Search Results for: #ironman3event

Iconic Hollywood Blvd: History of The El Capitan Theatre & the Disney Soda Fountain #IronMan3Event

May 13, 2013 by The Mom Jen 5 Comments

The El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard has been around since 1926 when it made it’s debut as a live stage show house. This iconic building has seen the likes of Rita Hayworth, Clark Gable, Will Rogers, and Joan Fontaine over it’s years and still boasts the biggest names in the business today. It was my second visit to the theater and it’s awe-inspiring when you think about it. We were lucky enough to go behind the scenes on our recent visit.

The stage, the lights, everything is truly amazing, and there isn’t a bad seat in the house. When I was here for the Lion King 3D event I sat just rows from the stage, and this time for Iron Man 3, we sat at the top of the balcony, taking in the Dolby SR-D digital sound to it’s fullest!

History of all the Hollywood events are captured in the Wall of Fame where we briefly walked through, but I could have spent hours taking it all in. We met with Ed Collins, general manager of the El Capitan Theatre, and he filled us in on the beginnings of how movies came to be shown.

How many have seen or know of the movie, “Citizen Kane”? It’s a pretty impactful movie, right? But it’s not a very flattering portrait of William Randolph Hearst. And back when it was looking for a home to have its premiere, no theater wanted to play it. Why? Because theaters were owned by studios at that time. And Mr. Hearst’s papers reviewed their movies.

So we’re not gonna show a movie that isn’t a flattering portrait. The owner, Mr. Toberman, said, “Hey, I’ll try a movie.” So “Citizen Kane” had its world premiere here in 1941. And Mr. Toberman said, ‘Movies are the way to go.’ Close the theater and modernized it and made it look really sleek and modern. Then the theater reopened in 1942 as the Paramount.

Because it was affiliated with the Paramount Studios and ran another 50 years, premieres and first run movies. That’s when Disney came to Hollywood. And our theory was boy, Hollywood Boulevard’s a pretty famous street. But the theaters are kinda tired. We put a lot of effort into the making of our movies, right? We want the experience of watching them to match the quality of the movie itself. So that’s why Disney came to El Capitan Paramount Theater in 1989 and restored it back to the way it looked when it was new.

I was involved with that and it was a great team of people. We opened here in June of ’91 with “The Rocketeer”. Anybody seen “The Rocketeer”? That was the first movie that played here when we finished restoring it. And what made “The Rocketeer” special not only did it have its premiere on Hollywood Boulevard. But that was our first stage show. So we said, “Hey yeah. Let’s do like they did in the golden era of movies. We’ll have a stage show before the movie.”

So for “The Rocketeer” we had the El Capitan singers and dancers. It was a show that was produced by Disneyland on the stage in front of the curtain. And that kicked off stage shows and movies. And then, uh, we came along in 1998 and said, “You know, we shoulda done the stage the first go round. We’ll do it this time.” And we added the mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ. So, uh, that was our second restoration. And that leads us to where we are today. We do 10 to 12 movie premieres per year.

After knowing what I’ve learned, can you imagine having a birthday party for your kids and their friends at this historical venue while taking in a Disney movie? It’s available, talk about red carpet treatment! You can visit the El Capitan and take in a movie now through the summer:

-IRON MAN 3 is currently playing at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, CA until June 20th in Disney Digital 3D and Real D 3D

-See a Display of Collectibles & Comic Books from the Private Collection of Stan Lee!

-June 21st – August 8th: MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (Plus, see Mike & Sulley in the MU Pep Rally with the Sprit Squad Live on Stage!)

-August 9th – September 19th: Disney’s PLANES

For tickets call 1 (800) DISNEY6 or visit www.elcapitantickets.com

Right next door you’ll find Disney’s Soda Fountain and Studio Store! Offering all the classics from an authentic soda jerk, you can also find hot dogs, grilled cheese, and Mickey Mouse-shaped PB&J sammies to enjoy! What caught my eye most was Walt’s Vault. You know the one you see in all the home entertainment videos. It’s on the wall with a reel of all the Disney movies in order, do you think you could name them all? And, before you leave, make sure you pick up some souvenirs for the kids!

If you’re strolling down Hollywood Boulevard, you must check out these two great places!

Our experience was part of a hosted press event thanks to Disney/Marvel. All opinions are my own.

Interviewing Gwyneth Paltrow: On Health and her Cookbook, It’s All Good #IronMan3Event

May 10, 2013 by The Mom Jen 3 Comments

When we sat down with Gwyneth Paltrow about her role as Pepper Potts in Iron Man 3, she had so much more she wanted to share with us. One thing in particular is that her new cookbook, It’s All Good is now available and she was so kind to bring a copy for each and every one of us! As a bonus, during her interview, she personally signed each copy to us, just another thing that gave us such a warm feeling about her as person.

