It's official. I have seen more movies in the last few months than I saw in my first 18 years of life. SpiderMan 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Fantastic Four, Ghostrider, Live Free or Die Hard, The Simpsons Movie, Harry Potter... and more to come: Stardust, Golden Compass, Bourne Ultimatum.
As a child, we didn't go to the movies much. Once or twice for some kid's birthday, once when my father snuck out with a friend and took the little ones to see Goldfinger, and as a teen I saw Star Wars, Silent Movie and Young Frankenstein and Moonraker... not a ton of movies in total.
Now, I can walk to a wonderful old single-screen theater. We go as often as we can. And we can drive to a horrible multiplex that nevertheless gets all the big movies. We go to an anime convention, and get our anime fix in that way. And we rent from the Blockbuster a mile up the road.
All three of us love movies, so it's good quality family time. And we can now discuss what we see together, which has been a lot of fun. Of course, being who we are, there is also food involved. We typically do dinner and a movie, or movie snacks and a movie (popcorn, sourpatches for the kid, raisinets for me...), so it makes for a fun evening. We still struggle to find things we all want to see, or that we all CAN see. We still veto R movies for our son, although I think now it's less because we think he can't handle the content, and more that WE can't handle him handling the content... but for now, we almost always say NO to the R-rated flicks.
He vetoes the G rated films, or anything he thinks is too childish or babyish. So I didn't get to see Transformers, because he thought it was for little kids. No amount of persuasion made a difference. Little kids watch the cartoon, and play with the toys, so NO WAY was he GOING TO BE CAUGHT DEAD going to see it. Yes, we can go without him. But we are doing lots of things without him already, and I really don't want us to spend more time apart if I can help it. Not while he still is okay with hanging out with us on occasion. And I didn't get to see the most recent Ninja Turtles movie, although apparently no one else saw it either. And I didn't get to see Happy Feet. Or anything with animated penguins.
But still, I am HAPPY. I got to see lots of fun fun stuff, and there is more where that came from. MOVIES!!!!
1 comment:
I am SO there with you on this. We only go out to the movies about once a month. The last one we saw was Harry Potter. Next weekend we're torn between Bourne and Underdog. The following weekend, we'll have to go see Stardust.
We rent about one a week from Blockbuster online, which entitles us to take the mailer to the bricks-and-mortar store and exchange it for another flick for free. So, in a good week we see two rented DVDs. And, about once a month we do an 'on demand' from cable.
We actually watch a fair amount of television together: Dr Who, The 4400, Dresden Files, Lost, Hell's Kitchen, The Riches, and (embarrassingly, since it probably qualifies as "R") Rescue Me. TV is a shorter commitment in our busy lives. And, some shows do illicit some pretty rich discussions (Lost and Hell's Kitchen always do).
K & I are now waiting for B to finish the HP book so we can openly discuss it with him. Like you, B & I relish every moment that we can share with K in a non-confrontational way.
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