Random Public Thoughts #4 - Movies
Our daughter works at our local cinemaplex. Her fringe benefit is that she - and all members of her immediate family - can see movies for free, provided we call 1/2 hour before the start of the movie and the theater isn't full.
Our daughter has no time for going to movies, so I reap the benefits of her working there.
I prefer movies to DVD's. There are no phone calls or interruptions. To me, a good movie is like a good book, except that it is visual as well as aural. I used to go to a second-run movie theater, which shows movies for $1.60 (if you buy a book of tickets), and only $1 on Tuesdays. However, that theater is about a half hour's drive from our house. My daughter's place of employment is less than 10 minutes from our house and the movie is free, so, why not?
This cinemaplex plays only very safe, "popular" movies. No Hotel Rwandas here. However, occasionally there are relatively unusual movies, but they usually don't play for long - a week or so. Since the movie is free I have nothing to lose but my time. My daughter gets very upset if I go more than once a week, though - she says I am greedy and that I'll get her fired. From my point of view - if the theater is half empty, and I wouldn't have paid anything to see the movie, then it costs the management nothing to give me a free ticket!
So, I saw all the Oscar best picture movies (but no Hotel Rwanda). Lately, I saw Bride and Prejudice, by the maker of Bend It Like Beckham. It was very similar - a glimpse of a totally different culture trying to make it in the British world. What is this thing about Indian girls and white guys? B&P was more hokey than Beckham, though. Sometimes the scene would segue into an over-the-top song and dance. Amusing and entertaining. The Indian version of Elizabeth was very unusual looking, with nearly-blue eyes and a lush mane of reddish-brown - not black - hair. Almost Caucasian, but not quite - just enough Indian blood to be very exotic.
Asian Indians look like dark versions of Caucasian, anyway, with Caucasian-type faces (big noses, arched eyebrows, round eyes) and wavy hair.
On Easter Sunday afternoon, all our children were gone, so my hubby & I went to see "Off the Map." This was an unusual movie. It gave a very good sense of place and character. The characters feel very real. By the end of the movie you feel like you are part of the Groden family, which lives close to the earth w/no phone or electricity (though I wonder how they can eat so well and have such a profusion and variety of fruits and veggies and animals in a sagebrush near-desert). You can understand why all the men are in love with Arlene, though William's profession of love was almost comical and didn't make sense at the time. The movie unfolds slowly and sweetly and is the antithesis of the hyperactive action movies that pack the theaters. I am glad we saw it and it has lingered in my mind.
Our daughter has no time for going to movies, so I reap the benefits of her working there.
I prefer movies to DVD's. There are no phone calls or interruptions. To me, a good movie is like a good book, except that it is visual as well as aural. I used to go to a second-run movie theater, which shows movies for $1.60 (if you buy a book of tickets), and only $1 on Tuesdays. However, that theater is about a half hour's drive from our house. My daughter's place of employment is less than 10 minutes from our house and the movie is free, so, why not?
This cinemaplex plays only very safe, "popular" movies. No Hotel Rwandas here. However, occasionally there are relatively unusual movies, but they usually don't play for long - a week or so. Since the movie is free I have nothing to lose but my time. My daughter gets very upset if I go more than once a week, though - she says I am greedy and that I'll get her fired. From my point of view - if the theater is half empty, and I wouldn't have paid anything to see the movie, then it costs the management nothing to give me a free ticket!
So, I saw all the Oscar best picture movies (but no Hotel Rwanda). Lately, I saw Bride and Prejudice, by the maker of Bend It Like Beckham. It was very similar - a glimpse of a totally different culture trying to make it in the British world. What is this thing about Indian girls and white guys? B&P was more hokey than Beckham, though. Sometimes the scene would segue into an over-the-top song and dance. Amusing and entertaining. The Indian version of Elizabeth was very unusual looking, with nearly-blue eyes and a lush mane of reddish-brown - not black - hair. Almost Caucasian, but not quite - just enough Indian blood to be very exotic.
Asian Indians look like dark versions of Caucasian, anyway, with Caucasian-type faces (big noses, arched eyebrows, round eyes) and wavy hair.
On Easter Sunday afternoon, all our children were gone, so my hubby & I went to see "Off the Map." This was an unusual movie. It gave a very good sense of place and character. The characters feel very real. By the end of the movie you feel like you are part of the Groden family, which lives close to the earth w/no phone or electricity (though I wonder how they can eat so well and have such a profusion and variety of fruits and veggies and animals in a sagebrush near-desert). You can understand why all the men are in love with Arlene, though William's profession of love was almost comical and didn't make sense at the time. The movie unfolds slowly and sweetly and is the antithesis of the hyperactive action movies that pack the theaters. I am glad we saw it and it has lingered in my mind.
posted by Gaye Marasaki | 6:26 PM
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