Last week I saw the latest Nicholas Cage movie Joe. Although I really liked the movie I decided not to review because it is one of those movies where I would have a hard time writing something about it. I could describe a lot about the story, its characters, the way it looks, but somehow I have the feeling I would struggle producing something worth reading. It also made me think about movies that I have a hard time rating. One of the most difficult ones for me was The Tree of Life which I didn’t like, but didn’t want to rate low because it had some awesome looking scenes. So this week I ask you:

Are there movies which you have a hard time rating/reviewing?

Hope you all had a good weekend. As it is almost July we already have half of the year behind us. So this week’s question:

Do you think up till now that 2014 has been a good movie year?

Each and every week a lot of movies are released in cinemas. As someone who blogs about movies I would like to watch them all (as far as I’m interested in them), but there are tons of things preventing me to do so. I’m happy if I am able to go two or three times a month, but there are times that does not happen. As a movie blogger you would like to see them as soon as possible so you can join the conversation about it on other blogs. I guess it’s a bit like peer pressure. Now personally I am not someone who needs to have reviews of movies up as soon as possible (so for example if a movie comes out in Europe before the US I do not feel the need to have the review up the same night in order to get more readers). It made me wonder how you feel about it:

Do you feel pressure to watch movies as soon as they are released in order to blog about them?

Yesterday I headed to the cinema to check out 22 Jump Street. I thoroughly enjoyed the first one (which I saw at home), so catching this at the cinema would be fun as I was looking forward to the feeling of a whole audience laughing about the jokes. It turned out slightly different as it seemed a huge part of the audience missed a whole lot of jokes being made (many involving them talking about it being a sequel). It resulted in quite a few moments where I felt I was one of the few people actually laughing about it. Normally I don’t head to the cinema for comedies, its usually the big budget films that deserve to be seen on the biggest screen you can and it made me wonder if I should in the future. Ever so slightly the fact not everyone was laughing when I expected they would decreased my enjoyment a bit. So today’s question:

Do you prefer to watch comedies at the cineam or would you rather see them in the comfort of your own home?

This week will be filled with art related reviews: The Monuments Men, The Best Offer and The Art of the Steal. There is quite a choice when it comes to movies involving art. Whether it is documentaries like Exit through the Gift Shop or F for Fake or heist movies where precious paintings are stolen.

So I would like to ask you:
What are your favorite films involving art?

Another Monday and I hope you all had a great weekend. I really had a great time as I met up with Ruth from Flixchatter, who is enjoying a holiday over here in Europe. So there now is one blogger who now knows my real identity, so I guess I will now have to call her Alfred from now on! We went to what probably was one of the strangest Indonesian restaurants as they were celebrating their 40 year anniversary by having someone sing French songs. Besides that the waiters were sponsored by Pepe Jeans and were wearing T-Shirts by the brand. Still the food was good and we had a great time. Ruth is visiting several places, one of them being Bruges, inspired by the movie. It made me wonder:

Are there any place you would like to visit or have visited that was inspired by a movie?

I recently saw the movie Enemy starring Jake Gyllenhaal (review will be up tomorrow) and it is one of those movies that you will not be able to forget any time soon. In this case it is because you want answers to specific questions which the movie might give. It is one of those movies that requires a rewatch and where you hope that will prove your ideas about it were right.

Which movie stayed with you for a while after seeing it?

Every week I ask you all different types of questions and I always love reading your answers, but from time to time I also enjoy answering some time myself, so for this week question I give you the opportunity to ask me about something (whether about movies or blog related) and I will see which question I can answer.

Which question do you want to ask me?

This past week I read an article on The Verge (which was based on this article in Variety) about Jeffrey Katzenberg’s vision of the future of movies. There were parts I liked about that vision, but others which I personally am not cheering for. One of the good things is that the time between release in cinema and that on demand and DVD/Blu Ray will be much shorter: 3 weeks. Great thing about that is that you do not have to wait long before you can watch that new blockbuster at home. It still is not my preferred period (simultaneous would be awesome), but the reasoning is that during the first three weeks of a theatrical run most money is made.

Now for the negative. He expects that we will not pay the same price for the movie on demand based on screen size. Now if you currently check on iTunes there is a difference in price between an SD and a HD version, but that is about it. His prediction is the following pricing: “A movie screen will be $15. A 75-inch TV will be $4. A smartphone will be $1.99”. You could argue those prices are not that bad (4 dollars for a three week old movie is not very expensive), but at a time when people are watching movies on their tablets, sending those movies to their screens with Airplay or Chromecast all for the same price this pricing model seems very strange. Also considering fixed fee offerings by Netflix and similar services I feel this is still not the future of films.

What are your thoughts on these predictions?

Last week my question about the new trend of showing the first few minutes as a preview before another movie has had a lot of comments. The majority of you did not see this as a positive development. Some of you also let me know that you were not a fan of trailers at all. Jaina from Time Well Spent even decided that she would stop watching trailers based on the discussion. Trailers are of course a necessary evil. The movie companies know that in the cinema you will not walk away when the commercials start and this is a place you have the attention of the viewer. It is the perfect place to sell the next movie you are putting out and you want to get people excited (which unfortunately is done by showing the best jokes and the best looking shots, even when those are from the climax of the movie). Still it is a shame people do not have an option to not watch them. This made me think as there are a lot of people who do enjoy them, but for those who don’t want to be spoiled it is hell to sit through them (which for me is usually staring at the floor with headphones on). What would be a way to improve this? I had the thought of placing the trailers after the movie. This way fans of trailers could remain seated to watch them, those who hate them would just leave. Of course the movie studios would never do this, but hey, a man can dream right?

Do you think playing the trailers of upcoming movies after the feature film instead of before them would be a good idea?