(So, um, just a quick heads up before we begin… I promise that the Results Post for Rhode Island Movie Corner’s 2025 End of Summer Fan Poll is still being worked on. Obviously, as we’ve seen from these past few years, these ‘End of Summer Results Posts’ have gotten more complex with each passing year, hence why they’ve taken longer to complete. And in this case… well, we’re already a few months into 2026 and I still haven’t finished one of this site’s biggest recurring posts talking about the most popular films from the previous summer. But once again, I promise that I will do my best to have it all finished before we get to THIS year’s End of Summer Fan Poll. In the meantime, the post that you’re seeing today is the result of a sudden and unexpected turn of events that has directly affected me on a personal level which, as a result, inspired me to make what will largely be an off-the-cuff nostalgic piece.)
Every film fan has their own unique stories to tell of their
most memorable filmgoing experiences. It’s one of the main reasons why the
cinema has always been a ubiquitous part of the pop cultural zeitgeist; regardless
of the quality of the film and/or the crowd you see it with, the filmgoing
experience can potentially elicit some of the most iconic moments in one’s
life, and sure enough, I’ve had my fair share of iconic theatergoing moments
over the years. I can still remember some of my earliest filmgoing experiences,
including specific memories of some of the old theaters that I used to go to
that are sadly no longer there, like an 8-screen theater down the road from
where my dad grew up in Woonsocket, Rhode Island or this theater that was
packaged into the Apple Valley strip mall in Smithfield, RI. Back in the day,
my family didn’t necessarily stick to a single theater whenever we went to go
see a movie; instead, we tended to flip-flop between the theaters that were the
closest to us in Northern Rhode Island. But then, in 2005, that would change
with the introduction of Cinemaworld, a new 16-theater complex located at the
back end of the Lincoln Mall (now known as Lincoln Commons) in Lincoln, Rhode
Island. It wasn’t the first theater that had existed at that mall (I still
remember one that was there in the late 90’s that I distinctly remember going
to see the 1998 remake of Disney’s The Parent Trap at), but thanks to it
being less than 15 minutes away from where I lived, it promptly became my
family’s go-to-theater and, thus, became the primary theater of my own personal
cinematic journey for what would end up being more than a third of my lifetime.
As noted by the theater itself, Cinemaworld was one of the
first theaters in Rhode Island to use stadium-style seating (in other words,
where the rows of seats were slightly elevated from one another to avoid any
potential viewing obstructions) and was one of the first theaters in the entire
world to screen films on digital projectors. In 2014, the theater’s operations
were expanded upon with the creation of an entertainment complex, CW Lanes and
Games, located just down the hall from the theater’s entrance with a bowling
alley, arcade, laser tag, and restaurant. Unfortunately, all good things
eventually come to an end, and to the surprise of many, that would end up
coming sooner than anticipated for Cinemaworld when it was announced in mid-February
that both the theater and CW Lanes and Games would be closing on February 28th.
The official reason that was given was due to the company filing for Chapter 11
bankruptcy the previous summer, with their other Cinemaworld theater in West
Melbourne, Florida closing its doors around that same time (the company’s other
two theaters, the Majestic 7 in Watertown, Massachusetts and the Majestic 11 in
Vero Beach, Florida, are still in operation at this time). But regardless, for
today’s post, I wanted to pay tribute to a place that meant so much to me
personally by delving into some of the most memorable theatergoing experiences that
I had there; and to be clear, when I say ‘some of’, I’m not referring to something
as simple as a measly Top 10 list. No, today’s post is going to be what you may
call a ‘deep dive’ into the 12 years that I spent going to Cinemaworld as I go
through all the unique experiences that I had at that theater. I’m talking
about everything from Birthday visits to annual holiday trips. The best of the
best… and the worst of the worst, and in both cases, I do refer to both the
films seen and the experiences had there. So, without further ado, sit back and
relax and join me down memory lane as I celebrate both the highs and the lows
that came from my many visits to Cinemaworld 16 in Lincoln, Rhode Island.
CHICKEN LITTLE
As you might have
guessed, this journey begins with the first film that I ever saw there: Walt
Disney Animation’s 2005 feature Chicken Little, the studio’s first fully
computer-animated feature. I saw this one with my dad, and at the time, I
enjoyed it because this was back when I wasn’t fully aware of how subjective the
medium of film can be. Thus, as I grew older and learned more about this film’s
largely negative reception, I’ll fully admit that, nowadays, I do consider it to
be the weakest installment of the Walt Disney Animation Studios canon, mainly
thanks to its aggressively mean-spirited nature.
ZATHURA: A SPACE
ADVENTURE
As fate would have
it, I ended up returning to Cinemaworld just one night later, this time with my
mom, to see Zathura, an adaptation of author Chris Van Allsburg’s 2002 children’s
book of the same name which, like its 1981 predecessor Jumanji (and,
appropriately, its 1995 film adaptation), revolves around a pair of siblings
who come across a mysterious board game that brings its various in-game
obstacles to life to wreak havoc upon its players. Whereas Jumanji was
themed around a perilous jungle expedition, Zathura is, as its subtitle blatantly
states, A Space Adventure as a pair of bickering brothers encounter
everything from a giant, malfunctioning robot to a full-on meteor shower. The
film was notably directed by Jon Favreau, three years before he would helm a
certain blockbuster juggernaut that, yes, we’ll be talking about in just a bit.
Honestly, not much else to say here aside from the fact that this does serve as
a notable example of how often I’d end up going to the theater sometimes.
THE SHAGGY DOG
I’ve had my fair
share of birthday trips to the theater, but back in the day, they usually
occurred at the Smithfield theater that I mentioned in the intro. But then,
once Cinemaworld came around… well, admittedly, I don’t remember doing a lot of
birthday trips there but it was where I had my 11th birthday, where
a bunch of my friends and I got pizza at the Papa Gino’s right next door to the
theater and then proceeded to see The Shaggy Dog, a remake of Disney’s 1959
classic of the same name starring Tim Allen as an attorney who, after being
bitten by a 300-year old sheepdog, finds himself acting like and randomly
transforming into a dog. The film… was admittedly a dud with critics who
considered it a low point for both Allen’s career and Disney’s live-action
feature films, but as I’ve said before, this was my pre-‘film is subjective’
days so I wasn’t aware of any of that. I also remember winding up a bit under
the weather after the film, but at the very least, I didn’t get sick DURING it…
HOOT
…no, that would end
up happening during the next film we’ll be talking about, Hoot, an
adaptation of the 2002 novel of the same name by author Carl Hiassen about a
group of kids who team up to save an owl sanctuary from being destroyed by greedy
land developers. Nowadays, it’s perhaps most notable for being produced by
music legend Jimmy Buffett and featuring some future MCU stars such as Carol
Danvers herself, Brie Larson, in one of her earliest leading roles and Agent
Coulson AKA Clark Gregg as one of the film’s main antagonists. I won’t get into
too much detail as to how I got sick during my viewing of this film, but let’s
just say that whatever I ate that night for dinner ultimately didn’t agree with
me and, thus, ended up on the theater floor… so, apologies to the poor theater
employee(s) who had to clean that up…
CARS
Another birthday
trip, but this time, to celebrate my cousin Genesis Johnson’s birthday with my
first Pixar film seen at Cinemaworld, Cars. Sure, the film may have
garnered some of the weakest reviews that any Pixar film had attracted up to
that point, but it did go on to spawn one of Disney/Pixar’s biggest and most
profitable media franchises.
ROCKY BALBOA
Growing up, my
parents certainly did their part to familiarize me with some of their favorite
films and shows from back in the day, and in my dad’s case, one of his
favorites was the Rocky franchise which, really, can you blame him? The
adventures of the combative yet good-natured Philadelphian boxer have been a
staple of the cinematic landscape ever since the 1976 original achieved its own
Cinderella story to win that year’s Oscar for Best Picture. Three decades after
the original masterpiece, the series made a surprise return to the big-screen
with its sixth installment, Rocky Balboa, and after the previous entry,
1990’s Rocky V, was seen by critics, fans, and even series creator/star
Sylvester Stallone as an underwhelming ‘finale’, Rocky Balboa gave
Stallone the chance to give the Italian Stallion a proper send-off as the
series’ main protagonist (this, of course, being years before the series would
be revived with a new main protagonist in the Michael B. Jordan-led Creed trilogy).
So, yes, as you might have guessed, watched this one with my dad… just ignore
the fact that I, admittedly, hadn’t seen any of the previous Rocky films
beforehand.
NIGHT AT THE
MUSEUM
I’ve talked about the
occasional Birthday trips that I made to the theater, but if you want to talk
about my most frequent holiday-based theatergoing tradition, it’s that my
family usually went to go see a film on New Year’s Eve. Naturally, I’ll be
bringing up all the New Year’s cinema trips that I’ve taken at Cinemaworld in
today’s post, and as far as I can recall, it all started with Night at the
Museum. Based on a 1993 children’s book by author Milan Trenc and directed
by future Deadpool & Wolverine director and Stranger Things executive
producer Shawn Levy, the film starred Ben Stiller as a down-on-his-luck divorced
dad who takes a job as the night security guard at the Museum of Natural
History in New York… where he soon learns that, thanks to the mysterious powers
of an ancient Egyptian tablet, the museum’s various exhibits are able to come
to life every nightfall. While not exactly a big hit with critics, it did quite
well financially as it made over half a billion worldwide, thus resulting in a
franchise that has garnered two additional live-action sequels and one animated
sequel.
TRANSFORMERS
Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire was the first PG-13-rated film that I saw in theaters.
