Old Man @ The Movies

Oh no, I thought, as I watched my latest movie, another two hour and 15 minute sleeper about two paranormal investigators who come out of retirement to solve another psychic mystery at the request of a priest acquaintance. It was as boring snd spooky as the other I had seen in this series featuring Lorraine and Ed Warren. Perhaps it's just me, but I thought they just repeated the dimly recalled plot of the other one. They move into a new house and soon enough they realize, particularly their daughter, that the house is haunted. They are persuaded by a priest friend to investigate strange events in another city, and when there they realize the ghosts have followed them. Typically spooky things happen accompanied by eerie loud noises and dark settings, but I wasn't the least bit frightened. Enough is enough. 56% of critics and 79% of audiences were duped (or frightened) into giving THE CONJURING: LAST RITES a thumbs up.  Thank heaven for movies like Hamilton. 

When my daughter Alison paid the extravagant and outrageous ticket price to see Hamilton shortly after it opened on Broadway in January of 2015, I thought she had made a mistake and that it would be closing shortly. I owe her a sincere apology, particularly after seeing it in my theater last weekend. This movie, very innovatively and creatively filmed, was of the actual live stage production, using multple cameras, camera angles and closeups and was, in my opinion, a choreographic milestone. Try to imagine a movie theater screen filled with an enormous head-only scene of the young actor from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (where I live), as King George, singing the funniest song in the show. HAMILTON was colorful, with wonderful singing and dancing—it is superior entertainment, and I really liked it. I did some research and learned that this film was streamed on television in 2020, and it may have been a wonderful experience, but cannot be compared to its magnificence on a huge theater...

The movie I saw today was unusual, and although it featured electronics (not one of my areas of expertise), it was interesting and filled with excitement and thrills and suspense and mystery. A young lady in New York City is seeking help. It seems she worked for a major chemical company and came across some documents about a new product that conceivably could kill thousands and thousands of people all over the world. She wants to expose the facts to the proper authority but she says she is being harassed and is frightened. She is referred to an organization that specializes in situations like this and she calls them.  The audience sees who she is talking to—a man who explains he is using relay technology and sounds to her like a woman. Relay is a complex form of communication, but if I could understand it, all of you will easily get it. There's a complex series of negotiations conducted by the relay group on her behalf, which keep getting changed, and the corporation they are negot...

As I began to write this review, I realized that most of the films I have seen lately have one thing in common. All of them were about real people—as opposed to aliens and grotesque creatures, and it has been refreshing. In addition, I recognized that every movie is overwhelmed by what I consider foul language. Filmmakers rely on the "f" word to fill the dialogue. But the best thing is I believe I understood what was going on in most of the latest films I've seen. For example, the movie I saw on Labor Day, CAUGHT STEALING, was about a young man who was a terrific baseball player in high school, but never pursued it as a career. He appears to have a good life, has a girlfriend, and works as a bartender in the neighborhood—until his kooky neighbor asks him to take care of his cat while he is away. And then his nice lifestyle changes 180 degrees. He is pursued and beaten up by a couple of lowlifes for no apparent reason, and the rest of the film is him trying to avoid confro...