tick tock, Hollywood.......tick tock.

Still, I think there's something about seeing it with a large group that adds to the ambience, and the overall experience of watching a movie.

I know that with even personal projects, showing them to one or two people at a time gets a completely different response than showing them to a larger crowd. There's some kind of cinematic feel that you get - just like seeing a theatrical presentation. A vibe in the room, that everybody is there to watch the same thing. I don't know that it is just the big screen and sound that make the whole difference. It becomes an outing, an event - rather than the practical element of watching the movie itself.

If a group of stage actors came to your living room and gave a performance, or if they did it in a large amphitheatre, you'd definitely have a different experience.
 
have you went to the theater lately??

have you went to the theater lately??

I haven't been to the theater a TON this summer; however, its not clear which of you have went to the theater yourselves and seen any summer movies by your posts. But I have went. And I am also in Netflix so I see a lot of movies in a week between the two.

I always will stand firmly that no one can say "everything out there is crap" without actually going out there and seeing something. I can't stand whiners who have no real perspective. It's usually the same people who like to start every sentence with "In my day..."

In my opinion I have seen some good to really great entertaining movies this summer (five i can think of off the top of my head):
Mr and Mrs Smith, Batman Begins, Star Wars 3, Hooligans, War of the Worlds.

So that's 5 movies that were well worth their admission fees. And all of those I will buy on DVD as well. And I still am looking forward to seeing: "The Island", "Wedding Crashers", "Dark Water", "Domino" and I'm probably forgetting some.

So say only 1 of these remaining movies is any good. that's a summer movie season, say May through August, with a half-dozen good movies. Doesn't sound like a "when is Hollywood gonna learn and quit making garbage" situation to me.

I love the theater experience as well. I prefer the big opening night crowds. Love em! But I am just taking myself and my wife. I really can't imagine if we had to take kids with us too, that's getting quite expensive. Plus kids must have candy and well now you're throwing lots of money out there.

I don't know what the solution is, but in my opinion there isn't any more crap out there now than there has been for some time. I am very selective in my movies and I read the CHUD's, and Aint It Cools, and Dark Horizons, all the time so maybe I make better shopping decisions, but still I am happy the majority of the time at the theater.
 
Ok, somewhat of a majority of posts say that a group experience will always be a main drawing factor of people to the theaters. But let me submit this: Lifestyles change alot.....it also changes with technology. If I hadnt too much time to go to the theater because of my job or because of my life, but I wanted to see some great movie that was coming out. Having an option to download, I would select the download. We all must remember that we (cinema entrepreneurs) arent the only ones watching these movies. There are millions of other people who are watching them. And sometimes they cant afford to go to their local cinema and watch a movie.....due to their busy lives. Thats why I feel its very appealing for many people to download or stream these movies.
 
"The group experience"..... wow; you guys experiences have been totally the opposite of mine if you prefer people talking throughout the movie, the nuisance of the cell phones, and the assclowns with the "did you see that", "why did he/she do that", and the ever so popular "what just happend"?
I try to avoid the opening weekend crowd and catch a matinee midweek.
 
I went to see Romero's Land of the Dead recently at an 11:00 am Matinee (This film sucked hard; what a let-down) and it was $6.50 for a Matineee Price. I went in a bought a SMALL popcorn and a SMALL Coke and it was $8.00. $14.50 for crap.

I enjoy watching films with audiences only when it is a legitimate filmgoing audience and not a bucnh of ass-hat kids there to make noise and disrupt the experience. I go out of my to see Early Bird Weekday showings just to avoid that crap.

What will happen in the future I believe is that EVERYONE will have the Sorroundsound Large Screen Home Theatre experience; prices go down and it becomes no longer a luxury but a norm.

Stil; the theatres and Hollywood will always be there and always turn out great films and a majority of them being crap. As they always have.

What scares me is that how much can they charge for crap and at what point do people say "I ain't paying $15.50 to see a movie"
 
Isn't it though?

I mean, I'm a movie whore anyway. I'm easy. Not every film has to be Lost in Translation or Sideways or some transending experience. Give me War of the Worlds; give me Land of the Dead; Give The Devils Reject's.................

eat.gif


Just shut the hell up will ya?

Rude little bastards; and you can't smack em either. That suck's. And what is Waldo the Usher going to do? Hell, it's his friends anyway.

SIDENOTE

When watchign WOW with my wife; the Previews started and the Curtains had not been adjusted for the 1:85:1 Ratio. The top curtain was still in 2:35:1 Mode. Anyway, the Previews start and all of them are CUT IN HALF practically including the NEW King Kong Trailer.

I'm sitting there freaking out of course. FInally, as the movie is about to start someone adjusts the curtains.

BACK ON TOPIC

Shut up people. Thats the real problem.
 
Saw War of the Worlds last night with the wife and WOW WHAT A MOVIE!

Only problem was the couple sitting right next to me wouldn't shut the fuk up! Ruined my experience. :cry:
 
I'm with Jubal on the issue of "they'd better do something or..."

