Went to see “Troy” over the weekend. It was very enjoyable. Sure there were some lousy lines, but overall I thought it was well worth seeing on the big screen.
(Thus ends the review. There is more if you’d like to read some of what happened while we were at the movie itself.)
It was the first time I had been to the actual movie theater in some time (as opposed to the drive in), and revealed how addicted I have become to the Tivo, because there were several times that I wanted to press the “Jump Back 8 Seconds” button to watch something again…. not to mention the deep desire to be able to pause the movie whilst I ran off to the bathroom (Darn you, overly large Diet Coke with No Ice!!!!)
Went to see it with two friends, Elizabeth and Paul. The theater was packed. I had originally left a seat open to my right, but by the time it started we had moved down one to make room for some people who thought it perfectly acceptable to come in at the last minute of opening weekend and ask everyone who had gotten there early to move. I won’t even mention the fact that their lack of consideration extended to turning off one’s cell phone. Apparently they had missed the 42 announcements… oh, that’s right, they came in at the last moment. Bah.
Anyway, there were two young ladies sitting next to me, somewhere in the 18-22 age range (I’m definitely getting old because I really have no idea how old they were but assume they were college aged). I have an aversion to sitting next to strangers in movie theaters because there’s that whole elbow/armrest thing to work out. I should have asked to sit in the middle of our little threesome, but by this point it was a little late for that. Instead we had bookended Paul (the self-described “quiet and bookish” one, whereas Elizabeth and I are anything but). Unfortunately for Paul that meant that he had to spend the entire movie listening to whispered comments from both sides, whereas if Elizabeth and I had say next to each other he could have been spared that annoyance.
When it became obvious that we were going to have to move, I said a quick hello to the person I would be sitting next to, and immediately pulled in my arms to my side because, well, she clearly had eminent domain over the armrest, as she had arrived even earlier than we had (and we were there about 30 minutes before the show began).
There were a lot of previews… and by “a lot” I mean, like a lot. There were at least 5 previews for Sex and the City on TBS (which probably requires its own post).
One of the trailers was for CatWoman which had a grand total of ZERO spoken words (which is probably fairly telling), but several scenes of Halle Berry in tight black leather, doing plenty of spin kicks and so forth. If any movie trailer had ever clearly screamed, “Summer is coming!” this was the one.
At the end of the movie, the young lady immediately to my right said to her companion, “Do you know how many guys are going to see that?” To which I replied, “Well, so far I count at least two,” because while Paul may call himself quiet and bookish, it’s the quiet ones you need to watch.
A few minutes (and several previews) later came the preview for the latest Nicholas Sparks movie The Notebook. If any movie trailer had ever clearly screamed “Chick Flick” (or its more politically correct name “Date Movie”), this was the one. Same young lady commented with a laugh, “Do you know how many girls are going to see that?” at which point I repeated by earlier comment.
Young Lady #2 go up at some point during the movie and when she came back, she seemed to have trouble finding the right row. Her friend made a valiant effort to wave her down, but it took a much more obnoxious waving of the hand than she was apparently willing to give, so I offered my services. I noticed she had applied perfume during her absence, and would have liked to have known what it was, but I was unable to think of a way to ask without sounding like A) a come-on, or B) Creepy Married Guy Away From His Wife, so I didn’t ask.
Funniest moment of the movie, however, was definitely when the Trojan Horse has been brought into the city (I hope I’m not giving anything away here!)… I said to Paul and Elizabeth, “Have these people never heard of a Trojan Horse?!?!” which was NOT the funniest moment of the movie, but led up to it… Night falls and slowly the Trojans start to make their way out of it…. Then, from a few rows behind us we heard someone say, “Oooh… is that what the Trojan Horse thing is about?” which would have been funny anyway, but was much funnier because the person who said it seemed completely serious.
It did remind me of several years ago when we went to see The English Patient, which was peppered with loudly “whispered” comments from the two extremely elderly and apparently deaf ladies behind us. About 3 hours into the movie, one said to the other, “Ray Fiennes is the English Patient!” which was said with all the astonishment of realizing what soylent green really was.
Anyway, it was, as always, an adventure.