A Night of Firsts

Tonight was a night of "firsts" for me... Several of them, in fact.

My wife and I went to see John Carter tonight.  A movie date with my wonderful spouse of twenty-seven years was not a first.  Watching the movie in 3D was.  (Yes, I know what you're thinking.  No, I've never watched a 3D movie before now.  I'm old, takes me a while to get around to doing all these newfangled things, okay?  And yes, I know I can never appreciate the wonderful world of 3D unless I've seen Avatar that way.  2D was sufficient.  I will survive.)

So, the whole 3D experience was my first first tonight. My second first was spending less money at the concession stand than I paid for admission.  And I got a BIG tub of popcorn (with loads of salt and butter because I like a little popcorn with my salt and butter, thank-you) and a whopper diet coke.  (Tons of butter is perfectly fine as long as you wash it down with calorie-free drinks.)

My third first was watching a movie made from a book before I read the book itself.  That's okay too because I have the e-book queued up in my Kindle reader (via my Android tablet.)

My fourth first is blogging about a movie.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I intended to give the movie a shot and see how I liked it.  Well, I'd have to give it a 6.5 on a scale of 1-10.  It started about like I expected based on what I had read online.  No real surprises.  I loved the immortals, but the movie left a lot of questions about them unanswered.  (Either that or I was too daft to glean the answers.)  There was plenty of character development.  The dialog was okay.  The storyline tested my suspension of disbelief at times, but I saw the effort undertaken to keep it from shattering.

They did a good job making you feel for the characters--even the computer-generated ones.  The movie's ending nicely tied up the questions it presented at the beginning.  The real question, I suppose, is "would I go see it again?"  The answer: not at the price I paid for admission.  (I'm cheap, remember?)  And no, I'm not the type to reveal the plot so don't ask.

All in all, I don't consider the time spent wasted.  I was entertained and engaged, and that's what it's all about, right?  Drop a comment and let me know what you think of the movie (or the book) if you've watched or read them. 

I guess I'll wrap up the post here.  The belly isn't too happy with me right now.  Must be all the popcorn.  It can't possibly be the butter.

Pure in Life, Not in Word

Okay, it's personal quirk confession time.

I like things pure, my chocolate, my peanut butter, my girl scout shortbread.  I'm a rather bland-loving soul in many respects, I suppose.  Take pecans.  I love them, just not in my brownies.  Peanut butter is great for sandwiches, but don't get it on my Hershey bar.  I like my life a bit on the predictable side.  I'm comfortable with routine and shun the unexpected.  Not always, of course, but as a general rule.

Maybe that's why I love to be surprised when I read.  I like to guess how it's all going to play out and be completely wrong, yet still find the ending satisfying--as I did with Ender's Game.  But even then, I don't want my suspension-of-disbelief shattered.  Shaken is okay.  I cringe when cowboys fight aliens or spaceships land on worlds where magic rules.  It's like a brand new batter walking up to the plate with two strikes already on the board.  That's not to say it can't be done and done well, nor does it mean I discount it out of hand.  It just has to grab me right off the bat and make me believe.  I need to be so enraptured that I can accept the premise--and the sooner the better.

Did I watch Cowboys & Aliens?  Nope.  Didn't want to pay money for something starting off with two strikes against it.  John Carter?  The movie has the look of fantasy with all the elements of science fiction. Yeah, I plan to give that one a shot.  What's the difference?  Tough to say.  It doesn't help that Westerns are low on my list of likes.  Science fiction and fantasy are at the top of the list so maybe that's it.  I'll give them all a chance eventually, but not at theater prices.  (Another quirk: I'm cheap.)

Wrath of the Titans? Oh yeah, that's a go.  The Hobbit too.  It seems I'm more forgiving when my investment is a couple hours of watching rather than hours upon hours of reading.  However, it's the same for me with cross-overs within the same genre.  Alien vs. Predator?  Watched it, but was glad I didn't do so at the theater.  The premise and setup was okay, I guess.  I mean, there has to be some plausible way to get these two races together.  On Earth.  Without defenseless humans suspecting.  I guess it wasn't a total strike-out, but the bases were loaded with a full count.  The payoff pitch forced the run.  Nothing sailed out of the park.  (At least for me.)

Some people love cross-overs and write fan fiction simply because it doesn't happen enough to suit them.  Not me.  I don't want to see Luke Skywalker strolling along the bridge of the Enterprise.  I don't want to see Dr. Who or Flash Gordon addressing the Imperial Senate.  And I definitely don't want to see Emperor Palpatine lecturing Gandalf on the power of dark side, although that could make for a cute tongue-in-cheek comedy sketch.  Some things, in my opinion, should be kept pure.  Like my chocolate.

What about you?  Does Captain Kirk wooing Princess Leia tickle your fancy?  I'd love to know!