movie review — Cuban-American Lifestyle & Food Blog — My Big Fat Cuban Family: A Cuban-American Blog

I am pretty much the worst person to have with you in a movie theater when the film in question is an action/adventure type. It has to do with learning styles.

Let me explain...

Because I'm a visual learner and have a vivid imagination, I see things and feel them viscerally and then I react audibly. (Of course, you could chalk this up to the fact that I'm Cuban, but that's not important right now.)

Anyway, the "reacting audibly" (in a movie theater) part is where it becomes problematic for someone trying to quietly enjoy the film in question.

My daughter, Lucy came with me to the pre-screening of Captain America: The Winter Soldier a few weeks ago. Lucy is the type of learner who takes in all the information and digests it and then later discusses the conclusions she has come to.

Me? Not so much. I see it. I feel it. I. AM. RIGHT. THERE.

Although I enjoyed the first Captain America film and am a big über-nerdy fan of the entire Marvel Universe, I was not prepared for how awesome this film was. Again, I'm a big fan of the franchise anyway.

I'd have to say that unless you've seen the original Captain America: The First Avenger and also The Avengers, you won't appreciate this film as much as we Marvel über-nerds will. You totally need Steve Rogers' back story, particularly when they do the reveal of The Winter Soldier. I may or may not have yelled loudly, "No way!" at that point in the film, but that's not important right now. Lucky for us, we happened to have seen it with a theaterful of equally über-nerdy Marvel fanboys, so there was no call for my removal from the theater. Also, everyone was thinking the same thing.

The Winter Solder is slightly different than the other films in that it has an element of being a political thriller, which I appreciated. And one of the best, most jaw-dropping, did-they-just-do-that car chases in any film ever. (I'm talking all the way back to The French Connection. Wait. Did I just date myself?)

What I appreciate most about Captain America is that Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans - *sigh*) is a true conservative hero. The old-school, moral, fight-for-what-is-right type.

"You hold a gun on everyone on Earth and call it protection," he says. "This isn't freedom, this is fear." I can't think of another film where they've ever discussed the moral implications of trading in freedom for security. I was impressed. Also, I may or may not have loudly yelled, "YES!" at that point, but again, that's not important right now.

Did I mention that I tend to react audibly when I get engrossed in a film? And believe me, I was completely engrossed in this film.

I don't want to spoil anything, but for all my fellow Marvel über-fans (and you know who you are), I just have three words for you:

The. Elevator. Scene.

I'm not going to give any more away. I'll just say that Lucy and I both enjoyed the film tremendously.

Also, her arm is healing quite nicely from the bruises incurred while sitting next to her mother who enjoyed the film so much that she provided both action and adventure. Learning styles, people.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens in theaters everywhere on Friday, April 4th, 2014.

A few months ago when we first became aware that Warner Bros was going to be releasing The Lego® Movie, we sat up and took notice.

My husband, Eric, who is now 48 played with LEGO® bricks as a kid. As a matter of fact, he would tell you that they were his very favorite toy. He would spend hours, he says, lost in the world of bricks and his imagination.

Well, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Jonathan quickly, happily, and easily became addicted to the bricks. See here and here.

Last week we were delighted to have been invited to a preview of The LEGO® Movie.
The story is about an ordinary LEGO® minifigure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary Master Builder, and is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil LEGO® tyrant from gluing the universe together.

We were captivated from the start. The story, the characters, the execution - all brilliant. I don’t say that lightly. Chris Pratt is the voice of Emmet, the average, rule-following everyman.

Elizabeth Banks is Wyldstyle "Are you a DJ?," the daring and independent female lead who believes Emmet is the "Special." Her real name, by the way, is Lucy. (Yay!)

Will Ferrell starts as the voice of President Business, an uptight CEO who has a hard time balancing World Domination with micro-managing his own life (see what I mean? Already the premise is hilarious.), while Liam Neeson voices the president' powerful henchman, known as Bad Cop/Good Cop. (<--You can totally predict how this is going to happen, right Lego® Lovers?) Nick Offerman lends his voice to a craggy, swaggering pirate obsessed with revenge. And Alison Brie plays a sweet, lovable member of this unlikely dream team with a powerful secret. (What's there not to love already?)

Our favorite was Will Arnett as Batman. He delivered Batman’s lines in that choppy, deep, let’s-mock-all-the-Batman-movies-you've-ever-seen voice. Every time he spoke, we held our sides from laughing so hard.

All that to say this: The LEGO® Movie is a must see.

On the day we saw it, the theater was filled with mostly families with young children. Jon and his best friend, Nathan - the two lone 18 year olds - were the oldest. Their take was that the little kids will find it funny, but the adults will totally appreciate the sublime humor.

There are lots of fantastic voice cameos, like Channing Tatum as Superman, Jonah Hill as the Green Lantern, and Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman. You really need to be paying attention to catch some of the nuances of the jokes.

This film was very obviously made by people who love LEGO® as much as we do. There was old-school Spaceman Benny (voiced by Charlie Day), with the space ship that so easily fell apart. Eric totally identified with that. It was clear that the film makers were all true LEGO fans. You could feel the love in every frame.

There was a nod to all the varied and extensive collectors sets. Hello, Shaquille O’Neil and the 2003 LA Lakers! Do you remember that? My guys did.

I loved that they even made a point to highlight the odds and ends that randomly find their way into the LEGO bin. I won’t spoil that, but be on the look out for the "Relics." The best homage to childhood ever.

The bottom line is that we laughed. Long and hard and out loud throughout the entire film. The first thing we said as we left the theater was “We need to see that AGAIN."

The film has very broad family appeal, not just because it has a PG rating. My family appreciated that they didn’t didn’t dumb anything down for a particular age group and totally respected how beloved the bricks are to so many generations of Would-be Master Builders. It could have easily devolved into a long commercial for the popular toy brand, but much to their credit, instead the story had us laughing out loud and rooting for the unlikely hero. The film is a total win.

The only character missing was this Coffee-drinking, Red-lipstick wearing, Curly-haired, Cuban LEGO Mama. See what I did there? (I totally crack myself up.)

Make your own LEGO® Sigfig here.

Also, as soon as we got home we downloaded the very catchy theme song by Tegan and Sara. I'm convinced that after you see this movie, you too will agree that “Everything is Awesome.”