The holidays are a huge time for movies. I talked to a good friend of mine who works at the theater in Joplin, and that person said this movie season has some big ones coming out.
Here is my problem with holiday movies, or movies in general: Paul and I have loads of fun together, we enjoy lots of the same things, but picking out movies has required some giving on both sides … and some lies.
Paul has a bit of a phobia about seeing movies he has deemed “chick flicks,” but I love them. Paul likes guy movies, defined as anything where they blow stuff up, shoot people, show off lots of pretty young girls, then blow them up and shoot them too. You know, manly sort of stuff. We don’t go to too many movies at the theater.
We did go see “Gran Torino.” It is a Clint Eastwood movie — and you don’t get any more “guy” than Clint Eastwood. Paul loves all Eastwood movies.
I went with my teeth clinched to sit through a movie about an old, tough-as-nails, prejudiced man who takes on a gang harassing a family in his neighborhood. It was raw and rough, and unless Paul picked it I never would have seen it, but I have to admit, it was good.
Now roll forward to the give-and-take movie. Months later we went back to the movies and this time it was my turn. As much as he loves Eastwood, I adore Sandra Bullock, so I dragged him (literally) to “The Proposal.” The name alone screams “chick flick.”
I had to fudge to him just a little on this one. I told him Sandra Bullock appears majorly naked in the movie. She is naked in one scene — you don’t see anything, but she is naked.
I saw Paul laugh a few times, but when we came out of the theater, he asked if we could run over to Sears. I asked why, and he said he really needed to just look at some Craftsman power tools to get his testosterone back up.
This holiday season we split the picks down the middle. “2012” for him — not a bad movie, mainly because of amazing special effects. For me, another Sandra Bullock film titled “The Blind Side.” I don’t often think of buying a movie when it comes out on DVD but this one would be the one I would consider.
Based on a true story about a black football player from the wrong part of town, adopted by a rich white family, this was a good movie for anyone. Paul said, “You actually picked a good one this time.”
I figure to get him to watch my favorite movie of all time, “Sex in the City,” I need to wait for him to be really sick and unable to get off the sofa to change the channel. He knows that is a chick flick.
Where the big lie fit in was one night when the Jack Nicholson/Dianne Keaton chick flick “Something’s Gotta Give” was on TV. He pointed out in the first 10 minutes it seemed like a chick flick. I told him to hush, Nicholson was in it and there would be a violent shooting later in the movie.
The poor guy sat there patiently, and as the credits rolled, he said, “Nobody really gets shot, do they?” No, I said, but it wasn’t really a chick flick, because it had Nicholson. I think he is still pondering that one.
My friend from the theater in Joplin gave me these tips for seeing a movie over Christmas:
• The theater’s high hopes for the huge holiday movie is “Avatar,” and be ready because it clocks in at almost three hours! It doesn’t feature any top star names, but bills as a sci-fi with a bit of romance. It opened Dec. 18 and it is in digital 3-D, a new feature Joplin can now offer.
• Other top holiday guy movies to see would be “Ninja Assassin” or “Armored.” Wow, do those titles scream “guy movie.”
• How about kid movies? I loved Disney princess movies as a girl and with my girls, and I am excited for “The Princess and the Frog.” I will have to admit, I am glad my kids have outgrown “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel” coming out Dec. 23, but it will be huge with kids.
• Chick flicks on your agenda? I am so excited about “It’s Complicated,” from the people who brought us “Father of the Bride” and “Something’s Gotta Give.” It stars Meryl Streep and Steve Martin. In my opinion Streep isn’t capable of a bad movie. (That thought hasn’t convinced Paul to watch “Mamma Mia,” another favorite of mine.) I am also looking forward to “Everybody’s Fine,” with Robert DeNiro and Drew Barrymore and “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” with Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant.
No matter what you see this season, enjoy.
