Movie Day

What started out as a dark, windy, snowy Chicago day ended up a movie marathon that none of us expected.

We had decided to take in Diary of a Wimpy Kid at the local googleplex on Friday.  Circumstances in the positive caused a delay so we decided for a Saturday showing, instead.  The kids had read and loved the Wimpy Kid series of books by Jeff Kinney.  Lillie, especially, was a fan and we would soon find out this was not a good thing for the film.

Most of learn as we grow older that film that are based on great books rarely live up to the source material.  Sadly, Lillie learned that lesson yesterday.  There were a number of scenes that presented things differently than the books as well as characters that didn't existing the universe of the written word.  As a result, she proclaimed this the worst movie she'd ever seen.

Was it really?  Likely, no.  Living in the family of a Godzilla fan, who loves sci-fi, horror and comic book movies, she has seen a lot of bad, bad movies.  But like all of us who have seen a film version of a beloved book, she was let down that it did not live up to her preconceived expectation of what a film based on these books should be like.

So for the non-reader of the series, was it a bad film.  No, not at all.  It was very funny.  It was full of life lessons and characters we could all relate to.  The grownups liked it more than the kids because we had no preconceived ideas of what the film should be like.

Afterward, we carried out a less thn acceptable haircut on the boy.  I wanted a good four inches taken off.  The hairdresser loved his hair so she would not cut it.  Instead she got rid of the unsightly ends to the strands.  At least we had a coupon for half off the cut.

A bit of shopping and dinner later and it was time for more movies.  I decided it would be Astro Boy.  As most fans of the original animated series found out, this was not our Astro Boy.  Sure the CGI Astro Boy looked a bit like the 2D Astro Boy we loved and the characters all had huge noses but it was watered down.  It didn't have the magic that the original did.  It was entertaining enough but not what I had hoped.  I know exactly how Lillie felt earlier in the day.

After that, we got ready for The Return of Dr. Phibes on Svengoolie but Mary requested District 9 since we'd recently seen Phibes on Sven.  I was happy to oblige.  I'd seen District 9 at the theater and really enjoyed it.  Much like Cloverfield, it took a film genre that we were very familiar with, in this case Alien Invasion, and presented it in a light that was ground breaking and very riveting.  Happily, Mary shared my appreciation for the film.

So it was a Movie Marathon Saturday.  Perfect for the turn the weather took.  Now if I can just get rid of this stinking cold, I'll really be happy.