Review: Iron Man 2 @ Parma MotorVu (did I just make a rhyme?)

Tonight was the first time back at a drive-in theater for me in about 35 years (at least).

Growing up, I remember going to drive-ins fairly frequently.
I remember us making an evening of it, going down early, playing in an onsite playground until dusk, waiting for the first image to be shot up on the screen. I remember large metal speakers hooked onto our car window and watching from inside the car.

Which was one of the pointed differences between tonight’s experience and what I remember. Tonight was like one big tailgate party. Hatches open, lawn chairs set out, boom boxes for sound systems, kids spread out on the roof of their family cars. There wasn’t even any need to silence your cell phone. And then there’s the huge screen with the backdrop of a starlit sky. Half the time I found myself gazing at the stars, at the deep, darkening blue/black of the night sky with that fading tinge of reddish orange on the horizon.

Iron Man 2 is a throwaway film that reveals the kingdom of God by contrast (humility versus narcissim and braggadocio, organic simplicity versus high-tech gadgetry, one-another community versus the one man show – with a timely assist), but the show God put on behind the show filled me. What a way to watch a movie!

Add in the community aspect of the tailgate party happening down the row, and there was much more of the kingdom in evidence behind the screen and before it than on it.

Not a bad way to spend an evening…makes me think of one creative use for that big athletic field behind the church. Can you imagine it – the Vineyard Motor Vu right in our own backyard…

Dreaming, dreaming…