Movie treats to remember

It had been ages since my husband and I went on a movie date, and since we were both on leave last week, AND Ethan was obviously having fun with his friends at daycare, we decided to check out a movie at the local cinema here.  We ended up watching TWO movies on two consecutive days, simply because we could! Hehe.

The two movies we watched were Valkyrie (starring Tom Cruise) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett). 

Valkyrie was quite a disappointment to me, because although it had some exciting parts, there were some parts of the movie that were left unanswered.  Watch this only if you are an ardent Tom Cruise fan. 

Benjamin Button, on the other hand, was a humorous yet touching take on the life of a man who aged backwards.  Although it stretched on for close to three hours, we didn’t really feel the lengthiness of it, probably because we were caught up in the soul of the movie.  Watch this for a generally feelgood movie, for its special effects (which I am sure are Academy Award material) and of course, just to see how young and good-looking (or how old and haggard) Brad Pitt can be.

Apart from watching the movies proper, I had some observations at the cinema too.

• Popcorn in the US is of the salty kind.  Good thing I asked before I bought it because I do prefer the caramel sweetness of popcorn.  My husband did point out a caramel/honey dispenser at the side of the cineplex, which we *think* is for the popcorn, but we didn’t try.
• Theatrical trailers shown before the movie starts are all in theme with the movie you are watching.  Unlike in Malaysia where you might see a horror movie trailer right before they screen a kids’ movie like Madagascar, we had trailers in the thriller genre when we watched Valkyrie, and comedy/drama trailers when we caught Benjamin Button.  I thought that was very apt indeed.
• It’s free seating in the cineplexes.  Not sure why, but it wasn’t packed, so we managed to get quite good seats. 
• Cineplexes here are not as cold as in Malaysia, even though it is winter here.  Maybe they figured out a way to regulate the temperature accordingly.
• I did not experience a SINGLE incident of some cellphone ringing right in the middle of the movie, or the gleaming light of someone texting an SMS.