Weekend Adventures...

This past weekend my hubby and I fled from our crazy-hectic-full-of-kids abode and went to El Segundo to visit the oldest kid and his wife; Robert and Auxi. Robert is enlisted in the US Air Force and is stationed at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo - it's a super tiny base and most people don't even realize it is there! I've been on a couple different bases between him being in the Air Force and our other son being in the Army previously and this is definitely the most unusual base I've ever been to - nestled in with a bunch of aerospace corporate buildings it looks more like another corporate compound than a military base.

Anyways, they live near the base and we are happy when we get the opportunity to visit them. We live in a small(ish) town so we don't have a lot of the fancy-schmancy stuff like real malls, stadium movie theaters and a large variety of restaurants. So our shopping and dining experiences are pretty limited...and I'm a girl through and through so I love me some shopping!! So it never fails that me and my daughter-in-law have to go to the mall, Kohl's, Road Runner Sports or other such places to get a required* item. So, oh darn, this was no different! Hubby needed to refresh his wardrobe and there was no better time or place to get a little more variety so off we went...and hours later we came back and let me just note for the record book that neither of us girls came home with a single thing for ourselves!!!!! Yep - that was a shock to us too. Of course you can't count the Cinnabon that came home in our bellies...hahaha

*not really "required", but you know how it goes...everything can be justified as a need instead of a want. Right?? LOL

Then Sunday morning we got to have our movie-going experience totally ruined taken to the next level. I will NEVER be able to watch a movie in a regular theater again!!! Let me just state for the record that I absolutely love the cinema. I really enjoy watching movies both at home and in the theater, but I think we can all agree that watching in the theater is the best way to watch most movies. However, my hubby does not agree with me. He's never been really big on watching at the theater - he'd rather watch in the comfort of his own home. But since hurting his back in that motorcycle accident several years back he finds it really, really difficult to sit in the regular seats for the entire duration of a movie. We tried going twice last year - once to a stadium theater for Oz and then again to our local theater for Catching Fire. Both times he had to get up and leave the theater to walk around for several minutes because he was so uncomfortable. So when our son said we should go see a movie at the AMC Dine-In Theater in Marina Del Rey we were all over that experience!

So how it works is that you reserve your seats in advance (we were going to do a Saturday night show, but they were completely sold out, so we did a Sunday matinee instead) and then you show up to your assigned overstuffed recliner chair and table. You have menus and a call button to summon your server and a table for your food and drinks that swings out of the way when you don't need it. Check out this picture to get an idea of what I'm talking about:

Oh. My. Goodness. All of us were so comfortable the entire time. I almost forgot several times that I was actually in a public theater and not at home. Well, except I don't have a waiter bringing me fresh drinks or food on a regular basis at home. The food was comparable to Chili's or Applebee's in both quality and price. Same with the drinks. And yes - I'm talking about drinks...not just Coca-Cola; you can actually get cocktails, beer and wine. But you can still get popcorn and candy too. And my hubby? He got up one time to use the bathroom and came right back. He was totally comfortable the entire time. Success!!!

The tickets are actually only slightly more than a regular theater - $12.75 for the matinee. And considering that the food is comparable to a family-style restaurant you know they are getting you in the drinks, desserts, and snacks. But if you were already going to do dinner and a movie, and want a premium experience, then this type of movie theater is well worth it!

So what did we see?

IMDb Page

We all really enjoyed the movie. I won't lie - the violence was pretty brutal at times. I recognize that many people may not like war movies and I know a lot of people have basically complained that it was almost like propaganda because the SEALs in the movie are so heroically portrayed. But whatever...I have a whole lot of respect for those guys that go out and fight. As mentioned above, I have two sons that have, or are currently, serving their country, and my father and grandfather both also served. Like I already said - I have a whole lot of respect for the men and women that serve. It's not an easy job at all.

During the movie there were many times I was thinking "wow this is so intense" and then I would remember that it was based on a true story and it would remind me how horrific war is...for both sides. To realize that both groups of people are fighting for their beliefs/standards/whatever and that there really isn't a wrong or a right side - it's just different sides. It often felt like watching a documentary because the actors in the movie did such a great job it was easy to forget that I was watching Marky Mark or John Carter. And I was able to hold back the tears...until the very end. Because wouldn't you know that they showed pictures of the real men that lost their lives. Not just their standard military picture either - pictures of them with their wives and children, pictures of them living life and you see them up there on the screen so full of life and realize that they were taken way too soon from this world. It's actually a movie that continues to haunt me to some degree as I continue to think about it. I'm hoping to read the book in the near future as well. I can definitely recommend it if you like war movies. One of the best I've seen and on par with Black Hawk Down or Saving Private Ryan.

Alright - that pretty much wraps up my weekend of fun! Have you ever seen a movie at a dine-in theater?? Thoughts?