NewYorkMagazine Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Beginning with the summer of Surf Ninjas and concluding with last year's Underdog, Vulture has compiled a list arguing that August movies generally blow. Sifting through the titles from the past fifteen years, it's hard to ignore their point. If Bushwhacked, Spawn and The Thirteenth Warrior don't convince you, how about Hollow Man? The Adventures of Pluto Nash? Anacondas?

August usually means a lot to America. It's big for vacationers. The sun comes out and everyone gets one last hurrah before the summer recedes for the year. So why would studios dump their worst movies at this time? Maybe it's just a coincidence, but either way, it's hard to say whether or not this August will break the trend. Swing Vote seems to confirm Vulture's dire prediction, but Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder will surely find some appreciative audiences. And we all know The Dark Knight will continue to make bank. However, before you start thinking that a turnaround is on the way, consider the third Mummy movie -- and, once again, Vulture might have something here: Variety has called it "cheeseball stuff." Could that be the codeword for "typical August movie"? It would seem so.

I was so, so, so excited about Regal Entertainment's announcement last august that the theater chain had developed a new complaint system called Regal Guest Response. The system utilizes hand-held devices that are given to select customers, who are then responsible for alerting management about problems with the film's picture or sound, film piracy or audience disturbances. But it has been almost a year since the company began testing out the walkie-talkie-like contraptions in 13 of its locations, and I was beginning to think the system would never be expanded to the rest of the country. This week, though, the chain, which runs Regal Cinemas, Edwards Cinemas and UA Theatres, is rolling out the devices to 114 theaters.

According to Regal, the test run showed that customer etiquette improved in the locations using the devices. The company did not, however, specify how frequently patrons were tattled on by their fellow audience members or whether the etiquette improvement was based on customers being aware of the system. Apparently if you are a member of Regal's Crown Club (as I am) then you have a good chance of being one of those selected to carry the device into the theater and monitor the screen and crowd. For the rest of you seeing a movie at any of Regal's locations this weekend, be on your best behavior, because the guy seated behind you might just need to push a button in order to have you removed.

In response to this news, New York Magazine has created its own modified version of the device, which offers more amusing complaint options, which are specifically applicable for NYC theaters, including buttons marked "Mentally Ill Person Shouting At Screen" and "Hookers". The magazine also added a button that we all wish we could have in this age of bad movies: "Plot/Cinematography."

Since he films all of his movies in and around my beloved home town of Philadelphia, I've always had a real soft spot for M. Night Shyamalan. I still believe that The Sixth Sense is a damn good film, that Unbreakable is a still-unheralded masterpiece, and that Signs is a pretty slick "reality-based" sci-fi thriller. But after suffering through The Village and Lady in the Water, I'm beginning to wish the guy would move on to Baltimore, Boston or another east coast city. (Nah, not really. It's pretty cool to have a "local filmmaker" of Shyamalan's talent and influence.)

But a few weeks back M. Night "won" a pair of Razzies for worst director and worst supporting actor, one of which I don't think he really deserved ... but that supporting actor slap, yeah, I can get behind that one. Apparently the self-admiring movie-maker didn't even hear about his Lady in the Water Razzies (yeah, right) and it took a reporter from New York Magazine to spill those beans. And Nighty got just a little bit defensive: "Look, I loved that movie. It's a beautiful, beautiful movie. So there's some disconnect from the intention to the perception of it. I hope, just with time, that will ease. All of my movies have benefited from time."

OK, so maybe in 62 years Lady in the Water will be the new Casablanca ... but I really freaking doubt it. It's a ponderous, indulgent and (bottom line) silly movie that the critics disliked and the audiences pretty much ignored. But hey, one or two failures in a row can often lead to a big-time comeback project that everyone rallies behind and adores. For the record, Shyamalan is presently working on adaptations of Avatar: The Last Airbender and (yes) He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ... so I wouldn't exactly hold my breath waiting for that big comeback love-fest.

[via Hollywood Wiretap]