'Movies try to escape cultural irrelevance'

Movies are no exception to the general rule that nothing has that much cultural relevance anymore. Too many things to watch and, more important for movies, too many different times and methods to watch them. I thought one of the smartest things in the media age was when places started running "reviews" of movies that were just being distributed on DVD.

Does anyone think our parents would have sent us to ET ten times that summer if waiting for the DVD or Netflix were an option?

 

I don't think that's necessarily the issue in this case. The question was about great movies people saw in a theater this year.

Speaking generally, do we need to see comedies on a big screen?

 

That made me laugh after I re-read it.

 

Guessing he was replying to JR.

 

Me, too. So I'm keeping it up there, uncorrected, and taking my medicine.

 

My comment was directed at JR's insinuation that it's a damn shame people saw Ted but not The Master and that Ted was targeting the "lowest possible denominator."

All things, including TV shows and sports and documentaries and home videos, are better on the big screen. Action movies, which often target the actual lowest-level viewer, are best served by a big screen, much more than drama. The whole point of Michael Bay's existence is the big screen.

 

Maybe.

Something to be said for watching comedy with large groups of people.

 

I wouldn't go see a movie I really cared about, because the potential for asshat behavior is too high and I'd be worried about missing something. Find it much easier to zone in at home and with a break if necessary. Don't really go to movies anymore on my own anyway, but on the rare occasions I do, it is much more likely to be a comedy or action.

 

True.

Comedy is also very much of its time, so doesn't age well. Which gets it thrown out of the 'great films' discussions. There a handful of exceptions to this - Chaplin, Keaton, The Marx Brothers, a few others - but on top of being impossibly hard, comedy has a super short shelf-life.

 

Would it surprise you that JR and I saw "Ted" at a pre-noon matinee and laughed our asses off?

 

That amuses me, based on JR's snooty post above.

 

I like to think that I bring out his earthy side.