Wizard of Oz in IMAX 3D

It’s a movie you’ve probably seen dozens of times, but you have never seen it like this! September 20th, for one week only, The Wizard of Oz is coming to IMAX screens in 3D. We got a chance to experience this unbelievable movie experience earlier this week at the newly remodeled TCL Chinese Theater. It is now the largest IMAX theater anywhere and this is the perfect film to exhibit for the theater’s renovated debut. Did you know that the original film premiered at this same theater in 1939?

The movie has never looked better. This is not just a 3D conversion, but a full restoration of the movie. Any fears of seeing a grainy blown up film should be put aside because the movie looks sharp. The 3D conversion process took over 16 months to complete and had over 1000 people that worked on it. Below is a short film on the process used to get the film ready for the 3D IMAX treatment.

Here’s another fact you might not know: A double was used for Judy Garland in three scenes. Her name is Bobbie Koshay. In the first, at the opening of the movie, Bobbie balances on a fence and then falls into the pig pen. In the second, Bobbie is seen from the back, opening the door to Munchkin Land before Dorothy emerges in Technicolor. And it’s Bobbie again, from the back, when the flying monkey’s pick her up from the haunted forest.

This is a unique event you do not want to miss. Bring the kids, bring the grandparents, bring your neighbor! Visit the IMAX website to find a theater near you.

Parental Guidance – we can all relate

Billy Crystal and Bette Midler have never before been in a movie together. Can you believe it? Well now they are finally together in a film for all ages, Parental Guidance. Billy Crystal conceived the idea for the movie after spending some time with his own grandchildren. His daughter gave him a laundry list of rules about what they kids can eat, how to discipline them and special terminology to be used when speaking to them. This zaniness makes it into the film, along with many other “modern parenting” styles that so many of us are prone to when raising our children.

The hilarious film also features Marissa Tomei and Tom Everett Scott as the parents of three busy children. One day they realize that they have not had a vacation alone since their youngest was born five years ago. They decide to enlist Tomei’s parents, who live in another state, to fly in and watch the kids for a week, while the parents attend a business trip for Scott.

The chemistry between Midler and Crystal is remarkable and leaves everyone wondering why they haven’t made a film before. There is also a musical number, which surprisingly, Midler was initially against doing because she felt it did not fit the feel of the movie. During a recent interview my husband attended, she explained that only after Billy Crystal and the director convinced her of a place in the film where it did seem a natural fit, did she agree to do it. This required the creation of an impromptu musical studio being created onsite to the make the scene happen. It’s a show stopper!

A pivotal scene is when Billy Crystal’s character attends his grandson’s baseball game, only to learn that they do not keep score and every game ends in a tie. Anyone who’s had their child in at least T-ball understands this concept and that nowadays, this is standard. Much like in the movie, Crystal says that in real life, he does not feel this is fair. “Life is a competition,” he said and the children we are raising should be aware of this. This is one of the main things he wants parents to take from this film.

Parental Guidance is rated PG and opens Christmas Day.

Ice Age: Continental Drift

We love summer for many reasons. One of my favorite reasons (besides the incredible weather, beach days and just enjoying the outdoors) why Summer is my favorite season of the year, is all of the fun summer movie releases. There is always at least one movie that we look forward to watching. One of the movies that the we are all looking forward to watching is Ice Age: Continental Drift.