Pricey Gratification
Last night, I took the family to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I’m not going to go into any details about the film, but I will say that it was everything that I had hoped it would be. We plan to see it again soon… for a couple of reasons.
This is the first time that the kids have had to stand in line prior to going in the theater. We arrived about an hour early but the line wasn’t too bad. We managed to get the seats we like. I did relay to them that I remembered standing in line for Empire Strikes Back when I was around my daughters age and what a special memory it was. She didn’t seem impressed, but I hope they’ll look back on it fondly.
It’s a good thing that I tucked away a little of the money from the RSU sale for a special occasion. We bought tickets for a Regal RPX showing and, my goodness, there was a little sticker shock. For two adults and two children, the cost of seats plus the Fandango fee was ~$68. Whoa! That’s almost twice what we pay for a conventional showing. If it had been any other film, I’d say it wasn’t worth the up-charge.
Throw in snacks and beverages (oh, they server beer and wine here now too) and we hit over $100 for the evening. Next time, we’ll be a bit more restrained and I think it will just be the two of us for a date night.
Intensity
As far as the film goes (no spoilers here), it was a little more intense than the original three. My eight year old daughter is a bit sensitive and I think there were a couple of sequences that we kinda of rough for her. She handled it well, however, and we talked about it when we got home.
Out four year old boy, on the other hand, was a champ. He was a bit obsessed with the TIE fighters getting shot down as I don’t think he realized they were the bad guys (Admittedly, he has a strange affinity for Darth Vader, so maybe he’s on the Dark Side).
All in all, everyone had a good time and we thank J.J. Abrams for providing exactly what the Star Wars universe needed.
May the Force be with You
-cb3