In today's economy a lot of people are saving money by cutting movies and entertainment out of their budget. That's not surprising given how expensive going to the movies can be. Gas, popcorn, over priced soda and candy, and tickets can really add up. The Movie Blog posted 10 money saving tips for movie lovers. These are great tips, except for number 10, "Let her pay her own way," and I have some money saving tips of my own.
1. No movie is complete without snacks. Buy a big purse (or man bag) and take snacks that you made at home, or bought at the gas station.
2. Rent from Redbox, and return the DVD the next night. Redbox gives you $1 rentals, and they are located at Wal-Mart, Walgreen's, and McDonald's.
3. Go to matinees, and bring your student ID. Take advantage of the student discount (if you are one).
4. For those located in the greater Edmond area--stop going to AMC and go to Tinseltown. Tinseltown offers matinees for $3.50 and evening showings for $5.50 per person.
5. Go to the dollar theatre.
5. Split the cost of a rental and snacks with your friends (this does not include splitting the cost with your date--be a gentleman).
6. If you are going to purchase a newly realeased DVD, go to the store the day it is released. Stores like Wal-Mart, and Best Buy give discounts on the DVD when it is purchased on the day it is released. Most movies are released on Tuesdays.
7. For OC students, take advantage of the free movie nights that Student Life pays for.
Don't give up your movies until you try some of these tips, and the tips from The Movie Blog.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The Comedic "Tighty Whities"
The majority of the reviews for The Rocker were not kind, and were just as wrong. There seems to be an annoying misnomer that in order to give the public a well written and popular review, it has to be negative. Lighten up all of you movie goers--bloggers and paid reviewers alike. Again, I say, lighten up. I am genuinely tired of each review being full of pompus words, and arrogant "holier than thou" language--just because you don't like a movie doesn't make you better than anyone else. "There’s not one moment in the film that’s unpredictable or unexpected," says Mariana McConnell wrote a review for Cinema Blend. I think that it is quite arguable that having a naked hair metal drummer plasted all over youtube by a twelve year old little girl is seriously unexpected. However, I think it is also arguable that a movie does not have to be unexpected to deserve a higher rating than two measly, arrogant, know-it-all stars.
McConnell also said The Rocker was, "Three parts School of Rock," as if that was a bad thing. Well, if McConnel means that there was a man who wanted to be in a band, and then became a band member with people younger than him, than she is right--but the comparison stops there. The Rocker can however be compared to some very funny movies that have made their debut lately. The main comparision: tighty whities. I don't think that a movie has to have an intellectual literary quality in order to be enjoyable. Sometimes all a movie needs to do is make the viewer escape reality, and have a chuckle or two. Lately, there have been several movies that do just that, with short quips and slapstick. One of the signature moves of the new comedies is showing the star, co-star, or both in tighty whities.
No one can forget the infamous button down shirt, and tighty whities scene of Risky Business. Since then, tighty whities have become much more prevalent. They have also been given a much more comedic quality, and they are somehow, always very baggy, and very dirty. Will Ferrell always seems to find a way to prance around in tighty whities in his recent movies. I suspect that in his upcoming movie, Land of the Lost he will do the same. The tighty whitey also makes an appearance in Napoleon Dynamite (a top grossing film). Slapstick tighty whities are everywhere.
Audiences enjoy meaningless humor and slapstick. Otherwise classics like Lucy, the Three Stooges, and the Marx brothers, wouldn't be classic anymore. I think that movie reviewers as a whole should spend a little extra and get the biggie sized popcorn, wear slightly more comfortable shoes, and actually try to enjoy the movie they are criticizing. No one will think less of you because you like movies.
McConnell also said The Rocker was, "Three parts School of Rock," as if that was a bad thing. Well, if McConnel means that there was a man who wanted to be in a band, and then became a band member with people younger than him, than she is right--but the comparison stops there. The Rocker can however be compared to some very funny movies that have made their debut lately. The main comparision: tighty whities. I don't think that a movie has to have an intellectual literary quality in order to be enjoyable. Sometimes all a movie needs to do is make the viewer escape reality, and have a chuckle or two. Lately, there have been several movies that do just that, with short quips and slapstick. One of the signature moves of the new comedies is showing the star, co-star, or both in tighty whities.
No one can forget the infamous button down shirt, and tighty whities scene of Risky Business. Since then, tighty whities have become much more prevalent. They have also been given a much more comedic quality, and they are somehow, always very baggy, and very dirty. Will Ferrell always seems to find a way to prance around in tighty whities in his recent movies. I suspect that in his upcoming movie, Land of the Lost he will do the same. The tighty whitey also makes an appearance in Napoleon Dynamite (a top grossing film). Slapstick tighty whities are everywhere.
Audiences enjoy meaningless humor and slapstick. Otherwise classics like Lucy, the Three Stooges, and the Marx brothers, wouldn't be classic anymore. I think that movie reviewers as a whole should spend a little extra and get the biggie sized popcorn, wear slightly more comfortable shoes, and actually try to enjoy the movie they are criticizing. No one will think less of you because you like movies.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
My Name is Campbell, Bruce Campbell
Film Junk gave My Name is Bruce one star--out of five. Bruce Campbell is the star, director, and producer of this lovely straight to DVD film. Campbell plays himself--a B-film horror movie actor that lives in a trailer with his dog. We join him as he is making a sequel to "Cave Alien," a movie filled with fake alien costumes with disgusting yellow blood that squirts and spurts all over Campbell's face. While Campbell is in battle with the fake alien forces, Jeff, a teenage Campbell fan, is awakening the Chinese god of war and bean curds.
