Choosing between bad choices at the flicks.
Introduction to the blog
I have to confess, I was a little bit excited at the end of last week. You'll notice I was quite deliberate there with my verb choice, 'was'. You see, we had big plans on Friday night to hit the town! (Not in a trashy way, mind you!) We were headed 3 hours up the road to a large city (Newcastle, NSW) which is of course home to cinemas with reclining chairs and all the plush comforts and luxury one might dare hope for as part of their cinematic experience!
It certainly puts the normal theatre seats we have to 'put up with' in our local cinema to shame.
(Although, the ambiance - the local cinema is in one of those old Art Deco buildings, and the space itself has a bit of old world charm to it. We've often wondered, when they get around to building the proposed new cinema complex here, which one would we use?
Back on track then - 'was' - you see, I looked up the Friday night schedule and needless to say, I 'was' disappointed. It feels like COVID shutdowns are behind us now, and big budget films are back on track, and I guess, I just assumed there would be something on that would be see-able. I'm not talking amazing, just something to sit through to enjoy the comfy seats. But there was figuratively nothing on!
Here was the best of a bad bunch:
Top Gun:
Look, I don't have anything against Tom Cruise. I actually rather liked Risky Business and Mission Impossible, but I feel if you're turning 60, you probably shouldn't be playing the 20 year old fighter pilot still. I think that would bug me the whole way through the film - and then I'd start reflecting on how it has come to be that Mr Cruise has a couple of decades on me, but looks my junior! The mind would spiral out of control as I would try and catalogue all his cosmetic work. And also - I never seen the original, and I feel like part of the viewing experience is knowing what happened the first time around. I did read the other day though, that military enrollments are expected to be boosted by 500% as a consequence of the film, so perhaps it is a winner.
Jurassic Park:
I know, another film with a bit of a 'claim' to be something, based on a film's success from twenty years ago. I just have no interest in dinosaur films. It's not that I dislike dinosaurs, but it just seems too far fetched to have an island full of them, and that I'm supposed to buy into the existence of this place for the film to really 'work'. I dunno, I did see the first one, and it was fine - but I didn't care to see any of the sequels following it, and I'm a bit apathetic towards this one too. Let's face it, if you got no interest, you got no interest.
Lightyear:
I guess when the cartoon sounds like the best pick, you know you're in for a rough choice. To be honest, this looked the most appealing to me, but I see a theme: everything on is linked to a glory of an earlier film. There's nothing original!! That said, I did see the original Toy Story and I loved it! But in fairness, I was 8. I then seen it a number of times over the years, because I was 8 + a few years. I liked Woody, but I disliked Buzz Lightyear. You can see where this is going, right? I'm now 8 + a few decades, and I still dislike Buzz Lightyear. Easy choice to avoid this one!
Concluding thought:
I think it's clear then, that I will not, in fact, be venturing out to the flicks. There are a few other things showing, but they sounded even more rubbish than the bad bunch I picked out above. If I had to see something, I think I could make a case for any of those 3, but I'm thinking we won't end up going. If we do, it won't be for Lightyear, so I guess the toss of the coin of the other two would be what time they're on - and we'll pick a film based on our time convenience. Not a great way to see a show, right?
Tell me, what's your pick and why?
All images are associated with the film discussed, which is distributed by: