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I've bought enough $8 popcorn in my life.

What does that have to do with the distribution method? Who said you had to buy popcorn? I haven't bought popcorn at the movies in years.

The only thing I don't like about the movies is how moviegoers have gotten less polite over the years. It's still the best way to see a film (IMO), provided the audience doesn't ruin the experience.

As for the original topic: I have not seen the movie yet, but simply because I haven't had time. You do realize that this is the time of year when the largest number of great movies comes out, right?

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High-def on-demand for $19.99 for a first run film, I'd pay that in a second - it's only one yuppy food coupon.

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The theatres make their money on the popcorn, not the movies, that's my point.

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The theatres make their money on the popcorn, not the movies, that's my point.

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not being able to pause the action to go take a leak

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I know that this is sacrilege in some ways, but, in some ways, I wish TiVo hadn't allowed you to pause. I have barely watched a TV program at home all the way through with the wife since we've had a TiVo and it's driving me nuts.

She has to pause it every fifteen seconds to make some comment about something. Occasionally it's relevant, but even in those cases it can wait until the end. Most of the time it's her asking some question that hasn't been answered in the show yet. Even the smallest vaguely non-linear thing confuses her to the point where she has to pause and ask what's just happened instead of waiting three seconds to see if they tell her.

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I know that this is sacrilege in some ways, but, in some ways, I wish TiVo hadn't allowed you to pause. I have barely watched a TV program at home all the way through with the wife since we've had a TiVo and it's driving me nuts.

She has to pause it every fifteen seconds to make some comment about something. Occasionally it's relevant, but even in those cases it can wait until the end. Most of the time it's her asking some question that hasn't been answered in the show yet. Even the smallest vaguely non-linear thing confuses her to the point where she has to pause and ask what's just happened instead of waiting three seconds to see if they tell her.

So true! I thought I was the only person who had this problem. I like having the pause feature, but when you break every five minutes it really gets frustrating. And my wife does the exact same thing about asking a question you know they're about to answer, or that doesn't matter to the plot at all.

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She has to pause it every fifteen seconds to make some comment about something.

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They have something called "The Twenty,"

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I do wonder if there's a movie you're interested in seeing while it's being advertised but uninterested in seeing later, if you're not just saving money by not seeing a movie that you really don't want to see.

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At the same time, I can't come up with a good reason for them not to release in multiple avenues at the same time.

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How is it possible that nobody else wants to weigh in on this? Has nobody else seen the movie?

Everybody's too pissed about the popcorn

Now I hope everybody realizes that the whole "sex slave" thing is a joke. I will say, though, that especially since "O, Brother" my esteem for Mister Clooney fairly swells up inside my young, innocent breast. He was great in Syriana.

But enough sexual allusion. While Clooney was great, there were a lot of other reasons I think this movie needs your collective attention. Lots of reasons, but one that keeps jumping out at me is that I think this movie was one of the most finely cast pieces of cinema I can remember. Yeah, Matt Damon, even was dead on for role.

SPOILER ALERT. NO MOUSING WITHOUT INTENT....

Got an email today from the woman I saw the movie with. I thought her parting comment might amuse those of you who have seen the movie:

Spoiler:
"CF: V jbhyq znxr n irel cbbe PVN ntrag. Vg bppheerq gb zr gung vs nalbar jnagrq vasbezngvba sebz zr gurl jbhyq abg rira arrq gb gncr zr gb n punve naq pbzr ng zr jvgu gur cvapre-guvatf. Gurl jbhyq whfg arrq gb jnyx zr vagb gur ebbz naq fubj zr gur gbbyf. Be cbffvoyl whfg fubj zr n cvpgher bs gur gbbyf."

Great, sweeping movie.

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When the movie industry starts taking my time seriously enough to stop the BS habit of theatre only releases for new movies, then maybe I'll see more movies.

Why is it that movies are the only product that's released in one channel, then out of release, then in another later on? If they would let me see new movies on demand they'd have more of my money. There's lots of movies I want to see right after the initial marketing blitz that I don't want to see five months later at the DVD rental shop.

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I know it's tied up in how movies are financed, but I really don't give a rats' ass nor do I care about the financial condition of movie theatres. I've bought enough $8 popcorn in my life.[/RANT]

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Please continue with your regularly scheduled discussion of Syriana.

-Zeke

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we plan lunch before/after with some care

I don't like 'planning' on movies. I want them around when the whim strikes me. To me they're ephemeral sparkly things that come and go in and out of our lives. I want them to rotate about my life. I've got other things that need planning, like how to get in good quality skiing when the snow flies, or cutting the grass or painting the house, or mountain biking or going out to dinner with my wife (you know with conversations and everything!). I don't want to plan on a movie and neither I nor my wife have enough hours to rearrange to meet somebody else's schedule. I think a lot of people fit that mold who don't get to talk about the new releases at work because they don't have time to see them. Who has conversations about movies that just came out on DVD? (LOTR/Trek/Starwars fans I'm NOT talking about you! )

Anyway, I'm not saying in the least that theatres should go away. I like going when the stars align and me, my wife and my friends all have time to go (and it's raining and there's no BBQ to be had).

