Friday, February 16, 2024

Another Afternoon at the Movies

 I went to the movies again.  My son and Jakey have passes for the Universal Studios amusement park.  Jakey gets off school early on Wednesdays and going there for a few hours was a nice treat for Valentine's Day.  While they checked out Mario land and the playgrounds, I would go to the AMC theaters in the area of restaurants and stores adjacent to the park.  Afterwards, we would get food together.

There was a Valentine encore offering of a romantic comedy called ANYONE BUT YOU.  I had a perfect seat and arrived just as the movie was starting.  Last time I sat through probably a half an hour of previews of movies that I didn't want to see.  I mean, a little girl ballerina who turns out to be a vicious vampire?

Up until recently, I had not gone to a movie theater in years.  But now, each time I go, I think about what a nice outing it is.  The seats are amazing.  No more setting straight up or having people climb over you to get to their seat.  I was cradled in a cushy seat and felt renewed when I left the theater.

I loved the movie.  The plot was slight but it was laugh out loud funny.  The theater was pretty empty, but there were a few other laugh out louders like me. I don't passively watch movies or TV.  I usually have an running inner dialogue going on.  It's a combo of comments like how I feel about the show as it progresses, the background  and where it is filmed.  What the people are wearing.  And in the case of a romantic comedy, what the beats are.  They all share certain moments like the cute meet, the complication, the dark moment and at some point the hero or heroine is going to run after the other one. 

I even used that is KNOT DEAD, AGAIN in a slow speed sort of way, since he only has to catch up with his lady love making her exit in a golf cart.

I even do the inner commentary thing when I watch commercials.  I check out the background and the absurdity of the way they show people dancing around and having a good time in drug commercials while they quietly list horrendous side effects.

ANYONE BUT YOU was mostly filmed in Australia at a dream house where an extended family and friends had gathered for a wedding.  The food alone was amazing.  I wish the camera had stayed longer on the sumptous buffets so I could have seen what all of it was.

I was also interested to see how romance is portrayed now.  I thought the characters seemed a lot more real.  No super suave Gary Grant men, the guy in this movie wasn't so perfect. Neither was the girl.  But they also weren't ridiculously flawed either.

There's hope that there might be more movies like it.  I read an article today saying how this movie might mark the return of mid budget movies and romantic comedies. 

I sure hope so.

12 comments:

Patty Jenkins said...

Good morning -- Sounds like you had a good time at the movie. I, too, get very involved watching a movie -- I once said, too loudly, "Get away from the roof ledge" because I knew the guy was going to push the girl over the edge, and he did. My husband said he wasn't going with me anymore!! Those previews that go on and on are ridiculous, but the seats are certainly incredibly comfortable,.

Commercials are such productions -- I remember the old days when Betty Furness stood by a refrigerator and talked about its good features. Now you get a whole bunch of people doing all sorts of things and half the time, I don't even know what they are advertising!! There is one commercial for some drug where a woman starts dancing with a man -- she has a shoulder bag on and then it's not there. Little details like that bug me!!

My daughter says she thinks God sounds like Cary Grant!! That wouldn't be bad to hear, though I go for the George Burns variety myself.

I finished the royal blue afghan with a multi-colored panel -- it is gorgeous!! I'm going to do a couple granny rectangles -- they work up quickly -- then another with a bit more detail.

Lovely weather here -- just about time to repot patio plants that have a bit of cold damage. No rain for us -- is your area drying out?

Enjoy your day, your writing and, of course, having fun with Jakey.

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Linda O. Johnston said...

That movie does sound good, Betty. I go to movies fairly often because of discounts at AMC. Sometimes they're fun, and other times they're just a waste of my Tuesday afternoon!

Betty Hechtman said...

Patty, I have been known to talk to the television screen, too. I'm going to look for the ad with the missing shoulder bag. Ads did used to be more straight forward. Now the big thing seems to make the emotional.

Your afghan sounds beautiful. We have had sun all week, but it's about to end. We are supposed to get three days of rain.

The pansies I planted seem to be doing well. The daffodils are still standing. I have an old hyacinth blurb that was in a holder with a tiny bit of water. When I saw it starting to grow, I added some more water. It's growing weirdly, but there is a tiny bit of blossom. I will have to see what happens.

Yes, it's always fun with Jakey.

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, Tuesdays are a great deal for the movies. Definitely skip Abigail. That's the galleria vampire movie.

Patty Jenkins said...

Your mention of hyacinths makes me want to get some -- they smell so sweet. We had huge areas of grape hyacinths in Texas -- I don't remember them from when I lived in Sacramento but they surely would grow there. I had a berm with a vitex tree planted at the highest point, with grape hyacinths and daffodils as ground cover under it -- the tree's flowers are a beautiful blue and it looked so pretty with the flowers. My patio plants are nice but I miss having a yard.

I think the commercial with the missing shoulder bag is for Vraylar -- it may be a mental health medicine.

I made a meatloaf and a spinach soufflé for supper -- yummy/ The meatloaf will last me for several meals, unless my grandson comes over. He eat huge amounts of food -- really is a growing boy. He's hinting for a cherry/pineapple dump cake for Presidents' Day -- says we should have something with cherries to celebrate George Washington's birthday!!

Betty Hechtman said...

Patty, I love the scent of hyacinths. Your hyacinths and daffodils must have been beautiful. I noticed that daffodils have a faint but sweet scent. We always living in apartments when I was growing up and no yard. It feels like a dream come true to have one now. It's like my own little park.

It's funny that a mental health medicine would have a mistake like that. I will look for the missing soldier bag.

Your dinner sounds delicious. I loved meatloaf when I ate meat. I bet your grandson eats a lot. Your dump cake sounds similar to the recipe I have in the next Yarn Retreat book. I call it Happy Days Retro Cake. It's made with fruit cocktail. Easy to make and so delicious.

Patty Jenkins said...

I have a cake recipe using fruit cocktail -- it's called Ugly Duckling Pudding Cake -- I'll be looking forward to seeing your recipe. Even though I don't cook as I used to, I still collect recipes -- occasionally buy a cookbook but mostly print from what I see online.

chkntza said...

My movie days are Thursday afternoons. The last movie I saw was Perfect Days. It is in Japanese with English subtitles. I enjoyed it very much. It's about a man who seems to enjoy his life and all the things he does in it. It won some awards. His job is to clean public toilets in Japan. Apparently public toilets are a big deal in Japan.

Betty Hechtman said...

Patty, thecae recipe for the book is super easy and very good. I think it would be good with pineapple instead of fruit cocktail.

Betty Hechtman said...

Chkntza, the movie sounds like a documentary. And the man sounds like somebody with a great attitude.

chkntza said...

It was originally supposed to be a documentary about the public toilets but the filmmaker wanted to make it into a story. The actor is a very famous actor in Japan.