I took my kids to see Antman this week. Aside from the two times I had to take my five year old to the bathroom, (the large soda was not a good idea) we had a great time. It is the first movie in the Antman franchise. That means it has a training sequence where the hero learns to use his power. This is always the best part of these films.
No genre of film does the training sequence better than karate movies. Our hero will usually learn to fight by doing something that has nothing to do with fighting. Washing a car, painting a fence, baking cookies, churning butter. Meanwhile, in the background a band that you will never hear from a again, will be playing a song so inspirational, it makes you feel like signing up for the next All Valley Karate Championship. At the end of the training part of the movie, the karate teacher will invariably explain to his pupil how bathing his girlfriend’s toy poodle made him a better fighter, they will do a training fight, the pupil will be amazed at his own progress, and viola, after three weeks of house chores and some play fighting, he’s got himself a black belt. I could turn the film off right there.
My wife taught me to appreciate the training sequence. Growing up, she was exposed to more karate movies than Bruce Lee. Some kids watch cartoons when they’re growing up, some kids watch sitcoms, and some kids watch the Disney Channel, which is kind of both. My wife grew up on karate movies and Eddie Murphy standup specials. That may sound like some kind of sociological experiment, but she turned out okay. For the most part. (If you tickle her, she goes straight to the karate. She will hurt you.)
Now we are handing down our appreciation of the training sequence to our children. We watch superhero movies and the karate kid movies together. Then we tell them to go clean their room while we set up a boombox and blast Eye Of The Tiger in the upstairs hallway over and over again until that room is right.
LINKS
- National Geographic video about a tree that grows 40 different kinds of fruit.
- The new James Bond trailer is awesome. The new Hunger Games trailer is not quite as good, but still cool.
- Today is the 32nd anniversary of George Brett’s pine tar home run. Here are some interesting facts about that incident. I still love to watch the video of Brett freaking out.
- Also today, in 1943, the allies commenced Operation Gomorrah. (The bombing of Hamburg) Here is an interesting article that includes some photos of the devastation.
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