Adding best-selling author to her resume, Gwyneth shared why and how she got started creating cookbooks!

GP : I started writing down my recipes because I was always a cook and a foodie. My friends would call me, there’s Julia, my best friend since seventh grade {in the room}. She called me once and she said, I have a guy coming over, I have no idea what to make- I have to make dinner. I had a lot of friends asking me how do you do that, or what temperature do I roast this at? So I started writing them all down.

Then when my dad died I just thought it would be- because he was the one taught me cook, and we learned together and our connection to food was such a part of our relationship..I thought it would be really nice because I felt him in the kitchen, and I felt it would be nice to write the recipes, and pay homage to him and our relationship at the same time, and it was cathartic.

Friends and family are reasons we do everything in life, right? I love that tribute to her father. Gwyneth’s goes on to explain how her son’s skin condition also played a huge role in creating this new cookbook.

My son has really bad eczema, so I did food allergy tests, and he’s really allergic to gluten and cow’s milk. And I felt so bad for him not having regular ice cream and meat balls and stuff. So I just started a mini-encyclopedia of totally yummy comfort food that’s on his diet.

And it’s been incredible because so many people are trying to avoid gluten either for weight or they’re allergic to it, that’s sort of how it all happened.

There are references to duck egg throughout the cookbook, here’s why:

GP : He {her son} can’t have chicken egg. I’m actually allergic to chicken egg as well, there’s some duck egg in it, but also regular eggs. But that’s why the whole baking, the whole sweet section has no egg, no milk, no butter, no gluten, to give alternatives for moms who are trying to follow that kind of regimen.

Like many busy actor/parents, life happens and you find yourself overwhelmed and Gwyneth had a scare that led her to the doctor. She shared this very sensitive topic with us.

GP : What happened was, two years ago, I had this real insane period where I had this movie Country Strong coming out, I was filming Glee, and I was having to sing live. My husband was like, most people start in a bar with their uncle, there you are you at the Grammy’s, that’s crazy[LAUGHS]. And it was really hard on me. I was so nervous, I was taking beta blockers and drinking a beer, really bad.

Because I’m a mom, I would never get to L.A. one day early so I can actually sleep or take a walk. I have to get there the day of, I shower and do it, and go home right away. So I was just like steadily wearing myself down and I think there was some emotional stuff too. I had this weird episode where, I talk about it in the book, but I was making lunch, and the right side of my body went numb, and it was so terrifying, I thought I was having a stroke.

Because I thought I was having a stroke, I started having an anxiety attack on top of what was this migraine that was, like, making my whole right side numb, and I really freaked out. I took a nap, and I remember hearing my kids playing in the garden, and I can’t believe I’m here like, I can’t go down and play with them what’s happening. So I went to the doctor and I was really super freaked out, and I got tested for everything.

And basically I had run myself into the ground. I had really, really high stress hormones- they were killing my adrenals. I had really low vitamin D, vitamin B; my estrogen was messed up, like, everything was just off, and they said I had a cyst on my parathyroid, I had a cyst on my ovary- like, they found a million things wrong. And my doctor here said I want you to, just for three weeks, eat an elimination diet. Just eat super clean, just like how your ancestors would’ve eaten like chicken, fig, vegetables.

No coffee, no alcohol, no sugar, and in three weeks my blood work had changed so much, my parathyroid nodule went away over time which is amazing. I did have to get my cyst out with surgery, but other than that, I fixed everything with the food. Food really is medicine. It’s amazing. I mean, it’s only because I did it to myself, you know what I mean? And then I undid it.

Gwyneth’s advice on nutrition just rang home for so many of us, it’s something I think about on every trip to the grocery store now!

GP : A nutritionist once told me the way that we’ve changed our diet in the last fifty years is crazy. If you showed our grandmothers, our great grandmothers what we were eating, they’d be like, this isn’t even food. What are you doing? And she said the best thing to do-when you’re at the supermarket, shop the periphery. That’s where all the fresh food is, that’s where the chicken, fish, beef- everything fresh is on the periphery. Just avoid those aisles {in between}, and it really makes sense because that’s where all the processed food is.

My philosophy is always like, I try to cook really healthy at home because I can’t control what they eat at home or at friend’s houses. Nor do I want to. I want them to be autonomous and have- make their own choices and have a life.