Sure, I was only 10 when it came out, but because I was such a huge fan of Harry
Potter, my folks were cool about me going to see it despite the higher
rating after the first three films were all rated PG. By 2007, one year before
I would officially turn 13, I was starting to see more PG-13 rated films in
theaters, with one of the first big ones being the first of Michael Bay’s Transformers
films. Despite not having much of a history with the franchise apart from
always seeing commercials for its toys on TV, I was drawn to this one thanks to
all the hype surrounding it, which goes to show that, despite the film series
eventually attracting tons of scorn from both critics and Transformers fans
thanks to its poorly received sequels like Revenge of the Fallen and Age
of Extinction, Bay’s first Transformers film, while not exactly a
hit with critics, was generally seen as a success back when it was just the
first installment of a new franchise. I also remember that when I went to go
see this one, the sound system in my theater seemed louder than usual. Sure,
the fact that this was a Michael Bay film probably meant that it was a given,
but still, I honestly had to cover my ears half of the time because of how damn
loud it was.
HARRY POTTER AND
THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
One interesting thing
to note about my experience with the Harry Potter film franchise was
that I saw its first five installments at different theaters. I saw Sorcerer’s
Stone at what is now a Regal theater in Bellingham, MA, Chamber of
Secrets at the aforementioned Smithfield theater, Prisoner of Azkaban at
what used to be a Showcase Cinemas theater next to the Warwick Mall in Warwick,
RI (now it’s an Apple Cinema (not to be confused with the tech brand)), and Goblet
of Fire at the ‘Cinema de Lux’ Showcase in Millbury, MA. I’ve always
wondered about how I could’ve potentially seen each film in the franchise at a
different theater… except for Deathly Hallows Part 2, which I could’ve
potentially seen at the Regal theater in Bellingham, thus ending my journey
where it all started. But instead, after seeing Order of the Phoenix at
Cinemaworld, I would end up seeing the final three films there as well.
NATIONAL TREASURE:
BOOK OF SECRETS
Like the Night at
the Museum films, the National Treasure films are another major
example of films that weren’t exactly hits with critics but are still fondly
regarded by those who grew up with them (i.e. yours truly). Yes, they can often
go to ludicrous lengths with some of their historical mystery plots, but at the
same time, they’re genuinely entertaining action-adventure flicks bolstered by
the always memorable Nicolas Cage as treasure hunter Ben Gates. Honestly,
there’s not much to say about me going to see the 2007 sequel Book of
Secrets other than the fact that, as it’s been documented online, it was
paired with a Walt Disney Animation short, How to Hook Up Your Home Theater,
a modern spin on the classic ‘How To’ shorts in which Goofy attempts a certain
activity that, naturally, results in plenty of comedic hi-jinx. Now,
admittedly, I don’t 100% remember this short playing in front of Book of
Secrets when I saw it, but still, it’s certainly an interesting pairing
worth mentioning.
THE WATER HORSE:
LEGEND OF THE DEEP
New Year’s Eve 2007;
produced by Walden Media (who basically held a monopoly on adaptations of
children’s books in the early 2000’s, including the likes of The Chronicles
of Narnia and the previously mentioned Hoot), The Water Horse:
Legend of the Deep is based on a 1990 children’s novel by author Dick
King-Smith. Basically a fantasy-driven spin on the classic myth of the Loch
Ness Monster, the film follows a young Scottish boy who comes across a mysterious
egg that an aquatic creature known as a ‘Water Horse’ hatches out of.
IRON MAN
I may or may not have
brought this up in the past, but I must always note that when I first saw the
first Iron Man, the film that officially kicked off my favorite film
franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe… I wasn’t too big on it. To this day,
it’s hard for me to fully explain why this otherwise widely acclaimed film that
effectively redefined the superhero genre didn’t fly with me when my dad and I went to go see it. Obviously, I would end up loving it more upon many a
rewatch, but I was so indifferent toward it the first time around that I didn’t
even stick around for the iconic post-credit scene where Samuel L. Jackson’s
Nick Fury appears to talk about the ‘Avengers Initiative’. As a result, I
technically didn’t learn about the plans that were already set in place for an Avengers
film until I saw the other MCU film of 2008, The Incredible Hulk (also
seen with my dad albeit at a Showcase in North Attleboro, MA), the following
month since its ‘teaser’, which notably featured Robert Downey Jr. cameoing as Iron
Man’s main protagonist Tony Stark, was a mid-credit scene.
JOURNEY TO THE
CENTER OF THE EARTH
The late 2000’s would
see the re-emergence of 3-D films into mainstream cinema, and while most will
point to James Cameron’s Avatar (more on that later… 😉) as the film that largely catalyzed the
return of this trend, the first of these that grabbed my attention was Journey
to the Center of the Earth, a unique new spin on Jules Verne’s classic 1864
novel in which Brendan Fraser stars as a scientist who finds himself embarking
on an adventure with his nephew and a female guide to the fantastical world
that exists at the planet’s core. This one was such a big deal at the time that
it would end up being adapted into a 15-minute 4-D attraction that was featured
at the likes of Warner Bros. Movie World and Dollywood and was also notably the
first film to introduce the 4DX format that is now used in hundreds of theaters
around the world. It was successful enough financially to spawn a sequel in
2012 based on Verne’s 1875 novel The Mysterious Island that saw Dwayne ‘The
Rock’ Johnson take over as its star.
SPEED RACER
Another instance of
me inheriting the media that my parents grew up with was the 60’s anime series Speed
Racer, a longtime favorite of my dad’s. As such, I still remember the first
time that I saw a poster for the then-upcoming film adaptation at the theater and
being utterly eager to share the news with him. The film, of course, was the
Wachowskis’ ambitious live-action adaptation of Speed Racer that, upon
release, admittedly faced an incredibly polarizing reception. Back then, a lot
of critics (and, in some cases, audiences) were thrown off by the over-the-top
visual style that the Wachowskis brought to the film, and I can personally attest
that my dad was very much one of those people. Whenever he talked about it
after that initial viewing, I seem to always recall him having a mixed reaction
to it and often describing it as ‘weird’. Nowadays, I do wonder if that
sentiment would’ve stayed with him in an age where the film has since gone on
to attract a dedicated cult following and is now often cited as one of the most
underappreciated gems of the 2000’s for its unabashedly chaotic style and surprisingly
deep themes.
THE TALE OF
DESPERAUX
Pretty sure this was the New Year’s Eve 2008’s film. Based on the 2003 children’s novel by Kate
DiCamillo, The Tale of Desperaux is a fantasy adventure in which the
titular Desperaux, a brave young mouse, embarks on an adventure to try and help
save a desolate kingdom. I don’t recall reading this book growing up (perhaps
one of my elementary school teachers read it to us in class); instead, it’s
safe to say that this film’s biggest selling point for me was that its main
human protagonist, the kind Princess Pea who Desperaux befriends, was voiced by
Emma Watson in her first big role outside of the Harry Potter films.
RACE TO WITCH
MOUNTAIN
2009 would see the
revival of a classic Disney franchise, Witch Mountain, which began with
Disney’s 1975 film adaptation of the 1968 sci-fi novel Escape to Witch
Mountain. That film would prove to be a relatively solid success for Disney, which was followed by a 1978 theatrical sequel, a 1982 direct-to-video sequel,
and a 1995 made-for-TV remake. The 2009 film, Race to Witch Mountain,
starred Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as a cab driver who crosses paths with a pair
of mysterious siblings with incredible powers who seek his help in getting them
home before they’re captured by the government. My viewing of this one is
notable for it being the first film that I ever ‘walked out’ on… but, in the
film’s defense, that’s not because I disliked it or anything. No, much like Hoot,
this was a case of me falling ill during it, which necessitated the need for an
early exit. As a result, I’ve technically never seen this film in full.
MONSTERS VS.
ALIENS
We’ve already
discussed the rise of 3-D in the late 2000’s, and another film that headlined
this resurgence was DreamWorks’ 2009 outing Monsters vs. Aliens. Its
marketing campaign was so massive that they aired a 3-D ad for it during that
year’s Super Bowl, with several retailers giving out 3-D glasses in the days
leading up to the Big Game. DreamWorks would end up being regarded as one of
the better studios to handle 3-D films, with subsequent releases like How to
Train Your Dragon and Puss in Boots earning much praise for how they
implemented 3-D.
STAR TREK (2009)
This one will always
stand as one of my favorite times going to the movies with my dad. Going into the
J.J. Abrams-directed reboot, I had ZERO familiarity with the Star Trek franchise.
But because the film ended up garnering strong reviews from critics, I was
ultimately compelled to see it after already gaining some interest in it thanks
to its trailers. Thus, this turned out to be another prime example of
‘inheriting your parents’ media’ as it’s how I learned that my dad was a big
fan of the series. Not long after seeing the film, I saw my first episode of
the original series when the episode ‘The Enemy Within’ played on NBC.
Naturally, this then led to me watching further episodes of ‘Star Trek’ across
its various series and the 10 theatrically released films that came before. And
yet, as much as I know that longtime fans of Star Trek utterly despise
the ‘Kelvin’-era films (more on that later when we get to its first sequel), my
appreciation for Star Trek began with the 2009 film, which still stands
as one of my favorite films of all time.
(Also, like Transformers,
this is another case of my theater having its sound systems turned up all the
way for some reason, making this another ‘loud’ film to see in theaters.)
UP
I think it’s safe to
say that most folks will try to avoid sitting in the lower section of a movie theater,
especially if said theater doesn’t have reclining seats. Cinemaworld never had
reclining seats, which meant that if you were stuck having to sit in the front
rows, you’d have to crane your neck up to see the screen, which isn’t exactly
the most pleasant thing to have to do for a few hours. This is exactly what
happened when I went to see Pixar’s 2009 film Up, and if that wasn’t
enough, it was also in 3-D. To be clear, this isn’t a slight against Up,
a film that has deservedly been deemed one of Pixar’s greatest films, or even
the 3-D (which, admittedly, will face some sharper criticism later in today’s
post). But knowing how 3-D can, admittedly, be a bit much for some people,
imagine having to deal with all that on top of a potentially sore neck; in
other words, this will not be the last time today that I’ll be bringing up a
film that I had to see in the front rows.
