Burnsville Paragon Odyssey Theater

Her perspective: C

This theater offers VIP Reserved Seating and D-Box.

We decided to go to a 3:30 pm show and wanted to try their VIP seating/service since we were so impressed with the Showplace Icon Theater in St Louis Park. We were hoping we could get a very similar experience closer to home - we were completely wrong.

Apparently, their Mezzanine (the restaurant/bar) doesn't open until 4 pm, so we were out of luck to get food/drinks delivered to us in the theater. They did give us 2 $5 vouchers for the "Mezz" but EACH one required a $20 food/beverage order so we would have had to have $40 worth of food/drinks ordered to be able to use both vouchers. We were just going to have a couple of drinks after the movie (since it was open at that point), but once we found that out from the bartender (we were not told at the box office where they were given to us), we gave the vouchers to a random couple on our way out the door.

Like I said, if you go to a matinee before 4 pm, you cannot get served in the theater, so you're not getting much for the extra money: you do get reserved seating and the seats are a bit wider than general seating.

Here are some more comparisons with the Icon:
*the seats are not bench loveseats (like at the Icon), but they do both have a fold-up armrest
*the Icon has a small table big enough for the plateware in-between each loveseat, the Paragon has a couple of slightly wider armrests in-between each loveseat with no padding for putting your plates on, which is not anywhere NEAR big enough for their plateware
*the VIP section is not a balcony or even separated from general seating in any way (Icon's is the balcony)

Also, regardless of which theater you are in, there is extremely limited space for sitting down in the lobby before your theater starts seating.

I might try to go to dinner at the restaurant, then sit in regular seating, but it's worth the drive from Lakeville to St Louis Park to go to the Icon where it is a TRULY VIP experience.

Captain America: The First Avenger

OK, this wasn't bad, but it was very SLOOOWWW for most of the movie. If you don't know any of the history of Captain America (I know some) then the first hour of the movie is for you. Pay attention; people show up and things happen for a reason, and you'll see them again later in the film.

There were a couple funny spots that got a few chuckles from the crowd, sections of it though were almost annoying. The long montages detracted from the film for me, but they do get the point across that time is passing and things are happening and stuff. I did also note a few discrepancies within the film itself. There are times when Cap's shield deflects stuff and he doesn't even look like he felt it, and then later he's deflecting the same kind of big stuff and getting tossed around by it. Kinda seems to be a contradiction in there.

We do see how Steve Rogers ended up getting into the Army, and how he was selected for the Super Soldier program (and they spend a lot of time making all that happen). And then they spend a lot of time (and another long montage) about how Cap isn't happy with his assigned role as spokesman and entertainer. Then you actually get some action, and see something of what he can do. Then you get to see him go after the Red Skull (bad guy). Then go after him again (in another long montage), and then have a not-quite-epic-and-somewhat-boring boss battle at almost the end, where Cap than makes the ultimate sacrifice.

Make sure you stay through ALL the credits. You'll also need to see this so that the Avengers movie that comes out next year will make some sense (along with Thor, the Incredible Hulk, and perhaps both Iron Man movies).

Iron Man 2

B+

We saw this recently with some friends at the Kerasotes (now AMC) Showplace ICON theater in Saint Louis Park. We had the VIP seating in the balcony (nice comfy chairs, tables, lottsa space and leg room). These seats are a bit more expensive than the regular admission seating and require reservations/pre-purchase, but they're worth it for the big-deal and/or long movies you really want to see in a theater.

Anyway, you've read the review we did for Iron Man last year. I have to say that IM2 suffers from some of the same problems. Bits of the movie are just plain too long and quite boring, some sections could probably have been left out as they lend not much to the movie over all, and my FAVORITE thing to pick on... scenes in the TV commercials and theater trailers were not in the actual movie (I really hate when studios do that).

Still, generic plot stuff: The son of a Russian scientist that Stark's father worked with years ago on the Arc Reactor (remember the first movie) either bought, stole or somehow acquired plans to the chest power source Tony uses to keep himself alive and power his armor. This guy (who for those familiar with the Marvel Universe is called Whiplash) builds his electric whip weapons and goes after Tony in Monaco at a car race. He fails cause Stark has a portable briefcase sized version of the armor and was able to beat Whiplash, who is arrested.

One of the sub-plots running through the movie is that Tony is slowly being poisoned by the very device keeping him alive, and he's been working on a new design without success. He takes some kind of drink he made up to stave off the effects of the heavy metal poisoning, but is still losing the fight.

Anyway, Whiplash gets out of jail and is hired on by one of Starks competitors who wants not only the power source, but armor suits of his own to sell to the military. Oh, somewhere in between the initial fight and these new suits being developed (remember how I said parts of it were too long?) Rhode's takes the Mark II suit (the silverish one) and hands it over to the Air Force, who in turn hand it off to this guy Hammer that's working with Whiplash now. They mod the heck out of the suit adding weapons and such and call it War Machine, which Rhodes still pilots.

Meanwhile, Stark continues thinking he's dead soon, and starts giving away his company (to Pepper) and tossing out compute files and papers and such, getting drunk and throwing parties.

