Movies

Granddaughters will come over Sunday afternoon for a couple movies.  Tomorrow my son comes over and we go to Old Town to power down some cold ones and shop.

Tons of things to do while I'm single this weekend.  I'm so ronery... 

Old26 let me know what you think of birdman and inherent vice. Want to see both, just haven't gotten around to it

I didn't read the books, but I too was behind.  Had Smaug in the drawer and figured I better do a double-feature if I can find someone to sit through them with me...

I'd recommend you take your granddaughters to see Big Hero 6. It was a fantastic movie that I saw with the ladyfriend. Our date night plan got derailed and had a couple hours to kill. Wasn't expecting much or to enjoy the movie, but it hit every emotion. Highly recommend.

Absolutely.  You'd appreciate that we've seen four movies this year in Dolby's Burbank studios and Todd-AO's studios.  Of course they both are "sound" companies and as you can imagine, their setups are top-notch.  It's hard to go to a normal theater any more and you are right to spend the extra to get the real deal.  Have a good time.  Bummer that your wife and child can't make it.  That's why I go to the movies - to be with family...

Le hobbit is playing across the street from the hotel I'm in right now, but I think I'll be better off seeing it back home in English.

Family is all contagious so no movie today.
I was able to get my money back on my Hobbit tickets. I didn't think that was possible but I called the theater and they said as long as I come in before the movie starts. www.showplaceicon.com/Default.aspx
This is a newer theater close by. They have a VIP section with a bar where you can order drink/food. You sit in 2 side by side leather chairs with a table. Have only sat in this section a couple times but it is very cool.
I have had a couple interesting experiences at this theater.

Titanic was re-released in 3D a few years back and my 8 year old boy loves watching it every time it is on TV. Nothing too inappropriate in the movie. He wanted to go to the 3D so we went to it. Figured he would fall asleep. Ha! This is the first movie that I can recall seeing where the 3D was added after. Wasn't filmed in 3D. Didn't know how it would look. We were given our 3D glasses and proceeded to watch the movie. I kept pulling the glasses off and on and was not impressed. I wasn't seeing anything.
So we watched and my son loved it. He stayed awake every second.
The movie gets over and people start asking if anyone could see the 3D. No one could, so we went to the manager and told him how we didn't see 3D. He checks into it and comes back and tells all of us they forgot to switch the 3D on??
wow. So we get refunded and free tickets to 2 movies and even upgraded to VIP.

Story 2. Led Zeppelin released a new concert film from a one off reunion show in 2007 in London, except for Bonham of course. His son Jason Bonham played and he was great. www.ledzeppelin.com/celebrationday/o2_splash.html
It was given a short theater release so I purchased ticket online with some good seats.
Some fellow Zeppelin friends/fans went with as it was closest thing to going to a Zepplin concert we will probably ever see. It was kind of like a concert as we got in the mood before the show and we get there to see many rockers in Zeppelin shirts etc.
We are standing in line when someone tells us the movie has been canceled. The movie has a digital code that is needed to show it as everything is played from a hard drive these days and they were not sent a code. I later found out this happened at a few theaters. So we were very disappointed as this was the only showing at this theater and other theaters in town were sold out. We were told we would be given a refund and or free tickets. They did not know if it would be re-shown. So we went to the movie bar and hung out and thought hey lets see another movie as long as we are here. Went to the manager and he said we could see whatever we wanted and were given VIP area.
I sent a complaint email about this and the Titanic thing and they finally replied that there would be a showing and we can bring 2 extra people for each ticket we had.
It was a very cool thing to see on the big screen. I did have to go tell them to turn up the volume as it was seriously low. This is a concert film. Play it loud. So all in all it came out good in the end. I was impressed with how well Led Zeppelin played. I highly recommend.

Don't be afraid to go tell the theater manager to adjust volume as I find many times it is either too quiet or too loud. Being an audio engineer I know am picky but I think many theaters don't have experienced staff anymore. They have invested thousands in the sound system so play it back so it sounds good.

Watched The Hobbit 3 for date night yesterday. Without spoiling anything, I was very disappointed. Very disappointed.

Finally saw The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies.
I thought it was worth seeing in a theater. It had great acting with amazing visuals and sound.
It lives up to its name as there are plenty of battles.
I thought it was the weakest of the 3 Hobbit movies. I will not get into all the details but it did not have some of the emotional impact that I felt in the other two. I think it had to do with you didn't get much more insight into the characters. There are many great scenes but the story is just not told as well as it could have been. Needed more Bilbo.
I was hoping for a better ending, at least the song played during the end credits is very good.

Being a fan of the Lord of the Ring movies I have to compare them. After seeing all the Hobbit movies the Hobbit movies are not as good. The LOTR movies were amazing epic movies though and would have been hard to beat. The story was told very well.
Once again the missing thing being the emotional depth/impact and connection to the characters that LOTR movies had.

All in all they are still good and worth seeing. Just could have been better. LOTR set the bar high.
My 8 year old loved them all.

Went to see Birdman last night.

Seriously, one of the best films I've seen in years and if anything tops it in 2015 it will have to be very, very special indeed. Funny, sad, thought provoking (on many levels), surreal and with some of the best acting performances you're likely to see in a cinema. Micheal Keaton is breathtaking in it. There are moments where the direction even out plays David Fincher at his own game - stunning.

The soundtrack was also incredible and fit the film perfectly.

Add in the fact that Emma Stone has quite possibly the most attractive voice of any woman ever and it's a complete winner.

Just loved every minute of it from start to finish.

I watched Frank this weekend. Pretty quirky but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think you guys hanging around here that are into music and also movies might really enjoy it. 

I also find that I seem to run in the wrong circles, as I can never find people that are into the same movies as I am. Inherent Vice is finally playing here so I think I'll check that out this coming weekend.