Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Review - Tin Man


I recently signed us up for Netflix. It has made vast improvements since the last time I belonged, lots of instant movies and shows to watch. Only $7.99 a month, add $2 to get 1 DVD at a time in the mail, too. We are all enjoying it. The kids are watching Oswald and Diego, Chris and I are enjoying Futurama and I am exploring all sorts of stuff.

I stumbled upon Tin Man a few days ago, and sat down to start watching it last night. It stars Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cumming, Neal McDonough, Kathleen Robertson, and Raoul Trujillo. Zooey is basically Dorothy, she goes by DG (Dorothy Gale) and lives in rural Kansas with whom she thinks are here parents. After going thru a tornado the the O.Z., she meets Glitch (Alan Cumming) who isn't really a straw man but is missing his brain. They rescue the Tin Man - which is another way of saying police man who is played by Neal McDonough. The Tin Man is not missing his heart but is understandably limited in his openness. And finally they get their cowardly lion, played by Roul Trujillo who has a fantastic ability common to his people to see the future and read peoples minds.

DG is a long lost princess sent to our world until she reached a safe age and could come back and defeat her evil sister (Kathleen Robertson). She never felt she fit in, and she has these dreams that are increasing in frequency. And then her adventure begins. Will she find her parents, defeat her sister, get back her memories?

This was the best interpretation for the Wizard of Oz I've seen. I love the extra depth the characters have. The reality mixed with the magical. And the visual depictions were very pleasing to the eye. I think the cast spent a lot of time in a green room, but the results were gorgeous and sometimes haunting.

If you have Netflix - click the picture above and go see this movie. If you don't have it yet, they do offer a free 1 month trial. Honestly I think it is well worth the money. Much cheaper than cable, and while it does have to reload (sometimes frequently when using the WII), it is no worse than commercial breaks. And yes you can watch it on the WII, PS3, Xbox, computer, and networked TVs and Blue-Ray players. It says you can have up to 6 unique devices.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Costume Super Center Review


Costume Super Center was kind enough to let me review one of their costumes. After much searching, we finally settled on Spiderman - I knew he would want that but it was fun to look. About the website I would like to say they have it organized great, it is easy to browse and you can also do a search if you know exactly what you want.

The costume arrived within a week of placing the order. Christopher was so excited he wore it from the time we got home on Thursday until it was time to dress for school on Friday. Seriously, he slept in it.
The quality is surprisingly good for the price. It has managed to stand up to solid play, ripping it on and off over and over, and even being slept in very well. Not even a thread is out of place. Much better than what we got at Wal-Mart - and that was going for the same price!
My only complaint is that I did ask for a medium and was sent a small. I was informed that there is a "liberal exchange/return policy" and you can read it in detail here: http://www.costumesupercenter.com/csc_inc/html/static/returns-exchanges.html. It is pretty good, and I like the idea that when doing an exchange, you are asked to order the replacement item first then you send back the return once you receive it. There is small print, but it is generally reasonable. And if you return 4 or more of the same item there is a 15% restocking fee. I think that discourages people from ordering the costumes to sell on their own.
So all in all I am so happy with my purchase. The size is true, we got the small and it fits CW like a dream. Last week we walked around CMU campus and CW made a lot of people smile. He got a free cookie and we even had a squirrel stop and stare. CW told me, "Mama! That squirrel thinks I'm the REAL Spiderman."
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