What Movies Have You Seen Lately?

There is always some place for a "mental hygiene escape".
Some say that most of the Dottys were places to escape a spouse and to smoke in peace.
Some people just want to be able to watch a film that is more adult oriented than Dora the Explorer.
Some people just want to go somewhere to have a drink away from the kids or parents (or both) that they are trying to hide it from.

Drive in theaters became flea markets and then condominiums.

"The Others" [2001], which I just caught making the rounds now on a movie channel, is worth seeing.

It's not a horror movie so much as a ghost story movie that can be successful in giving you the creeps at times. Nicole Kidman plays a crazy woman pretty well, and I liked the story.

As was shown, that people used to take pictures of the dead in the early days of photography is factual. When it was new, photography was taken very seriously, people often didn't smile for their picture. Not even Chamberlain and secretary, further along as that was. And photographers were professionals doing portraits, at first regular people did not have their own means to take pictures. So it made sense to make a record of a dead child, for example, unless you had paid to have a portrait painted for a youngster somewhere along the way, any that died were on their way to the grave without a record of what they looked like.

Quote: odiousgambit

"The Others" [2001], which I just caught making the rounds now on a movie channel, is worth seeing.

Great movie.

Quote: Evenbob

Like Paco pointed out, as many tickets were sold last year as were sold 25 years ago. The population has exploded since then, yet theaters have gone stagnant. They've outlived their place in society, just like drive-in movies did.

Well you could make a case for 35 years as 2017 is only 3% more tickets than 1983 (Both years had #1 movie from Star Wars franchise)
2017 1,233.6 Star Wars: The Last Jedi
...
1983 1,197.0 Return of the Jedi

Also, despite there being 724 films in 2017 the top 52 (roughly one per week) sold 76.6% of tickets.

Using an average of 2.5 hours per movie, that means your average person spends less than 2 minutes per day watching theatrical movies. Most Netflix subscribers spend 93 minutes per day watching Netflix.



Netflix is a 20 year old company that announced hat it will launch streaming video eleven years ago in 2007 (January 15). AT&T And Time Warner have agreed to another extension of merger deadline to June 21 2018. One of their principal arguments before the government is that they need this merger to fight Netflix.

Quote: odiousgambit

photography was taken very seriously, people often didn't smile for their picture.

In the 19th century people took themselves
very seriously, if you smiled in a pic you would
be considered frivolous and not a person to
deal with. You can find portrait pics of women
smiling a little, but in general they were
stone faced as a monument.

Serious faces:

Stone faced and often with the hands concealed.

"Coco", a Disney-Pixar animated tale about Miguel, a boy who although he comes from a family of music hating shoemakers, idolizes a guitar playing superstar who passed away decades ago. A Dia de los Muertos mishap brings about a chance for Miguel to meet his idol and follow his dreams. Oh, and there are some family secrets to reveal along the way.

The film sticks to the familiar Disney-Pixar story arc: The main character comes of age while asserting the value of family, and deals with a death of someone close to them. While the film tries to throw some twists in, if you have seen two or more Disney-Pixar films, you come to expect them, so not much new there.

There are a lot of cultural references in this film which I found interesting and informative. I don't know if they are accurate though; it is a cartoon after all. The animation and music are typical for Disney-Pixar, top notch.

It's not new, nor different, but if you enjoy Pixar films, this will please you like putting on your favorite sweatshirt on a cold morning. It is familar and warm.

I give it 7 flower petals out of 10. If you want to see a film with a slightly more complex story and really good music, I thought "The Greatest Showman" was better.

Dia de los Muertos designs are even on Team Mexico's ski suits at the Winter Olympics:

Black Panther

It's good. I didnt find it to be amazing like most people seem to be. Kind of a middle of the road Marvel movie.

That being said, it's clearly going to be a huge hit. The opening night audience I saw it with loved it.

Quote: ams288

Black Panther

It's good. I didnt find it to be amazing like most people seem to be. Kind of a middle of the road Marvel movie.

That being said, it's clearly going to be a huge hit. The opening night audience I saw it with loved it.

Overhyping can ruin expectations. But if it's good, it will keep bringing people in anyway.

Comparing "Peter Rabbit" and "Early Man".

It is interesting that these two films are in theaters at the same time. "Peter Rabbit" features state of the art computer generated animation on top of live action; and it is quite a state the art is in today. The final images are now photo-real, and would pass for actual flesh and blood (well, except the rabbits talk and wear jackets). You can make out individual hairs on the hares. It rains on the rabbits, their eyes shine, the wind blows through their fur. It is amazing. Outside of a few times when eye lines didn't line up, they play against the humans very effectively. Some of the jokes break through the fourth wall, addressing the adults in the audience directly. It is a classic story, with Looney Toon gags added. I give it 7.5 little sticks of dynamite out of 10.

"Early Man" from Aardman Animation Studios (creators of "Wallace and Gromit") is mainly animated using classic stop-motion techniques on "clay" figures. Plastic eyes, and fur are added to the clay for texture, and you can see, especially in the fur, that the figures were manipulated between frames. CGI is used very sparingly to layer on effects like flames or smoke. The sequences are cleverly designed, and an emphasis on voice work is employed to bring the characters to life. The story is very "British", incorporating colloquialisms, a broad Brit sense of humor, and the U.K.'s love of football (what Americans know as soccer). If you enjoy throwback animation, British things, or soccer, you will enjoy this film, otherwise you may find it a bit slow. There is an homage to a pioneer of stop motion animation, Ray Harryhausen, in this film which is very touching. I give it 7 messenger birds out of 10.