Saturday night was movie night for Kim and me, something we haven’t done in a while.  We stopped by the local Redbox and made a couple of quick selections.  Another couple in line behind us watched as we made our selections and seemed to have something good to say about every movie we took a look at.  After watching the movies that they essentially selected for us, I’m beginning to think that they just wanted us to get out-of-the-way.

First up was It’s Complicated, which Kim looked at first.  The guy behind us remarked that it was actually pretty funny.  After watching the movie, however, I think that he and I have a completely opposite sense of humor.  I thought the movie was terrible, and Kim pretty much agreed with me.  I don’t think it could have been more predictable and the end of the movie seemed to go on forever.  The only redeeming quality was that Steve Martin was in it, which did help the comedy aspect a tad.

Redeeming the night for us was Brothers, a story of war and love.  It isn’t really about war, but the war does play an important part in the early disappearance of the leading man.  Fortunately, his brother steps in to help out his now solo wife and their family.  Unfortunately, he and the wife nearly fall for each other, which leads to complications when the missing man eventually returns to the story.  Not only do they have this love triangle to deal with, the returned soldier is also suffering from the torture and pain he dealt with while overseas.  This proved to be a much more memorable and enjoyable movie to watch than the first choice of the night.  I would watch this one again and definitely would skip It’s Complicated.

Over the weekend, we finally went out and saw Avatar.  We tried to see it a couple of other times, but the IMAX 3D screening was always sold out.  So earlier last week, I bought tickets for us for the most popular Friday night screening.  Once the lights went down, the movie immediately started, without any previews.  I wasn’t aware that it was the movie and remarked after a few minutes that it was the longest preview I’d ever seen.  Once one of the characters said the word avatar, I realized that we were actually watching the movie.

The visual effects were pretty amazing, right from the start, but got even better when they started showing more of the outside world on the planet Pandora.  The creatures and landscape were so lifelike and the 3D images were superb.  I don’t think Kim was overly excited to see a sci-fi movie, but the underlying love story really helped her enjoyment.  Plus, the 3D has to appeal to nearly everyone.  I would definitely encourage anyone to see this movie, but you have to see it in 3D, and preferably at the IMAX.

Check us out in our stylish glasses!

Friday night, Kim and I decided to stay in, order some food, and watch a movie.  After debating between sandwiches and pizza, we decided on pizza and ended up ordering from Extreme Pizza.  We knew we wanted a couple of different pizzas, but couldn’t decide between four different styles.  We finally decided to get all four, utilizing the half and half option.  Each of our selections were tasty, but I think my favorites of the group were the California Cactus and the Drag It Through The Garden.

As for our entertainment, we watched the Hurt Locker from our cable service On Demand menu.  “Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.”  The movie was full of suspense and  action.  Though it is a war movie, it’s not overly graphic or gory.  Kim and I both really enjoyed watching this movie and would definitely recommend it, if you haven’t seen it.

Friday night, Kim and I headed to the Paramount Theatre for the latest Warren Miller movie, Dynasty.  Kim organized a group of 25 for the movie and got great seats for us.  Not only do people generally enjoying watching the movie, it’s also a fun way to get pumped up for the season with the loud sold-out crowd.  Not to mention the free lift tickets that are included with each ticket.  However, I didn’t think this movie was as good as in years past.  I didn’t feel that the skiing was nearly as good as it’s been in the past, and there were very little snowboarding segments.  Though one of the better segments of the night featured ten-year-old Alexis Roland, who appeared to be a better snowboard than me.  Another good segment showed the disabled mono skiers at the X Games.  Most of the other segments showcased beautiful backdrops, so if nothing else it was cool to see some other resorts across the globe.

So we had our first snow of the year on Saturday. It wasn’t anything serious, but there was a light dusting that stuck to the non-pavement areas. The thing that was scary was the temperature, which stayed in the 20s for most of the day and never made it above freezing. Kim and I never made it out of the house the entire day. We ordered enough pizza for both lunch and dinner, and caught up on all sorts of recorded TV shows. Eventually we ran out of things to watch and decided to get a movie from On Demand.

I was expecting to see some great movie choices, but we were quickly disappointed and realized that we recognized very few titles. I let Kim pick a movie, and after scrolling through the list over and over she finally found one that caught her eye called New In Town. She said that her mom had seen it and enjoyed it. I think her mom enjoyed imaging how out-of-place Kim must be during her work trips to the small towns in North Dakota, Minnesota, etc.

The premise of this movie is that an executive of a company, played by Renée Zellweger, moves from Miami to a tiny town in Minnesota to oversee a plant reconfiguration. The comedy of the city girl in the small rural town starts almost immediately when she is not prepared for the blistering cold of the north. And though the movie is very predictable, especially her  romance with the guy whom she hated at first, the jokes make it a decent movie for a snowed-in night.

