Posted on 09/29/2006 7:45:48 AM PDT by Mike Bates
HOOPESTON, Ill. -- The "closed" sign went up a few weeks ago on the flashy neon marquee outside the Lorraine Theatre, but the 84-year-old movie palace on Main Street hasn't played its last picture show. Business isn't bad. It's the movies that are wretched.
"Both theaters in Hoopeston are closed ... because of such poor film choices available," explains a recording on the Lorraine's customer hot line. "Go to Danville to see `Jackass 2.'"
Car dealers wouldn't tell buyers to take a hike until better models came out. No chef worth his ladle would shoo paying diners off to the competition because his kitchen is in a slump. Yet that's essentially what Lorraine owner Greg Boardman did this month.
He put his two screens here on hiatus rather than sell tickets to the gross-out and freak-out fare he said Hollywood distributors have made available in recent weeks. Boardman said he'd rather show nothing than such recent offerings as "Beerfest," "The Covenant" or the "Jackass" sequel, which topped the nation's box office last week despite getting savagely panned by critics. A Tribune review labeled it "an insult to sophomoric movies everywhere."
"There's just so much lousy material out there--people vomiting on the screen," explained Boardman, 52, a local boy who now lives in California and uses the Internet to run the Lorraine from there. "I have one of the finest sound systems in the world, and I don't want to waste it on such drivel."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
He's No. 2 alright, completely full of it.
See Flyboys.
I'm witchoo. Flyboys is great.
Russell Crowe was good in Gladiator.
Helen Mirren is great as QE2 in The Queen.
On nights when I feel like watching a good movie, I stay at home and watch "Casablanca" or "The Searchers" on DVD.
Maybe he couldn't get a print of 'Flyboys' available.
I agree with you too a point. However, all the small theaters are being "forced" out by the franchises. I guess small theater owners can't complain about competition any longer if they close down for a week here and a week there. Having personal morals is great, but then please don't be disappointed if you have to close up shop. On a personal level I say he is awesome. On a business level, I would not want to do business with him.
I am 37 and agree with you although different choices of movies (seeing some Disney older films would be cool too). I think that would be great if a theater started playing some older flicks.
That guy who "does science" looks kind of like a thin Bill Clinton.
I like Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. Most of their movies are entertaining. The only one of Johnny Depp's movies that I wasn't thrilled about were the "Pirate's of the Carribean" movies, but he wanted to make something fun for his kids. I know my kids love those movies.
I heard from a source with good taste that it's Scorsese's best feature since Goodfellas.
"Always agree."
So true. Kinda stupid that movies like Faherenheit 9/11, Little Man, Material Girls, and Inconvient Truth get full release, while Idiocracy gets limited release. You got Jackass 2, kinda like Ow, My Balls. What is happening in the movie Idiocracy is happening today. So pathetic.
Just read Peter Travers review of it. He is usually the best critic for me to go by, and he loved it. I can't wait until next week.
I have to agree on Johnny Depp. In spite of whatever his leanings may be, I don't see him as an activist, which makes it easier to enjoy his work. Between Benny & Joon, Ed Wood, Donnie Brasco, the John Waters musical that he did, Gilbert Grape, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, et al, I think he has more range than any other lead actor I think I've ever seen. Which is not to say that everything he's done has been great, but I think his talent measures up to any legend of the past or present.
With this theater owner, good for him in the sense that he did what he thought was right. But lost in some of the complaining I'm seeing is the idea that, this guy seemingly being the only one who's done this sort of thing, the market is supposed to decide...or something like that. Right?
I haven't been to a movie theater in nearly 7 years, and I'll have to have a darned good reason to ever go again. But I don't see the point in complaining about today's fare vs. that of the past. I do think there are some decent flicks that manage to get made. In the recent past, I thought Hotel Rwanda, American Splendor, and even the X-Men movies offered plenty of material that I found worthy in one way or another. And a few documentaries here & there, like the recent one on Charles Bukowski, for instance. But, heck, I haven't watched prime time television programs for nearly 30 years, until recently when some of the FX shows & even an action program like 24 seem like some of the best television I've ever seen.
All this aside, though, if we truly believe that the market should decide, then the fact that McDonald's is the most popular restaurant in the country speaks volumes, and anything in any aspect of life that rises above the expectations we can reasonably set given that information I view as a plus. Complaining about the content of movies, or just not finding them entertaining, seems like a waste of time.
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