Wonder Woman

 

I’ve really not a Wonder Woman fan, I view her as a female Superman (I’m also not a Superman fan) and I’m also not really a DC fan, BUT this was  a really good flick and the best thing DC that’s not animated, since The Dark Knight Rises. 

Gal Gadot is PERFECT in this role, and she does some major kicking.  She portrays the Amazonian Princess better than anything in the cartoon and this was written perfect showing her origin, flashing back from her first performance in Batman v Superman. 

Chris Pine brings a nice little comedic humor to the flick and knocks Steve Trevor out of the park.  I kind of compare him to Steve Rodgers (not Capt America) and maybe some Saving Private Ryan Tom Hanks.

The rest of the cast, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, and rest of Steve Trevor’s crew were excellent.  The battles and action sequences were great too, and I would say very comparable to that of the first Captain America flick.  There are so many comparables to each film that IMO it shows how good both films are.  There is also a nice twist at the climax that I didn’t see coming. 

The payoff of the film is the battle sequence when Diana shreds her cloak and shows off her armor and climbs into “No Man’s Land” and takes on the Germans and leads the allied forces to a victory in battle.

The only negative I would say is I think the final battle/action sequence was a little long. 

The film was DC’s best in a LONG while, like I mentioned.  Gal is perfect in this role and can’t wait to see how she progresses in this universe. 

7/10 Stars

South Dakota / Black Hills

Last week the kids and I went on our Summer Vacation to South Dakota/Black Hills.  Going into the vacation I told the kids NO ELECTRONICS.  They had to make the whole trip with a book or 2 to read, an activity/coloring book and a journal, to write about what we did.  Going into it I was curious how that would go, and we had some rough spots but in the end it was great and I’m doing that again!

Day 1 – Left town about 6 am, the kids crashed in the car for about 2 hours.  First stop was Mitchell and the Corn Palace.  It was ok, it’s a gym basically in a building with Corn on it.   The Willie Nelson décor of corn was cool though.  After gasing up and lunch we headed towards Wall Drug.  I kept bugging Addy to read the billboards for Wall all the way there.  It was a lot smaller than I remember.  I thought it was a huge venue when I was kid going there, and it may have been but its really just a huge tourist trap (Let’s be honest, most of SD is).  Before Wall Drug we did the scenic route to what I think was the kids favorite part of the trip, the BadLands.  We got out of the car a few times to hit some climbing and hiking.  The ground was soft rock, and learned later it deteriorates an inch a year.  It was cool to see the kids there and climbing and all that.  We also saw some wild sheep, rams and prairie dogs.  Speaking of the later, the other thing they liked I think was feeding the prairie dogs.  They ran all around with the peanuts to give to them.  We ended the night all around Rapid City with supper at Firehouse Brewing and walking around Rapid City seeing the President Statues.

Day 2 – We headed toward Crazy Horse first when I saw it was the route to Day 3, we turned around at hit up Mount Rushmore.  The kids saw it and I think were like…ok that’s cool.  It looks like the pictures.  I hope that when they get older they get the magnitude of what those 4 Presidents mean and how hard it was to make that.  Eventually after seeing Crazy Horse bray started to talk more about how they got it smooth and life like.  We then hit Bear Country USA.  First off I don’t remember how much that cost and I know it probably went up but damn.  Then also I thought I remembered a lot more bears and a lot less other animals.  And that also may have changed too.  But the kids liked seeing the animals and spotting them out and then the baby bears were their favorite.  The next part is a regret and a great thing.  I wish we would have cut a few things out and spent more time here.  We did the Alpine Slide at Rushmore Tramway.  I have a video of Ry and I riding it down and a great action shot of Addy near the finish line.  I wish we would have done the adventures in the trees more so then Hot Springs.  #lessonlearned  We ended the day with Miner Brewing Company, supper again at Firehouse, hanging out downtown Rapid City with a concert in the park, Dinosaur Park and swimming.  Met some great people downtown, Dan and Carol.  They were the nicest people, Carol went and got the kids some popcorn and gave us recommendations on where to go.

Day 3 – We rolled past Crazy Horse, which is what you do with Crazy Horse and headed toward Jewel Cave.  Needing a sweatshirt I got a souvenir in Hill City and so did Addy.  The cave was really cool and the kids really liked it too.  Probably their third favorite thing.  It was about a 90 min tour and that place was amazing with the colors and formations.  We then hit the Needles scenic highway.  Which was basically that, a road within the Black Hills.  We stopped about 3 times and again got out and climbed and this is what I really wanted for the kids to do.  They really liked it.  We got through there and rolled toward Hot Springs.  There we went to the Mammoth Site and saw all the bones and learned about the way they got trapped.  Also my pop quiz questions to them about why the red in the dirt (Iron deposits).  Had a stop at Wooly’s (that town is basically living off that site) and got some free mini golf with a stay in our old school hotel.  

Day 4 – We went Northwest to our 3rd state in Wyoming and to Devils Tower.  Approaching the tower it was cool and cloudy and then the rain just let loose as we could start to see it.  We stopped at the Trading Post to get cash and then to let the sun come out and figure our game plan.  We were going to roll up there then looked up and the sun that was there for 40 minutes it poured again!  We waited that out and had lunch in a little parkoff of the highway and it got sunny again.  We really wanted to go climb but Addy mentioned how wet and slick and muddy it would be so we decided to not do it.  Going toward Deadwood/Spearfish (our last stop) I was thinking of just going straight home.  I could sense some tension in the kids and I could still get home.  We stayed though.  We hit up the fish hatchery and feed fish in spearfish and then went to Deadwood and Wild Bill Days.  I think this was the kids least favorite and mostly because that town is an adult town.  We got to watch a dog jumping competition and heard some live music.  Ry even got waved at and made eyes to the Sawyer Brown guitarist.  Supper wasn’t even that great either and I was ready to get home.  The best part of Deadwood was Nakita at the candy shop in Saloon #10.  She was really great to the kids and we hung out there about 30 mins talking to her. 

Day 5 – We got up at 5am and rolled home.  Made it home at 315.   The kids got me (with Shawnnas help) a collage of them.  It’s cool.  We then went to Cars 3 at Flix Brewhouse and they all enjoyed that.  

It was a good trip and I learned a few things.  The kids CAN survive without electronics.  I wish we would have cut out Hot Springs and maybe crammed a few things in tighter to Rapid City and then also added in more of the Rushmore Tramway.  The big reason is it would have cost 200 bucks for 90 mins for all of us and we had all the other stuff to pay for too.  Which if I could have cut it out, we would have been able too.  But I really hope the kids liked it and enjoyed it.  It was something different than Minneapolis and St Louis from the years before.  Next year I’ll try something different again I think.