Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

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Max (Best Friend, Hero, Marine): Family Friendly Movie Review

Max: Family Friendly Movie Review

This weekend my son and I watched Max on DVD. My synopsis of the plot line is this: A bike riding, Texan teenage boy takes care of his deceased brother’s military dog, and then he depends on the canine to help him to sniff out illegal arms dealers who are tied to Mexican drug cartel.

I like to keep my movie reviews simple. I basically just ask two questions:

1)      Did my nearly 5 year-old son enjoy it?

2)      Was it “family friendly” enough to be appropriate for him to watch with me?

To answer my first question, yes, my son definitely enjoyed it.

There were constant bike chases through the woods and a crime fighting dog. To my son, that’s awesome.

The whole movie is a fast-paced, adventure thriller. In other words, there’s no wise cracking CGI dog to have to tolerate for 90 minutes. It’s a real dog.

I’ll segue into my second question now: Was it family friendly enough for my nearly 5 year-old son?

Yes; for my son specifically, who is accustomed to the swashbuckling violence of Power Rangers, and to the use of guns which never actually kill anyone or even draw blood on the show.

I would equate Max’s content with a tamer version of E.T., in that Max contains hardly any harsh words; definitely less than E.T does which is also rated PG.

Max is not a kids’ movie, but it’s one that I enjoyed watching with my son. After all, I’ll be taking him to see the new Star Wars movie in a couple of months; as I also took him to see Ant-Man this summer.

He’s old enough to appreciate more mature movies at his age; which I appreciate.

Max: Family Friendly Movie Review

Official press release:

MAX

ARRIVES ONTO BLU-RAY COMBO PACK, DVD and DIGITAL HD FROM

METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER PICTURES AND

WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Blu-ray Combo Pack debuts on October 27

Own it early on Digital HD on October 13

Burbank, CA, August 11, 2015 – Discover a friendship that is one of a kind when Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures’ (MGM) family-action adventure “Max” arrives onto Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD on October 27. “Max,” an incredible journey about the unbreakable bond between one kid and his heroic best friend, stars Josh Wiggins (“Hellion”) as Justin Wincott, with Lauren Graham (TV’s “Parenthood”) as his mom, Pamela, and Oscar® nominee Thomas Haden Church (“Sideways”) as his dad, Ray. The film will be available early on Digital HD on October 13.

BLU-RAY AND DVD ELEMENTS

“Max” Blu-ray Combo Pack contains the following special features:

  • Working with Max: Meet the dogs that play “Max” and see inside tricks of the trade!

·         Hero Dogs: A Journey – Get a behind-the-scenes look at amazing military trained K9s.

“Max” Standard Definition DVD contains the following special features:

  • Working with Max: Meet the dogs that play “Max” and see inside tricks of the trade!

DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION ELEMENTS

On October 13, “Max” will be available for streaming and download to watch anywhere in high definition and standard definition on their favorite devices from select digital retailers including Amazon, CinemaNow, Flixster, iTunes, PlayStation, Vudu, Xbox and others. “Max” will also be available digitally on Video On Demand services from cable and satellite providers, and on select gaming consoles.

BASICS

 

PRODUCT                                                                            SRP

Blu-ray Combo Pack                                                               $35.99

DVD Amaray (WS)                                                                $28.98

Standard Street Date: October 27, 2015

Digital HD Street Date: October 13, 2015

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The Amount You Mature After You Turn 30

babycollage

This week I turned 34 and a half. I’m now just 6 months away from turning 35, which will officially toss me out of that targeted demographic which has traditionally been the coveted marketing demographic: age 18-34.

I’m also only 6 months away from the birth of my 2nd child; who I think is a girl.

Turning a year older is not something I fear or hide. I celebrate getting older. That’s mainly because I’m so grateful for the amount of maturity, emotional intelligence, and life experience I gain each year I’m alive.

I definitely don’t wish I was 30 again, or 27, or 25, or 23… I’m perfectly happy and proud to be 34 and a half.

And research shows the same thing; that the age people report being the happiest is 34.

