Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Ready Or Not (2019)

This is topic Ready Or Not (2019) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=002443

Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 08-22-2019, 06:47 PM:

At the Cinemark 12 Theaters, Watchung, New Jersey.

*****

The Le Domas family has been making board games for over one-hundred years, but unlike Milton Bradley or the Parker Brothers they owe their success to a Faustian deal that the company namesake made a very long time ago. But it turns out that the long-dead patriarch still needs some occasional fun, and that is why anyone marrying into the family must spend their wedding night playing a game with the rest of the group, lest they incur his wrath from the Great Beyond. Sometimes it’s Old Maid, sometimes it’s a deadly game of hide and seek. If so, and the bride escapes, it’s curtains for everybody else. Or is it? Could it be everybody is just bat-shit crazy, and they are just making it all up? Either way, the bride in this movie winds up spending her wedding night dodging her in-laws, all of whom are out to kill her to stave off the family curse.

This is a fast-moving, furious and occasionally very funny movie, but one that has a set of rules so complex that everybody’s motivations aren’t completely clear, at least not at first. Some of the family members have divided loyalties as well, and the new bride’s brother-in-law makes it clear that if the curse is real, he would just as soon see her escape and have it all over. The blood and gore level is pretty high, but it’s eased a bit by some hysterically funny scenes. The whole cast very good, and the gal playing the put-upon bride is terrific. The ending is a hoot, too.

I might add that this is one of the most dimly photographed pictures I’ve seen in awhile. Everything is dark and dingy except for some very harshly lit highlights. That may have been the intention, but see this in a theatre that you know has good luminance, because otherwise this will probably look like mush.

Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 08-26-2019, 08:56 AM:

I saw Ready or Not last night and enjoyed it for the most part. The trailer gives away far too much. If you're a fan of dark comedy horror, skip the trailer and go see this movie.

But be sure to find a theater that cares about showmanship.

I made the mistake of seeing this at Regal's Greenwood Plaza Cinebarre. I hadn't been to a Regal cinema in years after a number of lousy presentations, but circumstances made this location and showtime my best option. I should have stayed home.

Bright green light from the exit sign blasted across the bottom of the screen during the entire film, and it's a darkly-lit movie.

I complained to the manager afterwards, who was standing around in the lobby hanging out with a half-dozen other employees. They acted stunned. They had no idea what was going in the auditorium. I guess Regal is paying them to socialize and not to monitor their theaters. I doubt they will be paying them for long, though, because there were more employees in the building than customers.

I also had to get him to refund my credit card for the drink that I ordered before the show started that never showed up. He jumped right on that. Apparently, the employee who took my order has been a problem for them, and they all started badmouthing her like a bunch of gossips. I believe one of them called her "manic."

Sadly, I left the theater feeling pretty sure that she would be fired and nothing would change about the green light blasting across the screen. At least I know better than to go back to a Regal theater.

Posted by Armand Daiguillon (Member # 10334) on 08-27-2019, 11:32 PM:

I have annoying exit lights on both sides of my screen - they can not be moved, its not theater staff's fault or something they can do anything about.
Typically you have to have three exits in a typical theater, each must have an exit sign. These are code requirements and not negotiable - even the brightness of the exit light is dictated by code.
Its just unfortunate that there exit doors are poorly placed [Frown]

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 08-29-2019, 04:54 PM:

CINEMA: Regal Warren Midwest City, Midwest City, OK
AUDITORIUM: 1, SEAT: C7
PRESENTATION: Warren GRAND auditorium Recline-o-Vision with bun warmers on the slope floor in Mystery Meat 4K Digital with 7.1 sound
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: The wing thingies they put on the side of the screens are sort of distracting
RATING: Three stars (out of four)

God that Charlie’s Angels trailer looks bad. You know what would’ve been hilarious? If by the end of the movie all of the Angels had left the movie and had been replaced by new Angels.

THE PLOT: Do you want to play a game? Wackiness ensues

A girl marries into a rich elite family that has a curse of sorts. When you marry into this family, you are required to play a game chosen at random by a mysterious box at midnight. No big deal...unless you draw Hide and Seek, Then the family must kill you before dawn or they all blow up like ginormous zits.

So you’ve got the feisty bride trying to save herself, the creepy family trying to save themselves, and a big old fabulous house to chase and run and hide and stuff in. Andie McDowell pretty much steals every scene she’s in as the deliciously evil family matriarch. There’s lots of dark humor, and the movie ends on a great one-liner.

Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 08-29-2019, 06:10 PM:

quote:
I have annoying exit lights on both sides of my screen - they can not be moved, its not theater staff's fault or something they can do anything about.
Typically you have to have three exits in a typical theater, each must have an exit sign. These are code requirements and not negotiable - even the brightness of the exit light is dictated by code.
Its just unfortunate that there exit doors are poorly placed [Frown]

I'm sorry, but I absolutely refuse to accept this response. Any theater that can't properly project a movie shouldn't be patronized and shouldn't be in operation. Proper projection includes keeping stray light off the screen.

The light could easily be blocked from hitting the screen with a couple of pieces of cardboard, some black felt, and a few tacks. Alternately (and a little more elegantly), a little cluster of black drapes could be hung from the ceiling behind the sign to absorb the light heading toward the screen.

Neither of those solutions would block the view of the exit light from any seat, nor would they dim the light.

It's also worth noting that Regal recently did a major retrofit to turn this location into a "Cinebarre" food-service theater. If they cared about presentation, they would have taken the opportunity to address the problem then.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-29-2019, 06:40 PM:

I made a shade for my exit sign nearest the screen out of a piece of the cloth that's used for screen masking and a piece of plywood that's about a foot square. Mounted on the wall between the sign and the screen it doesn't obstruct the view of the EXIT from anywhere in the auditorium but it prevents any of the red light from reflecting onto the screen. And the shade is actually invisible from within the auditorium because it blends right in with the screen masking and the black painted wall behind it.

Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 08-29-2019, 07:22 PM:

quote: Frank Cox
I made a shade for my exit sign nearest the screen out of a piece of the cloth that's used for screen masking and a piece of plywood that's about a foot square. Mounted on the wall between the sign and the screen it doesn't obstruct the view of the EXIT from anywhere in the auditorium but it prevents any of the red light from reflecting onto the screen. And the shade is actually invisible from within the auditorium because it blends right in with the screen masking and the black painted wall behind it.