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Does anyone on OTF still go to the cinema?

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    I watched Banshees of Inisherin last Friday at a massive cinema in Times Square. First visit to the cinema since well before the pandemo. Maybe even over a decade.

    Walt's recommendation seconded.

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      After an absence of almost three years, I think, we've been back to the cinema twice this past week - Triangle of Sadness and, tonight, Rheingold. ToS had its faults and a certain lack of subtlety, but some scenes/set-ups were cinematic gold. Rheingold just had me properly fixated on the screen for the last two and a half hours, and promising myself to start going again to the big pictures at least once a week.

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        I've not been to the cinema since pre-pandemic but The Banshees of Inisherin will, I think, tempt me back.

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          Black Adam today. I don't have high hopes but eggchaser's review seemed promising enough for me to give it a go.

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            The Draughtsman's Contract has had a 4k restoration and is on at the BFI. I'm very excited to see it on the big screen.

            Even if the drawings really irritate me. I know they are Greenaway's own work and they are well done but they are so late 20th century it hurts. I find them frustratingly anachronistic.

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              I saw Banshees of Inisherin a week ago and it's still going round my head while I process how I feel about it. That's got to be a sign of its quality, if nothing else.

              I certainly enjoyed it a lot and clearly the first half is very funny while still shot through with the darkness that I knew from reviews and interviews with Martin McDonagh would be a large part of the film. I probably found the final sections too unremittingly bleak, to be honest, but that doesn't alter my high opinion of the film.

              I did think the metaphor of the civil war for the rift between Pádraic and Colm was a little heavy-handedly done and felt a little the same about the way some of the script signposted the issue of depression. Both themes were clear enough in the plot without being flagged in such an on-the-nose way, for me.
              Last edited by Ray de Galles; 12-11-2022, 10:41.

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                Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

                Urgh. Just...urgh.

                Good stuff:

                Bringing Namor into the MCU in a convincing fashion. He's a bit of a weird and silly character in the comics, but the whole way the Not-The-Atlanteans-Because-DC-Got-Aquaman-On-Screen-First got the power to breathe underwater made sense enough, as did his motivation for his actions. The actor was great too, but he needs a bit more hauteur the next time we see him.

                Absolutely every second Winston Duke was doing anything, he is gold as M'baku. There's a TV series to be had with him and the Wakandan elders sitting around arguing about the affairs of state.

                Angela Bassett was great, as was Martin Freeman.

                A very, very unexpected cameo.

                Bad Stuff:

                Not enough Namor wrecking fools.

                The massive, enormous Chadwick Boseman shaped hole in the film. Without him, it's left to side characters, Wakandan Q and a bunch of people who are fun or interesting as background, but aren't what the film should be about. I simply didn't give a toss about a lot of their motivation or plot progress.

                There might be a good film about trying to deal with loss in there, but the by the numbers action scenes get in the way, and vice versa. Shuri is the notional lead, but much like Black Adam there are far more interesting things going on elsewhere. Letitia Wright may be a fine actress, but she can't carry a Marvel film.

                And the introduction of Ironheart felt tacked on as hell, although she was good.
                Last edited by Eggchaser; 13-11-2022, 23:32. Reason: Hooray for autocorrect!

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                  Originally posted by Eggchaser View Post
                  Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

                  Urgh. Just...urgh.

                  Good stuff:

                  Bringing Namor into the MCU in a convincing fashion. He's a bit of a weird and silly character in the comics, but the whole way the Not-The-Atlanteans-Because-DC-Got-Aquaman-On-Screen-First got the power to breathe underwater made sense enough, as did his motivation for his actions. The actor was great too, but he needs a bit more hauteur the next time we see him.

                  Absolutely every second Winston Duke was doing anything, he is gold as M'baku. There's a TV series to be had with him and the Wakandan elders sitting around arguing about the affairs of state.

                  Angela Bassett was great, as was Martin Freeman.

                  A very, very unexpected cameo.

                  Bad Stuff:

                  Not enough Namor wrecking fools.

                  The massive, enormous Chadwick Boseman shaped hole in the film. Without him, it's left to side characters, Wakandan Q and a bunch of people who are fun or interesting as background, but aren't what the film should be about. I simply didn't give a toss about a lot of their motivation or plot progress.

                  There might be a good film about trying to deal with loss in there, but the by the numbers action scenes get in the way, and vice versa. Shuri is the notional lead, but much like Black Adam there are far more interesting things going on elsewhere. Letitia Wright may be a fine actress, but she can't carry a Marvel film.

                  And the introduction of Ironheart felt tacked on as hell, although she was good.
                  I didn’t love it. It seemed like parts of three or four different movies stitched together.

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                    We expected so much from the original that we took a flyer and bought the DVD. My god, never been so bored in my life.

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                      I enjoyed it...I wasn't expecting much and I had a good time, but thought it was too long.

