Good grief, there are so many I don’t know where to start…
I shall try to limit myself to 5.
1. Avatar.
I don’t see the appeal, never did. And if you love it, please don’t try to change my mind. I don’t care how much money they spent on the “Let’s add water!” sequel, I’m not watching that either.
2. Dumb and Dumber.
The title says it all.
3. Twilight.
Do not get me started on this ridiculous teenage vampire crap. If you’re over 13 and enjoyed these badly written and acted films? We can no longer be friends.
4. I’ll probably piss some people off with this one, but Back To The Future. Marty McFly? Sorry, no to all 3.
5. With a slight exception for Deadpool (because it’s snarky) and maybe Venom (because let’s face it I’d watch Tom Hardy mop his kitchen floor) the never ending parade of super hero, Marvel, DC Universe, multi verse whatever movies. Enough already. Every time I want to go to a movie, they’re all that’s playing. It’s time to move on.
Getting my husband to a movie theater is a rarity these days. While I’d be happy to see a weekly film on the big screen my other half complains about the concession prices, the endless pre show commercials and God forbid he doesn’t get to sit in the back row. But last night I convinced him.
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And we saw what might turn out to be the largest grossing movie of all time. I’m not a huge Tom Cruise fan, but if you liked Top Gun you’ll love the sequel. The fighter jet aerial sequences are stunning and the movie does a nice job paying homage to the original. Val Kilmer makes a poignant appearance and the story line of Goose’s resentful son is well played. Granted the new beach football isn’t as good as the volleyball scene from decades past… but not much is. Overall Maverick brings it and even my theater cranky spouse was glad he went.
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Sadly we couldn’t say the same for J. R. Maxwells, the restaurant in Bath where we had dinner afterwards.
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I admit their cocktails were potent AF, one Cosmo and one margarita about did me in.
A loaf of homemade bread was a nice way to start.
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But it went downhill from there.
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My minuscule cup of clam chowder contained roughly 4 spoonfuls and my husband’s French Onion soup was weak and flavorless.
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The salad I didn’t photograph had some decent blue cheese dressing but the pan seared scallop carbonara that sounded wonderful turned out to be an anemic platter of bland goop. I often wonder if we’re too critical when it comes to eating out. We’ve added this place to our won’t ever return list… and that list is getting longer by the day.
It’s time to dive into all those slightly disturbing repressed memories and remember….
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I know most people will pick a horror film like the Exorcist…. and granted, Linda Blair’s spinning head and projectile vomit was enough to keep anyone up at night… but for me there’s only one answer.
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Yes, the heartwarming true story of Elsa the adopted lioness cub that became a beloved pet but had to be released back into the wild when grown damn near wrecked me.
I’m an animal lover to the N’th degree. I rescue the ones I can and weep for the ones I can’t. I come by it naturally as my mother and father were also animal crazy. We always had a houseful of stray pets and wounded birds when I was a child. My father was Scottish, but raised in England. Stiff upper lip et al. He wasn’t a man to give in to his emotions in public, but I saw him weep like a baby at the vet when his beloved dog died. What can I say? We’re animal people.
I can’t watch the commercials about abused pets, I have nightmares and wake up screaming. As a kid I refused to watch Sounder, the Yearling and most of the Lassie tv series. I was a tender hearted young soul.
But when Born Free finally came to television my mother decided it was a good family film and we would all watch it. What the hell was she thinking! I saw elephants and antelopes shot. I saw a woman being eaten by a man eating lion. My mother’s innocent family film turned out to be pretty bloody.
I, like everyone else, fell in love with Elsa the adorable frolicking cub. I loved her even more as she grew to become a proud lioness… and wanted her to live happily with the Adamsons forever. And ever, amen.
Seeing George and Joy forced to set her free had me weeping, openly gasping for breath. I couldn’t shake the sadness. Not that night, or the next. I kid you not… I was one depressed little girl for weeks on end after watching that damn film. And the song? Wow. To this day I can’t hear it without choking up.
So there you have it. Jaws didn’t scare me. Texas Chain Saw Massacre had me chuckling. The Omen? Come on…
But Born Free? That was pure unadulterated trauma.
So how about you? What childhood movie permanently scarred your psyche…
We had dinner plans with friends the night of my husband’s birthday, but on the way home from the antique barn we stopped at King Eider’s Pub in the coastal town of Damariscotta.
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It’s a quirky old place famous for their crab cakes and liberal pours.
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One Winter Paloma in, I agreed whole heartedly. It may have been pink, but it tasted like straight tequila. Our plan was just to duck in for a quick appetizer that would hold us till dinner. And then my husband ordered the mussels.
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Cooked in white wine, butter and garlic… the picture isn’t a good representation of quantity. The husband ate. And ate. And ate. And didn’t seem to put a dent in the bowl.
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On his second bowl of empty shells he decided to count exactly how many mussels he received for $16.99. Care to hazard a guess?
30? 40?
How about 72. We were both dumb founded. Granted, this time of year they’re small. But when’s the last time you had that much seafood for under $20.
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It made my delicious but small and similarly priced crab cakes seem positively non existent.
And in answer to your question, yes. The husband ate every single last mussel in the bowl… though it took him nearly an hour. It was at this point the man next to us at the bar struck up a conversation and bought us a round… that to be honest, we didn’t want but also didn’t refuse. While chatting he told us his favorite movie, The Shawshank Redemption, was filmed right down the road from his home. And considering it was actually filmed in Mansfield, Ohio I’d say he either had one very large lawn or an overactive imagination. Bar stories, ya gotta love ‘em.
We floated out of the pub stuffed with seafood, feeling no pain and saw this sign on the way to the parking lot.
I’m sure I must have seen other movies before this one… we had a lovely old fashioned theater in my hometown complete with velvet covered balcony seating… and I’m sure my mother took me to all the Disney classics, but the first film I have full actual memories of seeing is The Poseidon Adventure.
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It was 1972 and Irwin Allen’s gigantic blockbuster disaster movies were all the rage.
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The premise was simple. Assemble a huge cast and blow them up. Or burn them down. Or in this case, sink them.
I’ve seen the film many times since then ( not by choice, because the husband is always tuned to the old turkey channel ) but my first time will always be special… because I was with my dad.
My late father was not a movie person. Hell, we didn’t even have a television in the house when I was young and when we finally did get one …. it was banished to a small rarely used room.
But on that day my mother was busy and my father offered to take me to the movies. I was an only child, a total daddy’s girl and the mere idea of it was heaven.
We picked the perfect seats and had the perfect snacks. (Hot buttered popcorn and Milk Duds in case you’re wondering) The lights dimmed, the music swelled and I settled in for a wonderful afternoon. I chattered like a magpie in the beginning and my father patiently and quietly answered all my inane questions.
Then it was happening. The actors were in place, the music changed to something ominous and then… the wave. The huge wave was about to sink the ship! It was loud! It was thrilling! People were screaming! Oh, the horror! I glanced over to gauge my father’s reaction to the cinematic magnificence before us….. and saw that he was sound asleep.
I didn’t have the heart to wake him… he worked long stress filled hours as the Vice President of a stock brokerage firm…. so I sat silently and watched the rest of the movie by myself.
He roused near the end, and pretended to have seen the whole thing. I pretended to believe him. And after all these years, it’s still one of the silly little memories of him that makes me cry.
River's world..... 