:: Sunday, July 20, 2003 ::

Another of the hot summer weekends passes, and I haven't been to see a movie in a theater since summer began. Am I perhaps, showing my disrespect for the summer of sequels by not patronizing the local AMC? Hmmmmm. There are two films out right now I want to see in the theater, and perhaps next week I'll catch either "28 Days Later" (not, as you might suspect, a sequel to the Sandra Bullock movie) what looks to be a worthy successor to Gerorge Romerodom by Danny Boyle or (and here's one I just can't wait to see) "Pirates of the Carribean". It's always been my favorite Disneyland ride, and the previews looked fantastic. I love the official website, too.

I'm a sucker for the pirate genre, and loved the wondrous "Cutthroat Island" which was one of the biggest flops in history. I still think it's a great swashbuckler. The Disney animated "Treasure Planet" is a delight. I'm looking forward to a hearty time with Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Geoffrey Rush, but wanted to wait until enough teenage girls had already caught the flick a few times and had emptied from the theaters. Over the weekend, my biggest epiphany was while watching the 1990 Best Picture, "Dances With Wolves" by Kevin Costner. When I originally screened that film in 1991, it was on a VHS tape rental. As usual, and as I've mentioned many times, to see a well made widescreen movie on TV (my top of the line is 1991 was a 32" Toshiba direct view) in pan and scan is to miss half the movie. Besides the fact that the DVD release, which is relatively new, is fantastic, the visual elements which wash over me from my HDTV prove that I didn't even see the movie when watching VHS in '91. I was merely seeing a "copy".

Costner has directed a new western, for which I saw previews a few weeks ago. He excells in the genre, and "Dances" is surely a "movie that matters". I feel as if I have seen it for the first time on the big screen, even if that screen is in my "media room" instead of at the local multiplex. They can be content to show "Bad Boys II" (I'm guessing at least 40 mil opening, maybe more) on four or five screens. I can watch art in my shorts and try to beat the heat.

:: Michael Nyiri 10:04 PM Leave a Comment on this Post ::
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