Super 8 is a collaboration between JJ Abrams (LOST, Fringe, Star Trek) and Steven Spielberg. You can see both of their fingerprints throughout the movie, but especially JJ's. If LOST was made as a 2 hour movie instead of a long running TV series this may be what it looked like. After they give you some set up with who the characters are you get to the beginning of the story and the action. This begins with an exceptionally well done crash scene that also drops you into a mystery that sets the whole movie in motion.
The movie is set back in 1979 and they appear to get every detail of that time down perfectly, right down to the posters on the wall of the main character (which are probably ones I had then too). The best way to describe this movie is that it is a mix of Aliens and Stand By Me. There are a number of great suspenseful moments where you literally jump out of your seat after waiting for the inevitable gotcha to occur. There is also a great story aspect to this movie as well, with four boys who are all the best of friends, trying to make it through this extraordinary situation they have been placed. Some step up to the challenge more than others. Overall, this is a great, fun, roller coaster ride of a movie.
It is not, however, a movie I would recommend taking young children to. I am not going to give away too much of the story, but it can be scary at times and there are elements which would frighten a young child. There are a number of scenes where things jump out and caused us to jump a little out of our seats (in a fun way). I took my 13 year old along with me (who BTW loved it too), but I was very glad I didn't take my 10 year old who I think would have been very scared. There is very little in the way of bad language and no sex at all, but the scary aspect might be too much for the youngsters. If Mom and Dad want a movie night out, this would a great choice. I think that the youngest child I would bring to this movie would be an 11 or 12 year old. This movie is scary and there are scenes where sudden things happen which I think would scare most kids! Be very cautious before taking a child to this movie please.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Parent Review of Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
We received free passes to see the movie Judy Moody and the not Bummer Summer this weekend. To be honest I would have been quite unhappy if we had paid a lot of money to see this movie as a family.
To say that this movie is mostly a disaster from start to finish is true.
The books by Megan McDonald in the Judy Moody series are so cute!! But something got lost in translation along the way.
Here is how we rated this movie:
Dad C-
Mom C
7 year old boy B
10 year old boy B-
To say that this movie is mostly a bore is how I would generally describe it and having the word "bummer" in the title seems very apropos. The movie starts with Judy making plans for her summer with her friends only to find out that two of them are going away and doing fun things on their own. Her parents then let her know that her plans are all for naught since her Aunt is coming to take care of her and they are going to California by themselves. I had hoped that the movie would pick up when the fun aunt came to stay, but that was not the case. She leads them through a number of unsuccessful activities while Judy's friends are at Circus camp and traipsing through the rainforest in Borneo. Much of the movie is Judy being unhappy about her lack of fun and activities over her summer break. She finally decides to try to help her brother with his quest of capturing Bigfoot and some of the movie comes together while that they are on this quest.
For parents still considering taking their children to see this movie, there is NO bad language at all. The Aunt uses the word "crap" and is scolded by Stink that crap is a "bad word". There is no sex or even mention of it.
The one thing I can say about this movie is that it is a very clean movie which we could recommend for a child of any age. If your child is a fan of the book series they might really enjoy seeing the characters brought to life in this movie. Please leave me a comment if you see this movie!
To say that this movie is mostly a disaster from start to finish is true.
The books by Megan McDonald in the Judy Moody series are so cute!! But something got lost in translation along the way.
Here is how we rated this movie:
Dad C-
Mom C
7 year old boy B
10 year old boy B-
To say that this movie is mostly a bore is how I would generally describe it and having the word "bummer" in the title seems very apropos. The movie starts with Judy making plans for her summer with her friends only to find out that two of them are going away and doing fun things on their own. Her parents then let her know that her plans are all for naught since her Aunt is coming to take care of her and they are going to California by themselves. I had hoped that the movie would pick up when the fun aunt came to stay, but that was not the case. She leads them through a number of unsuccessful activities while Judy's friends are at Circus camp and traipsing through the rainforest in Borneo. Much of the movie is Judy being unhappy about her lack of fun and activities over her summer break. She finally decides to try to help her brother with his quest of capturing Bigfoot and some of the movie comes together while that they are on this quest.
The two redeeming qualities of this movie are the brother Stink (played by Paris Mosteller) and the Aunt (played by Heather Graham - a nice treat to entice the fathers to come along for this one). The brother is hilarious even though he is trying to be annoying (even this doesn't work well). There is also a small role played by Jaleel White (remember Urkel???) who we wish we had seen and heard more from.
The books by Megan McDonald in the Judy Moody series are so cute!! But something got lost in translation along the way.For parents still considering taking their children to see this movie, there is NO bad language at all. The Aunt uses the word "crap" and is scolded by Stink that crap is a "bad word". There is no sex or even mention of it.