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                        Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post

                        I didn’t love it. It seemed like parts of three or four different movies stitched together.
                        I reckon it would have made a good TV series, to give the story time to breathe in terms of the characters moving on and the new Black Panther emerging. Then you hit the ground running with the established hero in the film.

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                          Originally posted by Eggchaser View Post

                          I reckon it would have made a good TV series, to give the story time to breathe in terms of the characters moving on and the new Black Panther emerging. Then you hit the ground running with the established hero in the film.
                          Yeah. Disney and Warner are still having some issues sorting out which of of their big IP ideas should be films and which should be streaming series. Unfortunately, the decision is usually based on what it thinks it can market, rather than what serves the story the best. But these things cost a fortune to make, so I can understand why it is that way.

                          My screening was pretty full and there were a bunch of Black young people in my row. They were definitely way into it. The young woman next to me was loudly sobbing at various points and the kid on the other side let out a few "OOOOOOHHHHH, SHIITTTTTT!" Especially in the mid-credit thing.



                          Unrelated to the film, I think this new trend - well, it's new where I live - of having reserved seats at the cinema is a bad idea. I like the recliner seats, but I have a recliner at home.

                          In the old days - in most of the US, at least - it was just first come first served. So you had to get there early to get the seats you wanted. But, for the most part, everyone was settled in by the time the film started. The downside was that, in full showings of the big blockbusters, you'd get that irritation of people coming late and then loudly trying to negotiate with people to move down, etc. But that was only if was absolutely rammed. And in that case, one of the staff would usually come in before the film started and explain to people the situation and tell them all to fill in from the middle of each row, etc.

                          I thought that having assigned seats would have eliminated that problem. But it seems to have only made it worse. Lots of people show up during the trailers - because their seats are reserved, supposedly - but then they argue with people who are sitting in their assigned seats. At the showing I went to of Wakanda Forever - from what I could overhear - some kids were in the seats assigned to a couple that came later and just refused to move. But the argument about that was distracting.

                          Our theater also does a really poor job of showing the row and seat numbers. They are marked, but the letters/numbers are very small (they are lit up, at least).

                          Maybe it's just because this system is new to us, and that society will eventually adjust as we have, for the most part, at sporting events.
                          At sporting events with assigned seats, you rarely have people refusing to move from somebody else's seats because everyone just understands how it's supposed to work. And when that does happen, a big guy comes along to sort it out and there are breaks in the action where that stuff can be sorted out. If that's happening near you while you try to watch the game, it's not a huge distraction. But in a film, it definitely is.
                          (Live theater, of course, just doesn't put up with that at all. The doors are closed once the play starts.)


                          And tickets are $12 and drinks are $6. So much of the hand-wringing about the state of movies seems to be blaming the audience for not understanding the value of the cinema, but apparently the people who think that - directors and critics - don't understand what going to the cinema is actually like for the overwhelming majority of Americans.

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                            No assigned seats? Blimey, you absolutely have to have them here, although you can choose when booking. We always go extreme left, in one of the three rows in front of the rear. Stems from my dodgy back and knees so if I need to stand up, I can just lean against the wall for a minute without gettingin anyone's way, although modern cinema seats are pretty good, especially compared to the half an inch of padding on the seats in the old Purley fleapit.

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                              Originally posted by Eggchaser View Post
                              No assigned seats? Blimey, you absolutely have to have them here, although you can choose when booking. We always go extreme left, in one of the three rows in front of the rear. Stems from my dodgy back and knees so if I need to stand up, I can just lean against the wall for a minute without gettingin anyone's way, although modern cinema seats are pretty good, especially compared to the half an inch of padding on the seats in the old Purley fleapit.
                              Yeah, I gathered that has been that way in the UK for a while.
                              Here, the only time I ever reserved a seat for a film was when I saw The Dark Knight on an IMAX in suburban Baltimore (I happened to be in Baltimore for a conference).

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                                Off to see it on Thursday, though the running time really puts me off - plus I guess I oughta wait for the mid credit scenes (are there end credit scenes too?). Re-watched Black Panther last night, and still enjoy it immensely.

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                                  Yea me & mrs a have luxury of attending movies on her day offs Monday or Tuesday. Afternoon. Which are never going to be over-subscribed auditoriums. But even so still book as late as possible & ensure our seats are going to cause as little inconvenience as possible once bums are on them. Nothing can do about about walk ins. Though have noticed even among sparse audiences people will talk throughout trailers and adverts. Text or talk on mobiles. But once the guidance to hush & shush ahead of the feature film is screened it is fully respected.

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                                    Originally posted by RobW View Post
                                    Off to see it on Thursday, though the running time really puts me off - plus I guess I oughta wait for the mid credit scenes (are there end credit scenes too?). Re-watched Black Panther last night, and still enjoy it immensely.
                                    There's a mid-credit scene. No end credit scene.

