Adam's Free Screenings Thread

[Scotia]

-22 Celsius
Brass Monkey time

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

It's at -16 °C here. If it gets down to -40 °C, I'll be sure to put a button-up shirt over my t-shirt before going outside.

[Adam54]

I can't technically call a screening a free screening when I had to pay $8.50 for parking, right?

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

Sure you can. The screening was still free. It's the parking that wasn't. If you hadn't been such an almost-late-to-the-show weenie, you could have arrived a little earlier, parked blocks and blocks away, walked to the show, and saved that $8.50.

[Adam54]

To which I would reply...

IT WAS TWENTY BELOW ZERO!

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

Weren't you wearing a coat? Coats keep people warm.

I went out wearing a t-shirt last night. Didn't even feel a chill. My nose hairs froze and I could see my breath, but that was about as bad as it got. My ears didn't hurt and my hands didn't go numb.

[Dalty]

Minus 40C is equivalent to North Pole temperature. Surely you guys are including wind chill factor?

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

Of course they are. Everybody's doin' it. It's the hip thing to do.

[Adam54]

A year ago, I wouldn't have been. -40 was our actual air temperature. Yesterday's air temperature only fell to like -10F. Either way, thanks climate change!

And Goiter, that theater just barely avoids being in a bad part of town. If I'd parked blocks away in the darkness on the edge of town, I very well may never have seen my car again.

[Adam54]

Thursday Free Screening Update: Yesterday's brutal cold has transitioned into today's semi-major blizzard. Awaiting text back from friend to see if he still wants to go. I'll then make my plans accordingly.

[Adam54]

Yup. We're skipping the screening of Kingsman to head home. Roads look awful at the moment and are projected to get worse as the wind moves in. Not worth it.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

And Goiter, that theater just barely avoids being in a bad part of town. If I'd parked blocks away in the darkness on the edge of town, I very well may never have seen my car again.

Turns out Adam's a raging racist. Who knew?

[Adam54]

How dare you mistake a Springsteen reference for raging racism. How dare you. Clarence Clemons must be spinning in his grave.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

I didn't mistake it. Who says you can't be a Springsteen fan and a racist?

Springsteen, probably, but what does he know? When he goes dancing in the dark, he does it with Courtney Cox, a.k.a. the whitest girl on the planet. She's so white, Alfonso Ribeiro patterned the Carlton dance after her "Dancing in the Dark" dance.

[Mal Shot First]

And Goiter, that theater just barely avoids being in a bad part of town. If I'd parked blocks away in the darkness on the edge of town, I very well may never have seen my car again.

Turns out Adam's a raging racist. Who knew?

And apparently, all the bad guys don't mind the brutally cold Minnesotan winter.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

At one point, it was thought that Rocky Raccoon came from Minnesota:



Scholars now agree that he came from the Black Mining Hills of Dakota:

[Dalty]

When he goes dancing in the dark, he does it with Courtney Cox, a.k.a. the whitest girl on the planet. She's so white, Alfonso Ribeiro patterned the Carlton dance after her "Dancing in the Dark" dance.

You massive racist!

[Adam54]

Alfonso Ribeiro patterned the Carlton dance after her "Dancing in the Dark" dance.

I honestly cannot tell if this is true or not.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

It's half of the dance. The other half of the dance is Eddie Murphy's "White People Can't Dance" from Delirious:

[Adam54]

I went to a free screening of Project Almanac last night and enjoyed it far more than expected. My goodness though, if you have issues with shaky-cam, this is NOT the movie for you to see on the big screen. I don't usually have problems with that but left with a headache because of it.

Also, it's got me thinking about something. I'd give the film 2.5 out of 4 stars. I'd honestly have given it 3 of 4 if it had ended just two or three minutes sooner. They had a PERFECT end point...then went for one more quick scene for the teenagers that wasn't nearly as good as where it should've ended.

Are there other films like that? I can think of a bunch that would've been better if they ended 20-40 minutes sooner than they did (Hello to Peter Jackson and Martin Scorsese), but can't think of another example of one that was so close to ending wonderfully, yet wound up so far away.

Still though, fun movie that's well worth a matinee if you can handle the shaky cam.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

There was something recent that I thought could have benefited from ending a minute or two earlier. I think I even wrote about it somewhere. I'm blanking on what it was, unfortunately. Maybe it'll come to me.

[Mal Shot First]

I don't know if I ever felt that a movie would be helped if it had ended sooner, meaning that a chunk should be sliced off from the end. There are plenty of movies I think would benefit from being generally shorter, where bits and pieces could be shaved off here and there to cut out 30 to 40 minutes in total. Most contemporary comedies could definitely stand to be shorter (closer to 90 minutes instead of the new standard of two hours), which would also make them funnier, since a lot of the weaker jokes would be eliminated.

I feel like Judd Apatow is at least partially to blame for this.

[Adam54]

That's a small yet important distinction, Mal, and you're exactly right. The first Hobbit movie, for example, didn't necessarily need 20 minutes chopped off the end, it just would've been better were it generally 20-30 minutes shorter. The Wolf of Wall Street could've had 90 minutes cut from any number of places and I'd have still gotten the point. The Aviator however, is an example of one which I think would've been better if the ending had happened 20 minutes sooner.

But ending just 2-3 minutes sooner? Project Almanac seems fairly unique to me there. For now anyway. I'm still thinking.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

I think Se7en might have been better if it had ended either immediately before or after SPOILER: the Pitt character kills John Doe. No later than the bird's-eye view from the helicopter, whatever the case. The little coda is a bit much for me.

Not that it's a terrible ending as it stands. Not a great example. I really do have one, though. If I can just remember it. I wish you'd asked this question two weeks ago.

[Jubbers]

I think Source Code would have been better if it had ended 15 minutes before it's actual end.