I haven't been out to the movies lately. Nothing out there really appeals to me right now. I am anxiously awaiting the wide release of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, but alas it has not arrived in the desert yet. Although even though I haven't seen any of these, I can still cast a judgmental and dismissive eye upon them. Check it out:
Twilight: Even if I liked stories about femmy looking vampires and their wacky adventures in the Pacific Northwest, I would be turned off by the marketing for this movie, which is geared nearly exclusively to teenaged girls.
Bolt: It's amazing to me that Disney still bothers with these non-Pixar cgi movies; Meet the Robinsons and Chicken Little made money, but they are nowhere near as good as, well, any Pixar movie ever, and this movie will suffer the same fate.
Quantum of Solace: Today's technology is impressive: this movie has only been in theaters for two weeks, but its already out on dvd under the title The Bourne Supremacy.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: The law of sequels says that there is no way that this will be as good as the first one, which sadly sucked ass.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year: I think I could only be made to watch this movie if I was strapped down Clockwork Orange style, but even then I would only make it halfway through before I choked on my own vomit and mercifully spared myself from any more stupid song and dance numbers about basketball.
Role Models: This movie actually seems ok, but I feel like we are getting a movie like this every month now and I am getting sick of them, you know?
Changeling: "Directed by Clint Eastwood" + "Starring Angelina Jolie" = Oscar gold, well usually, except looking at the plot synopsis, the equation also should have "A Lifetime Original Movie" in there which throws the whole thing off balance.
December looks like it will have some quality films in it, so hopefully my movie malaise will be broken. Until then, thank goodness for Netflix.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Eat Some Popcorn!
I read a news blurb on the IMDB about how movie concession sales have dropped alarmingly this year. I'm sure upon hearing that, you reacted much like me: "well duh!" People have less money to throw around this year than in years past, on average. Between folks struggling to make mortgage payments and record high gas prices this summer, who has the cash to buy popcorn or sno-caps or sour patch kids when they go see the latest computer animated blockbuster or annoyingly awful family comedy starring Martin Lawrence? Plus, movie concession prices are downright ridiculous these days. You can buy a 64 ounce Icee at the Circle K for a dollar, but at the theater, a 20 ounce Icee costs like three times as much, for three times less Icee. And I don't know what the profit margin on popcorn is, but if I had to guess, I would say at least 5000%.
But here's the deal, everyone. The movie theater conglomerate isn't going to put up with this much longer. The theaters don't see a lot of the cut from the movies they show. The big money is in those five dollar hotdogs and eight dollar buckets or popcorn. And they know that we are still going to the movies. This year, we the moviegoing public, pushed the new Batman movie all the way up to number 2 in all time box office. We turned out in droves for the comeback of Robert Downey, Jr. And we made a movie about talking chihuahuas one of the most successful movies of the year. But the theaters are pretty pissed that we aren't buying as much junk as we should be. And if they can't get to their profit goals through concessions, they are going to raise ticket prices, and no one wants that. Tickets are already approaching $10 apiece here in Tucson, and that's bad enough.
So we all need to start eating popcorn at the movies again. For the good of humanity. I know that it totally sucks spending more than the ticket price just to buy a cup of Sprite from the soda fountain, so I suggest a compromise. Buy stuff you can share. Share your popcorn. Pass around the Twizzlers to everyone in your movie party. Don't buy hotdogs, because sharing those seems sort of gross. A group of four people buying one thing is better than buying nothing, and you can rest assured that your money is going to a good cause. I would much rather spend some money on movie food some of the time than paying $12 for a movie every time.
But here's the deal, everyone. The movie theater conglomerate isn't going to put up with this much longer. The theaters don't see a lot of the cut from the movies they show. The big money is in those five dollar hotdogs and eight dollar buckets or popcorn. And they know that we are still going to the movies. This year, we the moviegoing public, pushed the new Batman movie all the way up to number 2 in all time box office. We turned out in droves for the comeback of Robert Downey, Jr. And we made a movie about talking chihuahuas one of the most successful movies of the year. But the theaters are pretty pissed that we aren't buying as much junk as we should be. And if they can't get to their profit goals through concessions, they are going to raise ticket prices, and no one wants that. Tickets are already approaching $10 apiece here in Tucson, and that's bad enough.
