Every few weeks in Entertainment Weekly, they go to Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations for the idiot quote of the week. This week, in attempting to explain the slump in ticket revenues for the last eight weeks, he came off with this gem: "Maybe audiences are waiting for the big summer movies." A brilliant observation, lacking only one, tiny little quality… any sense of reality whatsoever. (Apparently Paul's job description can be boiled down to PR Flack.)
This past weekend, I was looking at the movies listings and just shaking my head in disbelief. I'm used to January and February being a dumping ground for loser movies. Let's face it, the studios have all their Oscar contenders in theatres, riding that post-Christmas movie wave, so why waste the weekends on quality movies. But here it is, almost MAY, and I've gone out to see MAYBE a half dozen new releases since the first of the year. (Sin City, Robots, Sahara, Elektra, Hitch… and, oh yeah, how can I forget… The Pacifier. My GOD, is that ALL I've gotten out to see?)
This past weekend, the Interpreter opened. Got some decent reviews, which puts it ahead of a lot of the movies that have come out. And it should be one I'm interested in… action, thriller, conspiracies and politics… and yet I can't even generate enough interest to look at showtimes. (Maybe it's because Sean Penn seems to no longer have ANY fun making movies. And Nicole's just trying too hard now.) Maybe I'll see it on DVD. Maybe not.
This weekend is the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is either going to be a lot of fun, or the biggest trainwreck to hit movie screens since Catwoman. I doubt there's a middle ground here, and I'm afraid I'm not the most hopeful of moviegoers right now. Oh, and xXx: State of the Union opens too. Ok, so the trend continues.
Well, there's always May to look forward to.
(And yes, I'm well aware that there are smaller films—art house, independent, etc.—and I don't HAVE to stick to big studio releases. I just haven't heard anything terribly interesting coming from the art house circuit either.)
This past weekend, I was looking at the movies listings and just shaking my head in disbelief. I'm used to January and February being a dumping ground for loser movies. Let's face it, the studios have all their Oscar contenders in theatres, riding that post-Christmas movie wave, so why waste the weekends on quality movies. But here it is, almost MAY, and I've gone out to see MAYBE a half dozen new releases since the first of the year. (Sin City, Robots, Sahara, Elektra, Hitch… and, oh yeah, how can I forget… The Pacifier. My GOD, is that ALL I've gotten out to see?)
This past weekend, the Interpreter opened. Got some decent reviews, which puts it ahead of a lot of the movies that have come out. And it should be one I'm interested in… action, thriller, conspiracies and politics… and yet I can't even generate enough interest to look at showtimes. (Maybe it's because Sean Penn seems to no longer have ANY fun making movies. And Nicole's just trying too hard now.) Maybe I'll see it on DVD. Maybe not.
This weekend is the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is either going to be a lot of fun, or the biggest trainwreck to hit movie screens since Catwoman. I doubt there's a middle ground here, and I'm afraid I'm not the most hopeful of moviegoers right now. Oh, and xXx: State of the Union opens too. Ok, so the trend continues.
Well, there's always May to look forward to.
(And yes, I'm well aware that there are smaller films—art house, independent, etc.—and I don't HAVE to stick to big studio releases. I just haven't heard anything terribly interesting coming from the art house circuit either.)
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