I finally took a trip to the movie theaters to see The Hangover on Saturday evening. The way that everyone around me was constantly talking about it weeks ago, I figured I was the last one in the world to see it. However, the theater had a decent sized crowd. So unless these folks were watching it for the second or third time, I wasn’t alone in my lateness.

Kim and I took our bikes over towards Cherry Creek, and after a nice patio lunch at the Cherry Cricket, we decided to catch the last matinee showing for the day. Fortunately our lunch came with a few beers as well, so I felt we were in the right state of mind for a good funny movie. And The Hangover did not disappoint either of us. I won’t go into any detail of the movie, since most have already seen it, but I would recommend it just as many others before me have. I actually hope to see it again sometime in the future, which I don’t say too often.

After the movie was over, we had plenty of time left in the evening so we stopped by a redbox on the way home to rent another. With a line forming behind us, we quickly decided on I Love You, Man, hoping to continue the laughs from before. Though not as funny as our first choice in the day, there were plenty of laughs watching the main character in his search for a best man for his upcoming wedding. If you haven’t seen this one, it’s worth the dollar rental from redbox, or free rental.

Nearly two years ago, Kim and I attended our first Film on the Rocks presentation. And last night we attended another sold out movie screening, the last of this year’s season. Once I heard that they were showing Top Gun I knew that we would be there. Not only has this always been one of my favorite movies, it also happens to be one of Kim’s favorites as well. In fact it is the only movie that she can quote better than I can.

We met up with some friends in the parking lot to have a few beers before hand. Just after the sun started to set we made our way inside Red Rocks and discovered that the seating area was completely packed! There were two areas down front where part of the screen was cutoff, but we decided to sit there anyway. Eventually the staff removed some ropes that were setup for a VIP area, and we moved over to nearly a full screen view. The nice part was that the sound was deafening in our closeup seats. In fact, parts of the movie could have been louder than any music note I’ve ever heard inside the venue.

We stayed for the entire movie. I was happy doing so as I can’t recall the last time that I actually watched Top Gun all the way through. All of the flight sequences were amazing with the loud sound and excitement throughout the crowd. There were lots of cheers and even a wonderful singalong to You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’. Watching any movie at Red Rocks always turns into a great time with the large sold out crowd. I would attend more of them throughout the summer if it didn’t mean a late night. Since the movie didn’t start until well after 9pm, it was about midnight before I finally made it to bed. But it is well worth it, at least once a year.

Friday night Kim and I were both feeling a little tired and worn down, so we decided to order some pizza in and watch a movie. After browsing through the On Demand selections, we only saw a couple of movies that we were familiar with. One that stuck out in my mind was Role Models, which I remember seeing a few previews for and laughing at those. Not wanting anything too serious, we decided to give it a try.

The premise of the movie is two co-workers (also on/off again friends) get in trouble and instead of heading to jail get the option to be mentors for a couple of kids. One of their “littles” is a younger kid with a fowl mouth who is proud of the fact that none of his past big brothers has lasted more than a day. The other little brother is an older geek who participates in medieval role playing games with others. The diversity in the group leads to some hilarious scenes throughout the film.

The plot is fairly predictable, with one of the main characters getting back together with his girlfriend in the ending sequence, but aren’t most successful comedies? Kim and I both thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it provided a great opportunity for us to rest up for the rest of the weekend. More on the weekend later…

Kim and I, along with a small group of friends, headed down to the Paramount Theatre on Friday night to watch Warren Miller’s latest film titled Children of Winter. I thought at this time last year we had already been out on the slopes, but looking back at the post from the Warren Miller film last year, it appears that I was wrong. This helps put my anxiety at ease, and I hope that the snowfall this year can only be as great as it was last year. I do see there is a potential storm coming in for Thanksgiving. Now we really need to wake the snow gods and hope that enough snow dumps so we can head into the high country this coming weekend.

I thought the movie was good. It’s always amazing to see what some of the skiers and riders are capable of, and it’s very impressive that it is all caught on film. But the part that was the most interesting was the segment on Skijoring in Leadville, Colorado. This event can best be described by first thinking of slalom waterskiing, but with horses instead of boats and icy jumps instead of forgiving buoys. I can’t find any info on the competition in Leadville, but it is definitely something I’d like to see. There is a short glimpse on what I’m talking about 30 seconds into this trailer for the film:

To kick off this past weekend, I dragged Kim out to the movie theater to see the latest movie from my favorite director, Kevin Smith, called Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Don’t let the name fool you, this isn’t a pornographic film, though there is some nudity throughout. The IMDb entry linked above sums up the plot pretty well.

Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

I wouldn’t recommend the movie if you are easily offended, but the results are absolutely hilarious. Even with all of the humor there is still an underlying love story that makes this one of the better romantic comedies in quite some time. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I know that Kim did too. That’s two thumbs up!