memfree's Journal: yet another bunch of movies

Yes, I DO spend too much of my free time in theaters, but this week it was WELL worth it.

Spirited Away : Everyone out there over 14 must go out and see "Spirited Away" RIGHT NOW! Granted, it won't be playing everywhere, but when it does, do it! Don't take younger kids (10 and under) unless you want them to have nightmares. The child heroine has to face some heavy stuff. I saw the dubbed version, and -- without seeing the original Japanese version with subtitles -- am certain that the original would be better. Some of the speech seemed....wrong, but so much of everything else was perfect that you have to see it.

Notorious C.H.O. was good enuf is you like Margaret Cho's stand-up.

Barbershop was better than I expected. Not great, but more entertaining than many. It's a *very* predictable story that manages to work because of all the shop chit-chat.

Igby Goes Down was disappointing to me. I could care less about what happens to a spoiled, rich brat as he waits to get his inheritance (coming when he turns 20).

Obligatory link to my ratings.

I must be out of touch...

[checkyoulater]

I haven't heard of even one of those movies you mentioned. These are all new movies playing right now? Mind you, I only pay for maybe 1 or 2 movies a year in the theatre, so that might explain it.
Perhaps you have inexpensive theatres to go to, or hopefully you know how to get in for free. The cost of movies in Toronto is 12 bucks. A little steep in my opinion. Add to that the incessant talking and popcorn-crunching and ice-rattling and cellphones ringing, and it makes me realize what I am not missing. Of course, I am also anti-social, so take it any way you want.

Re:I must be out of touch...

[memfree]

I spend all my free cash on entertainment. The movies are all in my local theaters at the time of writing (Sept 23rd, 2002), and cost me around $8.50 US a pop. The deal is: I hate most Hollywood movies, so I tend to avoid them, and spend my dolloars on films closest to what I WANT to see. My hope is that if enough dissatisfied viewers go t othe nominally better films, the studios will make and distribute nominally better films -- and continue doing so each year until we start getting at least a couple enjoyable films a year.

I look at the art-snob reviewers recommendations, and see most flicks at the art-house theaters. I specifically live near a largish city (Philadelphia) so I can see lots of different movies. I'd live near NYC if I could STAND NYC for more than a week at a time, but...I can't. NYC will inveitably annoy me will all possible haste.

That said, both "Barbershop" and "Igby Goes Down" were at my just-outside-the-metro-center multiplex rather than at the artsy-fartsy places. In retrospect, that should have told me that Ebert was wrong on 'Igby', and to trust the Village Voice review.

"Spirtited Away" will be in more theaters in the near future. The Notirious C.H.O. will do just fine on video. It didn't really need a screen release at all -- but I wanted to kill time before a concert started .... then at the last minute, I decided I wanted to skip the concert, too (had done a similar bit before seeing "Le Tigre" in concert, and was disappointed enough that I didn't want to ruin my own opinion of "Bright Eyes" by seeing it in similar conditions at the same venue).