Over Labor Day weekend, my sister and I decided to have a movie marathon day. Our kids were away on a trip and neither of us had anything else to do. And conveniently, it was $3 movie day at the theater. So, we picked three movies and spent the better part of our day at the cinema. It’s a bit of a departure from my normal content here, but I wanted to share my review of the three movies we saw.

****SPOILER ALERT***

First, we saw The Invitation. This movie starred people I didn’t know and so, I was not at all invested. It was somewhat predictable; a young woman (or at least, younger than me) was less than happy with her life and was bored enough to submit one of those home DNA test kits to find out more about her ancestry. Lo and behold, she is contacted by a long-lost relative from England (I think) and he invites her to some big family event where she can meet the rest of her “family.” She hesitates for about three seconds, but then decides that it’s an awesome idea to take this guy up on his offer to pay all expenses and fly her out of the country to meet a bunch of people she’s never heard about. Oh, and naturally, she has no other family in the states. She has one friend and that girl is the only one who seems to want to be vigilant about staying safe around the strangers she’s about to meet.

Long story short, she finds out they are all crazy vampires who need her for some satanic ritual to perpetuate their bloodline (or at least, that’s what I think was happening). Anyway, there’s a big, violent fight in the castle and lots of people died. And they left it kind of wide open for a sequel. Not that one was needed. It wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t one that I’ll be rushing to see again. And it wasn’t memorable enough to make me even slightly interested in the sequel…unless I’m really bored and movies are $3 on the day they release it.

Second, we saw Beast. Strangely, even though I had seen the previews for this movie, it hadn’t occurred to me that it was about a killer lion. I had unfortunately worn my “Lions Not Sheep” t-shirt, and so, it appeared that I was somehow rooting for the predator. As it turned out, I kinda was. I love Idris Elba, but this movie was terrible. His acting in this film was just so bad that it made me question every other film of his that I’ve ever seen. To be fair, the movie was poorly written, so I’m guessing much of the fault here should be placed on the writer. I’ve not been this disappointed in a movie since that horrid Keanu Reeves movie, Replicas. That’ll teach me to pick movies based on the attractiveness of the star.

Third, we saw the special re-release of the original Jaws. Of the three movies, I have to say that this one was the absolute best. It was well-written, had some great acting, and even though the clothing and hair from the seventies was ghastly, I was still interested throughout the entire movie. I wasn’t even unhappy with the sub-par special effects. After what I’d witnessed earlier, this movie was easily the winner of the day. And I don’t think I was just more tolerant of its flaws because I’d just seen two really stupid movies. I think it’s actually a pretty great film. And, since I had originally seen it when I was about three years old, this experience was much less terrifying. So, I was able to enjoy the story this time around.

Of these three movies, I enjoyed the experience of being at the movies more than I enjoyed the movies themselves. I’m fifty years old and I had never spent seven hours in a movie theater before. It was a different experience and one that I wouldn’t trade. I might trade the selection of movies, but I wouldn’t trade the day itself. Given the opportunity, I’m sure we’ll do this again the next time $3 movie day comes around. Sometimes, it’s nice to disconnect from everything and just enjoy a movie with a friend (or sister in this case). With every crazy thing we’re hearing in the news these days, partaking in a bit of recreation does the heart good. And watching movies always gives me a bit of perspective about what I’ve been focused on in real life, whether it’s a good movie or a bad one.

I’ll be back next week with a more serious blog. For now, I hope you enjoyed my take on cinema day. Have a great weekend! And God bless!

Rebecca Benston is the owner of Higher Ground Books & Media and the author of over twenty titles currently available through Amazon and other outlets. Her books include a mystery series (The Rona Shively Stories), empowerment resources such as Wise Up to Rise Up, Don’t Be Stupid (And I Mean That in the Nicest Way), and From Judgment to Jubilee, children’s books including Grumble D. Grumble Learns to Smile, All the Scary Things, and See How Strong You Are. Benston lives in Springfield, Ohio with her awesome daughter, Mya and enjoys traveling, reading, writing, and telling it like it is. She enjoys being able to help other authors get their stories out there through Higher Ground and has recently expanded her freelance services to offer more extensive guidance as a writing coach and social media manager. For more information, you can contact Benston at highergroundbooksandmedia@gmail.com.

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