He eventually discovers that the new element he needs to make a new power source that won't poison him was thought up by his father 20 or more years ago and left hidden in plain sight for Tony to find years later (which he does). Tony ends up creating this new element based on Dad's design and builds a new chest piece that miraculously not only gives him renewed strength gut heals him of the heavy metal poisoning as well, all with-in a few seconds.

Just in time, as Whiplash is taking over all these drones he built for Hammer, including the War Machine suit, and going after Iron Man again.

Big fight ensues, where whiplash dies, the drones are destroyed, Rhodes recovers and helps in the fight, and everyone that needs to live does so.

See? Pretty easy to sum up this movie. Provided I left out a couple people, and a bunch of junk that doesn't really matter to the story.

A good movie if you can get through the boring bits (and there are more than a couple) but worth seeing in the theater regardless if your a fan.

Oh, they find Thor's hammer in the desert of Nevada at the end of the movie (for the upcoming Avengers movie next year).

We did enjoy the movie, and we actually intend to see it again here soon, partly because we did enjoy it, partly because I started day-dreaming in parts of the movie and missed some bits (remember, boring bits). Still pretty good movie with quite a few funny bits thrown in.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Must own, no. Would I mind owning it? I'll buy a previously viewed DVD form the local video store like we did for the fourth Indiana Jones movie ($3.99!!).

Not to spoil things, but this movie isn't the Joe's against Cobra. Cobra doesn't exist (yet) so you get to see the precursor to that.

If your familiar at all with G.I. Joe from the cartoons back in the 70's & 80's, then you'll recognize some of the character names while watching this. A number of your old favorites do NOT make an appearance in this film, but that is somewhat understandable since this isn't the whole Good Guys vs. the persistent Bad Guys yet (no Cobra).

Still, it was quite entertaining overall. I thought they did a pretty good job of bringing the franchise up to date, and found some good people to play the key roles for the most part. Some of the history has been altered, and I can kinda see why it was done that way. Those alterations do a good job of explaining why certain 'outside military' personnel were brought in to the fold, and also does a good job of setting up for future movies in the line.

To keep things short: Duke was seeing this girl, and this girl's brother was a geek assigned to his team for some operation overseas. Things went bad and the brother died. The girl went all Gothic and evil on Duke, and went to the dark side unbeknownst to him.

A few years later, Duke and his team are charged with transporting some new weapon the Gov just bought, and his ex-girl shows up to take his new toys. The Joe's show up during this fight, and Duke and his buddy end up joining them since he has some history with her.

Turns out the ex-girl is working for the really bad guy, and he has lots of other really bad guys working for him. Remember Snake Eyes from the cartoon? He has a 'brother' who's one of the bad guys, and they duke it out at the end. The head bad guy turns out to be Destro, and the dead-brother ain't so dead, and he becomes The Commander (and creates Cobra from the ashes of the other lead bad guy's remains).

Of course the movie does end there, but the writers or whoever built-in a couple spots were a sequel can show up, and I expect there will be at least one.

Overall the movie was good, entertaining and mostly well thought out. There aren't many plot twists, but they are creative and thought out. The movie ended up being mostly predictable for me, but I enjoyed many a school morning watching cartoons before heading out for the day, and G.I. Joe was one of them so I'm still pretty well versed on the history and people involved.

If some friends wanted to go see it again in the theater, I probably would. And when it comes out on video (provided there isn't some big deal alternate version or something on Blu-ray) I'll most likely stop at the video store and get a previously viewed DVD. The movie wasn't bad, but I can't see spending $40 on a Blu-ray disc for it (unlike Ironman which I bought on DVD and then later on Blu-ray, gave the DVD to my parents).

Your kids would like seeing this movie I think. It's high tech, but not so technical that young teens wouldn't understand what's going on (provided they like this kind of movie).

The special effects and overall cinematic experience can't be ignored though. If your going to see this movie, try to catch it in a good theater before the run ends. It'll make a difference.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Ok.

We've seen it. Friends said it was actually bad and not to bother.

Not that I mind that they changed the origin story for this character quite a bit (though in small ways) and introduce characters now that he never met until later in his life (and had him meet them now), and changed the appearance of some characters from the first three movies (though this is technically a prequel), it still was pretty good.

It dragged in spots, some portions of the movie should've ended up on the editing room floor in my opinion, but all-in-all I'll probably buy this on Blu-ray when it comes out.

Remember Sabertooth for the earlier movies? He looks a lot different now, and exhibits powers we hadn't previously seen in him. We get to see Gambit in a bit of action, and he does well. We also get to see a young Cyclops burn through a school.

It was odd don't get me wrong, and it felt like the movie jumped around a bit as I lost track of things at one point (and there is quite a bit to keep track of) and the 45 minutes or so spent on Wolverine's childhood-to-manhood was a bit much (and kinda boring). Still the last half-hour or so makes up for a good chunk of the mistakes (ok, they're mistakes to me).