Or what. What's going to happen? Who cares. All the above the line guys who actually get all that money are still rich. OH NO!!!! EVERYONE PANIC! Hollywood producers aren't making as much money as they were this time last year! They word it like everyone in Hollywood is going to be living in a van and eating Ramen noodles inside of 6 months if the paying public doesn't start seeing 2 movies a day. Cmon give me a break. They're still filthy rich. What's the problem? Can't quite afford that second private carribean island this year, Mr. Executive Producer? What's that? You wanted to buy your wife ANOTHER pink Lamborghini to match her poodle? Awww too bad you'll have to live a life of excess WITHOUT those things this year...

Boo Hoo.
 
I certainly agree that a shitty crowd gives a shitty experience in the cinema - but to be fair, I'm selective of the theatres I go to these days, and generally don't have a problem. I know most of the cinemas and know which ones I like and dislike - and that being the case, love the theatrical experience.
 
I wish digital projection would hurry up, that will improve things no end. The print of WOW I had to sit through was terrible. Worst I have ever seen... since they forgot to turn on the sound for the first 10 minutes of Saving Private Ryan! Damn projectionist!

Whenever I have one of my own films shown, they always seem to bugger it up too; wrong aspect ratio, focus, dodgy playback deck, covering everything with digital breakup! GRRR!! Do you know how long that took me!!!

Digital projection should also help finacially.
 
Yes yes yes

The Print of WOW was horrible for me as well. Bad stuff. Super Grainy and transperent at times ; hard to explain but not a beautiful image
 
On the technology front, and this will probably sound arrogant or like I'm some kind of "insider" or something, I'm not (well I am arrogant apparently according to some of the soon to be fired employees :evil: ). I've had to sign so many freaking NDAs that I'm afraid to even talk to myself sometimes. So, as vague as I can be...

The company I work for is privately demoing some technology to some hard-hitters this week that's, in pie-in-the-sky sales people theory anyway, going to change the delivery mechanism for all sorts of different media. Compression, encryption and network penetration methods are cycling faster and faster these days. Some of the target markets/clients are in areas that I would have never imagined or were impossible even 18 months ago.

One of our previous products was already being used by one of the major theater chains. And the fed jumping in on cable line barriers has helped a great deal i.e. it's possible to deliver the same or similar media that cable TV offers over their own lines.

I'm a DVD guy, I avoid crowds (unless I'm in front of one playing in a band) as a rule. And the outputs of PC/Macs can obviously go into plasmas or digital projectors, etc. If you're comfortable with the compression hit you take on a DVD then quality will not be an issue.

I like watching DVDs with friends privately where you can cut-up and be a jerk without bothering anyone else (not to mention pounding a few beers :beer: ). It has to be a freaking MAJOR event for me to even consider walking into a theater. (“Sin City” qualified this year but that’s it, I’m a Star Wars fan and I didn’t even catch episode 3).

I don’t see theaters going away though, ever imo. To me theaters are what concerts are for music, if you’re a concert fan you want to go for the immediacy and atmosphere. If you’re not you wait for the live album to come out.
 
I can understand the "So what" attitude. I mean, Hollywood is gonna keep making tons of $$$ no matter what our whinning does. I is just that there is no one on this forum that has not been profoundly affected by the movie going experience sometime in their lives. For most of us, it happened when we were very young. Because of that we have kind of a vested interest in movies and the movie going experience. This experience has changed. In all probablity, it is really us that has changed and what we long for is lost youth or some other psycho-bable bs kinda of thing.

I know that everything outta Hollywood (or I should say Vancouver South) is not crap. It is just that their is just so little that I find interesting anymore. When was the last time you saw something unique at the movies? LOTR? Yeah. Sin City? yeah. What else? Look at this year. Another Star Wars movie, a Batman movie, a Herbie movie, a Bewitched remake, a Honeymooners remake, another zombie movie, 1970s comedy remake-Longest Yard, 1970s horror movie remake-Amityville horror, 1970s low budget action remake-Assualt on Precinct 13, an other comic book-Fantastic Four, another horror remake-House of Wax and how many sequels? Ring Two, Be Cool, Miss Congeniality 2, Beauty Shop, XXX, State of the Union, Elecktra,
Why the f*ck can't I go see a movie that I do not know how it is going to end?
 
Going to see a movie I've been waiting for and finding out that they are screening it in a walk in closet really REALLY pisses me off, so I have made a note of what screening rooms have the biggest screens, and I call ahead of time to ask what showing will be on THOSE screens. So, I dont just pick my movies and times, but I actually pick my screens. How anal is that? :undecided
 
Rosestar all I can say is maybe you need to move your ass on getting holographic movies up and running or theaters in space or movies zapped directly into your melon or something and put down your DVX cause aside from a movie shown on a screen you don't sound like you can be impressed. LOL But seriously that's sad to me.

Do you make movies? Do you like those? Is there any other movie in history that is somewhat similar to yours? I thought Matrix was original. I thought Fight Club and Sin City were as well, all for different reasons and I could name many many others in recent years but there's no need to. Did ya know how Fight Club was going to end? What about Seven, Mulholland Dr, and Eternal Sunshine?

