See Shelby Oaks this weekend!

Go see Shelby Oaks this weekend!

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[See how it all started!]

Movies I watched in 2024 (not that many)

In 2023, I had A-List membership at AMC Theaters. I did see a lot of movies at the theaters in 2023.  However, I found myself attending showings of movies that I likely wouldn't have seen at the theater, if it were not for AMC A-List status. But, without seeing these extra movies, it was a struggle to get my money's worth for the cost of the A-List membership.  As such, I dropped A-List for 2024. 

This means I saw significantly fewer movies in 2024 at the theater.  In 2023, it is 32 movies at the theater.  In 2024, the number is 11.  That's less than 2022's number of 16 (after A-List was reïnstated post-Covid).

Please see the list below for the movies I watched at the theater in 2024. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links and you have Honey installed on your browser, please remember to NOT click on the Honey messages, even to dismiss them. Just ignore their messages until your purchase is complete.  

One thing I should note about Furiosa. I don't know if I'm in a minority, but I enjoyed that film more than Mad Max: Fury Road.  Back when media was heaping praise onto Fury Road, I was left wondering. It's a good movie, for sure. But it's not the great movie that people proclaimed it to be.

Watching movies where an accomplished writer is typing their book by pecking at their keyboard with their index fingers

Ever noticed the typing scenes in movies? Almost every film has this issue: when a character is shown typing—be it on a keyboard or a typewriter—they're pecking away like a chicken with their index fingers. This is especially absurd when the character is supposed to be an accomplished writer. Instead of touch-typing, they're either mashing keys aimlessly or stabbing at the keyboard as if playing a piano concerto.

It’s as though no actor on the planet has ever learned to type properly. And by extension, neither have directors, since they're the ones orchestrating these typing disasters. It's got to be rare for someone to attempt to write an entire book, or even a college essay, by hunting and pecking.

Sure, some people might actually write like that, blissfully unaware of the agony they’re inflicting on themselves. But wow, what a punishing way to work!

(Originally posted on reddit.)

Common movie tropes from 1999

Comparing Stir of Echoes, The Sixth Sense and Office Space

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Godzilla Minus One does not deserve their Oscar

Unpopular opinion? The Best Visual Effects Oscar win for Godzilla Minus One (G-1) is undeserved. G-1 was great for a movie for a budget of $15M, but isn't in the same class as The Creator, which was also made on a smaller budget by Hollywood standards. The Creator is far richer and more impressive, with proper depth of field and gorgeous scenes. 

Also, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (GOTG3) has a big  advantage. In GOTG3, a lot of completely CGI characters that are so well done, you forget they are CGI. In my opinion, both The Creator and GOTG3 are far superior films than G-1 in terms of VFX.  In particular, GOTG3 was robbed.  However, that wouldn't be so bad if The Creator won instead.  But to give the award to G-1 instead of either of those two? Yikes.

I have seen all three of these movies in the theater on the biggest screens available for each.

Movies I watched at the theater in 2023

The year 2023 represents a 365 period of time in which I saw more movies at the theater than any other year in my past.  This was facilitated by my AMC A-List membership.  This was the first year I was really able to use it to see movies at a level that allowed me to really get my money's worth.  That said, perhaps this wasn't the year that made such a membership necessary.  To really use my membership to its fullest, I went to see many movies that I would have typically ignored at the theater.  However, it is always nice being able to see a movie more than once without having to think twice about it (if I really really liked it).