Ponderings from the Cinematic Princess...

I made it my goal this year to write one of these entries (I call them columns) per week, or four per month. Unfortunately, I haven’t really been watching many movies lately. The only thing I’ve seen lately was “Ninja Assassin”, a 2 and a half at best. Think a Tarentino bloodbath with a tired and underdeveloped story. Not bad, but not great.

But what I wanted to write about this week are cinematic shifts, both theatrical and DVD, which indiciate the way things are a changin’ – not for the better.

Firstly, four of my local video stores are all closing. While that’s good news if I have extra money and want to score a decent copy of a classic film on the cheap, but not for the fact that Redbox is now the main way for me to rent a DVD.

What I hate the most about this change is that I won't have the opportunity ever again to enter an actual video store. You can laugh at me if you want to because that's a really dorkish thing to say (it is and I am), but I’ve met some great people in a video store. I met the love of my life in a video store (my actual other half, not just the concept of film in general). We still talk about film all the time, and I wouldn’t have even met him if I hadn’t gone there, the idea of which frankly scares the hell out of me. The video store was the one place where I knew that I could always find someone who “knew their shit” (except at Blockbuster), and I’d find some film that I hadn’t heard of that I had to see, which led to another film, and so on.

Gone. And I understand the market had evaporated, and I understand that it’s easier to hit the stream button on Netflix, but I’ll still always miss the mortar-and-stone building. I used to say that Norm had his Cheers, and I had my video store. Now, I guess I have a box. Lucky me.

Secondly, I saw an article over the weekend announcing that theatrical ticket sales are again going to spike – just in time for the summer film season in a few months. Although again I realize that it’s a business decision, this one doesn’t make as much sense. Year over year, the box office is growing, crowds are growing, but the quality of the films on the whole is staying stagnant. There’s yet another remake, or sequel, or unnecessary 3-D epic. Most of these aren’t worth paying 4.99 for, much less the 15.00-17.00 to which they could possibly escalate.

So it looks like I’m going to have to change my habits again. I’ll do my research on the websites I follow to get the upcoming slates, and I’ll watch what I want when I can. My Wii now accommodates streaming Netflix options. But as for the rest of it, there’s nothing to take its place. And I don’t want anything to even try.