The thread for movies that aren't going to get their own thread but are still in theaters

Grenn wrote:

Lawless was pretty good, with strong performances from Shia LeBeof and Tom Hardy to boot.

Agreed.

I started with Take Shelter. Watched it on The Roku Channel app (free with commercials). This 2011 critical darling is actually a Michael Shannon vehicle, and he is quite good in it. Chastain has a strong supporting role that is crucial to the narrative. I see it described as a "psychological thriller drama," but I wouldn't really call it a thriller. It's more a psychological gradually-building-tension-and-unease drama, and by gradually I mean very gradually. The pacing will be a problem for some viewers, as it nearly was for me, but I stuck with it and was rewarded.

Written and directed by Jeff Nichols who went on to make a series of outstanding films: Mud, Midnight Special, and Loving. Before Take Shelter he wrote and directed 2007's Shotgun Stories, which I haven't seen, but critics love that one too.

BadKen wrote:

I started with Take Shelter. Watched it on The Roku Channel app (free with commercials). This 2011 critical darling is actually a Michael Shannon vehicle, and he is quite good in it. Chastain has a strong supporting role that is crucial to the narrative. I see it described as a "psychological thriller drama," but I wouldn't really call it a thriller. It's more a psychological gradually-building-tension-and-unease drama, and by gradually I mean very gradually. The pacing will be a problem for some viewers, as it nearly was for me, but I stuck with it and was rewarded.

Written and directed by Jeff Nichols who went on to make a series of outstanding films: Mud, Midnight Special, and Loving. Before Take Shelter he wrote and directed 2007's Shotgun Stories, which I haven't seen, but critics love that one too.

Nichols' brother Ben is the lead singer of Lucero who also helps with his soundtracks.

We’ve just had a lazy Saturday morning so sat down to watch Artemis Fowl on Disney+.

We’ve not read the books so came into it blind, so while I can see (after a quick google) it doesn’t follow the books at all and maybe understand why it’s reviewing so badly.

That said we (and more importantly 8 year old mini-sorb) thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a little incoherent for sure and the CGI is a little ropey in places, but no worse than many other blockbusters we’ve seen lately. But the actors are pretty good, Judy Dench has a ball as Commander Root as does Josh Gad as Mulch Diggums and it carries itself through quite happily following its own internal logic.

If you’re stuck, have a young family and want something to watch for a couple of hours you could do a whole lot worse. I’m honestly quite surprised so many people seem to dislike it as much as they do.

We highly recommend the books. They are outstandingly creative and quirky.

From the trailers it appeared that the movie just uses the names and threw everything else out. We were going to pass but might check it out if it is a fun ride.

Nevin73 wrote:

We highly recommend the books. They are outstandingly creative and quirky.

From the trailers it appeared that the movie just uses the names and threw everything else out. We were going to pass but might check it out if it is a fun ride.

It’s not a film that stands up to a lot of scrutiny for sure, and it’s not ‘great’ by a long shot. But for a lazy morning in lockdown, when the weather was abysmal it more than kept us entertained for a couple of hours. It’s that sort of film.

No one watched the new "Emma" after all these months? /sad panda noises/

Waiting for a discount, or for my Google Rewards balance to reach the rental price. These days I rarely get to see movies less than a year after release.

It is also getting mentally harder for me to sit down for two hours and watch a movie. My mind goes to bad places too easily.

"But Ken," you may say, "didn't you have a Jessica Chastain film festival a couple weekends ago?"

I'm glad you asked! Most of those were movies I'd seen before, and I knew I would be glued to the movie without much difficulty. However, I had planned on watching five or six movies, and I ended up watching two.

Brain weasels.

It's $4.99 on FIOS, for the rental.

Robear wrote:

No one watched the new "Emma" after all these months? /sad panda noises/

I did and liked it.

THANK YOU!

part of an email from AMC

We now expect that on Wednesday July 15, AMC will open approximately 450 theatre locations around the country (representing more than 90% of moviegoing at AMC). We will be showing new releases, as well as classic movies that are widely known and loved. And essentially all of our U.S. theatres should re-open by the end of July. This means that AMC will be there for you with open arms, welcoming you to enjoy Disney's inspiring MULAN and the Warner Brothers release of Christopher Nolan's intriguing TENET, along with several more superb movies now scheduled for a July theatrical release.

As we reopen, we recognize that the world has changed, and the health and safety of our movie theatre guests and our movie theatre staff is our absolute highest priority. We cannot and would not welcome you back to our theatres without having full confidence in the measures we are taking toward this all-important objective. In so doing, we have consulted with noted scientists and experts, especially current and former faculty of the world renowned Harvard University School of Public Health. Importantly, we are also partnering with the number one U.S. cleaning brand, Clorox®.

Assimilating what the experts have told us and after extensive preparation, AMC is implementing AMC Safe & Clean™, a crucial new initiative. Designed to meet or exceed health and safety directives set forth by federal, state and local authorities, AMC Safe & Clean is a comprehensive array of new policies and protocols specifically designed to bring you back to our theatres in ways that are welcoming and responsible.