I mean, what are you looking for in a movie? Everything has been done. Sure. So long as human beings are involved I guess it has. Every year there are truly great movies being made. But it sounds like by your way of thinking the only ORIGINAL movies are from the late 19th century or The Jazz Singer. I guess all of us on this forum is pretty much f*cked then.

I am sure you have a helluva lot more experience than I do, but I sure hope I have a long time ahead of me before I start thinking that way. I can't imagine that weighing on me and trying to be a filmmaker at the same time.
 
I didn't even bother to read all 4 pages....because the solution is so simple it's almost ambiguous: Quit making CRAP!! Quit making rehash after rehash of tv shows, comic books, japanese horror flicks, sequels of other movies, etc. One or two is ok, but once one studio figures out that it works....it becomes *The Formula* for the next few years!! It's sad really!! History repeating itself...like the movie-mill studios of old......

~reservoir~
 
I certainly love original movies, but we shouldn't say Hollywood is sad.

We can complain all we want - but if it were your millions upon millions of dollars being put into a movie, wouldn't you want to have some sort of guarantee on your investment? I know I would. Executives use movies to make themselves money, and if they are successful at it - why care?
 
the-lyons-den.com said:
Rosestar all I can say is maybe you need to move your ass on getting holographic movies up and running or theaters in space or movies zapped directly into your melon or something and put down your DVX cause aside from a movie shown on a screen you don't sound like you can be impressed. LOL But seriously that's sad to me.

Do you make movies? Do you like those? Is there any other movie in history that is somewhat similar to yours? I thought Matrix was original. I thought Fight Club and Sin City were as well, all for different reasons and I could name many many others in recent years but there's no need to. Did ya know how Fight Club was going to end? What about Seven, Mulholland Dr, and Eternal Sunshine?

I mean, what are you looking for in a movie? Everything has been done. Sure. So long as human beings are involved I guess it has. Every year there are truly great movies being made. But it sounds like by your way of thinking the only ORIGINAL movies are from the late 19th century or The Jazz Singer. I guess all of us on this forum is pretty much f*cked then.

I am sure you have a helluva lot more experience than I do, but I sure hope I have a long time ahead of me before I start thinking that way. I can't imagine that weighing on me and trying to be a filmmaker at the same time.
Click to expand...

First off, I am sorry that you have taken such offense to my expressing my opinion that you have to be as hostile as you are being.

I love the Matrix (1999) and Fight Club (1999) and Sin City (2005). I liked Seven (1995), and am a great fan of David Lynch and loved Mulholland Dr. (2001). I also am a fan of Charlie Kaufman and liked Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, though I liked Being John Malkovich better. I am very much looking forward to the next pairing of Kaufman and Spike Jonze that is to be released latter this year.

Lets look at it, you said there are more you could name, but don't need to, yet you only named 6 films from the last 10 years.


I mean, what are you looking for in a movie?
Click to expand...

I want to walk out of a movie thinking, "Wow!!" and I want the movie affect me and force me to think about it for a while. I do not think that that is too much to ask for. Mystic River did it too me, so did Monster so did Master and Commander, so did the LOTR trilogy, so did Timecode, so did Sin City, so did Mullhalland Dr, and Lost Highway and Wild at Heart and Blue Velvet, ect, ect, ect.

Everything has been done.
Click to expand...

Uhmm...Bull ****.

Every year there are truly great movies being made.
Click to expand...

Uhmmm, Bull ****.

But it sounds like by your way of thinking the only ORIGINAL movies are from the late 19th century or The Jazz Singer.
Click to expand...

I have to admit that I came of age in the late '60s and early '70s and had the great fortune to have a father that was a movie fan and would take me to see everything. Among the theatre going experiences of my childhood include, Bonnie and Clyde, Patton, Vanishing Point, China Town, The Last Picture Show, Rosemary's Baby, The French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer, Fat City, Badlands, The Godfather, Five Easy Pieces, M*A*S*H, Caberet, Deliverance, The Sting, American Garfitti, The Conversation, Barry Lyndon, 2001: A Space Odyssey(70mm revial), Jaws (fouth in line, first showing , first day), Dog Day Afternoon, Network, All the Presidents Men, Taxi Driver, Annie Hall, Sleeper, Take the Money and Run, Young Frankenstein, Blazeing Saddles and second in line, first day, first showing, Star Wars.

What do I want, I want movies as good as the ones I saw in my youth. Those films are out there, they are just becoming too hard to find, at the Cineplex. I know that, on this forum, I am unique in that I am older than most of the member here (I am 43 years old), yet, I believe that because I came of age in the '70s, I have seen a golden age of cinema. I remember when the filmmaker was king, not the marketing department. I am sorry but I remember when the word Blockbuster was new.

And by the way, I do make movies, I work as a DP and as an Editor on low budget Sci-Fi and Horror films. I also do corporate communication videos (most of my work). My feature work is, in my mind, training so as I can make the films that I would like to make.

I just hope that you are exploring the films of the past. Trust me, there are some great movies made before you were born.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top