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                                      Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post

                                      Yeah, I gathered that has been that way in the UK for a while.
                                      Here, the only time I ever reserved a seat for a film was when I saw The Dark Knight on an IMAX in suburban Baltimore (I happened to be in Baltimore for a conference).
                                      I think just about every theater in LA is now reserved seating, except perhaps for the New Beverly revival theater (now owned by Tarantino) and other small single-screen arthouses that aren't part of a chain. Reserved seating was one of the appeals for the much beloved Arclight chain, which started doing it here in the early 2000s.

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                                        Originally posted by Incandenza View Post

                                        I think just about every theater in LA is now reserved seating, except perhaps for the New Beverly revival theater (now owned by Tarantino) and other small single-screen arthouses that aren't part of a chain. Reserved seating was one of the appeals for the much beloved Arclight chain, which started doing it here in the early 2000s.
                                        I heard about the Arclight. Sad to hear about that.

                                        Perhaps people in LA know how to behave in a cinema.

                                        It would be nice to be able to see some old movies on a big screen.

                                        We have one theatre (they spell it that way) that occasionally shows movies, but it's always on Monday night, which doesn't work for me. However, I am going to see Planes, Trains and Automobiles there next week.

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                                          Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                                          I heard about the Arclight. Sad to hear about that.
                                          .
                                          At least there are plans for the Cinerama Dome to reopen again. We had an Arclight in Santa Monica that we liked going to--it was in a mall, but it was usually a nice experience going there. They have someone come in an introduce the movie, saying how long the running time was and they said that they would stay in the theater for the first few minutes to make sure that there were no sound or picture problems (though really I haven't experienced anything like that in a theater for a long time). Plus the Arclight would show about 2 or 3 trailers, tops, and no ads. When we saw Wakanda Forever it felt like there were over 20 minutes' worth of ads and trailers (in an AMC theater).

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                                            Originally posted by Incandenza View Post

                                            At least there are plans for the Cinerama Dome to reopen again. We had an Arclight in Santa Monica that we liked going to--it was in a mall, but it was usually a nice experience going there. They have someone come in an introduce the movie, saying how long the running time was and they said that they would stay in the theater for the first few minutes to make sure that there were no sound or picture problems (though really I haven't experienced anything like that in a theater for a long time). Plus the Arclight would show about 2 or 3 trailers, tops, and no ads. When we saw Wakanda Forever it felt like there were over 20 minutes' worth of ads and trailers (in an AMC theater).
                                            That sounds great. In the few times when I've been in a showing where something is wrong with the film, somebody has to appoint themselves to go tell the 16-year-old kid scooping popcorn and then it gets resolved, slowly.

                                            All of that contributes to my hypothesis that Hollywood people might not romanticize movie theaters so much if they went to more movies at AMC theaters in malls in the sprawl where a kid keeps kicking the back of your seat the whole fucking time and the people behind you won't shut up.

                                            I think that the theater chains have got the message and are trying. The reclining seats are an effort to get more people to come. And, I suppose, the assigned seats are supposed to be better for the audience, but they're not. I also liked that the theaters here (UEC), at least are running an ad before the films that specifically mentions "You may not have been here for a while. Here's a few reminders about what you can't do here that you can do on your couch." At least they understand the issue.

                                            I expect we'll see more places showing movies while serving real food and alcohol.

                                            But the biggest barrier is the price.

                                            It isn't even so much that it costs so much in absolute terms - although that adds up fast, especially for families - but that it costs so much more than it does to watch the same movie at home just a few months (or, as is increasingly the case, weeks) later.

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                                              The reclining seats seem to mean that more rows of seats are gone, so the seats are more comfortable, but it's harder to get a seat when it's a popular movie.

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                                                I saw Wakanda Forever tonight. I'd give it 6/10 if I was being generous. Didn't like the antagonist so much - Aquaman meets the blue things from Avatar but i'm not a comic book person have no idea about the characters really. Obviously very difficult to make a coherent sequel given what happened, and boy is Chadwick Boseman missed. Quite a lot going on in the 160 minutes running time, and not everything to a satisfactory conclusion. Was nice to see Julia Louis Dreyfus's character back though thought the CIA bits almost seemed superfluous. Enjoyed the cameo and good to see Richard Schiff in a small role. Would largely agree with eggchaser.

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                                                  Originally posted by Incandenza View Post
                                                  The reclining seats seem to mean that more rows of seats are gone, so the seats are more comfortable, but it's harder to get a seat when it's a popular movie.
                                                  That’s true. But that doesn’t excuse people showing up late and/or not abiding by the assigned-seating rules.

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                                                    In defence of showing up 'late', when I was regularly going twice a week before Covid arrived, it became almost physically painful to watch the same luxury car, join the army etc ads over and over.
                                                    Not to mention unsubtle 'the whole film' trailers which can ruin the surprise/novelty factor of seeing films with no prior knowledge.

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