HARRY POTTER AND
THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE
The adaptation of the
sixth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
was originally set to be released in the fall of 2008 but got pushed back to
the summer of 2009 because Warner Bros. wanted to have a guaranteed hit that
year in the wake of all the delays that were caused by the 2007-08 Writers
Guild of America Strike. Part of me has always wondered if I would’ve
approached the film differently had it come out in 2008, and that is because, by
the time that it did come out the following year, I’d say that this is where I
truly started to begin my journey as a film critic; namely by seeking out films
outside of the usual media that I’d been watching for most of my life up to
that point (animated films, Disney films, childhood favorite franchises like Harry
Potter, etc.). As a result, I’ll admit that my initial reaction to Half-Blood Prince was sort of muted because… well, I guess you can say that I
sort of lost interest in the Harry Potter franchise by that point. Sure,
the film itself led to one of the most enjoyable theatergoing experiences of
any entry in the franchise due to much of its plot revolving around Harry and
his friends’ high-school-esque personal drama, thus eliciting some of the best
comedic moments in franchise history (Harry under the effects of the good luck
potion Felix Felicis… need I say more?). Nevertheless, it would ultimately take
the next film in the series for me to get back on the Harry Potter bandwagon
(yes, you guessed it… more on that later…)
SURROGATES
This one’s quite a
story for the theatergoing experience. Surrogates was a 2009 sci-fi
thriller set in a world where humanity has come to depend on remote-controlled
androids known as ‘Surrogates’ for their everyday needs. Bruce Willis stars as
an FBI agent who’s brought in to investigate a mysterious crime in which humans
were murdered while plugged into their surrogates, something that isn’t
supposed to be possible. Admittedly not much of a hit with either critics or audiences,
this can be further exemplified by the fact that when I went to go see this
with my mom… we were the only people in the theater. It was the first of what I
can safely say has currently been two times (the other being when I went to see
Aardman’s 2018 film Early Man at the AMC theater in Walt Disney World’s
Disney Springs complex) where we basically had the whole theater to ourselves.
That said, though, I do sort of recall someone else coming in like an hour into
the film, which is hilarious if they were there to see the film because of how
damn late they were getting there…
TOY STORY AND TOY
STORY 2 – 3-D RE-RELEASE
To hype up the
then-impending release of the highly anticipated Toy Story 3 in 2010,
Disney set up a double feature showing of its two predecessors, 1995’s Toy
Story and 1999’s Toy Story 2, complete with a full 3-D conversion.
Being born in 1995, I think it’s safe to say that I never saw the original Toy
Story in theaters, but it goes without saying that the film was just as
much of a staple of my childhood as it was for practically everyone else of my
generation. Comparatively, I do have vague memories of seeing Toy Story 2 in
theaters, which may help to explain why I arguably rewatched that one more as a
kid when we got it on VHS and why it’s my personal favorite installment of the whole
franchise. Really, though, just getting to see two computer-animated
masterpieces together on the big screen was more than enough for me to want to
experience a double feature that, by all accounts, was a major financial
success for Disney.
MICHAEL JACKSON’S
THIS IS IT
The world was left
stunned by the sudden death of legendary pop star Michael Jackson in 2009, right
in the middle of him preparing for This Is It, a huge comeback concert
residency in London, England. Not long after, it was announced that a
documentary featuring footage of Jackson and his team rehearsing the concert
was set to be released. Admittedly, this would lead to tons of controversy and
debate over whether it was simply an exploitative cash grab banking on the
public’s reaction to Jackson’s death (with several members of Jackson’s family
opposing its release), but for the most part, the documentary fared decently
with critics upon its release, most of whom felt that it was as respectful to
the King of Pop’s legacy as it could’ve possibly been given the circumstances.
It certainly proved to be a hit financially even with a limited five-week run,
eventually becoming the highest-grossing documentary film of all time with a
$268 million turnout at the worldwide box office.
AVATAR
Honestly… not much to
say here, but hey, it still sort of means something in terms of where you were
when you went to go see the highest-grossing film of all-time.
SHERLOCK HOLMES
2009 New Year’s Eve. After
achieving a major career resurgence by starring as Tony Stark in the juggernaut
success that was Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. followed that up by starring
as one of the most iconic fictional detectives of all time, Sherlock Holmes,
directed by Guy Ritchie with Jude Law co-starring as Sherlock’s companion Dr.
Watson. Both the 2009 original and its 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game
of Shadows, made over $500 million worldwide at the box office and largely
satisfied critics and audiences with Ritchie’s steampunk-driven take on Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle’s eccentric sleuth.
PERCY JACKSON AND
THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF
In middle school, one notable book series that
I started to really get into was the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
by Rick Riordan, mainly thanks to its first installment, 2005’s The
Lightning Thief, being an assigned reading in my 8th Grade
English/Literature class. Thus, when I learned that a film adaptation was in
the works directed by Chris Columbus (who played a major role in launching
another famous book series’ film adaptations by helming the first two Harry
Potter films), suffice it to say that I was hyped. But then, when I went to
go see it, the first thought that came to mind was… “Boy, this didn’t really
feel like the book all that much.” While I didn’t ‘hate’ it, per se, I still
distinctly remember me immediately recognizing the fact that it made
numerous deviations from the source material, and bear in mind that I’m not one
of those ‘book purists’ who get overly critical of film adaptations for
leaving out key sequences. Sure enough, I wasn’t the only one who noticed,
hence why the film did not fare well with fans of the books and the potential
franchise to follow only yielded one follow-up in 2013; an equally loose
adaptation of the second book, 2006’s The Sea of Monsters, that I
ultimately didn’t end up seeing. Luckily, for Percy Jackson fans, the franchise
has since gone on to find much more onscreen success thanks to its ongoing TV
series adaptation on Disney+ that recently finished its second season adapting Sea
of Monsters and will see a third season adapting the third book, 2007’s The
Titan’s Curse, hit the service sometime this year.
HARRY POTTER AND
THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 1
 |
| "Wow, we're identical!!!" |
As the journey to the
Harry Potter film franchise’s grand finale began to take shape, we were
all taken by surprise when it was announced that the adaptation of the final
book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was going to be split into
two films. It was a controversial decision, for sure, and it would lead to
other ‘book to film’ franchises attempting to cash in on that concept
themselves (to quite arguably lesser results), but for the most part, Deathly
Hallows managed to get away with it without much issue. That said, though,
I am aware that Deathly Hallows Part 1 does tend to be a bit of a
mixed bag amongst Potter fans, with many criticizing it for primarily
being nothing more than a ‘road trip’ film in which the lead trio of Harry,
Ron, and Hermione spend most of their time camping. Personally, though, this film
has always been a special one for me, which brings us back to what I mentioned
earlier about how my initial reaction toward Half-Blood Prince was a lot
more muted than anticipated because I was starting to lose interest in the
franchise at the time. Thus, as you might have guessed, Deathly Hallows Part
1 ended up having the exact opposite effect on me and effectively helped me
regain my interest in the franchise, and given what was about to come next, it
was very much just in time…
TRON: LEGACY
Some of you might not
remember that when the long-awaited sequel to Disney’s 1982 cult hit Tron,
Tron: Legacy, finally hit theaters in 2010… it was incredibly difficult
to come across the original Tron. At that time, its most recent home
video release was its 2002 DVD release, which had been long out of print and was
going for exorbitant prices on eBay. Like many folks of my generation, the only
real experience that I had with the Tron franchise was through the Kingdom
Hearts video game franchise, where a level inspired by the first film appears
in Kingdom Hearts II. This is also one screening that I vividly remember
because, before seeing it, my mom and I got dinner at the Papa Gino’s restaurant
right next door… but then I suddenly started having a nosebleed, which delayed
the meal and forced us to sneak our food into the theater. And yes, I know…
we’ve all done it, but in this instance, I also remember my mom trying (and
failing) to convince the theater employees to let us bring the food in
regularly.
LITTLE FOCKERS
Well… not all our New
Year’s Eve films could be winners. For 2010, we went to see Little Fockers,
the third installment of a series of comedy films that revolve around a nurse
named Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) who finds himself in increasingly awkward
situations whenever he tries to connect with his no-nonsense father-in-law Jack
(Robert De Niro). It all began with the 2000 film Meet the Parents (which,
believe it or not, is a remake of a 1992 independent film of the same name),
which was a major critical and commercial hit that was then followed by a
sequel in 2004, Meet the Fockers, which, while not as critically
successful by comparison, still managed to make over half a billion at the
box-office. But then you come to the third film, Little Fockers, which
achieved series lows both in terms of its critical reception and box-office
performance. That said, a fourth film, Focker-in-Law, is currently being
prepped for release later this year, with none other than Ariana Grande joining
the cast.
SUCKER PUNCH
Anyone who’s followed
this site since its early years knows that this film is one that I have… quite
a complicated relationship with. Sucker Punch, an original fantasy
action flick written and directed by Zack Snyder… is one of my least-favorite
films of all-time, serving as a prime example of Snyder’s reputation of being a
‘style over substance’ filmmaker. In fact, at this point, there are 3 Zack
Snyder films that are a part of that dubious list (the others being the
mythical ‘Snyder Cut’ of Justice League and his attempt at making his
own Star Wars, Rebel Moon). I also dragged my poor mom to see
this one, and the thing is, my mom is generally fair-minded when it comes to
the stuff that I make her watch. But this film? She HATED it and has
never been shy about reminding me of that ever since. And yet, if there is a
silver lining to all this, it’s that I do genuinely credit Sucker Punch for
being the film that effectively made me the film critic that I am today. After spending
most of my childhood and early teenaged years blindly liking every film that I
saw without question, this was the one that finally made me understand the most
important thing that one should know about this medium that… well, let’s face
it, tends to get ignored online; that film is a wholly subjective medium, which
means that you’re not going to like every single film that you see.
