Watch List Weekly Recap 9/9/22
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Watch List Weekly Recap 9/9/22
A classic movie to DVR and new movies on the horizon at TIFF
An odd week, one spent mostly getting ready for the Toronto International Film Festival, which began yesterday — in person for the first time in two years — and where I am now ensconced, four movies already under my belt and the fifth coming up in a bit. I’ll file my reactions in two or three festival reports over the next five days, but for now I’ll just say that the opening night film, “The Swimmers,” a true story about two Syrian refugee sisters heading for the Olympics, will probably wreck you when it comes to Netflix on November 23.
There’s still time to set your DVR (or TiVo, or just your alarm clock) for “The Crowd” (1928) on Turner Classics at 6 a.m. Monday the 12th. It’s not available on DVD or VOD, so this is your chance to see one of the greatest of all silent movies and a still relevant text on anonymity and fame.
Thursday I posted my baker’s dozen of Toronto must-sees, of interest to you only because they’ll be coming to theaters or streaming platforms in the weeks ahead and will likely be the topic of end-of-year awards buzz. I’ve already crossed two off the list, one (“Broker”) just about as good as I’d hoped, and one (“Corsage,” above) a curious disappointment. Stay tuned for further details.
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Watch List Weekly Recap 9/9/22
The Crowd is on at 6am EDT - for those on the west coast 3am - I screened the first reel at the library of congress many years ago and it looked great - library of congress only stores the copyrighted work so there was no musical accompaniment- which is essential for any silent film - TCM will have one - so looking forward to it
As you are my go-to movie guy, I'm hoping I can change the topic for a moment.
I am SO bummed out by this! My local theater, The Landmark Embassy in Waltham, closed for good. I started going again last year when it reopened, though nowhere nearly as often as I used to.
I liked that theater an awful lot. There were the great virtues in it being not far from where I live, and easy cheap or free parking. They had a very good booking policy. Foreign and independent films and some of the blockbusters.
The screens and sound were good, and REALLY important to me: the seats WERN'T those damn massive reclining seats that most theaters have now, which I HATE and have mostly stopped going to anywhere that has them (and: I am a movie fanatic). The reclining seats are really uncomfortable for me, hurting my legs and back.
They were shut down for covid a long time, but I started going there agin last summer. Nowhere as often as I used to, but sometimes.
And I worried about it because: no matter when I went, and what the movie was, it was NEVER crowded. I mean, I tend to go at the moments when I think there won't be many people, but often, there are...but it was always nearly empty. I wend to some movies and there were only 2 or 3 people in the theater. Once, I think I was the only one. I wondered how they could stay open. And indeed, they were only open, towards the end, five days a week, two shows only a day (for each of the five films). And now: it's no more. I am seriously sad about this. The few other theaters I've been to don't seem to be doing very well either.
So I am really wondering: are movie theaters doomed? https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/video/waltham-movie-theater-closes-after-nearly-100-years-in-business/#x