So many of us moms have the same question, especially for Gwyneth who’s life is a lot more on the go as ours:

Q : How do you keep your kids healthy when you’re away from home?

GP : We were just in Paris; I was on the Iron Man press tour. I mean, try eating gluten free in Paris. It is a nightmare. My poor child. So you know what I try to do? I mean, he totally ate a croissant; he ate bread, and it was inevitable. But, one day I was like, let’s go find Japanese food, Asian foods are amazing for avoiding a lot of that stuff. If we’re traveling or we’re out, I try Mexican food-the corn tortillas and guacamole, it’s awesome and doesn’t feel like health food, but I’m avoiding what he’s not supposed to have. So I just try to get a little bit more creative about it.

One of the girls in our group had the scoop on what Gwyneth does in the kitchen… she raps! So she asked her about it and her reaction was so cute!

GP : [LAUGHS] Do you have a hidden camera in my kitchen? That is so crazy. How do you know that? Yes, we are a hip hop household, one hundred percent. My son, especially! He said the best thing the other day because he’s loves hip hop. He’s obsessed and Jay-Z’s a really close friend of ours and that was his sort of gateway into hip hop. He’s branched out and the other day he was like, Mom, I think that Jay is a story rapper and Kid Cudi is a feelings rapper. And I was like, you’re totally right. This is so weird. Yeah, so yeah, the answer is yes.

Q : Do your kids cook with you a lot?

GP : Oh yes. My son especially is really, really into it, and he can perfectly crack an egg. He has since he was four- no shells in the bowl. Every weekend, we’d cook something together. He loves it. He’s so proud of himself and I actually think that the kitchen is an amazing place to interact and teach kids. We do math in the kitchen. It’s such quality time of interacting but you’re also making dinner, you know what I mean? You’re not like on the floor water coloring which makes me wanna kill myself!

Between the two parts of the interview we all really learned that she is a mom just like us. She loves her family, she’s passionate about health and food, and she is amazing at her craft. What an inspiration and such an amazing opportunity we had to experience with her. You should check out her cookbook, It’s All Good, I can’t wait to try out some of her fabulous recipes!

Our interview was part of a hosted press trip provided by Disney/Marvel, all opinions are my own.

Celebrity Sightings on Hollywood Boulevard #IronMan3Event

May 8, 2013 by The Mom Jen 3 Comments

I’m a celebrity gawker, I’ll admit it. I remember staying at the Hotel Coronado and spying Nestor Carbonell from LOST and wanting to follow him everywhere. I guess that’s not gawking but more like stalking…hmm. Well, it’s cool to see someone famous, or even meet them as we did during our week in Hollywood for the Iron Man 3 premiere. During our last few hours of our trip, we spent some time with many iconic figures from movies, tv, and even the sports world. You know, a typical Thursday afternoon.

Yes, that is me above hanging with Tony Stark, and again next to him in the infamous suit. He wanted me to try it on, but I told him I couldn’t follow Gwyneth.I heard some whispering and a PSST and turned to see Justin Timberlake trying to get my attention. I think he was a little jealous so I came and gave him some love. He looked sharp in his suit and tie. Robert Pattinson was there looking all glittery and Lady Gaga overdressed as usual.

So…oh did I forget to mention that one little thing? We were at Madame Tussauds, the famous Wax Museum! You knew that right, I’m not totally delusional. Promise. Kinda.

More than 500 million people worldwide have visited the wax museums of Madame Tussauds. That is more than the population of North America and Australia combined, people like to gawk at celebrities! It takes approximately 800 hours to make a wax figure, broken down that’s:

350 hours to sculpt a figure
175 hours to mold a figure
145 hours to insert hair and style figure
15 hours to make a pair of eyes
30 hours to make a set of teeth
50 hours to color a head
35 hours to costume a figure

Some of my favorites in the museum was Danny from Grease and the Greased Lightning car. I love that movie!No one puts Baby in the corner! A fabulous tribute to Dirty Dancing and Patrick Swayze!

Also gone too soon, Michael Jackson.Do these jeans make my body look SMALL. Or is Kobe Bryant like 10 foot 6?

Yes, I’m still paying for posing like this, ouch.Then there’s some fun spots to pose with props, Sarah of East 9th Street was soo guilty #justsaying. My kids thought I was cool with this swaggy pose.Had to get these awesome guys in a photo too, say Hi to Elvis, Mr. Bob Hope, and George Burns, oh God do they look so real! I was ready to RUN for the hills if I saw any of those eyes blink.Leo DeCaprio, the Beibs, Robin Williams, and Mah-Donnah! Justin was playing a little hard to get. Whatevs.