THOR
So, if Sucker
Punch was any indication, 2011’s film slate started off on a sluggish note.
Now, yes, I’m willing to take a decent chunk of the responsibility for the
thought process behind this argument based on some of the films that I chose to
see during the first few months of the year, but nevertheless, I’ve always felt
that 2011 didn’t truly start to get good film-wise until the summer, beginning
with the first solo outing for the MCU’s resident God of Thunder, Thor.
And sure, nowadays I rank this film relatively low on the list when it comes to
ranking the MCU films, but I still have a nostalgic soft spot for the first Thor
thanks to its charmingly old-school feel, decent sense of humor, and
satisfying introductory character arc for its titular hero. I also remember
this screening because it was on the day that I finally got to say goodbye to
one of the most infamous hardships that many teenagers have gone through by
getting my braces taken off. So, in general, it was a good day that wasn’t
undone by the two notable downsides of this particular screening; the fact that
I had to watch it from the lower section of the theater… and because I saw it
in 3-D. Here’s the thing… as much as the 3-D format made a major comeback in
the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, this was also a time where the market became
flooded with films that weren’t shot in 3-D but were instead converted into the
format in post-production, often to disastrous results. I was lucky enough to
avoid what was widely regarded as one of the worst 3-D presentations of the
time, the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans, but Thor also got a
ton of flak for its post-converted 3-D, and even though it’s been years since
that initial viewing, I do generally recall its 3-D to be considerably
underwhelming.
TRANSFORMERS: DARK
OF THE MOON
Didn’t really have
any major story to tell about going to see Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen in 2009, though I will note that because I hadn’t truly started to
gain an interest in film criticism by that point, I was largely unaware of the
heavily negative reception that Revenge of the Fallen faced. I would
finally understand why by the time the third film rolled around in 2011, and
while it ultimately didn’t do much to win back the series’ ever-increasing
number of critics, I still found myself enjoying it just as much as the
previous two films as someone who’s had a largely minimal history with the Transformers
franchise as a whole. And hey, say what you will about Dark of the Moon,
but in an era that was full of cheaply-handled post-converted 3-D films,
director Michael Bay genuinely filmed his third Transformers film in
3-D, resulting in one of the best implementations of the format at the time. I
also remember this one due to the initial response from my best friend and
fellow film critic Matthew Goudreau (who will be factoring into this
retrospective more as we go on). Unlike me, Matt is very much on the side of
this series’ biggest critics… and yet, when he first saw this one with me and
some of my friends, he surprisingly liked it. Obviously, this would change in
the years since… but I’d argue it’s a development that we should never forget
(which, to be clear, I don’t mean in a ‘mean’ way; rather, more of a ‘hilarious
in hindsight’ way).
HARRY POTTER AND
THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2
And so, as the Harry
Potter series finally reached its grand finale with the second half of Deathly
Hallows’ 2-part adaptation, one thing was for certain… I was going to go to
this film’s midnight premiere. I had never done any ‘midnight premieres’
before, so for me, this was certainly a way to step into a whole new world of
the filmgoing experience. I still remember going to buy my tickets at the box office a few days before the premiere, knowing full well that it would sell
out fast. And then, there was the process of going to the theater the night of
the premiere, joined by Matt and my mom. I remember how the line to get in
wrapped around the entire Lincoln Mall, and bear in mind that this was still a
few years before the introduction of CW Lanes and Games, which ended up taking
up a good chunk of the building’s space. A few other friends of ours were there
as well ready to see it all come to an end… though, here’s where the one HUGE
mistake that I made that night came into play. In the lead-up to Deathly
Hallows’ release, I remember seeing all sorts of articles that claimed that
both films would see a 3-D release, and whereas Part 1 would have a
post-converted 3-D release, Part 2 was ‘supposedly’ going to have a
legitimate 3-D release. In retrospect, it’s easy to see why this shouldn’t have
made any sense whatsoever given that both films were shot together and that Part
1 didn’t get a 3-D theatrical release. Thus, because I didn’t know any
better, I opted for the 3-D showing, which means that not only were we not in
the same theater with our friends, but also forced to watch a post-converted 3-D
film that was largely set at night, meaning that it’s incredibly hard to see
what’s onscreen half the time in darkened 3-D glasses. So yeah… not my best
move there, but at the time, Deathly Hallows Part 2 still managed to live
up to all the expectations that were placed upon it as the satisfying finale to
one of my generation’s definitive film franchises.
THE LION KING –
3-D RE-RELEASE
Naturally, Disney
opted to re-release a bunch of their animated classics in 3-D during this time.
We’ve already mentioned their successful 3-D re-release of the first two Toy
Story films back in 2009, but it wouldn’t be until 2011 when they did their
first 3-D re-release of one of Walt Disney Animation’s many classics, 1994’s The
Lion King. And for those who don’t know, The Lion King is my
favorite Walt Disney Animation film of all-time… so yes, I went to go see this
one in 3-D even though I already owned the film on DVD. I also remember going
to see it in theaters when they re-released it in 2002 with a special release
in IMAX, which was one of the first major instances I can remember of going to
see a film in IMAX that wasn’t one of the company’s documentary films that I
often went to go see back in the day, mainly during school field trips.
WAR HORSE
2011’s New Year’s
feature came courtesy of the one and only Steven Spielberg with the second of
his two 2011 features (the other being The Adventures of Tintin, his animated
adaptation of the iconic Tintin comic series… which I haven’t seen), War
Horse. Based on the 1982 novel of the same name by author Michael Morpungo
(and its 2007 stage adaptation by playwright Nick Stafford), the film follows
an Irish Hunter horse named Joey as he experiences an incredible journey set
against the backdrop of World War I, from the moment he’s first bought by a
farmer and raised by the farmer’s son Albert to him being sold to the British
army and subsequently encountering all sorts of folks who are dealing with the
dangerous consequences of the war.
BEAUTY AND THE
BEAST – 3-D RE-RELEASE
Following The Lion
King, the next Disney classic to get a big 3-D re-release was Beauty and
the Beast… which ended up being the last major WDAS film to get a 3-D
re-release during this timeframe. There was going to be a 3-D re-release of The
Little Mermaid in 2013, but because of weaker box-office turnouts for Beauty
and the Beast and the 3-D re-releases of Pixar’s Monsters Inc and Finding
Nemo, it was ultimately canned. This release did, at least, come with a
bonus in the form of a Tangled short, Tangled Ever After, which
ran before it… just ignore the fact that I don’t exactly recall having watched
the original Tangled beforehand.
STAR WARS: EPISODE
1 – THE PHANTOM MENACE – 3-D RE-RELEASE
Our last 3-D
re-release of today’s retrospective takes us back to a time before George Lucas
sold his production company Lucasfilm to Disney (in fact, to be more specific,
only a few months before that landmark deal went through). During this time,
Lucas revealed his plans to re-release all 6 of the then-released Star Wars films
in 3-D, starting in numerical order with Episode I: The Phantom Menace. And
yes, for those who are familiar with this film’s reputation in the eyes of the
internet, you’ll know that this was back when the film was very much the butt
of every possible joke by those who considered it to be the most overhyped (and
thus, most disappointing) film of all time. But as for me, I wasn’t aware of
all this when I first saw the film back in the mid 2000’s, hence why I can
safely say that I clearly like it more than most people (not to the point of hating
on the Disney-era Star Wars films and TV shows like some
folks of my generation tend to do, but you get the idea…). Obviously, I’d learn
about all that noise once I started to get into the field of film criticism,
but that didn’t stop me from being genuinely interested in seeing the film when
this 3-D re-release hit, which technically makes it the first Star Wars film
that I ever saw in theaters (the first ‘new’ Star Wars film for me
wouldn’t come until a few years later with Star Wars: The Force Awakens).
Now, I’m not going to focus too much on this film’s notorious reputation for
that much longer, but I will say this. When I saw it in theaters, the crowd
that I was with didn’t give off the vibe of being a part of the online world that
had spent the last several years rambling on and on about how much they hated The
Phantom Menace with a burning passion. Case in point, as a prime example of
this, my crowd seemed to genuinely enjoy the comedic antics of the film’s most
polarizing character, Jar Jar Binks, which I’ll always cite as something worth celebrating,
especially after all that we’ve learned about how much the hate directed toward
Jar Jar severely affected his actor, Ahmed Best. So, in short, you can say
whatever you want to say about The Phantom Menace… me personally? I had
a damn great time getting to have my first-ever experience of seeing a Star
Wars film on the big screen. However, this would ultimately be the
only 3-D re-release of the first six Star Wars films as the planned runs
of Episodes II through VI ended up getting canceled following Disney’s
acquisition of Lucasfilm.
THE AVENGERS
Despite it being one
of my most anticipated films of that time, it admittedly took me a while to see
the first Avengers film. The first weekend it hit theaters, I was on a
class trip with my high school’s chorus and band groups to perform at a High
School Music Festival in Hershey, PA. I still distinctly remember that the
hotel we stayed at was in the same lot as a shopping center that, among other
things, included a movie theater… and I also remember some of my classmates and I joking about sneaking out to go see the film. Obviously… that didn’t
end up happening. And yet, even after that trip, it still took me a few days to
go out and see it because the first school week back was when we had to do the
one thing that I know many students have always feared… standardized testing. So,
because of that, I decided that, even if it meant delaying the process of going
to see the film, I was going to wait until after the standardized testing
process was over. Sure, it was agonizing, but it was all worth it in the end
when me and my buddy Zack (who, admittedly, is more of a DC guy but was still
up to seeing The Avengers) finally went to go see it. Sure, we had to
sit in the two seats that were on the ground level that were basically the
handicap-accessible seats because the rest of the theater was packed, but hey,
it’s better than the neck-craning front rows. And again… it’s The Avengers,
the film that managed to pull off what was once considered impossible and bring
its franchise’s many heroes together in one truly epic superhero feature.
