NOW PLAYING: That Sinking Feeling 29 April, 1998 Yeah, right. So, four months later, we thought we could get in and finally see this flick. The theater was still full. We went early, so there wasn't a problem getting a seat, but MAN! I wonder how many of the crowd were repeat viewers... All in all, it was a good movie. I still don't think it was Best Picture -- L.A. Confidential blows it away, in my book. But then, I'm heavily into detective stories from the '30s through the '50s or so, anyway. Hammett, Chandler, Spillaine, etc. But L.A. Confidential gave the viewer credit for having some intelligence and being able to hang with all the twists and turns in the plot. Titanic, by contrast, was a three-hour escape back to 1912. No thought required. Just sit back and watch. Not that there's anything wrong with that (sometimes). I'm a nostalgic fool, and being aboard one of the greatest ocean liners in history is something I'm always up for. I'd like to imagine that in a previous life I had some adventures during the "Golden Age of Travel" (1890 through about 1940). There were still so many undiscovered and unspoiled areas of the world to see then. Travel of any kind was an adventure -- even a trip by car of several hundred miles. Service was really service -- having eight guys hop to it when you pulled up to the gasoline pumps must have been nice. I suppose people were more courteous and mannerly then, too. Unlike the Incredible Moron Woman who brought her four-year-old to see Titanic and managed to ruin the movie for everyone else. After 2 1/2 hours, the little one just couldn't hang on anymore and began yapping. And wouldn't shut up. "Why are they running, Mommy? Where's all that water coming from? What's the problem with that man?" And on and on and on. A few people nearest the Moron Woman tried a firm "Shhhhh!" to no avail. I don't know if the Moron Woman even attempted to put a sock in the kid's mouth or not. He kept on squeaking. "Why are they in the water? Where's the boat, Mommy? Why are they blue? Now is it over?" The Shhhhh-es were coming fast and furious at this point, which was supposed to be the most touching and poignant of the film, where the movie patrons should be crying in the aisles for poor Kate & Leo. Not this time; this time, the patrons were pissed. The Wife couldn't take it anymore, and finally yelled, "Shut UP!" No results. So eventually, the movie ends, the Incredible Moron Woman and her Little Yapping Boy get up and leave with everybody else -- I don't know if anyone said anything to her on the way out or not. I wish I had, but I was so furious that it probably was better I didn't. Why in the world would you drag a four-year-old to an adult movie? Especially one that runs over three hours? The kid might have the attention span to make it through a 90-minute "Barney" film, if it had a really stirring rendition of I Love You, You Love Me for him. And then, when the mini-mouth started up and showed no signs of stopping, and every single other person in the theater was more than pissed off, why, oh WHY would you not drag him out into the lobby where he can blabber all he wants? ARRRRGGHHH! I'm angry just writing and thinking about this again! If you have a child, wait for the dang movie to come out on video! Find a babysitter! Something! Anything! I can't even conceive of doing something like that! I'd be embarrassed to death if that was my kid. There's no way I could just SIT there with people Shhhh-ing me from all sides, knowing that everyone there was hating my guts for having that kid with me, and not doing a damned thing about it. So anyway -- I don't know if we'll try and go back to see it again and hope for a kid-free showing. I wouldn't repeat otherwise (it wasn't that good) but I'd kinda like to be able to see what happens at the end besides the ship sinking.
previous | archive | now playing | next
|