So we all need to start eating popcorn at the movies again. For the good of humanity. I know that it totally sucks spending more than the ticket price just to buy a cup of Sprite from the soda fountain, so I suggest a compromise. Buy stuff you can share. Share your popcorn. Pass around the Twizzlers to everyone in your movie party. Don't buy hotdogs, because sharing those seems sort of gross. A group of four people buying one thing is better than buying nothing, and you can rest assured that your money is going to a good cause. I would much rather spend some money on movie food some of the time than paying $12 for a movie every time.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Michael Crichton
Author and screenwriter Michael Crichton died of cancer yesterday, according to a statement from his family being reported by various news sources today.
Crichton paid his way through Harvard med school by penning pulp novels under pseudonyms in the 1960s, before using his own name and concentrating on writing full-time.
The topics Crichton took on in his suspenseful and often scientific thrillers, naturally lent themselves to film adaptations, and he contributed much to the movies. His first break in Hollywood was the 1971 adaptation of his Andromeda Strain (which was also remade as a television miniseries this past year).
Crichton co-wrote the film adaptation of perhaps his own best known work, Jurassic Park, as well as the natural disaster thriller Twister. Prior to that, he had written and directed the classic science fiction movies Westworld and the film adaptation of Robin Cook's Coma. In the mid 1990s he turned a medical drama movie he was working on, at the advice of friend Steven Spielberg, into a television series, and it became ER (the two hour pilot episode was essentially his original film screenplay).
By the time of his death, most of Crichton's novels found their way to the big screen as well, notably Congo, Sphere, Disclosure and The 13th Warrior, although he always commented that he never wrote his novels with the film versions in mind -- a point made by the film version of The Lost World which differed considerably from the novel in seemingly every aspect except the title.
Medically trained, Crichton was very science minded, and science and medicine featured heavily in most of his works. He has been described as "the only writer to use footnotes in fiction" and "not science fiction, but science eventuality." His strong scientific views occasionally brought him controversy, most famously his denial of global warming. He was a board member of The Dinosaur Society, an organization that raises funds for paleontological research and education. Crichton had a dinosaur, crichtonsaurus, named after him.
I was a fan of Crichton. Not only did I relate to his growing up as an outsider, and found influence in his writing subjects and style, I discovered pure entertainment and escapism in his novels and the movies he helped bring to life. His influence will be missed.
Crichton paid his way through Harvard med school by penning pulp novels under pseudonyms in the 1960s, before using his own name and concentrating on writing full-time.
The topics Crichton took on in his suspenseful and often scientific thrillers, naturally lent themselves to film adaptations, and he contributed much to the movies. His first break in Hollywood was the 1971 adaptation of his Andromeda Strain (which was also remade as a television miniseries this past year).
Crichton co-wrote the film adaptation of perhaps his own best known work, Jurassic Park, as well as the natural disaster thriller Twister. Prior to that, he had written and directed the classic science fiction movies Westworld and the film adaptation of Robin Cook's Coma. In the mid 1990s he turned a medical drama movie he was working on, at the advice of friend Steven Spielberg, into a television series, and it became ER (the two hour pilot episode was essentially his original film screenplay).
By the time of his death, most of Crichton's novels found their way to the big screen as well, notably Congo, Sphere, Disclosure and The 13th Warrior, although he always commented that he never wrote his novels with the film versions in mind -- a point made by the film version of The Lost World which differed considerably from the novel in seemingly every aspect except the title.
Medically trained, Crichton was very science minded, and science and medicine featured heavily in most of his works. He has been described as "the only writer to use footnotes in fiction" and "not science fiction, but science eventuality." His strong scientific views occasionally brought him controversy, most famously his denial of global warming. He was a board member of The Dinosaur Society, an organization that raises funds for paleontological research and education. Crichton had a dinosaur, crichtonsaurus, named after him.
I was a fan of Crichton. Not only did I relate to his growing up as an outsider, and found influence in his writing subjects and style, I discovered pure entertainment and escapism in his novels and the movies he helped bring to life. His influence will be missed.
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