Seat capacity restrictions, social distancing efforts, commitments to health, new intensified cleaning protocols, contactless ticketing and expanded mobile ordering of food & beverages are all vital elements of AMC Safe & Clean. Importantly, too, we also have invested millions and millions of dollars in high tech solutions to sanitation, disinfection and cleanliness, such as the ordering of electrostatic sprayers, HEPA filter vacuum cleaners and MERV 13 air ventilation filters wherever we can.

I don't know. There's a drive in opening here showing classic movies. I'm a lot more excited about watching Empire Strikes Back there in the safety of my car than I am about being around other people for Nolan's latest.

The odds of me going back to a theater while the virus mess is still happening were already like... 5%.

Not requiring people to wear masks makes it 0%.

ranalin wrote:

part of an email from AMC

We now expect that on Wednesday July 15, AMC will open approximately 450 theatre locations around the country (representing more than 90% of moviegoing at AMC). We will be showing new releases, as well as classic movies that are widely known and loved. And essentially all of our U.S. theatres should re-open by the end of July. This means that AMC will be there for you with open arms, welcoming you to enjoy Disney's inspiring MULAN and the Warner Brothers release of Christopher Nolan's intriguing TENET, along with several more superb movies now scheduled for a July theatrical release.

As we reopen, we recognize that the world has changed, and the health and safety of our movie theatre guests and our movie theatre staff is our absolute highest priority. We cannot and would not welcome you back to our theatres without having full confidence in the measures we are taking toward this all-important objective. In so doing, we have consulted with noted scientists and experts, especially current and former faculty of the world renowned Harvard University School of Public Health. Importantly, we are also partnering with the number one U.S. cleaning brand, Clorox®.

Assimilating what the experts have told us and after extensive preparation, AMC is implementing AMC Safe & Clean™, a crucial new initiative. Designed to meet or exceed health and safety directives set forth by federal, state and local authorities, AMC Safe & Clean is a comprehensive array of new policies and protocols specifically designed to bring you back to our theatres in ways that are welcoming and responsible.

Seat capacity restrictions, social distancing efforts, commitments to health, new intensified cleaning protocols, contactless ticketing and expanded mobile ordering of food & beverages are all vital elements of AMC Safe & Clean. Importantly, too, we also have invested millions and millions of dollars in high tech solutions to sanitation, disinfection and cleanliness, such as the ordering of electrostatic sprayers, HEPA filter vacuum cleaners and MERV 13 air ventilation filters wherever we can.

I just saw David Chen's video in which he comments on that exact email. To not even try to make it mandatory to wear masks is ludicrous, in my opinion. I will not reward their bad practices with my business, not to mention increase my chances of getting sick.

Yeah, unless they've got laminar flow strong enough to move my hair coming up from the floor, I'm gonna say the no mask thing is gonna be a problem...

For comparison's here's Regal's announcement:

Regal Reopening Begins July 10
New Safety and Health Procedures at all Regal Theatres
Regal announces plans for the reopening of theatres starting Friday, July 10. Reopening plans include a wide range of new health and safety measures based on guidelines provided from the CDC and other public health organizations. The plan also includes safety measures based on feedback received from employees and moviegoers they have deemed most important for their return. Regal will also provide new contactless payment options and innovative sanitizing methods including:

Contactless payment. Along with the ability to purchase tickets in advance on the Regal mobile app, guests will now have the ability to purchase concession items from the app.
ULV Foggers. Employees will sanitize every auditorium and seat after each movie using new electrostatic ‘fogger’ equipment. This form of deep sanitization is highly effective in disinfecting all materials with a non-toxic formula that is fast drying.
Along with the above procedures, each theatre will sanitize high-contact points on an increased schedule and use floor markers throughout the building to assist with social distancing. Additionally, the following safety measures that cover the entire moviegoing experience will be implemented, providing a safe venue for employees and guests:

REGAL EMPLOYEES
Regal employees will undergo daily health screenings including temperature checks where mandated.
Employees will be required to wash hands at minimum every 30 to 60 minutes, dependent on job role.
All employees will be required to wear masks.
THE LOBBY
Greeters will be located in the lobby to assist guests with new procedural changes.
Guests will be encouraged to proceed to their auditorium as soon as possible, and exit the theatre in a timely manner at the conclusion of their movie
Wall mounted sanitizer dispensers will be available on either side of the main entrance.
Vending machines and water fountains will not be available for use.
Where required by local governance, arcade games will be closed.
THE CONCESSION STAND
Every other register will be closed to maintain social distancing.
A reduced menu offering will be temporarily available
Self-service condiment stands will be closed.
Refills on large drinks and popcorn will be suspended.
Locations featuring diners, restaurants and in-theatre ordering will have these services temporarily suspended.
Locations with bars will remain open for walk-up service only.
THE AUDITORIUM
Where required by state or county mandate, auditorium capacities will be reduced to 50%.
Our reservation system will maintain two empty seats between groups (1 seat at recliner locations) to maintain proper social distancing throughout the movie.
At theatres where performances are non-reserved, you will be requested to leave two seats between groups.
Group sizes will only be limited where required by a state or county mandate.

