Screening series can help kids learn movie manners
Nobody likes sitting next to small children at the movies.
From what I’ve seen during the past couple of years, this includes the parents of those small children.
A couple with a 4-year-old parked themselves next to me during “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” and, a few minutes into the action, the little guy began asking, rather loudly, “Can we go home now?”
I felt his pain.
But he wasn’t bothered by the flimsy plot. Or the lack of character development. Or even the question of how Electro managed to get that custom-made supervillain suit in between his being sprung from the research lab and invading the Oscorp offices.
He was scared out of his mind.
His parents’ response to his frightened pleas? “Stop being ungrateful.”
Children don’t come into this world knowing how to behave in a movie theater. It’s a skill many adults haven’t mastered. But this summer, there are a couple of screening series that should serve as an inexpensive training ground.
The Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse offers a package of 10 family movies for $5, or $1 for each showing. The screenings kick off at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Suncoast with “Night at the Museum,” followed each week at the same day and time by “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” “Epic,” “The Croods,” “Turbo,” “The Smurfs 2,” “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2,” “Walking with Dinosaurs,” “The Lego Movie” and “Rio 2.”
Similar series with many of the same movies begin at 10:30 a.m. June 9 and 12 at The Orleans, 10 a.m. June 10 and 11 at Sam’s Town, 10 a.m. June 11 at Santa Fe Station and 10 a.m. June 18 at the Cinedome. (For more information, visit www.cinemark.com.)
Later this summer, Regal’s Summer Movie Express will screen $1 family movies at 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays for nine weeks at Aliante, Colonnade and Village Square. “Hotel Transylvania” kicks things off on June 17, followed by “The Smurfs 2” on June 18. (For the rest of the schedule, visit www.regmovies.com.)
And, while they won’t replicate the theater experience, several family movie screenings start this week across the valley.
The Outdoor Picture Show, offering free movies at 8 p.m. each Saturday on the green at The District, 2240 Village Walk Drive in Henderson, kicks off Saturday with “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” The series continues through October. For more information, visit www.shopthedistrictgvr.com.
Free family movies are scheduled at sundown every Thursday through Aug. 21 on The Green at Town Square, 6605 Las Vegas Blvd. South. The series begins this Thursday with “Monsters University.” For more information, see mytownsquarelasvegas.com.
And at 7:30 p.m. every Saturday in June, the children’s play area at Tivoli Village, 440 S. Rampart Blvd., will host free Disney movies, complete with free popcorn. See “Frozen” this Saturday, followed by “Finding Nemo” June 14, “Monsters Inc” June 21 and “Toy Story” June 28. For more information, see www.tivolivillagelv.com.
■ On the move: “American Restoration,” starring Rick Dale and the gang at Las Vegas’ Rick’s Restorations, debuts a batch of new back-to-back episodes at 10 p.m. Monday on History.
■ Sharing the spotlight: Mirage roommates Terry Fator and Boyz II Men turn up on TV with the former appearing on “Drop Dead Diva” (9 p.m. Sunday, Lifetime) and the latter debuting two new songs on “The Bachelorette” (8 p.m. Sunday, KTNV-TV, Channel 13).
■ ‘Strip’ tease: “Men of the Strip” (10 p.m. Sunday, E!), chronicles 98 Degrees singer Jeff Timmons’ quest to get a Las Vegas male revue up and running.
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.
