I really agree with all of this. Even if AMC (or Regal) multiplexes want to only show the big commercial hit movies (like now), the problem is, even if that is their aim, there are just not enough big commercial hits at anytime to fill the ten theater venue bu where I lived. So they are going to, by necessity, "pad" the other theaters with lesser known movies. This year, I have seen so many movies that were not big mainstream movies that I would have otherwise, not paid any attention to, knowing that I was really rolling the dice at $12 a pop. And even if I like the movie, maybe still I liked it about $6 to $8 bucks worth of "like". To me, it has to be really something that I really want to see to fork out $12 to see it. And seeing as though they discontinued 3D TV's the year my large screen TV came out, if you want to experience a movie in 3D, and generally I do, it has to be in the theater, and then it is a $15 movie. Thought the A-List was first, given a choice, I might opt for the theater that was most convenient to where I lived and go with that. Both the A-List and the new Regal "Unlimited" plans bring back the old days where going to the movies at least once a week was an affordable part of an average couples lifestyle. Back then, there weren't as many blockbuster's and more just "regular" movies. You look in the newspaper, read off a few movies, check the descriptions and the number of stars (ratings) in the newspaper and say, "hey, let's go see _____________? You would pick out a movie and go see it. If you did this almost every week, you would have gotten to see almost 50 new movies each year. In today's economy, that translates down to about $6 per-week (or less), making it an excellent entertainment experience.
Or if you're like my wife, and see the maximum number of films each plan offers, it's less than $2 a movie.
How many screens does it have? There is one with 16 screens near me, and you would think they could show many smaller movies. But it gets hard to do that when they have 27 screenings of Lion King in one day. Yep, 27 today.
22 screens at my closest AMC. Right now it has 4 "smaller movies" (by my estimation): "Booksmart" "Midsommar" "Clarita" "Art of Self-Defense" Guess I need to stop viewing the "art house" AMC as "art house" - 7 screens and only one devoted to a smaller movie: "The Farewell"...
I pointed this out in the Lion King thread a week ago. But, of course when the have a super movie that is going to bring in these crows, they age going to dedicate more screens and more showing to it. But movies like the and Avengers: Endgame, don't come along all of the time. Since February, here are the movies that I have viewed at my local 10-screen AMC, many of them being smaller movies. Fighting With My Family How to Train Your Dragon Alita: Battle Angel Green Book Five Feet Apart Captain Marvel Dumbo Wonder Park Hotel Mumbai Shazam! Pet Sematary Hellboy Missing Link Avengers: Endgame Uglydolls Longshot Pokemon Detective Pikachu The Sun Is Also A Star A Dog's Journey John Wick Booksmart Aladdin Godzilla: King Of The Monsters Dark Phoenix Rocketman The Secret Life of Pets Men In Black International All of these between 2/26 and 6/19, basically a four month period and 27-movies. This is at least $300 worth of entertainment for a modest $80. Besides that, some I saw more than once. This would make the A-List membership about 20% on the retail dollar, a hard to beat deal. While I don't think it is the intention to be an arthouse cinema, the movies are sufficiently diverse. With 16-screens, I would think they would be able to offer even a greater variety of movies?
For those following along at home, my wife Vickie now has both AMC's Stubs A*List and Regal's Unlimited (not sure which variation of Unlimited she got.) But the latter truly is unlimited, and she got multiple tickets for the same day. Spending less than most people pay for their cable subscription, she's seeing multiple films in the theater every day.
She's closing in on 400 films for the year. It turns out there actually is a Regal in Kansas City, the Ameristar Stadium 18. I've never been to it before because the prices were high, they had nothing every other theater didn't have and it's attached to a casino out in the middle of nowhere. But on the other hand, there is a bus that goes to it (I don't drive.)