Finally had to capture some classic Western stars, my mom, grandma, and husband would appreciate. Punk.

Madame Tussauds is very cool, cooler than I expected and I’d love to go again and pay attention to more those figures that I skipped on this trip. If you’re interested, visit the website’s ticket information to get in on the tour!

Tickets were part of our hosted press tour, all opinions (and delusions) my own.

An Interview with Iron Man 3’s Rising Star, Ty Simpkins #IronMan3Event

May 6, 2013 by The Mom Jen 2 Comments

photos courtesy of Dear Crissy
Imagine being 11 years old again. I was in 5th grade, boy band crazy, and watching music videos on MTV. My son just turned 12 and he’s in 6th grade, playing baseball, and loves computer games. What I can’t imagine is being 11 and in the cast of one of the biggest grossing films in the world right now! Ty Simpkins is that kid. A child star with a few movies under his belt already, his world is all things Iron Man 3 right now and how lucky can you be?

We sat down with Ty in Los Angeles the evening of the premiere and we were all so impressed by this cute and smart kid who lucked out with the part of his dreams! He arrived with his mom who grinned ear to ear on the sidelines while he chatted with us moms about how he got into acting.

TS : So I’ve been acting since I was born. I was still in my mom’s stomach when the people called and asked me to be on this– I think it was like at– it was either a TV show or a soap opera. I’m not sure. But they asked me. And then– uh, they didn’t ask me. They asked my mom. And she said I’m not born yet. But and then they said we’ll wait. So–

Ty does not seem intimidated by a room full of moms smiling at him so we continued to plug at him with questions. He told us he found out about getting the part in the movie in cello class, after he screamed yes! He told us more about how that came about:

TS : So I got– we got a call from my agent. And I was really excited. I’m like, oh, this is so cool. And then we went to the audition. But it was so top secret that we– that we couldn’t look at the script until we got to the audition. And but it was really easy ’cause it was only two scenes that were short– or, no, it was a scene that was short. So, it was pretty easy.

Then we heard– hadn’t heard for a while. We got a callback. And I was like, oh, okay, cool, cool. This is awesome. I can’t believe I got a callback. So we went to the call back. The producers and the director was there. And we went through the scene only with one more scene. And that was a bit more difficult to learn because it was longer. It was a giant monologue– like paragraph.

And then– and then we hadn’t heard for an even longer time. And then our agent said that we gotta chemistry read with Robert Downey Jr. And I was really excited for that. So we flew to North Carolina. And I was looking around. I was like where– where– where is Robert Downey Jr.?

And I couldn’t find him. And they were just introducing me to everyone. And then there was a guy with a hat and glasses. And I just completely looked past him. And then the lady that was introducing me to everyone said and you know who this is. And the guy took off the hat and the glasses. And it was Robert Downey Jr. I mean it was a really good disguise. I don’t know how I missed it. [LAUGHTER]

Ty went on to say he would suggest acting to interested kids and that many of his friends are excited to see him in the film! We asked him if he was indeed a fan of the Marvel movies and what was the favorite aspect of playing his character?

TS : I love the Marvel movies. I think my favorite aspect of being my character is that like I– I get to meet Tony Stark. I’m similar to him. I’m like a genius in the movie. And he’s a genius in the movie, of course, more of a genius than my character, but– [LAUGHTER]

Of course being a Marvel fan, we needed to find out who his favorite hero was…

TS : Iron Man. I mean it– it’s been my dream.

We asked Gwyneth Paltrow this same question, Ty’s response was similar, yet straight and to the point. How does it feel to be working with Robert?

TS : Oh, it’s awesome. Like literally Robert Downey Jr. is my favorite person. [LAUGHTER]

I personally was curious what Ty’s hardest challenge on the film was and he replied that it was one line in the script that he tried to master but he couldn’t and it was “getting like annoying.”

TS: Retro-reflection panels. [LAUGHTER] It was really hard. And then once the day was over I knew how to say it. That happens a lot.

I loved hearing that Ty’s likes outside of acting are very similar to that of my own young son, and he also told us how he passes time on the set.

