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Topic: Finding Classics on the Big Screen
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Geoff Jones
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 579
From: Broomfield, CO, USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 10-22-2009 07:52 AM
Yeah, I let the "OnTheBigScreen DOT net" domain expire. You can still see my blog at movietheatrereviews DOT blogspot DOT com.
I've pretty much given up on the blog. On the personal side, I've gotten a lot busier. But on the "movie" side, three WTFs were killing it for me.
- I started discovering that I was posting links for "Classics on the Big Screen" that were actually DVDs, but not advertised as such. WTF. I couldn't in good conscience send people to those, and I couldn't tell which were which, short of trying to call every theatre for every posting.
- I was getting some pretty lame reader reviews. There was one somewhere that gave high marks to a theatre where you could hear trains pass by outside. WTF. The reviewer loved the theatre because it was THX.
- My love of movies has been pretty on-sided lately. They haven't loved me back. I haven't seen a single new film this year that I would bother to see again. WTF.
I'm glad Scott is cinema reviews a shot on his site. I think it's crazy that the same $10 can get you an excellent experience at one place and a terrible one at another.. yet the terrible ones stay in business.
And I wish it was easier to find Classics on the Big Screen. I've raised the issue with Fandango, and with Regal (which runs a Flashback series but fails completely to promote it), but ultimately, I think the trend is moving toward home video as the only way to see old movies.
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 10-22-2009 12:05 PM
If we can swing it, I'm hoping that we can expand our coverage to more screens by the end of the year, so this would provide more comprehensive coverage of movie theaters playing classics on their screens.
Currently, we list 10,000 screens-worth of data which covers 941 theaters across the country, but that means that there are still almost 6,000 more theaters to be listed. 60% of those that are not yet listed are less than 5-screen locations, which are probably the most apt to be showing classics.
That said, we do have a fair number of showtimes (88) for movies older than 10 years:
http://www.bigscreen.com/NowShowing.php?view=classics
I'm really hoping the theater reviews take off, and in a positive manner. Aside from personal experience and word-of-mouth, there's very few ways to find out what a theater is like before you go to it. I'm hoping that the Theater Comments feature will not only help identify the problematic theaters, but also highlight the good ones.
I've also put in comments about what the experience was like, so that people get an idea of what it was like to go. Places like the Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas really need some description to appreciate how different it is to go there than the local multiplex.
Surprisingly, people here have been shy about commenting about theaters. I guess it's one thing to make a comment about a theater in a smaller group than it is to put those comments into a larger audience... Just one of the many challenges of getting the feature going!
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 10-22-2009 02:03 PM
quote: Geoff Jones
ultimately, I think the trend is moving toward home video as the only way to see old movies.
I'm hoping that once digital gets into the majority of theatres, and the "bad/damaged print" is a thing of the past, that more classic films will get exhibited on the big screen where they belong.
quote: Geoff Jones
I was getting some pretty lame reader reviews. There was one somewhere that gave high marks to a theatre where you could hear trains pass by outside. WTF.
The comment about trains being audible from a theatre hits home for me. Unfortunately, train whistles can be heard inside our auditorium -- there is a crossing 1/2 block from our front doors. When the theatre was built in 1930, steam whistles probably weren't audible, but the louder horns of today manage to get through the walls. There is a move going on right now to establish a "quiet zone" in town so the whistles would be silenced except in emergency warning situations...hope it goes through. Until then though, there's simply nothing to be done about it except keep the doors closed as much as possible. We already have a strict rule for employees, if they're entering or leaving the building, not to open the doors during a show until an approaching train is done whistling.
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 10-27-2009 04:29 PM
Carl,
Back when we had a weaker server, doing a wider search for theaters would burden the server too much, so I had to limit the results. We still allowed it for our VIP members, but I'm assuming that you don't want to pay for that to find the movie. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
That's not as much of an issue now, so I've removed the restriction. Now, it will still show an error message saying that the movie wasn't found at any theaters within the specified range, but it goes looking for up to 10 theaters that are closest that are playing it.
Check it out
I set the definition of a classic to be anything older than 10 years. While that catches non-classics (in my opinion) once in a while, it's a pretty good delimiter.