I just want to see more new movies. I think they should make that easy for me. I think they will make more money that way than even with DVD.

When any other product comes out I can get it via vendors a,b,c,d,e,f....why not movies?

-Zeke

Edit: Regarding comedy - I love a great live comedy and Broadway shows. I like real people in front of me, in the moment. It's better than any movie. But it's also a relatively rare occurence. I laughed my ass off at The Producers and at Spamalot. I even liked 'Moving Out', and I'm not really all that into dance, but those people were amazing athletes. I just don't get the same feeling about a movie theatre.

ps: The popcorn comment made it seem like it's about the money, it's not. It's about the hassle.

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A few beers or martinis makes everything so much more vivid anyway!

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Jim - I think it has to do mostly with saying 'yeah I want to see that' after seeing the ad. I don't get that feeling 5 months later at the local Movie Hut. I think: 'oh yeah, I kinda remember that, what else is there?'.

This seems kinda like refrigerator syndrome. Look in jam-packed fridge with all your favorite foods...but nothing appeals. Maybe a diary is in order? Dear Diary, I *really* want to see _Syriana_. Then you will remember to rent it 6 weeks later

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The rest of your argument boils down to 'I like theatres, why don't you?', which is fine, but I don't really care for them. I can appreciate that you and others do, but I don't.

I'm not sure I was trying to make an argument for you to be like me. Bunny help you! More, I was just trying to lay the basis for the 105MM logical assault to follow

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we plan lunch before/after with some care

I don't like 'planning' on movies. I want them around when the whim strikes me. To me they're ephemeral sparkly things that come and go in and out of our lives. I want them to rotate about my life. I've got other things that need planning, like how to get in good quality skiing when the snow flies, or cutting the grass or painting the house, or mountain biking or going out to dinner with my wife (you know with conversations and everything!). I don't want to plan on a movie and neither I nor my wife have enough hours to rearrange to meet somebody else's schedule. I think a lot of people fit that mold who don't get to talk about the new releases at work because they don't have time to see them. Who has conversations about movies that just came out on DVD? (LOTR/Trek/Starwars fans I'm NOT talking about you! )

Thanks. I can say that I have never camped out on a sidewalk in *any* sort of costume waiting to be the first in line for tickets to a sequelized movie.

That being said, I can say that a few years back I drove non-stop from Seattle to SFO to see Ian McKellen on stage (at the Geary, IIRC) then got in the old GTI and drove back to Seattle that night (slept in the car). It did not occur to me to demand that Sir Ian should appear simultaneously in Seattle.

I don't exactly equate movies with live theater, but, when I take the time to go to the movies --into that dark (hopefully quiet) hall -- I give myself over to the artists (for better or worse) for the duration of their artistic work. I don't readily remember walking out on a movie (perhaps I've chosen well!) but I am sure that day could come.

Anyhow, when I go to the movies, there is no doorbell, microwave, wireless Internet, pause button or Empeg BBS to distract from the movie that fills my eyeglasses. Under even the best of circumstances, this is not an experience that can be duplicated in my home, so I don't feel any need to demand that the movie studios deliver it to my home on the same day that they deliver it to theaters.

Funny, I often tend to think of myself as a poster child for instant gratification, but I guess you could give me a run for that title.

I watched "Motorcycle Diaries" at home from DVD on Sunday evening. I enjoyed it, but, boy-oh-boy, I wish I had gotten my shit together to see it in a proper theater.

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Anyway, I'm not saying in the least that theatres should go away. I like going when the stars align and me, my wife and my friends all have time to go (and it's raining and there's no BBQ to be had).

I just want to see more new movies. I think they should make that easy for me. I think they will make more money that way than even with DVD.

When any other product comes out I can get it via vendors a,b,c,d,e,f....why not movies?

Let me say, in a very friendly way, that I *really* hope you don't get what you want. At least until I am dead.

In my mind, if what you desire comes to pass, one result will be a further decline in the customer base for movie theaters. Rich folks with 72-inch TVs will be quite content to watch the day-one SA DVD release of movies at home while maybe a few crummy super-blockbuster sequels play on the 3 remaining screens in poor neighborhoods in major US cities.

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Edit: Regarding comedy - I love a great live comedy and Broadway shows. I like real people in front of me, in the moment. It's better than any movie. But it's also a relatively rare occurence.

The further along I get, the more I have come to think that the magic is *all* about rare occurences.

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I laughed my ass off at The Producers and at Spamalot. I even liked 'Moving Out', and I'm not really all that into dance, but those people were amazing athletes. I just don't get the same feeling about a movie theatre.

I think I have seen "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" three or four times, but never has it seemed even as remotely funny as it was as a first-run feature in a theater in Cleveland Circle with a remarkably pretty woman laughing in the next seat.

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ps: The popcorn comment made it seem like it's about the money, it's not. It's about the hassle.

For me, it's about the money. Buying 8-dollar popcorn isn't much hassle. If you're rich!

Anyhow (sing Carly Simon "An-ti-ci-pa-tion") I hope you continue to have to wait 5 or 6 weeks!