By now, I’m married, I have kid(s), I’m out of debt, I have money in the bank, I “own” a home, and I’m stable in my career.

Additionally, I have (hopefully) already made my dumbest mistakes and learned my hardest lessons in life.

If I simply apply what I’ve already learned from life so far, I should be alright. In theory, I should be on auto-pilot, from here on out, to some degree.

I feel that while I’ll constantly be learning something new every day, my “life’s biggest learning curve” is complete. In other words, now I know what to do, it’s just a matter of testing that knowledge and experience for the rest of my life to see what else I can make of it.

When I turned 30, I knew I was hitting a major milestone. But in hindsight, I now realize that the reason it was a major milestone for me is because I have learned some of life’s biggest and most crucial lessons since then, during these past 4 and a half years.

The Amount You Mature After You Turn 30

My son was born just a few months before I turned 30. Obviously, raising him has taught me a whole lot about life.

Plus, I made some wrong financial and career decisions around that time as well; which ultimately led my wife and I to become the strict Dave Ramsey followers we now are.

Not to mention, I was hired as Parents.com’s official daddy blogger right after I turned 30, which ultimately meant for 3 years, I had to do a blog post daily; being encouraged to be controversial by my editors.

Therefore, I can see in retrospect that I sporadically said plenty of immature and/or now embarrassing things in my blog posts during that time in attempts to “better engage my audience.” I learned a lot from that experience and I’m completely grateful for those 3 years.

On top of all that, I’ve learned the hard way what not to post on Facebook, since turning 30.

But now, I’ve lived through all that.

And I’ve been married for over 7 years now. It would be an understatement to say that marriage, in addition to raising a child, has made me a more mature, less selfish, better balanced human being.

The first day of the rest of my life began the day I turned 30. I can only imagine how much more enlightened I will feel and be by the time I turn 40.

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My Blog Readers are Female, but My YouTube Watchers are Male

Dear Jack: Webisode 20 of Jack-Man- “The Ole Switcheroo”

I am very aware of the importance of knowing my audience, so that I can better create content for what people want to be entertained by while they’re trying to kill time on smart phones.

Thanks to the analytics screen for my Facebook page for Family Friendly Daddy Blog, and thanks to the analytics screen for my YouTube channel, I have recently learned a paradox about my audience:

They don’t have a lot in common… They are segregated by gender demographics.

Most of the people reading Family Friendly Daddy Blog are women…

Women
72%
Men
27%

While most of the people watching my videos on YouTube are men:

MALE
83%
FEMALE
17%

For my Jack-Man series, I spend a minimum of 6 hours per video (writing, filming, producing music, editing, publishing) and there are currently 22 Jack-Man videos. When you do the math, that’s a minimum of 132 hours (or 5.5 straight days) of work for that series; and I only started the series 5 months ago.

However, I’m lucky to get 100 views on any of my Jack-Man videos. All that creativity mainly goes unwatched.

Meanwhile, I’ve carelessly thrown together a few unedited and unscripted videos on receding hairlines on my YouTube channel.

Those are the videos that easily get more than 100 views every day.

That’s because it’s mainly men are watching my YouTube channel, not as many women.

And mainly women are reading my blog, not as many men.

So now, behind the scenes, I am sketching out the best ways to blend my blog posts with my videos.

Ultimately, I guess it means that I’ll be publishing more blog posts about receding hairlines to feature my receding hairline videos, and making more videos about parenting to feature my usual daddy blog material.

I am attempting to use my blog to promote my videos and my videos to promote my blog.

So when you see me doing blog posts on seemingly irrelevant material, just know it’s for the other half of my demographics: men.

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How to Know If Your Hairline is Receding

I remember when I was 19, asking the lady who cuts my hair if my hairline was starting to recede or not. She looked closely at my scalp, and confirmed:

“Yes, it is. See how this hair right here up front is shorter than the rest? That’s how you know.”

Like someone having just heard their own death sentence, I asked, “How much time do you think I have before it starts becoming obvious that I’m gradually losing my hair?”