Of course they're killing refills. Hah.

I'm not surprised they're not requiring masks. In a financial sense, movie theaters are basically restaurants: concessions are the backbone of the business, and you can't have a restaurant where people never take their masks off. You could run a theater without concessions, but could you run a profitable one? Probably not.

Trouble is, their customers don't see them that way. I suspect a good number of customers would be fine giving up concessions during the pandemic. The concessions are optional for visitors but not for the business.

(It's also a difficult policy to enforce in a dark theater, but I suspect concessions are the heart of the matter.)

All that said, I'm with Thin J on this one. I miss the movies desperately, but I won't be going when they reopen. Sitting in a room with a bunch of strangers for a couple hours without masks in the middle of a pandemic sounds like a terrible idea.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

(It's also a difficult policy to enforce in a dark theater, but I suspect concessions are the heart of the matter.)

If it were a matter of being a difficult policy to enforce, they'd put the policy in place to placate those who feel safer imagining that everyone else in the theater is keeping their masks on at all times instead of removing them as soon as no one's looking, and then fail to enforce it for those who don't want to wear masks.

No, I think you're right: it's all about concessions. They can't turn a profit without selling concessions, and selling concessions while pretending to require masks on at all times would require more cognitive dissonance than most people can manage (which is saying something).

I welcome the ability to go back to the movies, although from an "armchair businessman" standpoint I wonder how the value proposition will shake out for movie studios; how long does it make sense to keep movies in theaters when a large portion of the population, much like you guys, is still leary about going out to the movies? Will we be seeing simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases? Much shorter theatrical exclusivity windows?

Apparently AMC is reversing course and claiming they will require masks.

But as others have pointed out... I expect actual enforcement once the lights go down and the movie starts to be near zero.

Combine that with news about research apparently pointing toward COVID immunity after recovering possibly only lasting two to three months and I can actually imagine a version of this where I just never go to a theater again.

hbi2k wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

(It's also a difficult policy to enforce in a dark theater, but I suspect concessions are the heart of the matter.)

If it were a matter of being a difficult policy to enforce, they'd put the policy in place to placate those who feel safer imagining that everyone else in the theater is keeping their masks on at all times instead of removing them as soon as no one's looking, and then fail to enforce it for those who don't want to wear masks.

come on...

hbi2k wrote:

No, I think you're right: it's all about concessions. They can't turn a profit without selling concessions, and selling concessions while pretending to require masks on at all times would require more cognitive dissonance than most people can manage (which is saying something).

I welcome the ability to go back to the movies, although from an "armchair businessman" standpoint I wonder how the value proposition will shake out for movie studios; how long does it make sense to keep movies in theaters when a large portion of the population, much like you guys, is still leary about going out to the movies? Will we be seeing simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases? Much shorter theatrical exclusivity windows?

Hopefully soon. The longer we keep pretending like the virus isn't real and isn't dangerous the longer it's going to be until I ever set foot inside a movie theater.

I find all of these measures kind of ghoulish, to be honest. It's like they know it's dangerous and a bad idea, but they want the last few pennies before we dip into a decades long depression.

Everybody in America trying to pretend that what's happening isn't happening.

DSGamer wrote:

Everybody in America trying to pretend that what's happening isn't happening.

It's always worked for us before...

Thin_J wrote:

Combine that with news about research apparently pointing toward COVID immunity after recovering possibly only lasting two to three months

Will you share your source for this?

I believe it's likely to be this.

A new study from China showed that antibodies faded quickly in both asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 patients during convalescence, raising questions about whether the illness leads to any lasting immunity to the virus afterward.

The study, which focused on 37 asymptomatic and 37 symptomatic patients, showed that more than 90% of both groups showed steep declines in levels of SARS-COV-2–specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies within 2 to 3 months after onset of infection, according to a report published yesterday in Nature Medicine. Further, 40% of the asymptomatic group tested negative for IgG antibodies 8 weeks after they were released from isolation.

The authors said the findings suggest that it could be risky to assume that recovered patients are immune to reinfection, which may have implications for how long to maintain physical distancing restrictions.

The patients included in the study were among 2,088 people who were tested for COVID-19 because they were close contacts of confirmed patients in China's Wanzhou district. Of those who tested positive, 60 had had no symptoms in the preceding 2 weeks but were hospitalized for isolation. Of those, 23 people who had mild symptoms on admission or soon afterward were excluded from the study, leaving 37.

For a control group, the investigators identified 37 mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients matched with the asymptomatic group by age, sex, and comorbidity. For additional comparisons, they also selected 37 sex- and age-matched persons who tested negative. The median age of asymptomatic patients was 41, and 22 were female.

Thank you.

Seems like a smallish study.

BadKen wrote:

Seems like a smallish study.

Responding to this in a thread where it will be more on-topic.

Man, Irresistible was terrible.

DSGamer wrote:

Man, Irresistible was terrible.

That is very disappointing to hear. What is it you didn't like, besides... everything?