PROMETHEUS
Ridley Scott’s enigmatic
prequel to the Alien franchise that he helped launch all the way back in
1979 may have ended up being one of the year’s most polarizing features due to
all the debates over the quality of its script, but for the purposes of today’s
post, this one is notable for being the first R-rated film that I ever saw in
theaters. I had already seen plenty of R-rated films up to that point thanks to
various TV airings (both the censored network/cable edits and uncensored
airings through the likes of HBO and IFC) and nearly experienced my first
R-rated film in theaters back in 2010 had I gone to see Ben Affleck’s
crime-thriller The Town at a Showcase Cinemas theater in Springfield, MA.
That didn’t end up happening so Prometheus ended up earning the honor of
being my first R-rated film instead.
TED
Family Guy creator
Seth MacFarlane’s directorial debut Ted, in which Mark Wahlberg stars as
a man who, as a kid, wished for his teddy bear to come to life, thus resulting
in the two of them turning into immature stoners, serves as a good example of
how a film can fare with different audiences. Case in point, I first saw this
during its opening weekend with Matt with a full crowd that largely enjoyed it.
About a week or two later, I went to go see it with my dad and brother Chris; there
was a smaller crowd this time so there weren’t as many big reactions to the
film’s biggest humorous moments… and my dad did NOT like the film as a whole
due to the crude style of humor that MacFarlane is well-known for.
THE DARK KNIGHT
RISES
While my other
commitments left me unable to attend the midnight premiere of the first Avengers
film, there was no way that I was going to miss the midnight premiere of
the other big superhero film of the year, The Dark Knight Rises, the
epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s hugely successful Dark Knight trilogy
that relaunched DC Comics’ iconic superhero Batman’s cinematic output for a new
generation. That said, though… there WAS a possibility that I could’ve nearly
missed it because, that same day, my family and I had gone up to Boston to
attend a college reunion event for my dad that, among other things, included
going to that day’s Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park. I still remember the
long car ride back, stuck in seemingly endless traffic and getting rather antsy
about potentially missing the film. Thankfully, I was able to get there in time
and I didn’t have to worry about having to wait in a long line like I did for Potter.
I was there with Matt, Zack, Matt’s friend Alex, and another friend of ours named
Pete and we all had a great time…
…but now it’s time to
address the elephant in the room that is the one thing that this film’s
midnight premiere tragically became known for. That same night in Aurora,
Colorado, a madman shot up one of the theaters at the Century 16 Cinemark
multiplex, killing 12 and injuring 70. Obviously, I wasn’t there in Aurora that
night, but even nearly a decade and a half since that night, I’m still haunted
by the fact that my theater could’ve easily been the site of the worst mass
shooting in U.S. history at the time (god, the phrase ‘at the time’ is a real
gut-punch in this context…). About a week or so later, Matt and I went to our
second screening of the film at Cinemaworld, and right before the film started,
a brief prelude occurred requesting a moment of silence for the Aurora victims.
A few other shootings at movie theaters have occurred since then (including a 2015
shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana during a showing of Trainwreck and a
2021 shooting in Corona, California during a showing of The Forever Purge),
and if I were to be perfectly blunt, moments like these have been a major
factor into why I haven’t gone into a regular movie theater in more than half a
decade.
SKYFALL
Daniel Craig’s third
outing as the iconic British spy James Bond was the first Bond film that I saw
in theaters. It was very much a good time to be a Bond fan as 2012 was the 50th
anniversary of the Bond film franchise, which culminated with Skyfall becoming
not just one of the franchise’s most well-received outings, but also a
billion-dollar smash hit. To quote Bond YouTuber Calvin Dyson, there are two specific
Bond films that Bond fans have a distinct personal fondness for: the first one
that they ever watched and the first ‘new’ Bond film during the time that they
officially became a fan of the franchise. For me, Goldeneye was the
former, and Skyfall was the latter, and while I haven’t provided a proper
ranked list of all the Bond films since before Daniel Craig’s final Bond film, No
Time to Die, Skyfall is the one that I’ve put right at the top of my
list since its release.
2012 DOUBLE
FEATURE WITH MATT – LES MISERABLES AND DJANGO UNCHAINED
2012 would be the
first year that Matt and I initiated a tradition that we’d maintain until 2017:
a post-Christmas double feature that would usually result in us seeing a pair
of films that would end up being some of that year’s most notable award
contenders. This inaugural event kicked off with Les Misérables, the
star-studded film adaptation of the iconic musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s
1862 novel of the same name. The film itself would ultimately be a bit of a
mixed bag amongst critics and audiences (which, I imagine, was then fueled
further when director Tom Hooper adapted another famous musical, Cats,
and the results were… to put it nicely, not great), but what Matt and I specifically
remember from this viewing was that even though it was a matinee showing of a
two-and-a-half-hour musical in a practically full theater, the crowd that we
saw it with was wholly respectful and not obnoxious in any way despite the
potential for them to act that way.
Our second film of
the day was Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist Spaghetti western Django
Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx as the titular Django, a former slave who’s
freed by a German bounty hunter who trains him in the art of bounty hunting to
help him rescue his wife from a sadistic Plantation owner. As one can only
expect from a Tarantino film, Django garnered all sorts of controversies
upon its release but was still largely well-received and won a pair of Oscars.
This one also resulted in an utterly hilarious moment in which Matt and I
headed into the theater as the previous showing was coming to an end. Initially,
we were unsure if we were in the right theater (since there are some instances
where theaters can play two different films on one screen, and if I recall, the
sign above the theater door didn’t list Django) but then saw the film’s
post-credit scene… and without repeating what is said in that scene (because,
well… I’m a white guy…), it immediately let us know that we were in the right
theater.
HITCHCOCK
Apparently 2012 was a
big year for films about legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Back in the
fall, HBO released a TV film titled The Girl that focused on the star of
Hitchcock’s The Birds and Marnie, Tippi Hedren, and the abuse that
she was forced to deal with while working with him. And by year’s end, we had a
theatrically released film about Alfred Hitchcock in the form of, well, Hitchcock,
starring Anthony Hopkins in the title role in a film that explored the making
of arguably Hitchcock’s most famous film, Psycho. For yours truly, this
served as the New Year’s Eve flick of 2012.
A GOOD DAY TO DIE
HARD
I got to see my first
Die Hard film in theaters in 2013… unfortunately, it was A Good Day
to Die Hard, the fifth (and, to date, last) installment of the iconic
action franchise that promptly became its biggest dud because of how far
removed it was from the successful formula that made its previous installments
work as well as they did. But to counter-act seeing a bad film, Skyfall had
just come out on Blu-Ray around that time so, right after seeing this, I went
over to Wal-Mart and picked up my Blu-Ray copy of an actual ‘good’ film.
G.I. JOE:
RETALIATION
Alright, folks, it’s
time for our first example of a screening that was ruined by obnoxious theatergoers!
We’ve all had our own horror stories about having to deal with people who have
no respect whatsoever for the theatergoing experience, and sure enough, I will
be covering some of my own today. This all begins with G.I. Joe: Retaliation,
the sequel to 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the first live-action
adaptation of the hugely popular Hasbro toy line. Notably directed by a pre-Crazy
Rich Asians/In the Heights/Wicked Jon M. Chu, Retaliation replaced
most of its predecessor’s cast in favor of an ensemble headlined by Dwayne ‘The
Rock’ Johnson. It also experienced a rather messy delay as it was originally
planned for a 2012 release before it was pushed back for reshoots and a 3-D
post-conversion right before it was about to launch its accompanying toy line in stores.
A few rows behind me,
there was this group of kids (I seem to recall that the most vocal of the bunch
was most likely the group’s chaperone’s son) who kept talking throughout the
whole film. And when I say ‘talking throughout the film’, I specifically mean that
they had an intense and loud reaction to all its big ‘moments’, such as
explosions, slow-motion shots in action sequences that result in a notable
visual moment, etc. Now, to be clear, I don’t want this to sound like I’m
attacking these kids for being excited about the film; instead, call this a
case of me wondering why their chaperone did NOTHING to keep them quiet. As a
result, I do believe that the original review that I posted for the film all
the way back in 2013 was largely compromised because I was too distracted by those
obnoxious kids.
OBLIVION
But if you were to
ask me what my ‘worst’ theatergoing experience was, it was the one that
occurred not long after the G.I. Joe: Retaliation incident with Oblivion,
an original sci-fi piece from director Joseph Kosinski starring Tom Cruise as a
technician in a post-apocalyptic Earth who gradually learns who he truly is and
the dark secrets that his ‘superiors’ are hiding from him. This one,
admittedly, did not become as big of a hit with critics and audiences as
Kosinski and Cruise’s next collaboration, the billion-dollar juggernaut that
was Top Gun: Maverick, and in a way, that can be exemplified by the
screening that I went to, which featured what I’ll call the ‘trifecta’ of poor
theatergoing etiquette examples. In the row behind me, a group of teens were
talking throughout the entire film. Despite my complaints about the kids from G.I.
Joe: Retaliation, you could at least give them credit because they
were invested in the film, but the teens at Oblivion? Not even close! Then,
there were all the people in my audience who spent way too much time on their
cell phones, which meant that you were often distracted by the bright screens
of everyone’s devices, including the one of the guy seated RIGHT NEXT TO ME!