It sounds ridiculous--and it only gets worse. This is where I disagree with Sean, the writer of the review on Film Junk. As My Name is Bruce got worse, I enjoyed it more--but Sean didn't. "You can't manufacture a movie that is so bad it's good--it happens by accident (with the exception of maybe Snakes on a Plane)" said Sean. If a a rule has one exception, it can easily have another. This movie was supposed to be bad, that was the intention. It was a mockery of all the B-films that Campbell has made. It was a mockery of ridiculous monsters, and the crazy ways that you can kill them. Campbell was making fun of his filmography, and he was doing it on purpose.
Campbell's boomstick, chainsaw and zombie monologues were sentimental references to the movies that made him famous--the Evil Dead trilogy. "Once you've made love the Bruce Campbell way, you don't go back," said Campbell, an obvious reference to his book, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way. This whole movie was supposed to be a really poorly done tribute to the work of Bruce Campbell--it was awful on purpose, so to call it awful is somewhat counterproductive. "Now I realize that there are plenty of Bruce Campbell fans out there who will love this movie no matter what anyone says, and that’s totally fine," says Sean. "These are the people that Campbell is relying on to make a living, and I want to see him find steady work just as much as the next guy." I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a Bruce Campbell fan and I'm going to like this movie no matter what Sean says. It was funny in an "I'm so embarrased for him" kind of way, and I believe that is exactly what Campbell was going for. So if Sean wants to call this a terrible movie, and slap a one star rating on it, that's "totally" fine with me. Campbell wanted this to be a bad movie--that was the point. As a viewer and a fan, I am going to accept the fact that Campbell was just trying to give his fans a stupid laugh or two, and that's worth a few more stars to me.
If you would like to judge this movie for yourself, it is available at a Redbox near you.
It sounds ridiculous--and it only gets worse. This is where I disagree with Sean, the writer of the review on Film Junk. As My Name is Bruce got worse, I enjoyed it more--but Sean didn't. "You can't manufacture a movie that is so bad it's good--it happens by accident (with the exception of maybe Snakes on a Plane)" said Sean. If a a rule has one exception, it can easily have another. This movie was supposed to be bad, that was the intention. It was a mockery of all the B-films that Campbell has made. It was a mockery of ridiculous monsters, and the crazy ways that you can kill them. Campbell was making fun of his filmography, and he was doing it on purpose.
Campbell's boomstick, chainsaw and zombie monologues were sentimental references to the movies that made him famous--the Evil Dead trilogy. "Once you've made love the Bruce Campbell way, you don't go back," said Campbell, an obvious reference to his book, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way. This whole movie was supposed to be a really poorly done tribute to the work of Bruce Campbell--it was awful on purpose, so to call it awful is somewhat counterproductive. "Now I realize that there are plenty of Bruce Campbell fans out there who will love this movie no matter what anyone says, and that’s totally fine," says Sean. "These are the people that Campbell is relying on to make a living, and I want to see him find steady work just as much as the next guy." I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a Bruce Campbell fan and I'm going to like this movie no matter what Sean says. It was funny in an "I'm so embarrased for him" kind of way, and I believe that is exactly what Campbell was going for. So if Sean wants to call this a terrible movie, and slap a one star rating on it, that's "totally" fine with me. Campbell wanted this to be a bad movie--that was the point. As a viewer and a fan, I am going to accept the fact that Campbell was just trying to give his fans a stupid laugh or two, and that's worth a few more stars to me.
If you would like to judge this movie for yourself, it is available at a Redbox near you.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Babylon A.D.
Babylon A.D. didn't quite live up to its expectations, it gets a not-so-solid two sideways thumbs pointing left. In a review of Babylon A.D., Movie Moron quotes the director of the movie, Mathieu Kassovitz. Kassovitz is in line with the majority of viewers who say that the movie was a flop--he says he is "very unhappy" with the film. In fact, he said that the movie was a "terrible experience" and that not one scene was done the way that he wanted it to be.
That information gives me an all new view of the movie. The movie had the potential to be great--it just didn't go all the way. My favorite movies are the ones that are artistic--where each frame could just as easily be a painting, or a photograph framed on a wall in a museum. Babylon A.D. wasn't a perfect frame-by-frame Mona Lisa, but it had a great artistic quality. Melanie Theirry was a great pick for Aurora. Theirry's blonde hair, blue eyes, and oddly large lips made her a key artistic piece. Her artistic features helped give the movie an artisic feel.
The story was artsy as well, and that is what really pulled me in. Had the movie been better developed, the story would have really made it great. The immaculate conception, the super computer, the blonde white girl who gave birth to twins--one white, and one black are all concepts that were so interesting. I would have loved to see a movie that put all of those ideas into something really great. I'm not sure what Fox did to make the director so angry, but I wish that Kassovitz could have a do over. I would watch the do over, and I really think that with better direction this movie could have been great.
That information gives me an all new view of the movie. The movie had the potential to be great--it just didn't go all the way. My favorite movies are the ones that are artistic--where each frame could just as easily be a painting, or a photograph framed on a wall in a museum. Babylon A.D. wasn't a perfect frame-by-frame Mona Lisa, but it had a great artistic quality. Melanie Theirry was a great pick for Aurora. Theirry's blonde hair, blue eyes, and oddly large lips made her a key artistic piece. Her artistic features helped give the movie an artisic feel.
The story was artsy as well, and that is what really pulled me in. Had the movie been better developed, the story would have really made it great. The immaculate conception, the super computer, the blonde white girl who gave birth to twins--one white, and one black are all concepts that were so interesting. I would have loved to see a movie that put all of those ideas into something really great. I'm not sure what Fox did to make the director so angry, but I wish that Kassovitz could have a do over. I would watch the do over, and I really think that with better direction this movie could have been great.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)