High Cost of Entertainment

Well, I decided that this weekend, I would actually go to the movies instead of watching them on DVD in the comfort and privacy of my own home, curled up in bed in my jammies, the way I usually do. So I duly looked up movie times in the newspaper, and picked Hollywoodland for the first movie I've seen in weeks.

My first shock was when I got there and realized that movies are now $10.75 in New York. That's like two Netflix movies for me (I have the two movies at a time for $9.95 a month deal). The next shock was a small popcorn and a soda would have set me back like another $10. Fortunately, I'd smuggled in a bottle of water, and the leftovers of the Cadbury fruit and nut bar from work to munch on, otherwise I would have been flat broke, and had to hit the cash machine again.

See this is why people don't go to the movies. You figure two people x $10.75 plus snacks and then if you go to dinner beforehand, it really adds up. And it's not like there's been all that much to make you run out and go to the movies lately. I mean Jackass 2? I did see some interesting movies during the previews that I want to see, including The Prestige with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, with Scarlett Johanssen where she once again gets to make out with Hugh Jackman. The bitch!

Plus an interesting movie with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore set in the future where the world is dying because women can't reproduce anymore. That looked pretty cool, although the last Clive Owen movie I saw was Derailed and that stunk.

Oh, Hollywoodland was really good. Diane Lane deserves a best supporting actress nod and Ben Affleck proved that he's more than Gigli. Loved the period detail and Adrien Brody proved that The Pianist wasn't just a fluke. And dude's got a really nice body although a little too skinny for me. But Black Dahlia? Oy, what a horrible film. It reminded me of when Carol Burnett used to do the classic movie spoofs on her show like Mildred Fierce. I laughed in all the wrong places, in scenes that weren't remotely funny.

The problem was the casting. I'm sorry but Josh Hartnett, with his hair parted in the middle and the bushy eyebrows, just looked like a grown-up version of Alfalfa. And Aaron Eckhart, who's usually half-decent had no character. Neither did Scarlett Johansen, although she looked lovely in period clothes. Mia Kirshner, who played Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, was compelling but she's only seen in film footage from various screen tests. The only half-way decent acting comes from Hilary Swank but she's in some kind of parody like Mildred Fierce, although her costumes were lovely. The biggest problem is that she looks nothing like Mia Kirshner, and the plot hinges on that fact.

I read an article recently with the screenwriter, and he talked about adapting the book. It was very interesting because none of what he was talking about was in the script that was filmed.

Thanks for reading!

EKM