posted
Honestly, the ratings should be just one more sign that basically, Hollywood isn't putting out that much anymore that really interests the average person. Or at least enough to get them out of the house and into the cinemas.
Box offices are drying up (greatly because of the cost) because folks just don't up and say, "Let's go see a movie tonight." They may say, "Let's go see THIS movie or THAT movie" but the cost is too high to just pop out and pick a random movie on a lark. Luckily, the local video store serves that purpose nicely.
But the Oscars celebrate basically the same old actors and directors who turn out mostly the same old stuff again and again. And they are soooo tedious. From the red carpet crap that goes on and on for hours before the event (How early do some celebrities have to show up for their moment on the red carpet. And what do they do to fill the two to three hours before the ceremony after they've made their carpet cameo? Are they all hanging out in the back, smoking cigarettes and talking about how their feet hurt?) to the endless performance pieces to the "honorary" awards to the lame jokes and boring acceptance speeches.
Sorry for the rant, but daaang, we're so oversaturated with Hollywood right now and the rather boring stuff they turn out, why would anyone want to give up a Sunday night to watch the same old, same old. I guess it used to be something special to see the Hollywood royalty turn out and get a glimpse of them outside of a movie, but we've kinda had about as much as many of us can stomach.
Heck, I love John Stewart's work but that wasn't a big enough reason for me to watch.
Posts: 32 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
The concept of the "average" movie-goer concerns me. I've worked at a movie theatre for years and the "average" movie-goer goes to see Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and The Longest Yard. The day when we award Bruce Almighty over Brokeback Mountain...that will be a scary day.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I take the opposite about this year's Oscars. I thought that many of the films nominated were surprisingly thoughtful and different from what had previously been nominated. Many of them were quite small films, not blockbusters; interesting, intellectual topics. I have seen three out of the five, and all of them were fabulous, near-perfect films- something I didn't think I saw in this year's big hits.
unicornwhisperer, I think Narnia was a good film, but it was not, by any means, a great film, at least in my opinion. I think that the distinction has been made. I think we should honour films not for their box office gross, but for their merit.
I guess we're both saying the same thing; only I am saying it's a good thing, and you're saying it's not!
posted
That's what I was thinking. When I think "average" I think of those lame family movies that always DRIP with stupidity all through the trailer...
Me, I like the occasional foreign film and deep sort of movie, but not a pretentious movie. I did love Sin City. Can't really figure out why besides the style and dialogue, but it's so VIOLENT though. So I am not sure if I am average...
I was crazy about Narnia, but it wasn't any different from most movies like that. But that polar bear scene! WEEEEEEEEE!
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I also don't know if I'm an "average" movie watcher, whatever that means. I like movies but I've never been able to bring myself to care about the Oscars since the Oscars don't really mean anything to me. Sometimes I agree with the awards sometimes I don't.
I've also pretty much stopped going to movies. Probably this is for three reasons (which all seem to boil down to the fact that I'm old, crabby, and spending my own money now):
1. Too expensive. Somehow, I always manage to find something better to do with the money. Although if someone told me when I was 15 that this something would be a new garbage disposal to replace the broken one, I would have probably not believed it.
2. My fellow moviegoers annoy me in just about every way possible. a. they answer their cellphone b. worse, they let it ring c. no babysitter for the 1 year old, even though the movie is R-rated, violent, and showing at 10PM d. over the age of 10, yet constantly asking their friend "so what just happened?" e. belching, whispering, or violently slurping at their beverage through the straw even though the liquid was gone 25 minutes ago. f. spend half the movie shuffling past you getting out of the row, only to spend the other half shuffling past you to get back to their chair
3. Netflix. Now if I want to see a movie, I don't even have to drive to Blockbuster.
Posts: 82 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I like Netflix, but their service is getting worse and worse. If I put it in the mail on Monday, I don't get another movie until that Friday or Saturday. The warehouse is in the same zip code.
This does NOT make me happy.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
I've noticed that times when my husband and I watch a lot of movies we'll incur a little bit of a delay. But mostly we get movies pretty quickly. And it sure beats driving to the video store (or hunting around for the one video store in town that stocks off-the-wall or independent films).
I vaguely remember something on the news about a class-action lawsuit filed against Netflix by people who noticed the same thing. Apparently Netflix used to promise unlimited movies and so to protect their profit margin, they had to start delaying sending movies to people who watch a lot of movies. Now Netflix doesn't promise unlimited movies anymore. In the fine print, they now only promise up to a certain number I think.
Posts: 82 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I watched the Oscars. Jon Stewart was great.
One thing related to the declining box offices that have been mentioned: There were a few segments of the show that were basically commercials for the theater-going experience. The president of the academy included in his speech a minute or two about how nothing can compare to the big screen, the darkened theater, the shared experience of the audience, for example. The desperation in it was kind of sad.
Kat: I read an article a month or two ago about Netflix and a policy users are calling "throttling." Basically, if you are above a certain rate of movies per month, they will deliberately fill your next requests slower and give you lower priority on popular titles than customers who only get a few movies each month. Let me see if I can find a link for you.
Oddly enough, when I went to that article on CNN the pop-up add was for Netflix.
The really evil thing about this practice is that there's no reason for Netflix to care if they lose customers over it. The customers that it upsets are the high-rental ones that they're not making money (or not as much money) on anyway.
posted
My hubby and I go on Saturday Mornings. That's the absolute best time to see a movie.
Costs $6.50 instead of $10 per person.
No Lines.
(Usually) No crowd.
We get the movie going experience without the annoying part.
As for the Oscars... meh... this was a bad year for movies. I hadn't seen any of the best picture nominees.. none of them sounded interesting. (Oddly enough I saw all of the animated nominees and liked them all. I'm not upset that Wallace and Grommit won, but I was for Miyazaki.)
posted
I just remember when my wife and I would just up and go to the movies, without even having a particular movie in mind. You could get in, get some snacks and see the thing for a $20 bill and have a bit of change left over. We ran across quite a few good "little" movies that way and a few stinkeroos, too.
Now, with the prices going up and up, not to mention the terrible concession stand prices, who wants to risk money on anything but a movie you were already dying to see? The new Harry Potter? Sure. Serenity? Without a doubt. Crash? Sorry, don't know enough about it, we'll just wait for it on HBO. The Royal Tennenbaums? Ehhh, it's Ben Stiller -- 50/50 whether it's worthwhile... it'll be on HBO eventually.
See what I mean? And then, back to the Oscars, like I said, you can't turn the TV on without celebrity this or celebrity that. I'm so tired of the celebrity hoopla, that I'd rather not watch an awards show (and there are now what, like 4,000 awards shows?).
Edit to add: Why give up a Sunday night to watch the Oscars considering all of that?
Posts: 32 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
There just aren't enough movies I'm interested in. I might as well just watch reruns of Oz or watch a movie I actually like and own than to go all the way to Boston. Even HP4 didn't really satisfy me. Narnia was good, but nothing new. Howl was just great. But a lot of the other movies I could just rent an dall. I like the large screan, but I'd much rather have my own private theatre.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
<--- Can't remember the last time he went into a theater.
I don't even know what movies are playing unless the guys talk about it at work or the preview is during the race.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I honestly don't think I've been to a theatre in two years or more. Perhaps Return of the King was my last movie to see in the cinema?
It's just too expensive and not worth it. When hubby and I get a (rare) chance to go out just the two of us, we'd rather have a nice dinner where we can talk to each other than just sit silently beside each other watching a movie.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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