TS : I like to play baseball. I like to fence. Yeah. And I like to make Lego stop motion videos. {On set} If I’m in summer I usually hang out with like the studio teacher, like the one that was on this set was pretty awesome ’cause she had an iPad. And she had educational games, there was one really cool called Oregon Trail. [CROWD RESPONSES] But they made a modified version. And that’s just really awesome. [LAUGHTER]

Some of my favorite things to watch on the DVD/Blu-rays when they come out is the blooper reels. We were curious about some of the funny things that happened on set with Ty:

TS : Okay, so I had to do this stunt where I’m sitting on a villains lap. And then I blind him with this thing. And I jump off of his lap. I took the thing out. And I blinded him basically. And he started tipping back with the chair. And I couldn’t get off– get, like, I jumped off a little late. And I fell back with him.

photo courtesy of Disney/Marvel

After working with Robert Downey Jr., Ty tells us that he is one of his biggest role models, and that Chris Evans and Johnny Depp are as well. All 3 of who he’d love to work with in the future, I would too Ty, I would too!

We were all curious about if Ty had watched Iron Man 3 yet, and how he thinks we should prepare our own kids for the movie, here’s what he said:

TS : I haven’t seen the movie yet, it’s gonna be my first time seeing it {tonight}. I did see the trailer. And there is blowing up stuff. I don’t recommend– unless– unless you want to. This is upon your decision, I wouldn’t recommend seeing it in IMAX ’cause I see a bunch of stuff in IMAX like Jurassic Park 3-D. That was pretty loud. And I’m not a big fan of loud. But I did enjoy that. So, you might just want to tell them there is gonna be some like explosions. So you just might want to be prepared for shocking things and stuff like that.

Before we let Ty head to get ready for the premiere, we wanted to know what was lined up next for him as far as acting goes.

TS : So I just finished Insidious 2. That comes out in September. And I’m really excited for this movie called Conversations with Andy. And it’s about a sixth grade kid who is like having a tough time with his family. Like they’re getting a divorce and stuff. And then he meets Andy Warhol. And Andy helps him out and stuff. So I’m really excited for that.

This kid is really so down to earth, pretty mature for his 11 years and he finishes off with the best line of the interview, and something all moms want to hear and know from their kids:

Q : Who is your biggest supporter?

TS : My biggest supporter? My mom. [APPLAUSE]

Keep your eye out for Ty in Iron Man 3 and he new (and previous) movies, he’s a great kid and a great actor and has the world ahead of him to conquer. Now I kinda wish I had asked him if he would ever want to be a superhero in a movie!

Our interview was part of our hosted media trip thanks to Marvel/Disney. All opinions my own.

Iron Man 3 Movie Review #IronMan3Event

May 3, 2013 by The Mom Jen 7 Comments

I caught up on all things Marvel movies in the past few months gearing up to my trip to Hollywood for the Iron Man 3 premiere. It had been a while, but I refreshed my mind about characters Tony Stark and Pepper Potts and really come to enjoy the superhero genre of movies.

Tony Stark begins the movie where the Avengers left off. He doesn’t sleep, he has nightmares and panic attacks and claims, “nothing has been the same since New York!” Gone is the cocky billionaire and replacing him is a sensitive more deep Tony that “has to protect the one thing he can’t live without,” that being Pepper. THIS is my kind of movie. I’m all for suspense, action, and humor, but throw a little tenderness and love into the equation and I’m sold!

Enter a new threat that Tony must overcome. A threat of terrorism and hate, something unfortunately so real in our world. Sir Ben Kingsley plays The Mandarin and you’ll be shocked at the progression and ultimate outcome of this character, lead by the puppeteer of Guy Pearce’s character Aldrich Killian. With some help from Rhodey-Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle), the action is non stop throughout the movie.

At one point in the movie, Tony meets Harley, a pint-sized version of himself. Fatherless, Tony again expresses himself in a vulnerable way and takes Harley under his wing as he helps him get his suit back in working order. It’s the first time we see a child actor work so well in the trilogy and it connects the audience to the human side of Tony.

The best part of the movie is alluded to in a previous post I wrote. It brings Tony’s character full circle where the hero and the human brain saves the day. I know you’ll be cheering in the theater as I did.

This was the best of the 3 films in my opinion. The action is constant, I’m so thrilled to see Pepper’s character take a stronger lead, and Tony’s evolution definitely wants you cheering for a part 4! I don’t normally prefer movies in 3D but this one is a must to get the full effect of the action scenes. Also, of the three movies, this one has many more adult tones and violence. It’s rated PG-13, but I’d say 11 and up would be okay.

There aren’t too many films that get to the third installment and it’s considered the best, but Iron Man 3 is like a fine wine!

“Like” IRON MAN 3 on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ironman

“Follow” IRON MAN 3 on Twitter: @Iron_Man

Visit the website: http://marvel.com/ironman3

IRON MAN 3 releases in theaters TODAY!! Come back and let me know how you liked it!

Our screening was hosted by Marvel/Disney, all opinions are my own.