The one thing I can say about this movie is that it is a very clean movie which we could recommend for a child of any age. If your child is a fan of the book series they might really enjoy seeing the characters brought to life in this movie. Please leave me a comment if you see this movie!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Breakfast for kids is a challenge!
As a Mom to 5 many of my challenges are based around food. I personally am a morning person. I get up early with my little ones and we eat breakfast together. But, as soon as my older kids became teens they stopped wanting to eat breakfast. They go to bed too late and then they cannot wake up in the morning. As they sit groggy at the table the last thing they want to think about is, what should I have for breakfast.
I am participating in a Share Your Love for Cereal Month with MyBlogSpark and I think new ideas are always worth a try. I was sent a selection of 10 different cereals by General Mills. Each cereal came in its own disposable bowl and each cereal appeals to teens. I put these cereals on the table and my teens jumped on them. They opened it up, put in the milk they liked and ate it up in minutes.
My oldest even asked if he could have another one? Seriously, are these the same kids who sit with their eyes closed and heads on the table most other days? My best advice for kids who do not like breakfast is to always try to stay one step ahead. Change things up! Serve different foods and flavors than they are used to. I know when I took out my waffle maker a few months ago everyone was excited for hot fresh waffles in the morning. That experiment lasted for months. Us Moms and Dads need to be on our toes, thinking ahead, planning ways to make the kids want to eat.
General Mills recently did a survey in the DC area and 97% of parents think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I agree! My 15 year old does not get to eat lunch at school until 1 pm. If he does not eat before we leave the house at 730AM he cannot concentrate in any of his classes. On the General Mills survey another interesting question was, what is the most important factor to get your child to eat breakfast, and 81% of the respondents said that the food had to taste great! The last question that I found really important is which food do you think is a healthy food option, and 86% answered with cereal. A 2009 study found that children who eat cereal have significantly higher intakes of whole grain, folate, calcium, iron, fiber, zinc and several other nutrients. If you would like to watch a video or read more about cereal please visit www.cerealbenefits.com It is very important to me that my kids have some whole grains and calcium in their morning meal and if they can get that in a cereal they love, all the better! If I could ask an expert in the cereal world a question, I would like to know if there is anyway to make a cereal that my kids would love without all the usual sugar. Can there be a happy medium between sweet cereal and less sugar? I hope so!!
Another tip I can offer is that when my kids agree to come shopping with me at the grocery store, they usually choose many foods that surprise me and 98% of the time they eat it and enjoy it!! I love when my kids come along and choose new breakfast foods and nothing makes me happier than seeing them wake up in the morning eager to eat breakfast!
*********Would you like to win a cereal giftpack of your own from General Mills?
Please leave me one comment and tell me which benefit of cereal is most important to you and your family? Or, leave me a comment and tell me what question you would like to ask a cereal expert?
If you would like additional entries,
* follow me on twitter @cookwith5kids
* tweet about this giveaway using hashtag #myblogspark
* please leave a comment for each entry, thank you!
Winner will be chosen on June 11th at noon.
Dislcaimer: I was sent a giftpack from General Mills and MyBlogSpark to review. The opinions I have provided above are all my own. Winners must live in the US.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Meatless Meals, Millet Meatballs
Since we have one vegan and one vegetarian in the house I like to experiment a lot with meatless meals. My carnivores will try most meals I make, but they are a bit skeptical. I think meatballs are one of the foods that everyone in my house really likes. I am trying to add more grains into our meals too, so this recipe really interested me.
For those of you who have never seen millet, it is a small yellow grain and looks like couscous or quinoa, that shape and size. The millet needs to be cooked before you can make the meatballs. Put 2 cups of water on to boil, add in 1/2 cup millet and reduce the heat to simmer. Cook 35-40 minutes, till tender. You can even cook the millet the day before. One more note, to make these vegan you can use vegan Parmesan cheese, if you are vegetarian you can use regular Parmesan cheese.
Millet Meatballs
one can cannellini beans, rinsed well
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic minced
2 tsp basil
1/2 cup water
1 and 1/2 cups cooked millet
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs to roll the meatballs in
Preheat oven to 350
In a large food processor combine canellini beans, onion, garlic, basil and water. Add in millet, bread crumbs, parmesan and salt. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes. Shape mixture into 1" balls. You can roll each one in the extra bread crumbs. To make mine less calories, I did not roll my meatballs in the crumbs. Place meatballs on to the cookie sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Serve with whole wheat pasta and fresh marinara. This is a delicious meatless meal!
For those of you who have never seen millet, it is a small yellow grain and looks like couscous or quinoa, that shape and size. The millet needs to be cooked before you can make the meatballs. Put 2 cups of water on to boil, add in 1/2 cup millet and reduce the heat to simmer. Cook 35-40 minutes, till tender. You can even cook the millet the day before. One more note, to make these vegan you can use vegan Parmesan cheese, if you are vegetarian you can use regular Parmesan cheese.