And then, finally,
there’s a development that I always find a bit humorous whenever I see it happening
in a theater; a couple bringing their infant child in with them because, apparently,
they couldn’t find a babysitter. Well, if you ask me, they should’ve just waited
until a night when they DO have a babysitter who can look after their kid for
them so that it becomes their problem rather than all their fellow theatergoers.
Also, isn’t there something about not having kids look at a screen when they’re
that young so that they can properly develop on a cognitive and physical level?
I mean, sure, these babies are most likely not even remotely paying attention
to the film and are probably just sleeping through it… but at the same time, I
can’t imagine how they’d be able to STAY asleep when they’re in a theater with
a loud sound system during a film with tons of action sequences. And lastly,
it’s always funny to me that this almost always happens at PG-13 and R-rated
films rather than a PG or G-rated film where, even if the kid is still too
young to be there, the film in question is at least made for their demographic.
In conclusion, I
remember that I wanted to see this film in IMAX because it was being touted as
the kind of film that was made for the large-screen format. My folks balked at
the suggestion, though, not wanting to go all the way to our local IMAX theater
in Providence that night. But to this day, I still believe that we should’ve
just gone to see it in IMAX, where I imagine we wouldn’t have had to deal with
such a crappy audience.
STAR TREK INTO
DARKNESS
Matt and I saw a lot
of films together at Cinemaworld, and as one would expect from two people with
drastically different outlooks on film, there were plenty of cases where one of
us liked a film more than the other. But if you were to ask either of us what
the one film we were the most split on was, that would be Star Trek Into
Darkness, the second outing of the Star Trek franchise’s ‘Kelvin
era’ reboot series that began with the previously covered Star Trek from
2009. This one you can attribute to the level of familiarity that the two of us
have with Star Trek as a whole. Matt’s much more of a Star Trek fan
than I am which means that, like a lot of Trek fans, he wasn’t too happy
about Into Darkness blatantly rehashing key plot-points of the
franchise’s highly acclaimed 1982 feature The Wrath of Khan right down
to Benedict Cumberbatch’s main antagonist being revealed to be Khan in what
was, admittedly, one of the worst kept secrets in the spoiler-heavy age of the
internet. As for me, I’ve already talked about how the 2009 Star Trek film
is one of my all-time favorite films thanks in large part to it being one of
the best theatergoing experiences I had with my dad; thus, while I will admit
in retrospect that it probably wasn’t that good of an idea for J.J. Abrams and
company to try and re-do The Wrath of Khan, I continue to be one of Into
Darkness’ most ardent defenders to this very day.
FAST AND FURIOUS 6
Buoyed by the hype
that spawned from the surprisingly top-notch Fast Five back in 2011,
2013’s Fast and Furious 6 resulted in one of my favorite theatergoing
experiences of all time because of the Grade-A crowd that I saw it with. It may
have just been a matinee showing, but it was with a full audience that was fully
locked into the film and had great reactions to all the big moments in the film
which, in Fast and Furious terms, largely means the franchise’s
trademark over-the-top action sequences.
MAN OF STEEL
I ended up getting
the chance to see the Zack Snyder-directed, Christopher Nolan-produced revival
of the Superman film franchise early thanks to this promotion with
Wal-Mart, who offered tickets to an early screening. My mom went over to our
local Wal-Mart the morning that the tickets were made available and purchased
two tickets for Matt and me, and after the debacle of me mistakenly opting for
the 3-D version of Deathly Hallows Part II, I wisely opted to stick with
the 2-D version this time around. I also remember that I somehow managed to get
my original review for the film posted on this site just a few hours after
seeing it which, obviously, is not something that I’d be able to pull off
nowadays…
FROZEN
Walt Disney Animation
Studios’ 2013 feature Frozen was a full family viewing experience.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make our initially planned viewing of around
noon-ish or so because the tickets were sold out for that showing (disclaimer:
this was back before advance ticket sales were as common as they are now), so we
had to opt for the next showing at around 2-ish, which happened to be in 3-D.
It wasn’t our preference, for the record, but thankfully it didn’t have too
much of a negative effect on the film.
2013 MATT DOUBLE
FEATURE: THE WOLF OF WALL STREET AND AMERICAN HUSTLE
Matt and I’s second
Post-Christmas double feature started out with a doozy: Martin Scorsese’s
extravagant and darkly comedic Wall Street-based biopic The Wolf of Wall
Street. It was my first Scorsese film seen in theaters, but for Matt, this
was the latest for him having been a longtime fan of Scorsese’s work. We
ultimately maintained the ‘biopic’ theme for this year’s double feature as our
second film was American Hustle, directed by David O. Russell and a
loose interpretation of the FBI’s Abscam sting operation back in the late 70’s
and early 80’s. This one was one of my most anticipated films of that year
after being a huge fan of O. Russell’s previous film, 2012’s Silver Linings
Playbook, but while the film itself was largely well-received by critics
and made over $250 million at the box office… I ended up being disappointed by
it. Matt, by comparison, was a lot more positive about it, which I guess you
can say is one of the rare cases of him liking something more than me when it
comes to all the films we saw together. Usually, it was the other way around…
THE SECRET LIFE OF
WALTER MITTY
For New Year’s 2013,
we opted to go see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a remake of the 1947
Danny Kaye starring comedy adventure (both being loosely based on author James
Thurber’s 1939 short story) with Ben Stiller directing and starring in the
title role of a daydreaming negative assets manager at Life magazine who
heads out on an actual adventure to try and locate the valuable negative print
that’s intended to be the cover photo for Life’s final printed issue.
HER
Hehe…oh boy… folks,
it’s time to talk about the most awkward theatergoing experience that I’ve ever
had when I made the boneheaded decision to see Spike Jonze’s Her with
both my parents and my brother. Anyone who’s familiar with this film knows
exactly why that was such a dumb idea, but for those who aren’t, Her is
a sci-fi themed romantic drama starring Joaquin Phoenix as a recent divorcee
who ends up forming a relationship with his new A.I. operating system Samantha
(voiced by Scarlett Johansson) that gradually starts to become more sexually
charged in nature. Yes, folks, what we have here is the classically
embarrassing and all-around unfortunate example of awkwardly watching a film
with your parents that involves tons of sexual content. For some inexplicable
reason, everything about this film’s sexually-based premise somehow slipped my
mind in the weeks leading up to its release (even though I clearly must’ve
known all about it given how closely I follow film-related news), hence why I
wrongly assumed “Hey, this would be a good one to see with the whole family!”
Not long after the
film’s first extended bit of sexual content in which Phoenix’s character has an
awkward ‘sex chat’ with a random Instant Messaging user, my mom promptly
excused herself to go to the bathroom, and then, when she returned, sat in the
lower section of the theater away from me, my dad, and my brother… I don’t
blame her. Honestly, though, nowadays my mom and I just laugh this whole thing
off whenever it gets brought up as a prime example of a valuable life lesson… DON’T
WATCH GRAPHIC SEX SCENES WITH YOUR PARENTS!!!
THE LEGO MOVIE
Ok, so we’re going
from an awkward experience to a more… sad one. Originally, I was going to see Phil
Lord and Christopher Miller’s highly anticipated The LEGO Movie, the
first theatrically released film based on the bestselling toy brand, with my
folks the weekend it came out. But then, that weekend… my dad suffered a severe
head injury… and died just a few days later. I ended up seeing it with my uncle
CJ and my cousin Genesis instead as a means of distraction from what was going
on with my dad. Didn’t post the review of it until after he passed, hence why
it was dedicated to him.
THE AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN 2
Considering
everything that had happened with my dad, it’s safe to say that by the end of
my freshman year of college in 2014, I was in desperate need of a pick-me-up
after an exhausting Spring and early Summer. For me, that would come in the
form of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, my most anticipated film of that year
because of how much I loved the first Amazing Spider-Man ever since I
got to see it early at the Providence IMAX theater after winning tickets to an
advance screening from one of our local radio stations (Matt and Mom got to tag
along for that one 😊).
Sure, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would ultimately be the final installment
of Sony’s second attempt at a Spider-Man film franchise due to its poor
critical reception and underwhelming turnout at the box office, but for me, it
was exactly what I needed to lift my spirits at such a pivotal time in my life.
It’s also worth
noting that I saw this with my mom and uncle CJ and our tickets were basically
paid in advance for us because we had coupons for them that we got from me
buying all 3 of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films separately on Blu-Ray.
CHEF
Amidst all the big
blockbusters of 2014, we had the well-deserved return to form for director Jon
Favreau with his [arguably somewhat biographical] comedic road-trip adventure, Chef.
As you might have guessed, the film’s heavy emphasis on food culture resulted
in many touting it as a film that you shouldn’t go into hungry. Thus, when my mom and I went to go see it, we were well-prepared having gotten lunch
beforehand… however, it technically took us two days to see this film. On the
day that we first went to see it, a minor issue emerged at the Lincoln Mall
(this was, for the record, right around the time that Cinemaworld started to
build CW Lanes and Games) which resulted in the fire alarm going off. We exited
the theater and decided that we’d come back tomorrow in case any further issues
arose. Thus, we came back the next day, and thankfully, were not hindered by
any sudden fire alarm-based evacuations of the theater.
INTERSTELLAR (2ND
WATCH)
Ok, so this one’s
rather interesting because it’s a case where the film in question was one that
I had already seen. Interstellar was film fan favorite Christopher
Nolan’s newest feature and much of the buzz surrounding its release was that it
was going to be shown in 70mm IMAX film in select theaters… and thankfully for
me, this included the Providence IMAX. Thus, I was able to see it in 70mm IMAX
which, as someone who still remembers growing up in a time right before most
theaters transitioned from traditional film projection to digital projectors, was quite an experience getting to see a film presented in such a
spectacular cinematic format. Well, to my surprise, while Cinemaworld obviously
didn’t have the means to do 70mm IMAX, they were able to do a 35mm presentation
of the film, which is how I was able to see it again in theaters non-digitally without
having to go all the way back to the Providence IMAX.