I'd see it on eh big screen if you get a chance, just try for a matinee show if you can. Not a must own or must see, but well worth $5 bucks on a weekend if you have the time (and your a fan of the series).

Rent - June 21

Her Perspective: B+

I went to see this with a couple of girlfriends of mine. I have seen this show before at the same venue and neither of my friends really knew anything about it. The last time I saw Rent, they were having horrible sound issues and I couldn't hear a word, much less be able to hear how good (or bad) the performers were.

If you don't know anything about this show, I'd advise you to at least read the story line before you go. The way it's written, there are times when several people are singing at once and you can't distinguish what each one is saying, so the story line gets a little lost. That comment came directly from one of my friends, so it's not just me. Add in the adrenaline of the performers and the band and it can really take off so fast that the audience may be left confused.

However, the Ordway usually does shows very well and they were able to keep the pace down for the most part. The stage was set up very well and allowed the action to flow well between scenes. This is very important for this particular show since it moves very fast. The lighting was great. Good effects and we had no trouble seeing anything.

The actors were fantastic! Anwar Robinson was in the role of Tom Collins. You may remember Anwar from the 5th season of American Idol (I know I remembered him). Although he was technically flawless in his singing, he wasn't very believable as a gay man. His body language kept giving him away. The actor playing Angel was awesome! He had extremely high energy, as did the rest of the cast. The actors playing Mark and Roger (the main characters) have exceptional voices that blended perfectly.

Angel's death scene was quite odd. They had him standing on a table with people sitting around him that had a white parachute over their heads and were moving their arms and heads around, making the parachute move. I suppose they were supposed to be clouds, but it all looked very weird. Honestly, that is the only criticism I have of the director.

One note: Usually I get lost in shows like this and I feel like I'm a character in the show, just watching. However, for some reason, I wasn't drawn into this show. I'm not sure why. There was nothing really wrong with it. Perhaps it's just my state of mind and stress level right now.

Overall, I would highly recommend this show. The Ordway does shows very well and it is a good choice for venue if you like the theater.

IRONMAN

If you haven't seen this yet, what the heck are you waiting for????? First really, truly good movie I've seen in a couple years. We're planning on seeing it again tomorrow!

When I heard that Robert Downey Jr. was playing Tony Stark, I was a bit worried. I've seen Downey in a couple other action-type movies (like US Marshalls for example) and was not impressed. He did ok in those, but that's about the best I could say.

He was PERFECT for Tony Stark. His style of humor delivery fit perfect, and he was believable as Stark. I was quite surprised, and happy to be.

I was a slight bit annoyed with the way Pepper was written, but it still works with this movie.

YOu have to understand that I'm a Marvel fan and I'm quite familiar with the backstory for Ironman. This script changed a few things here and there, and took a few liberties with established history of Ironman, but again for this movie it works quite well, and I found myself very engrossed throughout the entire movie (first time in years too).

Oh, if you haven't seen the movie yet, please do yourself a favor and STAY SEATED UNTIL THE CREDITS ARE DONE. Little bonus for you after the credits, which also points the way to a couple more movies in the future.

I really, really enjoyed this movie. Maryanne really enjoyed this movie (which was a bit surprising as well). All of our friends and their kids that we saw this with really enjoyed the movie. The special effects were quite good, though noticable in a few places. The story was well done, and we even get introduced to a few 'future' characters like War Machine.

This is a must see. It's also a must own. For me, it's a must see again. I really hope they get the DVD out later this year.

Go see this movie. Unless you don't like Ironman, or don't like comics, or don't like action movies, or don't like fight scenes, or don't like real character developement, then don't.

But trust me, you'll like this movie anyway. GO! Do yourself a favor and catch it in a theater before it ends its run.

Spamalot - August 4, 2007

Synopsis: Monty Python's SPAMALOT is the outrageous new musical comedy lovingly ripped off from the film classic “Monty Python and The Holy Grail.” Directed by Tony Award-winner Mike Nichols, with a book by Eric Idle and music and lyrics by the Grammy Award-winning team of Mr. Idle and John Du Prez, Spamalot tells the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they embark on their quest for the Holy Grail. Flying cows, killer rabbits, taunting Frenchmen and show-stopping musical numbers are just a few of the reasons audiences everywhere are eating up Spamalot.

Her perspective: A

As a fan of Monty Python, I was thrilled to be able to see this show. It was technically perfect, the acting was superb and the jokes were delivered in the true style of Monty Python. They even used John Cleese's voice for the voice of God.

The program had us rolling before the show even started with "fake" show description and credits. In the movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it was "llamas" and jokes about people being sacked. In this program, it was something about Finland, entirely set in a sauna.

I was impressed that most of the actors playing the Knights of the Round Table looked remarkably like the orginal actors from the film. Except for Lancelot who looked like a dead ringer for Bruce Campbell.

There was a good amount of audience participation, including the Holy Grail being hidden under seat D101, a sing-along after the bows and confetti falling from the ceiling.

I loved this play! If I had more money, I'd go see it again, but I'll settle for the shirt, buttons and coconuts I bought as souveniers for now.