Last summer I was kicked out of a movie theater I'd been
attending without incident for ten years. Sudden objection: I walk with a cane
and carry a backpack (always have). Cane could be a weapon. Backpack could
contain weapons.
I whined on Facebook and friends encouraged me to
complain to corporate headquarters. Vivian was especially supportive. She told
me to demand a year of free movies.
I did complain to corporate headquarters and I was
offered several months of free movies. That period is coming to a close. Here's
an assessment: given how much money is involved, and how many talented people
there are out there, it's surprising how many bad movies get made.
Best Movie Seen: "Captain
Philips"
Runner-up: "Monument
Men"
Worst Movie Seen: "Her"
Biggest Disappointment: "Son
of God"
Movie I Wished I'd Never Seen AND Wish I Could Imprison
and Legally Punish the Filmmakers: "Prisoners."
What a tortured, pretentious crapfest.
Movie that would have been much better had they not gone
for tri-continental sweep, historical import, and truthy pronouncements about
Art with a capital A and just tightened the focus and made it a character study
of a bitchy woman and her charming chauffeur: "Saving
Mr. Banks."
Movie I would not see not only with a free ticket; movie
they could not pay me to see: "Gravity."
Most forgettable: "Pompeii,"
"Elysium,"
"Lone
Survivor"
Most overrated and biggest Schadenfreude when it ended up empty handed at
the Oscars, but offers most Amy Adams sideboobage "American
Hustle"
Movie I would be least likely to see without a free
ticket: "The
Conjuring."
Movies I would probably have seen had it not been for the
snowstorm, and, then, the snowstorm, and, oh look, another snowstorm:
"Frozen," "Anchorman Two," "August Osage County."
Biggest, most nagging question: Where are the women?
Where is the twenty-first century "All About Eve" or "Now Voyager"?
You simply must see "The Wolf of Wall Street." Not because you'll like it, but because I want to read your review.
ReplyDeleteHi, Liron. I almost certainly won't see it. Sex and drugs and decadence ... not really my cup of tea.
DeleteGlad you got the free films. I can't help wondering: what about the movie that won the Best Film Oscar: Twelve Years A Slave?
ReplyDeleteMick, thanks for reading and commenting. Yes, that is the obvious film to ask about!
DeleteI think that "Twelve Years a Slave" and movies like it exist to alert viewers to horrific realities.
I know about slavery from reading about it and having met a slave and the child of a slave and I don't need to expose myself to the movie and its horrors because I'm already familiar with slavery.
I understand your reservation about 12YAS. I saw it with a woman friend who was shocked by how harrowing it was. In mitigation, I would add my wife (who is squeamish about violence on celluloid) was v impressed by the film, and the beauty and power of the text by Northrup. I think a work of art like 12YAS isn't just a work of journalism to alert & inform the audience that dreadful things lie at the roots of US history. There is also imaginative empathy with these characters, how they endured these horrors, and moral conundrums: how does a moral or decent man function in such a deformed society? Best wishes.
DeleteMick thank you for sharing your thoughts.
DeleteBecause I have written about Polish-Jewish relations and their treatment in pop culture, when I do go to see difficult films, more often than not they are about Poland's various crucifixions. Recent films I've seen, and reviewed on Amazon, include "In Darkness," about Jews surviving in the sewers of Lwow, and Katyn, about the mass murder that took place in Katyn. Both of these films were really hard to watch.