tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32685968.post3313369391714404864..comments2024-03-25T10:47:42.656-07:00Comments on Can't Explain: The General (1926)Jeff Pikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17148737647138431543noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32685968.post-26029163251869910642011-10-01T07:44:42.297-07:002011-10-01T07:44:42.297-07:00For better or worse I seem to be particularly vuln...For better or worse I seem to be particularly vulnerable to this kind of influence. I think the movie where my perceptions have shifted about the most has been Last Tango in Paris, which I have loved, hated, and been indifferent to, usually in concert with whatever companions have watched with me.<br /><br />That said, I have always thought a big audience can turn a good picture into something really special, and I do miss that era of packed houses at can't-miss releases. Maybe it's still going on? I don't like the ticket prices nowadays, and the houses tend to be much smaller. And I know I'm joining a cliche parade here but I also think the nature of audiences has changed. This is not a youth thing. I saw The Help the other day (at a bargain matinee) in a theater with a lot of age 50+ folks like myself. Not much impulse control was evident in terms of making obvious comments right out loud, constantly, a steady stream of, "There was a lot of prejudice back then, yes wasn't there?" etc. And this was not an unusual experience, just my most recent. These people now seem to be impervious to glares and I have stopped shushing ever since I saw it turn into a fistfight. (I wasn't the shusher, but my sympathies were with him and I was the one to run out to the lobby for help stopping the fight. The movie was Spawn, probably the wrong movie to be shushing in anyway, but still.)Jeff Pikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17148737647138431543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32685968.post-49860331200163448202011-10-01T03:48:11.356-07:002011-10-01T03:48:11.356-07:00Interesting post - I've always enjoyed The Gen...Interesting post - I've always enjoyed The General (though at heart I'm probably more a Chaplin person), I feel like I've had this experience with other films though I'm not sure which at the moment. I do know Seven Samurai never gripped me like it was supposed to on a small screen but in a theater I felt like I "got" it for the first time.<br /><br />There is something about that communal experience, and I kind of miss it since I don't really go out to movies at all anymore. Then again, when I did/do, the audience usually isn't eating out of the palm of its hand, nor should they be.<br /><br />It's an interesting point though - I wonder how many movies people would be able to feel differently about if they saw it in the right "set".Joel Bockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.com