Reflections

The AMC Dine-In theater I go to had these standees in the lobby. Man, if I had a warehouse, I’d start collecting these. As for the dine-in part: sixteen bucks plus change for a small bag of popcorn and a small bottle of water. That’s just me, lone wolf movie goer. It’s either Goobers or popcorn (and the occasional Bon Bons). But a family, or even just two people, “dining in” at an AMC Dine-In, is sardonic, as it is expensively prohibitive. I realize theaters are dying and struggling to survive. Dine-In is not the way to do that. Whoever thought this up didn’t think it through. Either you make it affordable or you keep complaining about how people are avoiding the theater. It’s not entirely streaming (though their play window is a kick in the gut to theaters)–who doesn’t want to catch movies on a BIG screen with awesome sound? It’s the pricing. And the lounge chairs we didn’t need. Give us a bargain or give you empty seats. Just saying. And for chrissakes, get the lighting and focus on the projector right for a change! Oh, right…standees.

Binge watching the streams and eye-balling the books falling off the shelf. What a life.

Ever since I was laid off from my full-time job of eleven years I’ve been working part-time. That means the other part-time portion of my life is spent staying up late (thinking of you Joe Franklin) to rewatch all the shows and movies I’ve seen over the years while tallying up the new ones clogging the channels.

There’s something nostalgic and potentially mortifying when you do that. Nostalgic because you have fond memories of times spent in and around those shows, and mortifying when you approach them again with adult eyes, sometimes forcing you to figure out what your younger mind was thinking back then. Or, worse yet, generating friction between those memories and the reality of now. Times do change. What was fun and engrossing THEN  can become but-that’s-not-how-I-remembered-it! So holding to those fixed points can be a mixed-up bag of rapture and remembrance or rupture and disappointment. For the most part, though, if nothing else, it helps keep the gray cells sparking along and can show how much you’ve grown (or not). Funny too, while time may change, it often repeats events, just swapping out old windows for new, but the dressing stays the same.

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Crossing the StreamsRead More »

Such Interesting Stuff in my inbox…

Universal City, Calif., March 5, 2025 – On June 20, 1975, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was unleashed by Universal Pictures, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon. Now, 50 years later, the film remains one of the most influential and gripping adventures in motion picture history. To mark this milestone, a nearly year-long celebration has kicked off through a theatrical re-release, an anniversary edition on Digital and Blu-ray, summer streaming on Peacock of the film, all-new merchandise in various categories and much more — including the upcoming Jaws: The Exhibition, planned by the Academy Museum. The most epic summer blockbuster is back and bigger than ever!

As announced during the 97th Oscars telecast this past weekend, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will debut Jaws: The Exhibition on view beginning September 14, with tickets available now. The Academy Museum exhibition, the first ever of this size dedicated to a specific film, celebrates the Academy’s largest collection object—the sole surviving shark from Jaws —and is timed to the film’s landmark anniversary.  Visitors will step into the world of the iconic film, scene-by-scene, as it translates the movie into a spatial experience with over 200 original objects including concept illustrations, costumes and props. To top it off, exclusive new merchandise will be available in the Academy Museum Store celebrating the legacy of the film. …

Jaws 50th AnniversaryRead More »

While heading in to see Companion, I saw these standees at my local AMC. I also saw they now highlight promotional popcorn buckets in the glass showcase at the concession stand. I confess I can’t resist collecting them. If I had the room, I’d collect the standees too 🙂 I’m dying to see the one for the Fantastic Four. The initial trailer hints they finally got Galactus right. Not too thrilled about their choice for Silver Surfer though, but we’ll see. Changing Jack Kirby’s designs is a Bozo No-No for me, nuff said. I was puzzled by the small size of the Dog Man standee until I realized it’s a kid’s movie, so a kid-sized standee provided a good photo op. However, it did get dwarfed by the the much larger standees I walked past, especially the Snow White live-action one with the dwarves holding up a billboard of the Queen and Snow looking very movie-ish, while only those dwarfish legs showed underneath. Clever. As for me, though, the animated original is a classic that can’t be repeated, but I hope the live-action does well and pleases new audiences. I just hope they don’t forget the original.

Here's a picture of me (recently fallen out of a photo album) that captures some of the zeitgeist of the 1960s. I'm pretty sure this was taken at 1000 Acres Dude Ranch (though they call it a horse ranch now). I'd be stuck there for much of the summer, anxious to get back to my comic book and monster magazine racks and color television (a Sony Trinitron). I remember one summer I almost missed a critical Fantastic Four issue with the Silver Surfer and Galactus, but, luckily, when I got back home from the ranch, the corner luncheonette, which was awesome for getting my monthly comic and magazine fix, had been closed for vacation too. I didn't miss the issue! It was still on the rack waiting for me.

But the ranch wasn't all that boring for a Brooklyn kid. I learned how to shoot an arrow, row a boat, play pool, tilt a mean pinball, play ping pong and shuffle board, and ride a horse without falling off. Getting on was always a challenge, and one fine day a horse stepped on my foot and refused to move. Man, that hurt like a son of a… All of that was fun (sort of) but my point is more related to those arrows and bow in the photo. I'm pretty young there.  Those arrows were steel tipped. I shot them into fabric targets wrapped around straw, about 10 or more feet away. No fencing, no protections for bystanders or passersby, and I'm, like I said, pretty young there. If that doesn't say much about where we've been and how paranoid and litigious we've become, I can't think of a better illustration. I also remember one summer when I walked into the ranch's management office and up to the counter. I asked for the bow and arrows  and was told they had discontinued it. Some idiot kid had aimed the wrong way and that was that. He ruined it for the rest of us. 

And isn't that always the case? It's always some idiot messing up the good stuff for the rest of us; or complaining about the good stuff and how evil the rest of us are for liking it; or preaching about how bad the good stuff is for the rest of us and we must return to the light. Seems there are a lot more idiots these days than back in the 1960s. I miss the comic and magazine rack. I miss Joe's corner luncheonette. But mostly I miss the good stuff we can't have anymore because of so many idiots now ruining it for the rest of us. 

Perhaps that's why I like horror movies so much. It's pretty much the only genre where the idiots always get their due. Go monsters!