Millet Meatballs
one can cannellini beans, rinsed well
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic minced
2 tsp basil
1/2 cup water
1 and 1/2 cups cooked millet
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs to roll the meatballs in
Preheat oven to 350
In a large food processor combine canellini beans, onion, garlic, basil and water. Add in millet, bread crumbs, parmesan and salt. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes. Shape mixture into 1" balls. You can roll each one in the extra bread crumbs. To make mine less calories, I did not roll my meatballs in the crumbs. Place meatballs on to the cookie sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Serve with whole wheat pasta and fresh marinara. This is a delicious meatless meal!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Kung Fu Panda 2 parent and family review
One of our all time favorite cartoon movies was Kung Fu Panda, so we were super excited to win passes to see a preview of the next one in the series Kung Fu Panda 2 (and, Yes, there will definitely be a Kung Fu Panda 3 based on how this one ends)
Our family rated it like this:
Parents - A-
12 year old boy - A
7 year old boy - A++
Po (Jack Black) is still the Dragon Warrior and now the head of the Furious Five (including the voices of Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogan and Lucy Liu), fighting crime and protecting people. They are all good friends and have fun together being the leaders of Kung Fu. Things are good for Po and friends.
Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) finds Inner Peace and teaches Po a new move that he needs inner peace to do correctly. Po will need to master this move and find his own inner peace to meet the new challenges he will soon encounter. New enemies in far off lands create a weapon which is more powerful than Kung Fu and they need metal to make more of these new weapons to overtake all of China. When Po first battles these new foes he has a flashback which he cannot explain. He goes to visit his Father at the Noodle Shop and Po begins to realize that his father may not be his real father (since he is a panda and his father is a stork). Po now realizes that he does not have inner peace and needs to learn about who he is. His father tells him the story of how he came to be with Po, but does not know about Po's real parents. His journey to defeat this new (but actually an old) foe and to learn about his origins takes us through the entire movie.
Parent warnings for small children: I can't really think of anything. There is no bad language, a little kung fu violence, some cannons shooting things (Po gets shot at one point) and NO sex/love scenes at all. There are some sad moments when Po is remembering his parents and what happened to them. The only thing I thought might be "3rd grade" humorish which people might not like is a scene where the team is trying to make their way through the city incognito and choose to use a large dragon. - video of scene - click on "Dragon"
Our family rated it like this:
Parents - A-
12 year old boy - A
7 year old boy - A++
Po (Jack Black) is still the Dragon Warrior and now the head of the Furious Five (including the voices of Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogan and Lucy Liu), fighting crime and protecting people. They are all good friends and have fun together being the leaders of Kung Fu. Things are good for Po and friends.
Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) finds Inner Peace and teaches Po a new move that he needs inner peace to do correctly. Po will need to master this move and find his own inner peace to meet the new challenges he will soon encounter. New enemies in far off lands create a weapon which is more powerful than Kung Fu and they need metal to make more of these new weapons to overtake all of China. When Po first battles these new foes he has a flashback which he cannot explain. He goes to visit his Father at the Noodle Shop and Po begins to realize that his father may not be his real father (since he is a panda and his father is a stork). Po now realizes that he does not have inner peace and needs to learn about who he is. His father tells him the story of how he came to be with Po, but does not know about Po's real parents. His journey to defeat this new (but actually an old) foe and to learn about his origins takes us through the entire movie.
Parent warnings for small children: I can't really think of anything. There is no bad language, a little kung fu violence, some cannons shooting things (Po gets shot at one point) and NO sex/love scenes at all. There are some sad moments when Po is remembering his parents and what happened to them. The only thing I thought might be "3rd grade" humorish which people might not like is a scene where the team is trying to make their way through the city incognito and choose to use a large dragon. - video of scene - click on "Dragon"
Friday, May 13, 2011
Parent Review of the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Our family went to a sneak preview last night to see the new movie, Pirates of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides.
Our family rated it like this:
Parents - B
12 year old boy - A-
15 year old boy - A+
9 year old boy - A-
7 year old boy - A
We saw the movie in Digital 3D and we did not feel like the 3D was really worth the extra money for this movie. There were only a few scenes where they used it effectively. Most of the time I was wondering why I had to wear these uncomfortable 3D glasses. If you do not need to spend extra money, then enjoy the movie without the 3D experience. A few of the sword scenes were cool in 3D but otherwise, not so much.
A few warnings for those parents who have little kids!
1. This movie is LONG, almost 2 and a half hours long! Your kids will get antsy halfway through the movie and will be bored and want to go home.