I would, however,
return to the Providence IMAX for Nolan’s next feature, 2017’s Dunkirk,
which, of course, was presented in glorious 70mm. I didn’t get a chance to see
his 2020 feature Tenet in 70mm IMAX because… well, COVID. And by the
time his next feature, 2023’s Oppenheimer, hit the 70mm IMAX circuit, I
had moved down to Florida and the closest 70mm IMAX presentation to me was down
in Fort Lauderdale despite us having a proper IMAX theater at the Regal Pointe complex
in Orlando. Also, from what I remember seeing, apparently the Providence IMAX
had stopped doing 70mm IMAX screenings by this point in time, but hopefully,
they will start doing so again in the wake of the theater (and accompanying
16-screen multiplex) being purchased by Apple Cinemas (no, not that Apple…
and, for the record, at the time of this post’s publication, there are no plans
for 70mm IMAX showings at that location for Nolan’s next film; his take on the
iconic Greek epic The Odyssey).
2014 MATT DOUBLE
FEATURE: INTO THE WOODS AND THE IMITATION GAME
The 2014 edition of
Matt and I’s post-Christmas double feature started… with us having to
temporarily evacuate our theater due to a fire alarm a la Chef. This
time, however, we stuck around and things got back to normal for our first
feature of the day, Into the Woods, an admittedly somewhat sanitized yet
very much lavish adaptation of the Tony Award-winning fairy tale-based musical
of the same name by legendary musical theater composer Stephen Sondheim and
playwright James Lapine. Our second feature of the day was The Imitation
Game, a biopic of computer scientist and mathematician Alan Turing who,
during World War II, famously developed a device that could decipher the
notorious Enigma cipher that would then be cited as a critical prototype for
the development of modern computing… and was then, sadly, subjected to hormonal
therapy treatment by the government to suppress his homosexual tendencies. Despite
some controversies over its historical accuracy and its arguable downplaying of
Turing’s homosexuality, the film was well-received upon its release and did end
up winning that year’s Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
I went into Mad
Max: Fury Road, the long-awaited continuation of visionary George Miller’s
iconic post-apocalyptic action franchise, having never seen any of the previous
films. Some Mad Max fans claimed that it wasn’t necessary to do so
before seeing Fury Road… personally, I disagree with that mentality
because while it’s true that these films have never had the kind of direct
continuity that other franchises have, I do think that it would’ve been better
for me to have had a stronger sense of familiarity with the franchise
beforehand rather than coming in as a total newcomer. As I’ve said before, my
initial reaction to Fury Road was, admittedly, a bit lukewarm. I didn’t
hate it, to be clear, but I did get quite frustrated with the internet
overhyping it at the expense of other perfectly good films from that summer. Thankfully,
though, my stance on it has been a lot more positive in recent years, and I
must also point out that the moment during the final chase where much of
Immortan Joe’s forces are wiped out in a gigantic explosion was easily one of
the greatest uses of a theater’s sound system that I’ve ever gotten to
experience. In other words, it was arguably the perfect definition of the term
‘surround sound’.
FAN4STIC
You know something?
Back then, I was one of the rare folks who was genuinely hoping for the best
for the now-infamous 2015 cinematic reboot of the Fantastic Four. But,
of course, upon its release, we all saw how, for lack of a better term and at
the risk of using the most obvious pun ever, utterly doomed this production
was. We’re talking about a film so bad that most people considered the Deadpool
trailer that ran before it the best part about it. But for me, there was an
upside to all this; almost immediately after seeing it, I ran into Matt at the
theater as he was about to go to one of Cinemaworld’s retro screenings. I
promptly joined him for said screening of…
SPACEBALLS
Yes, Cinemaworld did
a bunch of retro screenings over the years. They used to have a bunch of annual
events for moviegoers to partake in, like their ‘Summer Kidfest’ series where
they ran a bunch of kids films every morning during the summer for free that
usually consisted of the most recent Disney, DreamWorks, and Illumination
flicks with a few random older gems here and there (I do remember them running The
Iron Giant one of these weekends). And on the night that I saw Fan4stic,
they held a showing of Mel Brooks’ iconic Star Wars spoof Spaceballs.
So, in my case, I got to redeem a night where I had to sit through one of the
worst superhero films of all time by getting to enjoy one of the most iconic
comedies ever made with an enthusiastic crowd quoting all its classic lines.
STRAIGHT OUTTA
COMPTON
Straight Outta
Compton, the F. Gary Gray-directed biopic about legendary hip-hop group
N.W.A., attracted some controversy upon its release, and in this case, I’m not
referring to the criticisms that it faced over it leaving out some of the more
problematic actions of the band’s key members. Given N.W.A.’s well-established
critiques of police brutality and the fact that this came out right around the
time of some of the most tragic cases of police brutality of the 2010’s such as
the deaths of folks like Michael Brown and Eric Garner, it was reported that
many theaters across the country were going to hire extra security to deal with
any potential incidents during screenings of this intentionally
politically-charged film. Thankfully, no major incidents at screenings were
ever reported, but that didn’t stop my mom from requesting to go to the theater
with me just in case something came up. And keep in mind, under normal
circumstances, this would’ve obviously been another Her situation where
it wouldn’t have been remotely appropriate to see this film with one’s parents given
all the sex and nudity in it. But again, I’m happy to report that nothing bad
happened at our screening.
PAN
Easily one of the
most bizarre cinematic experiences that Matt and I ever had came from our
screening of Pan, a big-budget prequel to J.M. Barrie’s classic story
about Peter Pan, ‘The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up’, directed by Joe Wright,
director of acclaimed films such as the 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride
and Prejudice and 2007’s Atonement. By comparison, this one was not
well-received by critics and audiences while also attracting tons of
controversy for the whitewashed casting of Rooney Mara as Native American
princess Tiger Lily. But if you want to talk about one of the most random
moments that I’ve ever had in a theater, look no further than the scene where
Peter arrives in Never Land for the first time after being captured by the
forces of the notorious pirate Blackbeard… and then, all of a sudden, all the
kids being forced to mine Fairy Dust for Blackbeard and their pirate captors start
singing Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. And in a later sequence, they sing
The Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’. Yes, folks, this is an actual thing that
happened in this film, and more than a decade later, it’s still weird as hell.
2015 MATT DOUBLE
FEATURE: THE HATEFUL EIGHT AND THE BIG SHORT
Three years after a
Quentin Tarantino film concluded Matt and I’s inaugural Post-Christmas Double Feature
run, a Quentin Tarantino film kicked off our 2015 run with his second Western, The
Hateful Eight. Our theater didn’t have the means to present the film in its
highly touted ‘roadshow release’ version that fully capitalized on Tarantino
shooting it in the Ultra Panavision 70 format, thus making it able to be
screened in 70mm. I do recall that a theater in Providence was able to, but of course,
Matt and I stuck with Cinemaworld for these double-feature runs of ours. The
second film of the day was The Big Short, a notable change of pace for
its director, Adam McKay. After years of being known for his work in the comedy
genre with popular hits like 2004’s Anchorman and 2006’s Talladega
Nights, The Big Short saw McKay shift into making films that tackled
major political and sociological themes, with this film exploring all the
negative effects of the 2008 recession through the eyes of various investors
who either saw it coming years before it was going to happen or tried to capitalize
on the increasingly unstable financial markets.
JOY
2015’s New Year’s Eve
saw a change in the familial crowd for the theatergoing experience; it was me,
my mom, my brother, and his then-girlfriend (now wife) Jennifer, the latter two
having come up to visit from their then-current residence in Kansas City,
Missouri. This year’s New Year’s Eve film was Joy, the newest film
from director David O. Russell and his third straight collaboration with
Jennifer Lawrence, who had starred in both Silver Linings Playbook and American
Hustle. The film saw Lawrence star as real-life entrepreneur Joy Mangano,
an overworked single mother who became famous with her self-wringing ‘Miracle
Mop’ that effectively led to her establishing a hugely successful business
empire.
DEMOLITION
Here’s another prime
example of experiencing a film with vastly different audiences. I had already
seen this film prior to it hitting theaters because I got to see its premiere
at the 2016 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas as part of a school-backed
and course-credited college trip. Directed by the late Jean-Marc Vallée, whose
other work includes the Oscar-winning 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club and
the first season of HBO’s Big Little Lies, the film starred Jake Gyllenhaal
as an investment banker who tragically loses his wife in a car accident but then
begins to cope with his loss in ‘eccentric’ ways. At the SXSW Film Festival,
this ended up being one of the most popular films of that year’s event; there
was non-stop laughter at my screening, it proved to be popular enough to
warrant the Festival setting up a second showing, and it ultimately won that
year’s Audience Award for Best Headliner Premiere. Conversely, upon its
release, the film garnered a generally mixed reaction from critics and failed
to do much at the box office, which was quite apparent from the screening that
I went to at Cinemaworld. There weren’t as many notable reactions to the film’s
biggest comedic moments, and in fact, I’m sure that I was usually the only one
laughing at certain parts of the film to the point where some of the other
folks in my audience looked back at me with weird looks.
TEENAGE MUTANT
NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS
So, just like G.I.
Joe: Retaliation, here we have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the
Shadows, a Paramount-produced kid-friendly live-action blockbuster based on
a hugely popular media franchise that was also a sequel (in this case, to the
2014 Michael Bay produced take on the iconic heroes in a half-shell)… so yes,
this means that I had to deal with kids who kept talking throughout the film
with big reactions to its action sequences. Thankfully, unlike G.I. Joe,
this only lasted for about a quarter of the film’s runtime; they either left early
or their chaperone got them to calm down, so it wasn’t as big of an issue as it
was with Retaliation.
