This week: a movie or two

I’ve been trying to convince my kids all summer to watch Lord of The Rings. It started with BTS, more specifically Jimin’s Legolas-like hair. Then, coincidentally The Return of the King was playing in their dentist’s waiting room. I really tried to sell it to my oldest kid, who loves reading fantasy. Sadly, I didn’t get very far, but then I remembered I’m their parent and I put the movie on last Saturday. I wanted them to understand why Lord of the Rings is referenced so much and to exercise their attention span a little bit. It’s to their benefit, really.

My kids asked me lots of questions like why I love such an “old” movie (yes, I realize it came out 25(!) years ago). I just remember watching the movie in the theater and immediately wanting to watch the next installment. Unfortunately, watching the movie at home with ad breaks every 20 minutes or so didn’t give the same experience for my kids. Halfway through, they picked up their phones and I had to call their attention to key moments like this one:

and this one:

They weren’t charmed by the Shire. They weren’t excited to see the fellowship formed. You know they really weren’t paying attention because they asked which one had Jimin’s hair. They don’t even know how many girls at my high school slipped a picture of Legolas into their binders.1 The only thing they picked up from the movie was why I call them my precious and they weren’t amused. Needless to say, my kids aren’t clamoring to watch The Two Towers.

However, they were excited to watch the new Spiderman movie. Without spoiling anything too much, I have to say it is my favorite of the Tom Holland Spiderman movies. I like the character growth because they’re not high school students anymore. They’ve gone through some stuff. MJ’s wardrobe is more grown up. The action sequences are visually stunning. For a superhero movie, it felt really grounded. And last but not least, it ties into the (spoiler alert) X-men, which I used to watch every day after school. I remember starting my X-men card collection from other kids who donated their duplicate cards to me. When I was an undergrad at UCLA, I waited in line to watch a free screening of X-Men 2 in Westwood and grumbled when Tom Cruise2 and then girlfriend Penelope Cruz cut in front of us. So of course, my kids got a crash course on the X-men on the ride home and maybe that’ll be the next movie we’ll watch together3.

Bookstore Romance Day is this Saturday, August 15th! It’s a great time to stop by your local independent bookstore and celebrate this genre we love so much. There are so many cool events and giveaways happening around the LA/OC area, so it’s definitely worth checking out.

I won’t be signing anywhere this Saturday, but I will be at Judging by the Cover on August 29th. I’ll happily yap with you about romance books then.