On Monday night, Mike and I saw a movie. Yes, a movie. It's one of those talkie pictures with the colors and the sounds and the oversized popcorn/soda combos and the person behind you who is talking too loudly while kicking the back of your chair. I know, I had forgotten too.
I wanted to see "The King's Speech" but Mike insisted on seeing "Limitless" because A) he thought "The King's Speech" would be boring, B) he's a boy and boys are stupid and C) I have a friend that insists Mike looks like Bradley Cooper. (You should know that my friend's nickname is Governor Patterson.)
It was fine. But not great. And the ending sucked. In the heirarchy of "movies you need to see this year", "Limitless" comes just slightly above "National Treasure 3" (which is not out yet but I feel comfortable in my sight unseen review).
Unfortunately, this mistake in movie selection hurts dearly because I might not be able to justify another theater going opportunity until we can safely leave Mazzy at home by herself. A time I refer to fondly as "The Year 2025".
This is because while we once thought $13.00 was an outrageous amount to spend on a movie ticket (that's what they cost in Manhattan), with the addition of a sitter, we now spend no less than $70 for two. That ups the stakes a little. For instance, Adam Sandler? Sorry, you are a NO GO. In order to get me to see one of your funnyman vehicles, you either have to bribe the Coen brothers to cast you in their next flick or offer a $65 rebate.
But no worries, because thankfully, I found abridged versions of all the Oscar winning movies this year online. Now instead of hiring a sitter for ten separate evenings at a cost of $700, I can watch them all in about five minutes FOR FREE. And since I now have trouble diciphering adult-type communication where words are strung together in actual intelligible sentences, I am happy to report that in the abridged versions, there are no adults to be found.
"The Social Network"
"127 Hours"
"The Fighter"
"The Black Swan" (click here for my actual Black Swan review)
And finally, "The King's Speech"
Mike was right. Even clocking in at :36 seconds, "The King's Speech" is pretty boring.
You can check out Kids Act Out on AOL for "True Grit", "Inception" and "The Kids Are Alright". But for the record, I picked the best ones.
OK, now I have the following questions:
1) What was the worst movie you wasted precious babysitter money/time on?
2) What movie star will you no longer shell out money to see?
Original picture above by Steve Rhodes on flickr (I hope he doesn't mind me altering it…)
A movie is RARELY worth the money anymore. Babysitter ups the ante just too much. I’d rather spend babysitter money on food and booze.
If I have a babysitter it really doesn’t matter what movie we see as long as we are away from the kids. It could totally suck and I will still walk out saying that was well worth the babysitter.
Over the weekend we saw Lincoln Lawyer and that was actually a good movie in my opinion.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Enough said.
The worst movie we spent precious babysitting time on was when we got my parents to babysit, went to the theatre to see Inception, and realized I’d gotten the start time wrong. We were half an hour late. And since the previews are my favorite part, and our other choices were the Expendables and Eat Pray Love, we decided to go to TJ Maxx.
On another note, considering that Luke and I sometimes consider getting a babysitter so we can go to a hotel and SLEEP, just sleep, I think even a bad movie might be worth it. B/c if you get a comfy chair, it’s kind of like sleeping in a hotel, and probably cheaper. Plus, there’s that gross but awesome butter-drenched popcorn.
What’s a movie?
Ha! “What’s a movie?” was the original title of this post. If you click on the title and look up at the URL, you will find proof that I didn’t just make that up.
I used to LOVE going to the movies. But sadly, I think you are right. Unless they start serving booze at the movies— that might be worth price of admission.
Matthew McConaughey makes me a wee bit nauseous. But I will look into it.
Understood.
I imagine it would be very hard playing catch-up with Inception. I was in the theater from the very beginning and I had trouble.
i was really looking forward to limitless as the trailer looked awesome. however, reviews basically said: awesome premise, poor pay off. meanwhile the king’s speech may be one of the best movies I have ever seen. and this comes from a guy who only wants to smile and say “wow, I can’t believe they blew her face clean off” after seeing his movie of choice.
We got fooled by the awesome trailer and forgot to check out the reviews. Monday night movie was actually a rather spontaneous plan.
I do still intend to see The King’s Speech and maybe if I show Mike your comment, he will allow me to drag him along.
Since the baby was born, we’ve been out to a few movies, with mixed results. “Date Night” – entertaining and worth it. “Dinner for Schmucks” – predictably awful, but made tolerable by the food and alcohol. (If New York has an AMC Fork & Screen, you, too, can enjoy booze with your movie!)
I know a couple that does this little trick: one watches the kid and the other sees a flick alone (say, Saturday early afternoon). Then they switch (say, Saturday late afternoon). That way they each get some nice alone time w/ kiddo AND can discuss the movie while sitting on their couch at home (free!) on a Saturday night with a bottle of wine. I actually think it’s kinda clever but haven’t tried it yet.
Haven’t watched the clips yet, but I agree, we RARELY spend money on a babysitter, cause we don’t have one! We did go see Date Night together last April, hubby and I. But otherwise he goes to the movies solo. I won’t be spending much on many movies. I catch chick flicks when he stays home w/the kiddo, and I stay home w/her when he goes. Sorry Mr. Cooper robbed ya, he is still hot, tho. Whew.
I do not know of this mystical Fork & Screen but I will look into it. Thanks for the tip!
I can’t decide whether I think that’s a great idea or kind of sad. I’ll have see if Mike wants to try it to assess properly.
