Dollar Theater/The Happening Review
So I finally went to the dollar theater that everyone is always talking about. It turned out to be the old theaters in woodbridge, near the lake (in Irvine). The price was $1.50 for matinee, $2 for evening. Katie and I saw a matinee of The Happening. I'll get to the movie in a moment but would like to say that I loved the dollar theater. It reminded me of how it was to go to the movies when I was very young. The theater, on the inside, was that dark maroon color that all the local movie theaters used to be. It was very dimly lit, even inside the lobby. The lobby was small and the theater only had a few screens (three or four I think). It had that smell that theaters used to (a lot more than they do today): the smell of popcorn and spilled coca-cola. But not just popcorn, old popcorn that seems as if the smell emanates from the walls and floor, every pore of that building. We left wondering if we, in turn, were going to smell of popcorn. They had a few older/outdated arcade games in the lobby as well, also a staple. We played House of the Dead (the original) for a little while. We then made our way down past the concessions and past the little arcade to where the guy was taking tickets. He took our tickets and we walked down some steps towards where the actual theaters were. It got darker and colder here. We found our theater and went in. There was a single aisle with seats on either side. There was no center section or multiple aisles as you would see in any modern theater. Thus, at the end of the movie the thing that most reminded me of being young and at the movies occured: there was a line to get out. A pile-up of people. I remember always having to wait in a line to get out of the theater. The movie was just a little bit out of focus, not enough to be problematic or to have cause for real complaint, but just ever so slightly out of focus. The color depth seemed to not be quite up to modern movie standards either, it felt dull. I guess I must be used to the digital projections that some theaters use. I liked this whole experience. This walk down memory lane of how movies used to be. Sure, it's a bit ghetto, but often times ghetto has a character that you just can't get elsewhere. Would I recommend spending the $1.50 plus gas to visit this relic of the past: absolutely. I look forward to seeing Dark Knight again there in a few months.
Now for the movie: This review will likely be considerably shorter. The movie was good. We saw, as noted above, The Happening, the newish M. Night Shamalan film. I had heard that it was really bad. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I undertand people want another 6th sense from him, and I feel like he has finally stopped trying to give it to them. There is no twist ending to this odd film, a feature heavily used in previous films. Instead, characters guess (correctly) what is going on partly through the movie. I thought the acting was adequate (I like Zooey Deschnel pretty much always). I thought the movie was more of a mood piece than anything else. It had a good tone and a good mood to it, without an overabundance of plot to weigh it down. It had just enough plot to have you care a bit about the characters. Anyways, I probably wont rush out and buy the movie when it hits DVD, but I'd watch it again some day. I give it 6.5/10.
Now for the movie: This review will likely be considerably shorter. The movie was good. We saw, as noted above, The Happening, the newish M. Night Shamalan film. I had heard that it was really bad. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I undertand people want another 6th sense from him, and I feel like he has finally stopped trying to give it to them. There is no twist ending to this odd film, a feature heavily used in previous films. Instead, characters guess (correctly) what is going on partly through the movie. I thought the acting was adequate (I like Zooey Deschnel pretty much always). I thought the movie was more of a mood piece than anything else. It had a good tone and a good mood to it, without an overabundance of plot to weigh it down. It had just enough plot to have you care a bit about the characters. Anyways, I probably wont rush out and buy the movie when it hits DVD, but I'd watch it again some day. I give it 6.5/10.