From Roger L. Simon via Instapundit
I do have something to say here. I looked, and I looked hard for a movie to take my kids to see this summer. The kids and I talked about it, the only thing that we all wanted to go see with any small degree of passion is Episode III. Note that I said a small degree of passion. There’s only one other movie we want to go see this year. I think you can guess what that is, but if not, I’ll tell you. It’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We MIGHT go see the Fantastic Four, but that’s a real big maybe. For the most part, we’d rather stay home and watch anime if we’re not playing video games.
To make a point, I’m a 30 something mom. I’ve been a gamer since I was 16. I started playing video games on my boyfriend’s sega genesis in high school, and then when I moved in with my hubby.. well.. we’ve always had a game console. Currently, we own two, an xbox and a PS2. I also have a PSP that I port around with me for various reasons, and because we have kids there are a variety of gameboys in the house. My plans for this summer include, the summer reading list you see on the sidebar. Finishing Xenosaga 2, .hack//quarantine, and Jade Empire for my console games, and finishing Myst: Revelation, and Syberia for the PC games, and cleaning my house. Note that movie going is not on the list.
There was a time when my husband and I would go see a movie once or twice a month, even to the point of hiring a babysitter so that we could go see movies that didn’t start with “Walt Disney Presents”. I loved that time. It was great to be able to see a film like “Event Horizon” that pushed the envelope in the minds of the viewers. And man.. that flick gave me nightmares for a month after we saw it. The horror movie that does that to me is rare, and only one since “Event Horizon” has had me looking around doors for a few days after I watched it, and that was “Ju-On: The Grudge”. I love the scene where the face of the ghost biting at “Karen” in the movie is reflected in the window of the bus they are riding on. That really got me.
These days, I’d rather sit at home and watch the cool movies that I really love on our home theater screen. And since we’re on the subject of movies at home, here’s my recommended list for you to sit down and watch with your tweens.
“Spirited Away”. Miyazaki’s best in my mind, but a possible second to
“Laputa” or “Castle in the Sky”.
“The Star Wars Trilogy”
“The Lord of the Rings”
“The Iron Giant” (cause it’s cool, who doesn’t remember him saying “Superman…”).
“Secondhand Lions” (“That lion is defective!” *giggle*)
“Big Fish”
“The Hunt for Red October” (the tweens can handle it, and they need to understand the coolness that is Sean Connery)
“Indiana Jones and..” (Watch them all with your kids, widescreen in surround.)
And there we have it. Positive proof that a home DVD collection is filled with far better movies than your average movie theater is showing right now.
Update: Bill@Reason’s Edge has more on this. I agree with what he has to say on this for the most part. It doesn’t make sense to cycle movies into the video stores so quickly. A family of four can watch movies for an entire evening and spend maybe 15$ at the video store, and on popcorn. The expensive snacks at the movie theaters actually make sense. The theater itself makes very little off ticket sales, this information comes to me from Taralon an employee at a large theater chain, most of their income comes from concessions sold at the theater. I agree that expensive popcorn and soda can be very daunting, but I also think that to be honest, since the tickets themselves are so expensive, families have to decide very carefully which movies they want to see. The question becomes one of: “Do I really want to spend 50$ on going out to a movie, that probably won’t be very good with my family, or would I rather spend that 50$ on something that they will get more value out of?”
Something to think about.