What does it say that I don’t even know what
“Date Night” is? Did I miss something? Should I put this on my Netflix list? (to be viewed sometime in 2015, judging by the rate at which we watch Netflix movies)
I don’t even have to pay for a babysitter anymore and I hardly ever find the price of admission worth it. Sadly, sometimes the movies I see with my son are actually better than the so-called “grown up” movies. Did you see Up? Excellent! Did you see Borat? Not so much. Thus, my point.
my son was born on this obsecure holiday celebrated in my town….Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, so I have the day off, he doesn’t, he goes to daycare, and my husband and I decided we would go on a date day, this was last year when he turned 1. We went to see Alice In Wonderland in 3D…well the theater sucked and 30 minutes into the movie they stopped it (cause the picture was so bad) and said the bulb in the projector was broken, we can have our money back plus free tickets for another time. we were the only ones in the theater so of course they weren’t going to get another bulb….it’s almost to the year for our yearly free date and we still haven’t used the tickets…doesn’t really answer your question, but thought i would share this anyway 🙂
Wall Street 2 – who were we kidding? Without the whole 80s avarice going on it was never going to be as good. And Tom Cruise – don’t think that one needs any explanation!
Wall Street I is really hilarious when you watch it now— with their cellphones and video cameras the size of compact cars.
I think even non-parents have written off Tom Cruise.
Theaters that malfunction never do enough to reimburse their patrons for ruining their evening in my opinion. I don’t want my $12 back. I want my whole evening!
I have yet to see UP. But it is on my list. And forgive me, but I kinda like Borat. Although not nearly as much as the rest of the people in the theater.
I saw Inception and Black Swan. Inception was during the day when tickets were cheaper and my eldest was at school and the baby at the sitters, so babysitting was no more money than normal for the day (we took the day off work). We pai to see Black Swan but my inlaws treated for movie and sitter as borthday treat. That was great other than the wayching Black Swan in a theatre filled with octogenarians who I think thought were seeing a movie about Swan Lake … gave watching the girl on girl scenes a whole new level … very weird.
1. I’m going to say this fast, because, honestly, it’s the only way I can.
Hottubtimemachine
There. That’s done. And I don’t feel better.
2. Will never again pay to see Renee Zellweger. NO ONE can suffer from a pinched nerve during that many movies.
I, too, find myself ambivalent here. As I was reading I thought she was going to say they each go and then decide if the movie is worth going to see again together. I don’t know WHY I was thinking that because it would be stupid. Blame it on my migraine, I suppose.
As for my ambivalence – getting all the popcorn to myself and getting whatever beverage I want instead of sharing/compromise sounds great. Spending $20 on food just for myself that will probably be gone by the opening credits, not so great.
Here’s something you didn’t expect – The Social Network? Actually a MUCH more interesting and riveting movie than I EVER in a million years would’ve guessed. You just have to get past the first scene, which is just awful and in no way reflects the rest of the film.
Given my generation’s penchant for illegal downloading, I never thought I would think Sean Parker is a douchebag, but now I just really think that guy sucks.
We actually saw The Social Network and I really loved it. But now I am racking my brain to remember this horrible opening scene.
That was actually the first movie we saw post baby. I cannot blame it on Mike. I thought it would be hilarious and therefore, we would not sleep through it. I was wrong. It was awful.
And now I’m thinking I’ve seen a lot more movies than I thought this year.
I LOVED Black Swan. My favorite movie of the year. Having only seen four movies, this does not say much.
Inception was enjoyable and worth seeing but there were definite plot holes. Or at least there were plot holes to a woman with mommy brain.
Oh! That Adam Sandler movie…the Zohan one? Yeah. colossal waste of babysitter money.
And I refuse to see anything with Tom Cruise. I’ve always hated him. But when i got dragged to MI3 and then saw Eyes Wide Shut on video? That was the official end.
This could have kept me from suffering a panic attack that I could be turned away at the theater for bringing a baby to Black Swan and further corroding my nerves by actually watching Black Swan.
Pathetic to admit but I haven’t been to see a movie since my son was born 14 months ago. It might be that once we commit to spending the money on the babysitter, images of martinis and steaks start flitting through my mind. It might also be that my husband and I never wanted to see the same movies. I have plans to finally go see one – Jane Eyre. I’m going with a girl friend (who doesn’t have kids, natch) while my husband is home with the baby. This strikes me as the perfect solution: no baby sitting money spent, and I get to see what I want. Not sure it strikes my husband the same way.
Can you imagine Adam Sandler and Tom Cruise TOGETHER in a movie? It might be enough awful to shut down Hollywood entirely.
Wait— did you actually bring your baby to Black Swan? Although I shouldn’t talk. I brought my baby to see “Precious”. Yeah, not the movie you want to be watching with your newborn.
Yum…martinis and steak… I’m writing that down for the next time my husband and I are allowed out of the house.
OH MAN, my family rented that on vacation. Waste of time.
“unintelligible boston accents” <---hehehe. New Moon. I like the Twilight series but that movie freaking sucked. And ya, as for actors I refuse to shell out money for, that would have to be Charlie Sheen.
These are hilarious!
We’re pretty picky about movies. B/c they are so expensive.
Oh, Governor Patterson. Love. I can’t get on board with Bradley Cooper ever since hating his character in Alias. He was so freaking needy.
Gah I’m embarrassed to say that I shelled out for Harry Potter. And I would totally do it again.
But now? it’s all about the redbox. Because babysitters are pricey and the food is better at my house.