Angel ,'Conviction (1)'
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
A friend of mine once cracked the crowd up at a theater showing the preview to Escape from L.A. by shouting "SNAKE PLISSKEN? I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" when Kurt Russell first appeared onscreen.
That was probably more entertaining than the movie itself.
that may be a factor of my friends saying "Hey, let's go see [whatever]" and then arranging it with all their friends to be there.
But then... that can happen just as easily in an online watch-and-post. It's probably easier, since you aren't limited by geography. I'm not trying to nitpick; I just don't understand what communal experiences are getting lost.
I think I am Plei-ish in my feelings about large groups. I mean, the crowd-response experiences that I think of are things like, worrying I was going to be murdered at Star Wars. Or wanting to murder people after Independence Day.
I do think comedies are better with an audience, but... I can't think of the last comedy I saw, so. The funny bits of Versus were funnier because of the audience reaction. But with anything immersive, other people's reactions are more likely to distract me than enhance my experience. I do get a rush from seeing a good movie on a big screen, but I can get that at a matinee.
There was a movie theater in town (since closed) that a friend of mine referred to as the interactive theater. LOTS of audience participation. I usually avoided it like a veritable plague.
I watched Elf in an empty theatre and I thought it was just OK. Then I watched it at home with friends and we were all laughing and I thought it was hilarious.
One thing I still can't have is the immersive experience of sitting down front with the big screen and the surround sound. It's worth $5 for the matinee for that.
my dad went to see Poltergeist in the theatre and the scene where JoBeth Williams character falls in the pool with the skeletons, somebody yelled out "get out of the pool, bitch!!". so that's become a common saying around our house when people are in the pool.
Laga, you need to see the Elmo/Kevin Clash documentary. It's currently making the festival circuit, but I'm sure it'll get distribution in theaters or TV soon.
PBS in the winter.
cool!
It's going to be part of the Independent Lens series, so, uh, check your local listings....
I had seen all the Marx Brothers' films on TV or video by the time I finally went to theatrical showing. They were edited to allow time for the laughs, so they work so much better with a full house.
I still remember going to see the first LotR movies late in the run. I went into an almost empty theater and spotted a row of teenage girls who, on a second look, were wearing elf ears.