She Tweeted: 373) The Kitchen @ CN14. I LOVED THIS! Andrea Berloff directed this fascinating, exciting movie w Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish & Elizabeth Moss all great as women who decide not to take men's sh!t anymore. The negative reviews I've seen were by men. F*** 'em. It's great! And later Tweeted: 376) The Kitchen @ CN14. Déjà vu, right? Thank you @RegalMovies for Unlimited so I could see this twice in one day. This is a fantastic movie! And also so I could see the Tenet teaser twice! I hadn't heard that it was playing in front of The Kitchen so it was a nice surprise. They are missing an opportunity by marketing this as a typical crime drama, and should have a poster with bad reviews by male critics on one side and good reviews by female ones on the other and selling it as a female empowerment tale.
I looked on RT. 13 positive reviews from female critics. 30 negative reviews from female critics. Attempts to make this some "men don't get it" thing don't fly. That theme also doesn't explain why the very, very similar "Widows" got 91% on RT last year...
I know few people who see as many films as my wife, and while I am definitely biased in her favor, I would still find her a trustworthy movie reviewer even if I weren't in love with her.
I can get that, but it does sound like it is a movie that is aimed at female audiences. Doesn't seem to be my cup of tea, as it were. I decided to look it up on RT and this is what I came up with. Are the critic's mostly men? They have given it some pretty bad reviews, to put it mildly!
Here's the review excerpt that sold me (on not attending): The Kitchen is a female empowerment movie disguised as a mob movie. With a message as dumb as "women can kill people too,".
But couldn't one reasonably question whether someone who's on track to see roughly 600+ movies/year is maybe a less critical viewer than a casual moviegoer? Just glancing at your wife's feed for this month only, I see her with these comments: The Kitchen: "fantastic movie" Brian Banks: "very good" Scary Stories to tell in the dark: "pretty good" Them That Follow: no specific praise, but seems quite favorable towards it American as Bean Pie: "very interesting" Je T'aime Moi Non Plus: "pretty good" The Chambermaid: "interesting and relatable" The Art of Racing in the Rain: "loved this" Dora and the Lost City of Gold: "fun, funny and exciting" The King's Letters: "fascinating" Once Upon A Time in Hollywood: "I love it" Child's Play: "I liked this one" Annabelle Come Home: "I enjoyed it well enough" It: "It was fun to see again" The Lion King 3d: "I liked this a lot" Hobbes & Shaw: "this was fun" Our Time: "such a surprise" Brewster McCloud: "This was my first time and I think it needs multiple viewings" The Freshman: "fascinating" David Crosby documentary: "liked it a lot" Dancing Elephant: "Loved" It's too bad she doesn't rate them on a five-star scale, because then one could really determine how "critical" she is. It seems from her comments like everything would earn AT LEAST three stars from her. Now that I'm off the MPass/Sinemia ride, I'm pretty discerning about what I spend my money on, and yet I don't think I've seen a 5-star film this year (I've seen maybe a dozen?). If I were to rank my movies - it would be more of a bell curve, with some hitting the one/two-star category. With all due respect, it seems your wife really likes the vast majority of films she sees. When people are seeking critical opinions, that's probably not where most of us would turn... I will watch her on twitter for awhile, though, out of curiosity.
She tends to avoid seeing films she isn't likely to enjoy, but she does have incredibly wide-ranging tastes. She also tends not to relish writing negative reviews.
MoviePass CEO Allegedly Changed Subscribers' Passwords Before Avengers Opened To Block 'Power Users' MoviePass CEO Allegedly Changed Subscribers' Passwords Before Avengers Opened To Block 'Power Users' MoviePass reportedly changed account passwords to prevent users from seeing films Let's see how people here say this is GOOD for the Moviepass subscriber. Can't wait.
With all of the films she sees, I don't know what movies would be even left to avoid? I can see not wanting to dwell on negative reviews, but fro the above sample, it seems that she pretty much liked all of them. I'd doubt that I would find all of these movies endearing?
Uber-MoviePass-apologist-guy has moved on to greener pastures it seems. I can't even remember his handle.
She honestly has very wide tastes. I don't know how many critics would see a film about the invention of the Korean language one day and Dora The Explorer the next,