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Mitchell Dvoskin
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1869
From: West Milford, NJ, USA
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 11-15-2009 02:57 PM
This coming weekend of November 20th and 21st, The Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre located on Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, will continue its 80th Birthday Jubilee and 9th consecutive year of classic films.
Located directly across from the PATH subway station connecting Manhattan with Jersey City, it is also easy to reach from most area highways. Secure discounted parking is located directly behind the theatre. Have your parking ticket validated at the theatre’s boxoffice.
All Show Are Presented In 35mm With Genuine Carbon Arc Projection On Our Giant 50 Foot Wide Screen.
Friday November 20th at 8:00pm – Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Starring Charlie Chaplin. Also starring Mady Correll, Isobel Elsom, Audrey Betz, Ada May and Martha Ray. Directed by Charlie Chaplin. (124mins.)
Chaplin called this film his "cleverest and most brilliant," but he is certainly not portraying his familiar "Little Tramp." Here, he plays a suave serial killer who makes his living marrying and murdering lonely rich women. Chaplin turned this shocking conceit into a black comedy that seems surprisingly modern to us today -- especially in its presentation of the hypocrisy of societies that condemn murder committed by individuals but glorify war.
Saturday November 21th at 2:00pm – For Whom The Bell Tolls (1943)
Starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Katina Paxinou. Directed by Sam Wood. (157mins.)
Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is a romantic drama set against the turbulent tapestry of the Spanish Civil War. Though downplaying the extreme ideological aspects of the war (which Hollywood found uncomfortable), the film is otherwise largely faithful to Hemingway's writing and boasts excellent performances, torrid love scenes and first-rate Technicolor photography.
Saturday November 21th at 7:30pm – Forbidden Planet (1956, CinemaScope)
Starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen. Directed by Fred Wilcox. (98 mins.)
One of the most famous science fiction movies ever made. A pre-comedy Leslie Nielsen as a space traveler who discovers the planet where expatriate Earth-man Pidgeon has built a one-man empire with his daughter and Robby the Robot -- which became a sci-fi icon and progenitor of robotic portrayals on both the big and small screens. Great special effects for the day, the film also boasted lavish use of the wide-screen CinemaScope and Perspecta Stereo.
Visit The Landmark Loews Jersey web site for details.
The Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre’s Vitaphone Projector
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Mitchell Dvoskin
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1869
From: West Milford, NJ, USA
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 11-29-2009 01:01 PM
Thanks Rick for the picture of the Apex.
On the weekend of December 4th and 5th, The Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre located on Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, continues its 80th Birthday Jubilee and 9th consecutive year of classic films with its final screenings of 2009.
Located directly across from the PATH subway station connecting Manhattan with Jersey City, it is also easy to reach from most area highways. Secure discounted parking is located directly behind the theatre. Have your parking ticket validated at the theatre’s boxoffice.
All Show Are Presented In 35mm With Genuine Carbon Arc Projection On Our Giant 50 Foot Wide Screen.
Friday December 4th at 8:00pm – Holiday Inn (1947)
Starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds. Music by Irving Berlin. (101mins.)
This great chestnut of a movie has been a holiday tradition for generations. It introduced Irving Berlin's timeless song "White Christmas" and “Easter Parade”, each of which later spawned their own movies. Crosby plays a retired nightclub crooner who buys a Connecticut inn and decides to only open it on holidays, when he stages nightclub-esque revues -- which naturally allows for some very memorable song-and-dance numbers. And, of course, the plot includes an amiable rivalry between Crosby and Astaire for Reynold's affections. The scene in which Crosby first sings "White Christmas" is a very enjoyable part of film history and a great moment in our popular culture.
Don't miss the chance to see this tradition on the BIG screen.
Saturday December 5th at 7:30pm – Modern Times (1936)
Starring Charlie Chaplin & Paulette Goddard. Directed by Charlie Chaplin. (89mins)
In addition to starring and directing, Chaplin wrote the film's script and arranged the music for the recorded sound track that also included sound effects but no dialogue -- this was Chaplin's last "silent" film. One of Chaplin's greatest works, it is a hilarious but also poignant satire of the struggles of modern life -- as relevant today in the "information age" as it was when new, in the "machine age." The episodic nature of the plot allows Chaplin to perform some of his most memorable comedic routines, including the iconic scene of Chaplin rolling through the gears of an enormous machine.
Visit The Landmark Loews Jersey web site for details.
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