Jan 21 2014

Bring Back The Cry Room To Movie Theaters

From Mental Floss, a trip down movie theater memory lane for some, a history lesson for others (the stuff on this list is before my time, despite what my kids may think). It’s worth reading, but I was drawn to the last item, The Cry Room:

Those elaborate movie palaces had many amenities that not every neighborhood theater had, including “cry rooms.” A cry room was a soundproofed elevated room in the back of the theater with a large glass window in front so Mama could still watch the movie (and hear it over a public address system) while trying to calm down a fussy baby. Many theatres that provided cry rooms also came equipped with electric bottle warmers, complimentary formula, and a nurse on duty.

Anyone who has ever experienced someone else’s cranky kid at the movies would likely welcome the return of The Cry Room.

Now let’s all go to the lobby!

via 11 Things We No Longer See in Movie Theaters | Mental Floss.


Aug 21 2013

Lee Daniels’ The Butler Is A “Father And Son Story” (DaddyTube) – UPDATED

In this video about the new movie The Butler, Lee Daniels says that he wanted to make the film because it’s “a father [and] son story, a love story between a father and his son”. The father is Forest Whitaker, the titular butler, and his son apparently gets involved in the civil rights movement. I did not know this. Now I do.

In general, the video makes a much better case for the film than the trailer. By that I mean I’m more interested in seeing it, in part because it’s about fathers and sons, and also because it seems to be about more than what was in the trailer. Not to pile on the trailer. I just think these interviews make the movie seem a lot more interesting.

Link below in case the embed doesn’t work.

Lee Daniels’ The Butler 2013 – Movie Trailers – Fandango.com.

UPDATE:  Not of the “breaking news” variety, but I wanted to mention that the interviews were done by Brad Barton, and that he posted a longer version of his interview with Oprah Winfrey. See below.


Aug 13 2013

Leave The Kids At Home And Go See This Movie (Get Out)

Wanted to share this cool movie/party event with you. We can’t go but you should. Or to put it another way — get out. Of the house, that is.

Ain't Them Bodies Saints

 

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is a new film by David Lowery starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck. It opens on August 16, but you can see it a day early on August 15 as part of Rooftop Films “Underground Movies Outdoors” series. You also get to have some fun courtesy of Bulleit Bourbon. Remember, we said to leave the kids at home. (With a babysitter if they’re young. But you knew that.) Also, this isn’t a kiddie movie, as you will see in the trailer.

I don’t know about you, but I think I have something in my eye. No. I’m not crying. OK, maybe a little bit…

I was talking with some friends recently and we all agreed that since becoming parents, we react much more strongly to films that feature children. The trailer for Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (note: I haven’t seen the film) definitely gets me right here. Dads, moms, caregivers, you know what I mean.

Tickets are $18, which includes pre-movie live music and a post-movie after-party courtesy courtesy of Red Stripe and Bulleit Bourbon.

Here’s the basic info: Read more »


Jul 19 2013

Hug Him And Squeeze Him And Call Him George (Video)

You’ve probably heard the line “I will hug him and squeeze him and call him George.” As I just wrote on Facebook, teaching it to my children is one of my great accomplishments as a parent. (Remember, quoting yourself may be tacky, but it makes fact-checking much easier.) I always thought the line came from a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Now I’m not so sure.

I might even have the line wrong. If so, I’m not the only one.

What follows is a condensed version of my attempt to figure out where “I will hug him and squeeze him and call him George” came from, which led me down a big Internet rabbit hole (pun intended) of cartoons, John Steinbeck, and other stuff.

At first the Internet seemed to be telling me that the cartoon in question was “The Abominable Snow Rabbit”.

In the video above, the line is, “I will name him George, and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him…” Not an exact match, but very close. (Daffy Duck has a great line as well: “I know I’m a louse. But I’m a live louse.”)

Then I stumbled across an intriguing tidbit: “The Abominable Snow Rabbit” is an homage to John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.”

OK. Sure. Why not?

However, according to the Internet there are many cartoon homages to “Of Mice and Men.”

Really. There are.

Here is “Lonesome Lenny”, a 1946 Tex Avery cartoon, described thusly on IMDB: “Screwy Squirrel is bought in a pet shop to be the companion of a daft dog so strong that he squeezes his playmates to death.” Well all righty then. The dog’s name is Lenny, and he calls his new pal George. (Lennie and George are the main characters in “Of Mice and Men.”)

(Tip of the hat to the folks on this AWN forum page for pointing me towards “Lonesome Lenny”.)

But there is another Tex Avery short, “Of Fox And Hounds”, released in 1940, that is also an “Of Mice and Men” thing. This is where the immortal line “Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?” came from. (I taught that one to my kids as well. I’m an awesome dad.)

(Hat tip to LanguageHat.com. No pun intended that time.)

Research note: Lest anyone think that my sources are limited to Wikipedia and pages I found via The Google, here is a link to The New York Times’ review of the 1939 film version of Steinbeck’s book (starring Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney, Jr.), which states that “Of Mice and Men” has been “endlessly parodied in Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons”. (Personally, I prefer “homage” to “parody” in this case. But let’s not split hairs. Or hares.)

“Of Fox And Hounds” seems to be the first animated homage to “Of Mice and Men.” But, with apologies to Bono, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. None of this tells me the source of “I will hug him and squeeze him and call him George.” Thinking that perhaps the words came from Steinbeck, I did some searching on Google Books, eventually changing my query to the phrase “Tell me about the rabbits George.” That opened a whole new rabbit hole of references.

Lennie, George and rabbits are apparently quite the thing. Who knew?

What did we learn? A lot. Haven’t answered my original question. But that’s OK.

(Thanks to the Facebook friends who inspired this post.)

Classic Looney Tunes – YouTube.


Apr 03 2013

The Avengers Sound Clips (Links)

A pleasant moment’s time waster for those who dig The Avengers movie. Audio clips of Thor, Captain America, Hulk, everyone. Link is below. Have fun.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPoHPNeU9fc]

The Avengers sound clips – Movie Sound Clips.

Marvel’s The Avengers (Four-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy) at Amazon.com


Mar 22 2013

Super Cute Story About Chris Evans and A 5 Year Old Kid (Avengers)

In case you haven’t seen this totally adorable story about Avengers star Chris Evans and the 5 year old kid he was nice to, DaddyTips will now provide you with a helpful link.

In fact, even if you already heard about it, you can read it again. Ready? Here’s the link. Merry Whateverholidayyoulike.

On the off chance you’ve forgotten that this is an Avengers world now, here is the trailer to remind you.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPoHPNeU9fc]

Marvel’s The Avengers (Four-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy) at Amazon.com


Mar 07 2013

Carrie Fisher Will Return To Star Wars, Is Very Funny

The always wonderful website io9 tells us that Carrie Fisher told Palm Beach Illustrated that she would indeed return to Star Wars for the upcoming movies. This is good news. It is also good news that Carrie Fisher is funny.

[Lego Star Wars Princess Leia Minifigure with Blaster]

Quote from the interview:

Q: What do you think Princess Leia is like today?

A: Elderly.

She says more, but the abbreviated version makes me laugh. Read the whole thing here.

Here is a video of Princess Leia insulting Han Solo, because really, why not? It’s only ten seconds. Watch it.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f6Xc3PsOkc]

Carrie Fisher says she’s returning to Star Wars (io9 via Palm Beach Illustrated)

Get Some Star Wars Movies Here