Some thoughts after a trip to the movies

I really like movies, and I really have a lot of spare time on my hands, and at $6 for a matinee, I have enough disposable income to go to the cinema as often as I like. This past summer, when I first got into Las Cruces, I actually had the urge to go, but was completely stymied by the absolute lack of anything interesting to see. There seemed to be nothing but stupid superhero movies (which I invariably hate), cartoons, sequels to stuff that sucked to begin with, and half-witted remakes of things that may or may not have been any good the first time around, but almost definitely won't be this time around. I just took a pass all summer, except for 8MM, which I thought was pretty good.

Anyway, on the recommendation of a couple friends, I have been wanting to go see Rise of the Planet of the Apes for a few weeks now (yes, I know it's been out for a good long while already), but for whatever reason, just haven't gone. My inability to make it over to see the movie, which I was sure I wanted to see, was starting to puzzle and annoy even me, so I finally got so irritated with myself today that I just went. I would like to comment on three major takeaways from this experience.

1. I was kind of bothered when I found out that there was a planned American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We Americans are good at a lot of things. We are probably the best in the world at a lot of things. Unfortunately, one of those things is taking great films and TV shows from other countries and turning them into complete garbage. There are about a million examples of this, and the one that immediately comes to mind is the remake of Nueve Reinas, an excellent Argentine crime caper. While the original is extremely clever, funny, and intriguing (and also does an outstanding job at showing how ingenious Argentine thieves can be), the American version is flat, boring, and completely devoid of charm. I imagined that whoever was going to remake The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would dispense with any of the atmosphere that made the original so great and turn it into Hollywood schlock. Well, today I saw the trailer for it, and I have to tell you, it may be the best movie trailer I have ever seen. While I still don't know that my original prediction won't come true, I can at least say my attitude towards the entire thing has turned from complete scorn to eager anticipation. Check out the trailer:



God, that looks killer.

2. The reason I haven't gone to the movies for all this time is because each time I go, people drive me absolutely insane. Tolerance of what I find to be annoying behavior by strangers is something I have worked hard on getting better about, and with a pretty good degree of success. But man, there is nothing like a movie theater to make me wonder how my perception of the world and the appropriate way to behave in it diverges so sharply from some other people's. Today, an older couple sat in front of me. The theater was probably 10% full, tops, but they chose to sit directly in front of me. Maybe I chose a particularly good seat, and they had similar tastes. Whatever. Then, the woman started to talk.

And continued to talk.

Through the entire movie.

For me, remaining mostly quiet during a movie is pretty much obvious rule #1 of cinema-going etiquette. Is there really any other legitimate, objective argument on the subject? I'd like to think that there isn't, but this is just what I'm talking about. When it comes to opinions, I realize that mine is just that...one opinion, but it would seem to me that MOST people would be of a mind that it's polite to be quiet during the movie. Astonishingly, however, I appear to be in the minority with this opinion, and those who hold the strongest opposition views on the subject somehow manage to always sit next to or in front of me. Usually with a big hat on.

And it wasn't bad enough that she just constantly talked. The things she was saying had me consciously making an effort to not slap her in the back of the head. In my mind's eye, I could totally see it happening. I heard at least 40 "Oh my God"s. She also helpfully pointed out many, many obvious on-screen happenings. Upon seeing John Lithgow's lifeless, stiffened body, she observed, "He's dead. Do you see that? He's dead. He died. Oh my God. He's dead. He didn't make it. Do you see? Oh my God." In addition to this, she provided the always appreciated repetition-of-the-dialogue-just-spoken-on-screen-followed-by-laughter-and-the-statement-"That's funny!"

That's why I don't go to the movies that often. Bring on Transformers 18. Give me reasons to stay away.

3. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was actually not bad at all. I agree with a lot of critics who have stated that the "human" characters were largely undeveloped, and that the story was a little ridiculous, but there was definitely some kind of allegory there, and I'm trying to puzzle out what it is. There are some obvious candidates for possibilities, and some other ideas that have occurred to me. It doesn't really matter if any of them are right. It was refreshing to see a movie that made me think at all, because lately the local theater has been a wasteland for that sort of thing.