Courtesy of Daemon's Movies
We were lured to the movies once again this weekend with high expectations for High School Musical 3, and none for whatever else we were stuck with for the non-teenagers. As our children grow older, and their age and gender impact how we structure our family activities, spending a couple of hours watching movies in the same venue is the old standby. Surprisingly, both movies we selected this time satisfied our entertainment needs and didn't require a pre-screening by the parental authorities.
Disney's High School Musical 3: Senior Year (PG), proved that a film can hold a 13 or 14 year old girl's attention without resorting to cheap skin scenes or potty-mouths. The teen girls, who also noted they were the minority in the theater, sat next to parents with Wildcats-outfitted children saddened by the clear message that the original cast was biding them farewell. This generation of pre-teens and teens grew-up with the High Musical trilogy, and watching this sequel served to remind them that they too were growing up, and, perhaps, out of the Disney family of films. Thanks to Disney for this respite in times of family-movie-watching angst.
On the other hand, Max Payne (PG-13), based on the video game, was a pleasant surprise staying true to it's rating since we hadn't done any previous research of the movie's plot line or cast. It took a while for us to catch on to the slow-unraveling story, but the action and unpredictability of the characters next steps kept our attention to the end. Mark Wahlberg's revenge-driven rage is convincing, with the rest of the characters portrayed by lesser-known actors (except for Bow Bridges and Chris O'Donnell) helping to showcase his talents.
Courtesy of Wallpaperz
With the 17 year old boys sitting in the same theater, we were relieved because apart from one revealing scene, the only other body parts we saw in this movie were scattered around as a result of violent shoot-em-ups (fowl language was minimal too).
A frigid New York City served as backdrop and reminded us of the upcoming winter, while the ominous dark angels swirling in the drug-induced character's hallucinations guilt me into decorating for Halloween — a task I normally took to the extreme when the kids were younger.
I hope this week we'll be out together buying some pumpkins too.
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