Part the First
I beg of you, my fellow wage earners, please spend more of your money seeing films in theatres. The more we go to the actual theatres, the less they’ll need to charge us to remain open. Sweet little Uptown Theatre has already closed its doors this year, and more closures could be coming to Seattle. I went to see Red at the Admiral Twin yesterday, a so-called “dollar theatre” for 2nd run movies, and the ticket price was $5.50! The movie was pretty fun, incidentally, though I spilled half of my small popcorn on the floor before it even started. Which reminds me, the film at the Admiral was preceded by about 10 commercials (including two for Bod Men and two for Chevy trucks) and NO MOVIE TRAILERS. It’s a sad state of affairs.
Part the Second
I beg of you, Hollywood and indie filmmakers alike, don’t make so many movies! I suppose this plea is especially toward Hollywood corporate film studios. I know the point is the bottom line, but I’d kind of like to see the collapse of at least a couple of you giants. It’s called market saturation. People don’t appreciate movies anymore because there are so many of them. If they don’t have appreciation, they won’t go to the theatre to see them. What’s the point? If they miss it, they can see it on video. If they miss it, there will be another similar film being released months, weeks, days later. Instead of remaking a film, why not have a second theatrical release years later? Cheaper to make and easy revenue. Instead of remaking a foreign film for the (apparently stupid and/or blind) American audience, spend a fraction of that money heavily promoting the original foreign version.
P.S. Give the comic book adaptations a rest for a few years, please. Let people read for a while.
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Fernando: Dude. Have you seen the crap they try to pass off as good movies? Stuff like the Karate kid. I never felt so insult in my life as I did watching that movie. 1st this kid goes to China and get beaten up for being turd, then learns Kung Fu? Where is the Karate? Really? Twilight. Where it’s okay of a 118 year old to date a teen age girl. Transformers. What was good about this movie? Even Megan Fox said “If you are looking a movie with good writing, this isn’t for you.” Personally I offend that Hollywood thinks so little of intelligence (and you know I am not that smart) that they insult it by trying to spoon feed me everything.
The sad thing is the the general public buys into it and the media feeds the stereotype that we are not smart enough to get it. I when to see “Inception” and actually liked it. But to have critics and the media tell me that this was a “thinking man’s movie.” Really? I got it the first time and while I enjoyed, it did not make me think. I just had to pay attention to what happen in the movie…
I guess that is why I started hitting the little indy theaters with indy films…or I am getting cranking in my old age.
December 28, 2010 at 10:15pm
Monica: Yes, I read about your face-punching desires. Stay angry, demand better, support local and independent cinema.
December 28, 2010 at 10:26pm
Godot: I love movies, but you could have made this same argument for the Powdered Wig industry a little over 100 years ago.
I really think that with the new TV’s coming out and people demanding everything immediately the movie theater may go the way of the DoeDoe bird within our lifetime.
December 29, 2010 at 2:53am
Yaron: There are lots of insipid movies out there, just like there’s lots of insipid everything out there, but there is also lots of high quality stuff!…
For example: This past weekend – during that famous person’s supposed birthday 🙂 – I caught two movies in the theatres:
* Black Swan – probably Aronofsky’s most hyped up and widely distributed film to date – and, I have to say, probably his weakest in terms of plotline and dialogue – but still an Aronofsky film, powerful, masterfully shot, beautiful visually and sonically, and worth seeing on the big screen.
* Rare Exports – a quirky, darkly comical Christmas horror story from Finland, lots of wit, nicely produced, worth seeing on the big screen.
One of my criteria of whether to see a movie in a theater is whether it’s worth seeing on the big screen, mainly visually. (Another is how hard it might be to find afterwards.)
December 29, 2010 at 7:46am
Monica: Part of it is the collective experience of seeing a film with fellow human beings. For now it’s cheaper than most sporting events. If consumers continue to consume, fine, we’ll all just be holed up in our houses surrounded by electronics. (even more so than we already are)
I am planning to see Black Swan this weekend, and now I will probably see Rare Exports. I wouldn’t have known about the latter if I hadn’t been “wasting” time on the internet checking movie times at every Seattle movie house. And now you’ve recommended it, Yaron, so I’ll go.
December 29, 2010 at 1:02pm
David: Black Swan was awesome. Highly recommend!
December 29, 2010 at 4:14pm