There are more ways than ever to see a movie.
As I write this blog, I am watching the Oscar pre-show. The information about the nominated films is flashing across the bottom of the screen. I’ve hardly seen any of them. The two that I did see, I saw on DVD last week.
Now I love movies. I love to see movies on the big screen. Why haven’t I seen most of the movies, you ask? That’s what I’d like to know.
Many of the films nominated never made it to my neighborhood. Actually, that would have been impossible because there isn’t a movie theater in my neighborhood. The closest theater, in the very gut of the suburbs, is 13 miles away. It is in the vicinity of a Wal-Mart, so because of traffic, it can take almost half an hour just to get yourself into the parking lot. So, even if you consider that theater my “neighborhood” theater, there is another complicating factor; that theater only shows kid movies and action /adventure movies. Think Tom Cruise in whatever version of Top Gun he is starring in at the moment.
Well, I guess I will just have to be patient and see everything late on DVD. Yeah, right! There isn’t a video store here either. It took two trips to the Iggle Video to find a copy The Devil Wears Prada and Little Miss Sunshine. I only got those because I sweet-talked the clerk into giving them up from the cart behind the counter.
I pay $130 per month for cable. Pay-per-view and On Demand should be options, however, there is a secret code that unlocks the parental controls and WE DON’T HAVE IT! We also have no children, so we are not sure how the parental control ever got set up. In the time I would have to spend on hold with the cable company to solve this problem, I could fly to Los Angeles and make my own movie.
I feel completely cut off from the entire category of popular culture that is American cinema. My husband and I are busy people. We can’t spend an hour in transit to see a movie. We don’t have time to drive to the lousy grocery store to beg for the chance to see a movie that the rest of the world saw six months ago. We really don’t need the hassle of calling the cable company.
NetFlix looks as if it is the only possible solution to my dilemma. Of course, I will have to watch all movies on my old TV after I wait for them to arrive via the mail. Sigh.
Didn’t this used to be easier? Did seeing a movie always require research, travel and significant financial output?
I think I'll turn off the Oscars and go read a book.
5 comments:
I haven't gone to see a movie in about 5 years. Maybe longer. I rarely rent movies, either. And we only have the basic basic cable that runs $12.88 per month.
My kids bought me World Trade Center for Christmas and it's still in the shrink wrap. My sister just offered to pick up Flags of Our Fathers for me, which I still haven't seen and my older son is even an extra in it!
I think I might have you beat on being out of touch...
Brenda, in my humble opion, LIFE used to be a lot easier. Maybe less options, but the options actually worked!
Do I sound like I'm getting old? I feel like it.
Tory, me too! Old and cranky!
I don't want to sound like a commercial, but Netflixx really sends the movies fast. You can queue up a dozen or so and get them one after another, or two at a time. Of course, I only saw two of last night's nominees, too, and went to bed way before they got to Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, or Best Movie, i.e., around 11:30. [I like Ellen, but there are times I wanted to reach through the screen and shake her, yelling, "Shut up, already! Let's get on with it!" even though I figured she was supposed to be killing time while other things, like seating folks and rearranging sets, were going on.]
KT see http://www.kioskterminals.eu
You could always see if there is an ondemand kiosk terminal in your local neighbourhood. This will allow you to rent movies from the kiosk on demand. When you finish you simply through the disc away. How easy is that, and with no returns means also one less trip.
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