The fact that I am no longer getting to the movies twice a week like I often used to in Belfast (QFT) and Cleveland (Cedar-Lee/Shaker Square/Cinemark) became more poignant yesterday as I wasn't able to watch the Oscars (with Jon Stewart hosting who I love!) although I didn't even really miss it that much because I had hardly seen any of the nominated pictures. Of the 24 films nominated for major awards (Best Picture, Director, Male & Female Actor & Supporting Actor, Original & Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Film, and Documentary) I only saw 3 (Sweeney Todd, Away From Her, and Sicko)..
To illustrate the withdrawal I'm going through as a cinephile in Japan, juxtapose that with some stats from the past few Oscars.
Among the films nominated for major awards I watched:
All 15 films nominated for Best Picture in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
19 of 27 nominated in 2006.
23 of 29 nominated in 2005.
21 of 27 nominated in 2004.
I could go on but I'm sure I've bored you enough already.
My old roommate said once that he'd only seen maybe 2 films in the theaters before going to college.
ReplyDeleteDid you know the Golden Gate movie complex closed last month?
ReplyDeleteI think netflix and cable and great home screens (like mine) have really cut into the theatre business. The price of pop, candy & popcorn didn't help either.
More jobs are lost! Bush's fault.
Ben - Talk about sheltered.... Was he Amish or an Orthodox Jew or something?
ReplyDeleteUncle Jerry - I don't think Golden Gate had a movie theater. Maybe you're thinking of East Gate. In any case, I hadn't heard that. Netflix is really cool, as is your TV! I contend that it is hard to recreate the cinema experience without the sound system, dark room, high def TV, and no distrations (like the phone ringing, etc.). The sound system is the key one. I rarely buy food at the movies because it is a total rip off - worse than baseball games. I'm surprised that there aren't more second run theaters like Cinemark because they are such a great value.
As for Bush, why did you bring him up? Do you think I blame everything on him? Just because the Right blamed Clinton for everything in the 90s (except the good stuff like the budget surplus and peace dividend), doesn't mean we on the Left blame Bush for everything; only the stuff he's responsible for like the apalling war in Iraq, erosion of civil liberties, sanctioned torture, failure to get bin Laden (remember him? - the guy *actually* responsible for 9/11), shredding of the Constitution, crummy economy, record debt, and deterioration of our relationship with almost every country in the world - both friend and foe alike. Why bother blaming him for little things when there are plenty of big things.
Just wait until you have kids! Gretchen & I have not seen any of the Oscar pictures for the last three years:) We do wait for them to come out on NetFlix though. What a great American invention Netflix is! Do they have a Japanese Netflix? Are movies at Japanese theatres in English or Japanese?
ReplyDeleteInteresting guesses. He grew up in farm country (I do believe there were a lot of Amish folks out that way too). And now he lives just of off South Taylor.
ReplyDeleteSo there you go.
I've heard that about having kids. I will definitely get Netflix if/when I have kids. Japanese movies are just in Japanese. Hollywood movies in English with Japanese subtitles. Japanese TV programs are obviously in Japanese and English movies are either dubbed into Japanese or subtitled.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is East Gate
ReplyDeleteMy sound system is awsome!
Sorry I mentioned Bush, really.
I was going to vote for Hillary yesterday but the wait was very long. She won anyway.
Uncle Jerry, it's a good thing you didn't vote for Hillary. It's a Federal crime to meddle in another party's primary election. To switch party identiy, you are supposed to sign a card swearing your new allegiance. Lying on the pledge is a felony, punishable by six to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine according to an article on Cleveland.com: http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/03/crossover_voting_was_heavy_and.html
ReplyDeleteI also think it's unethical to meddle in the other party's primary.