Cornwall Ontario – Is there anything cooler than going to an 80’s vintage ratty theatre that has a full house with a chick from Maine who’s really hot and has lovely inner thighs?
Well there is. Normally I’d write a review of IT, but sadly Cineplex Galaxy here in Cornwall doesn’t throw a bone to reviewers who essentially are giving them free advertising. Chasing distribution companies is a smidge better.
One studio said if I wanted to attend screening sessions in Ottawa or Montreal they’d be happy to invite moi, but frankly spending over three hours of drive time when these miserly outlets don’t purchase regional advertising sorta kinda ruins the desire….
Spending $20 for a ticket and nosh also feels weird when my reviews ultimately, even if bad, help drive asses to the seats in usually big empty barns here in Canada.
Sitting in a full theatre of people, in the dark, sharing a movie, is still an amazing thing. When you go into a big room and there are only eight of you there it becomes something more like watching my beloved 4K Vizio TV at home.
Except at home I can screen content with little to no financial risk. A month of Crave TV is about the cost of one movie ticket. There are a lot of movies that I and many others would attend, even with crazy concession prices, if the entry fees were less brutal.
Cineplex must be feeling this too as they are emailing a lot of promotions lately, but it always comes down to value and enjoyment which right now are not balanced to the market place.
Having lovely theatres running at below half capacity is a fail. You sell less popcorn and people just don’t enjoy the movie enough.
Speaking of which, it was disturbing to see so many kids come to see IT. More disturbing than the movie which failed to really deliver the spooks, but did have a lot of laughs, some of them intended even.
My lovely guest from Maine with the hot thighs mentioned something about the movie feeling almost Disney like.
That’s a problem with Stephen King movies. His greatest strength as a writer is character which rarely translates well from book to film. In this case Pennywise the Clown simply lacked it. The cheesy opening of his face with the teeth was reminiscent of Alien without the novelty. Frankly most episodes of The Walking Dead are more gruesome than IT.
The casting was interesting too. The little red head looked like a near pubescent Amy Adams. The boys were mostly annoying, and I felt myself rooting for the Clown which is never a good thing….unless you’re the Clown.
The best part of a movie really shouldn’t be your guest. That the AC wasn’t on or working in a full house didn’t help.
IT just wasn’t a great film, but people are so starved for good movies that it drew a full house. It should be a sign to Hollywood. That sign being that people still want to see movies in dark building while cuddling their honey, but they really don’t want to sit through crap.
And the message to Cineplex and Galaxy is to offer more value to the punters and treat reviewers better. We deserve a free seat, and maybe even a small popcorn.
And we deserve more Tim Curry 🙂
What do you think Dear CFN viewer? Tim Curry or the new guy with CGI? Who was the better Pennywise?
You can post your comments below.
UPDATED
I just found this great interview with the Master himself, Stephen King.