IMPROMPTU ARRIVAL
AND HACKSAW RIDGE DOUBLE FEATURE
Ok, so, consider this
a partial example of the double features that Matt and I have done over the
years, especially because he wasn’t there for the first film. That first film
was Arrival, the newest film from director Denis Villeneuve, which ended
up being one of that year’s most critically acclaimed films that further cemented
Villeneuve’s growing reputation as one of the most well-regarded directors in
the film industry. This one I saw with my mom, and as we were leaving the
theater, we ran into Matt, who was there to see a different film. I ended up
tagging along with him while my mom headed back home for the night and we sat
down for Hacksaw Ridge, a World War II flick about Desmond Doss, a US Army
combat medic who controversially refused to partake in any actual warfare but
then ended up proving his worth as a heroic figure during the Battle of Okinawa
by saving many of his wounded comrades. This one was notable for being directed
by Mel Gibson in what was largely seen as Gibson’s return to the industry after
all the controversial incidents that he wound up in during the 2000’s. And
while, admittedly, his controversial reputation has persisted to this very day,
Hacksaw Ridge did quite well with critics and managed to garner some
Oscar wins in the process.
2016 MATT (AND
ALEX) DOUBLE FEATURE: FENCES AND LA LA LAND
As for Matt and I’s
actual Post-Christmas Double Feature of the year, we were joined by a special
guest: my college buddy Alex Corey (not to be confused with Matt’s college pal
Alex McDevitt from the Dark Knight Rises midnight premiere). It was a
rare case of Alex coming down to visit since he lived in Warwick, hence why
whenever I saw a film with him, it was usually at one of the Showcase Cinema
theaters in Warwick; either the one at the Warwick Mall (now owned by Apple Cinemas)
or the one 15 minutes down the road closer to East Greenwich.
First film of the day?
Fences, an adaptation of playwright August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a man who struggles to balance the need to provide for his
family in 1950’s Pittsburgh with some of his dark personal secrets. The film
was directed by Denzel Washington, who also starred in the lead role of patriarch
Troy Maxson after previously playing the part in the play’s 2010 Broadway
revival. Well received by critics and garnering an Oscar win for Best
Supporting Actress for Viola Davis as Troy’s put-upon wife Rose (with Davis
also reprising her role from the 2010 Broadway revival, which earned both her
and Washington Tony Awards), the film would be the first of several adaptations
of August Wilson’s plays produced by Washington. Next up was arguably the most
talked-about award contender of that year, La La Land, writer/director
Damien Chazelle’s lavish original musical that served as a love letter to both
classic Hollywood musicals and the world of jazz music. And while its largely
dominant run at that year’s award season was ultimately defined by it being erroneously
named Best Picture at the Oscars (with Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight winning
instead), it still stands as one of the most popular films of the 2010’s.
SING
2016 New Year’s Eve;
my first Illumination film in theaters, Sing. A jukebox musical set in a
world full of anthropomorphic animals, the film revolved around a singing
competition held by an opportunistic theater-owning koala who’s desperate to
save his theater from being foreclosed upon. As you can guess from the title, one
of Sing’s biggest selling points was its soundtrack full of covers of
iconic songs from the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elton John, and Taylor Swift,
just to name a few. Upon its release, the film was another major financial
success for Illumination, earning over $634 million at the box office and
garnering an equally successful sequel in 2021.
PATRIOTS DAY
Our last major case
of a screening undermined by poor theater etiquette is one that has always stuck
with me given the sensitive nature of the subject matter. Patriots Day,
directed by Peter Berg and starring Mark Wahlberg, was the third major collaboration
between the duo that revolved around dramatizations of real-life tragedies
after 2013’s Lone Survivor, based on the Navy SEAL operation ‘Operation
Red Wings’, and 2016’s Deepwater Horizon, based on the 2010 explosion of
BP’s titular offshore drilling unit and the disastrous oil spill that ensued.
And in this case, Patriots Day’s basis was sure to strike a
personal chord for anyone in the New England area as it was based on the deadly
bombing of the 117th running of the Boston Marathon in 2013 and the
subsequent manhunt for the Tsarnaev brothers who orchestrated it.
To this day, there’s
been tons of debate over whether this film was made ‘too soon’ after the
bombings, which can explain why the film, while largely well-received by
critics, was an underperformer at the box office. And as you might have
guessed, reactions from folks in the New England area have been complicated, to
say the least. So why am I bringing up a case of poor theater etiquette for a
film that would obviously garner specific reactions from folks from my neck of
the woods? Well, that’s because, when I saw this, I was seated about one or two
rows in front of a group of young men, presumably around my age, and they
talked throughout the entire film. And in this case, this bothered me
specifically because it gave the impression that they weren’t taking it
seriously, which is even more damning in this instance because of it being
based on such a recent tragedy that happened not too far from us. I still cite Oblivion
as my worst theatergoing experience overall due to it being an amalgamation
of all the worst cases of bad theater etiquette, but my Patriots Day screening
still ranks highly on that not-so-special list due to the incident’s
inappropriate nature.
POWER RANGERS
The 2017 cinematic
reboot of the hit franchise Power Rangers ultimately may not have been
able to achieve its goal of becoming a multi-film franchise, but it did elicit
a fun theatergoing experience, even for someone like me who, admittedly, doesn’t
have much of a history with the franchise outside of watching a few episodes of
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers before seeing the film. The crowd that I
was with applauded during a sequence where the Rangers ride into battle in
their dinosaur-themed vehicles known as Zords in a shot that directly mirrored the
one from the original series, complete with the iconic ‘Go Go Power Rangers’
theme (specifically, the one from 1995’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The
Movie).
COCO
There was a bit of
controversy surrounding the release of Pixar’s fall 2017 release Coco that
largely had nothing to do with the film itself (I’m not even referring to the
incident where Disney tried to trademark the phrase ‘Día de los Muertos’ and
was promptly crucified for their attempt by the Mexican-American community).
No, what I’m referring to is the backlash that was directed toward the short
that preceded the film. While Pixar had always been known for running shorts before
all their films up to this point, it was different in Coco’s case because,
instead of the traditional Pixar-made short, it was paired with what was
technically a television special, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, a holiday spin-off
of the Frozen franchise centered on its standout supporting character
Olaf the Snowman that was originally intended to debut on ABC before it got
promoted to a theatrical release in front of Coco. Simply put… quite a
few folks weren’t too happy about this for various reasons ranging from it
being a full 21-minute special rather than a 5-minute short to those who were burnt
out by Frozen’s dominant grip on the pop cultural zeitgeist. Some argued that having the special run in front of Coco would
end up overshadowing it, but ultimately, the special was only paired with it
for a few weeks, and that didn’t stop Coco from being a critical and
commercial juggernaut that now stands as one of Pixar’s modern masterpieces.
2017 MATT DOUBLE
FEATURE (THE FINALE! (FOR THE CINEMAWORLD ERA, TO BE CLEAR…)) – THE SHAPE OF
WATER AND ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD
And now we come to
the last Post-Christmas Double Feature run that Matt and I have done to date and,
obviously, the last that we ever did at Cinemaworld. Our first feature was that
year’s eventual Best Picture winner The Shape of Water from visionary
filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. A modern spin on the classic Universal monster
flick Creature from the Black Lagoon, the film was a premier showcase of
Del Toro’s distinct visual eye and his ability to effortlessly humanize
characters who would largely be seen as monsters by others. The second film of
the night was All the Money in the World from director Ridley Scott, a
film that ultimately became more notable for its highly publicized
post-production. A dramatization of the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III,
the grandson of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, and the ensuing efforts of his mother
Gail to rescue her son all while Getty infamously refused to agree to the
kidnappers’ ransom demands, the film originally starred Kevin Spacey as Getty…
that is, until Spacey became one of the first major Hollywood stars to be accused
of sexual misconduct during the #MeToo movement. Thus, in a practically
unprecedented turn of events, Scott managed to pull off a complete recasting of
the role just a few months before its release (mainly thanks to it being a
supporting role in a film that had already been completed by that point), with
Christopher Plummer taking over the part of Getty through a series of reshoots.
Admittedly, said reshoots then garnered their own bit of controversy when it
was revealed that lead actress Michelle Williams’ co-star Mark Wahlberg was
paid much more than her, but thankfully, Wahlberg would end up donating his reshoots
fee to the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund.
THE GREATEST
SHOWMAN
And finally, we come
to the last film that I ever saw at Cinemaworld; my 2017 New Year’s Eve flick The
Greatest Showman, a lavish original musical that dramatized the story of showman
P.T. Barnum’s creation of what would end up becoming the Ringling Bros. and
Barnum and Bailey Circus. While the film did attract a mixed reception upon its
release, with many criticizing the film’s sanitized portrayal of Barnum
compared to his more sordid real-life background, it ended up being a sleeper
hit that defied expectations at the box office and promptly became a notable
pop cultural phenomenon. And in retrospect, this show-stopping old-school
Hollywood musical was quite arguably the perfect film to serve as the finale to
the many years that I’d spent going to Cinemaworld, even though I obviously didn’t know at the time that it’d ultimately end up being my last time
there.
And that’s all, folks!
Thanks for joining me on this extensive journey through all the memories and
the numerous films that I ended up experiencing at Cinemaworld. If you’re from
my neck of the woods in Northern Rhode Island, feel free to sound off in the
comments below with your own personal memories of going to see a film at
Cinemaworld.
I’d like to dedicate
this post to everyone who ever worked at Cinemaworld who helped to make it one
of the best places to go see a film in Northern Rhode Island that, in turn, helped
make me the film fan and critic that I am today.
No comments:
Post a Comment