Not that audiences
who saw the film in theaters last month would guess as much: The version that's already out there, the one bearing the subtitle Them, is actually two films spliced fairly seamlessly together.
The iffy contrast and signs of digital manipulation will look familiar to
those who saw the film in theaters, but the overall impression is sharp on Blu - ray, with strong detail and true color.
Not exact matches
Of course, there is a very small percentage of people
who may be disappointed there are no car chases or robots, but if you're looking for something fresh - unlike anything you've ever
seen in the
theater - then this
film is for you.
When Dustin informed me of Pajiba's
films of the 1980s retrospective, I was a little ambivalent to write on one of the first
films I remember
seeing theaters, Tim Burton's Batman (1989; I think the honor for the first
film I
saw in a
theater was
Who Framed Roger Rabbit).
This week Will led me to The Hitless Wonder Blog run by Dan Day
who asked his readers a somewhat loaded question: «What are the worst
films you have
seen in a
theater?»
It's yet to be
seen whether Netflix would make a compromise and release The Irishman
in theaters to honor its reported agreements with Scorsese,
who has yet to have a
film not released
in theaters.
Watching Fences, the
film, you can unmistakably
see how this was made by someone
who was an actor first and a director second — like the
theater, it prioritizes the actors above all else, and doesn't really afford much
in the way of cinematic virtues.
I predict that the audience members
who see the
film a second time will outnumber the moviegoers
who walk out of the
theater in disgust, but not by much.
While anthology
films are rarely made and rarely
seen as commercial enterprises, New York Stories grossed a respectable $ 10.8 million
in theaters, which inflation adjusts to $ 21.5 M today, a sum that would be appreciated by Allen and both generations of Coppola, if not Scorsese
who has been enjoying the biggest returns of his career
in recent years.
Actress Octavia Spencer,
who won an Oscar for her performance
in The Help, is planning to buy out tickets for Black Panther for an entire
theater in Mississippi to ensure that children and families
in underserved communities will get a chance to
see the
film.
It's easy to spot that the
film was made on a paltry budget and a shame to
see that it didn't even make $ 50,000 dollars
in US
theaters but what can you expect from notoriously choosy American audiences (
who would rather spend their money on Lone Ranger or another junky Hobbit flick).
Spencer,
who does not appear
in the
film, wrote a Jan. 31 post on Instagram saying she planned to buy out a
theater in Mississippi «
in an underserved community there to ensure that all our brown children can
see themselves as a superhero.»
That same one can be forgiven if one had expected more from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, those deliciously subversive elves
who nail popular culture
in all its absurdist splendor on their television show, «South Park», and
who had us all humming «Blame Canada» as we left the
theater after
seeing the
film version, suggestively, but correctly subtitled: BIGGER LONGER & UNCUT.
All I know for one thing is that I was excited for the December 13 theatrical release of the second
film of the trilogy, «The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug»... and now I am very excited for this
film and so is my wife
who didn't even originally want to
see the first
film in theaters.
Kevin Smith threw his support behind Zack Snyder «s «Batman v Superman» while the
film was
in production, but after
seeing it
in theaters, he appears have joined the chorus of critics
who were not impressed.
«For the people
who bought out
theaters,
who posted on social media about how lit the
film would be, bragged about our awesome cast, picked out outfits to wear, and
who stood
in line
in theaters all over the world — all before even
seeing the
film.
Chad Hartigan,
who premiered his third
film Morris from America at this year's festival, described a larger epidemic of movies becoming two things: «One is the hundred - million - dollar movies you
see in the
theater, and the other is everything else you watch on iTunes or Netflix.»
While Annihilation doesn't open
in U.S.
theaters until the last week of February, those critics
who have already
seen it have begun weighing
in with their (spoiler - free) thoughts on the
film via Twitter and social media.
Coogler concluded his letter by thanking Black Panther everyone
who contributed to the movie's thunderous debut:» For the people
who bought out
theaters,
who posted on social [media] about how lit the
film would be, bragged about our awesome cast, picked out outfits to wear, and
who stood
in line
in theaters all over the world before even
seeing the
film... To the press
who wrote about the
film for folks
who hadn't yet
seen it, and encourage audiences to come out... And to the young ones,
who came out with their parents, with their mentors, and with their friends... Thank you for giving our team of filmmakers the greatest gift: The opportunity to share this
film, that we poured our hearts and souls into, with you.»
I definitely
saw bits of myself as a teen
in Lady Bird — I was also a
theater kid
in high school, so
seeing that
in the
film was a total treat, but also remembering that as a time
in your life where you could try on different versions of yourself to
see who you want to be, and what other people respond to.
Among students
who are assigned by lottery to
see live
theater, knowledge of the plots of those plays as well as the vocabulary used
in those productions is significantly enhanced, above and beyond what they learn by reading those works or by
seeing film versions (
see Figure 1).