(Because to a 19 year-old boy, the issue seems to hold that much weight.)

I took it like a man when she told me: “I’d say about 35. You’re probably safe until you are 35 years old.”

Vegans Don’t Get Enough Protein and the World is Still Flat

Being just 19 at the time, I remember what a scary thought it was to imagine that if she was wrong, since my receding hairline had definitely begun, that I could be a victim of early male pattern baldness before I was even in my mid-20s.

Fifteen years have passed since that day.

I’ve made it to age 34, just 7 months away from that fateful birthday when I turn 35. My genes have been good to me.

While I won’t make it to my 50s and still have a full head of hair and a “straight across hairline” like Brad Pitt or John Stamos, or Tony Danza in his 60s, I reached my goal of making it until at least the time I got married.

With all that being said, I now realize how it didn’t even matter anyway, as this video I made explains:

Life experience has taught me that hair loss is one of those things that guys allow themselves to worry about and even become preoccupied by.

Like worrying about your height. Or your size; I’m being discreet about that, in case you’re reading between the lines.

There are companies across the world who are eager to make money off you by selling you the false hope of giving you the “cure”.

They play on your emotions related to you losing your hair, or not being tall enough, or big enough (again, I’m being discreet); they will try to scare you with “the ladies agree size really does matter.”

That’s all garbage.

Are you a man who is sincere, hard-working, creative, caring, passionate, funny, and emotionally intelligent?

Those are the things that make you attractive and respectable and cool as a man.

It’s not about that other stuff.

Just imagine how liberated your mind can become once you accept this as truth, instead of the lies you allow yourself to believe.

I wish someone would have explained this to me when I was 19.

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Why Family Friendly Daddy Blog is Unique

Dear Jack: Our Family’s Visit to Gentry’s Farm in Franklin, TN

It’s common knowledge there aren’t nearly as many daddy bloggers as there are mommy bloggers; but to take it a step further, I specialize in family friendliness in my documented male perspective of parenthood.

On my blog, I believe in keeping things upbeat, positive, constructive, and artistic; and in particular, void of profanity, violence, or innuendos.

Dear Jack: Our Family’s Visit to Gentry’s Farm in Franklin, TN

I want my blog to be an escape from negativity. I want to regularly expose my readers to a narrative featuring a traditional, loving, committed family.

Modern popular culture tries to sell us on this idea: “You don’t need a man in your life to raise a child or a family.”

Meanwhile, I instead see the invaluable importance of an involved husband and father.

Dear Jack: Our First Time to Carve Pumpkins

Billy Graham states it this way:

“A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets to our society.”

Therefore, those of us husbands and fathers who do sacrifice everything for our families, who I believe are the majority, not the exception to the rule, fly under the radar.

That’s because we’re not broadcasting our good deeds and our loyalty to our family. We have nothing to prove to the rest of the world. Our family is our world.

Dear Jack: We Rode in a Real Monster Truck at the Spring Hill Ham Festival!

Perhaps my role as a “family friendly daddy blogger” is to help celebrate fatherhood.

Most of my blog posts are weekly letters I write to my children. I enjoy, in real time, serving as their narrator; sharing picture collages to illustrate the stories I tell them about what is going on in their lives that week.

My goal is for my subtle stories to convey the message of the importance of family; and that the dad character is a crucial element in that formula.

Dear Holly or Logan: You’re Due on April 21, 2016

It used to bother me that the committed father and husband character on TV shows is typically either portrayed as a bumbling fool (Tim Allen of Home Improvement) or a widowed saint (Danny Tanner of Full House).

Apparently, the concept of an involved husband and father who is not a walking bio-hazard and whose wife is still alive is difficult to capture in a television program.

But that doesn’t bother me anymore. I can’t control that.

What I can control is my family friendly daddy blog and how I positively portray fatherhood to a sometimes skeptical world that tends to forget that we committed husbands and fathers really do exist; and that we aren’t such a rare breed after all.

Dear Jack: Family in a Camry- “Daddy Date”