2. There are two scary parts. Skip the rest of this warning below if you do not want a spoiler alert!
Whatever you do, do not get to the movie late! The first 45 minutes are amazing! Tons of chase scenes, exciting escapes from jail, we were all on the edge of our seats. The premise of the movie is that three different groups are all trying to get first to the Fountain of Youth. The three groups are Captain Jack and Blackbeard, an English Boat with Jack's old nemesis and the Spaniards. Blackbeard has a prophecy that he will be killed by a man with one leg. In order to save his life, Blackbeard needs to get to the Fountain of Youth first. Most of the movie centers on who will get to the Fountain first? Overall the acting and excitement is A+ throughout. I think if they had cut a little of the middle part, and made it just 2 hours it would have been perfect. Leave me a comment if you see the movie and tell me what your kids think of it! You can read my 7 year old sons review here, monkeyitouchman.blogspot.com
and stay tuned for our review of Kung Fu Panda 2 tomorrow.
Our family rated it like this:
Parents - B
12 year old boy - A-
15 year old boy - A+
9 year old boy - A-
7 year old boy - A
We saw the movie in Digital 3D and we did not feel like the 3D was really worth the extra money for this movie. There were only a few scenes where they used it effectively. Most of the time I was wondering why I had to wear these uncomfortable 3D glasses. If you do not need to spend extra money, then enjoy the movie without the 3D experience. A few of the sword scenes were cool in 3D but otherwise, not so much.
A few warnings for those parents who have little kids!
1. This movie is LONG, almost 2 and a half hours long! Your kids will get antsy halfway through the movie and will be bored and want to go home.
2. There are two scary parts. Skip the rest of this warning below if you do not want a spoiler alert!
- The first scene of the movie has a guy getting lifted up in a net, and when they open the net up the guy screams and my kids jumped!
- The mermaid scene is very scary. You know it is coming when the pirates reach the bay and they turn on the search lights and take out the nets and try to catch the mermaids. I know, mermaids are not usually scary, but this scene is!!
Whatever you do, do not get to the movie late! The first 45 minutes are amazing! Tons of chase scenes, exciting escapes from jail, we were all on the edge of our seats. The premise of the movie is that three different groups are all trying to get first to the Fountain of Youth. The three groups are Captain Jack and Blackbeard, an English Boat with Jack's old nemesis and the Spaniards. Blackbeard has a prophecy that he will be killed by a man with one leg. In order to save his life, Blackbeard needs to get to the Fountain of Youth first. Most of the movie centers on who will get to the Fountain first? Overall the acting and excitement is A+ throughout. I think if they had cut a little of the middle part, and made it just 2 hours it would have been perfect. Leave me a comment if you see the movie and tell me what your kids think of it! You can read my 7 year old sons review here, monkeyitouchman.blogspot.com
and stay tuned for our review of Kung Fu Panda 2 tomorrow.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Awesome lunch, seitan stir-fry!
So what do you make yourself for lunch everyday? Is it boring tuna or turkey sandwich? This is my new favorite lunch or dinner and it is soooo healthy!!
I like to buy the costco size broccoli, mushrooms and onions so that I have the ingredients I need on hand for a whole week.
First heat up some EVOO in a saute pan, I use about a tsp or so. Heat it nice and hot then add in your favorite veggies
sliced zucchini
sliced peppers
broccoli
sliced mushroooms
chopped onions
sliced or shredded carrots
I usually put the onions in alone for the first 2-3 minutes and then add in the rest of the veggies. Once these are cooked (about 2-3 more minutes) I add in chopped up seitan.
Seitan is amazing. I use Westsoy Seitan. It is amazing how much it tastes like a chunk of beef. Seitan is vegan and is good for you! 21 grams of protein and 2 gms of fat per serving. I use about 1/3 of the package for each stir fry. I sometimes add in a touch of soy sauce and just keep moving everything around the pan. If I am not making a vegan version I will add in one egg and cook it up quickly on the side of the pan and it easily incorporates itself into the whole dish.
This lunch is filling, nutritious, and most importantly delicious!
I like to buy the costco size broccoli, mushrooms and onions so that I have the ingredients I need on hand for a whole week.
First heat up some EVOO in a saute pan, I use about a tsp or so. Heat it nice and hot then add in your favorite veggies
sliced zucchini
sliced peppers
broccoli
sliced mushroooms
chopped onions
sliced or shredded carrots
I usually put the onions in alone for the first 2-3 minutes and then add in the rest of the veggies. Once these are cooked (about 2-3 more minutes) I add in chopped up seitan.
Seitan is amazing. I use Westsoy Seitan. It is amazing how much it tastes like a chunk of beef. Seitan is vegan and is good for you! 21 grams of protein and 2 gms of fat per serving. I use about 1/3 of the package for each stir fry. I sometimes add in a touch of soy sauce and just keep moving everything around the pan. If I am not making a vegan version I will add in one egg and cook it up quickly on the side of the pan and it easily incorporates itself into the whole dish.
This lunch is filling, nutritious, and most importantly delicious!
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