passing glimpse at a grove of trees can take me to within a hairsbreadth of that time. Watching the film version of Katherine Paterson’s award-winning novelBridge to Terabithia was akin to stepping back in time and as such was the very best of bittersweet experiences.
Mary’s monthly get-together with our dear friends, the Tarts, necessitated Tori and I getting out of the house for awhile Saturday evening. Okay, that is not really true but it was a good excuse anyway. I decided to play the ‘cool dad’ roll and take her to the movie she had recently asked to see, Blood and Chocolate. Based on Annette Curtis Klause’s young adult novel of the same name, Blood and Chocolate presents the familiar Romeo and Juliet story told against the backdrop of werewolves in Bucharest. While it may sound silly and appear to be an Underworld ripoff, both of which it is at times, Blood and Chocolate is actually a surprisingly enjoyable film.
From the moment I first caught a glimpse of Pan’s Labyrinth, many, many months ago, the die was cast. The trailer made me catch my breath and that part of me that still believes was stirred. This was a movie I had to see in the theatre and it simply had to come to our city. Kansas City did not let me down and neither did Guilermo del Toro.
Over a year ago the rumors were circulating that they were making a new Rocky movie. I just shook my head in disbelief. This past summer when the first trailer was released, I laughed. It looked so bad. I actually downloaded it online and showed it to friends and family and the consensus was that this would be the biggest joke of the holiday season.
Then last month they released a trailer with clips including his son and some very good fight footage. Hmmm…..despite knowing how foolish it was, I was intrigued. I have seen that trailer several times since then. Last week I heard Sylvester Stallone in an interview say that he made this movie as a ‘thank you’ to the fans. That clinched the deal for me. So today, for our (Mary, Tori and myself) family Christmas, I found myself at the first showing of the day to see a movie that I vowed I would never see in the theatre. A movie that I now had sky-high expectations for…
I have always had mixed feelings on the Bond franchise. I think Sean Connery was fantastic as Bond but it has been so long since I have seen one of those films that I cannot honestly assess my feelings about them. I like Pierce Brosnon as an actor but I felt that the scripts for his Bond movies were fairly weak. That being said I was initially very doubtful about the casting of Daniel Craig and wasn’t sure that this was a film that I wanted to see. However, the marketing department did a fine job with this one as the first trailer I saw hooked me. Thus Monday evening saw Jeff, Cameron and I (there were more invited but life got in the way) at an early showing of Casino Royale.
