Nothing happened for a few minutes, then the projector stopped just as the trailers finished.  Everyone started talking loudly.  Finally a manager came ito the theatre and started talking, but we couldn’t hear him over the din.  I’m not sure why they didn’t use the P.A. for an announcement.  He was gesturing toward the exit, so everyone filed out.  It was a large theatre, so there was immediately a huge line for the customer service desk.  I told my friends that they could leave their ticket stubs with me and I’d collect the refunds, so that they could take their children home.

The fire department arrived.  They had a hard time getting waiting cars to move out of their way in front of the theatre.  Some people are amazingly stupid.

When I finally got to the head of the line, I found that they were giving refunds along with passes good for future admission.  However, our tickets were purchased on Fandango, and they said that they couldn’t refund those.  I would have gotten upset, but they quickly offered to give me two passes for each ticket stub.

Afterward we saw Tarsem‘s The Fall, which had absolutely stunning cinematography as well as an engaging plot. Set in a hospital in Los Angeles in the early 20th century, it is the story of Alexandria, a young girl with a broken arm from falling while picking oranges, who befriends another patient, Ray, an actor injured in fall in a movie stunt. Alexandria is enthralled by the epic tale of love and revenge Ray spins, but perhaps everything isn’t quite what it seems.

This was actually the second time I’ve seen The Fall; I wanted to see it again both because of the visual beauty, and to catch a few minor plot details I missed the first time.  I’d love to get this film on Blu-Ray.

Herff Jones apparently must make them from some ridiculously cheap fabric, since they say not to wash or dry clean them.  I presume they must use better fabrics for the rental ones so that they can at least be dry cleaned, but Mission College wasn’t offering rental.

Maybe after graduation I should take the gown to the dry cleaners, just to see what it does to it.

And that’s got me thinking that I’d like to watch the film The Man Who Wasn’t There again.

From the trailer for The Golden Compass,  I was someone concerned with the liberties the screenplay had taken.  I was pleasantly surprised that the movie actually followed the book pretty well, and the plot changes that were most noticeable actually did seem like improvements.  The film downplayed (but did not eliminate) the idea that the Magisterium is a religious organization, and made an agent of the Magisterium directly responsible for an attempted poisoning early in the film.  The ending of the novel was omitted from the film, however, presumably in order to end on a more positive note.

The biggest problem with the film is that it is too short; there is a great deal of action in the novel and it has been packed into less than two hours, resulting in a frenetic pace.  I think it would have been much better if the running length was two and a half or even three hours.

It will be very interesting to see the film treatments of the middle and final novels if they are made.  It would be impossible to make a faithful treatment of the third novel while eliminating the religious nature of the Magisterium.

On the whole, I thought it was a good film, but recommend reading the novel before watching it.  I’ll want to see the extras on the DVD or Blu-Ray when it is released in May.

As we were leaving the theater, we encountered some other people my friends knew, waiting in line for the next showing, and they asked us how it was.  Without skipping a beat, I said “It was really good, but kind of sad at the end when Frodo died.” The looks of horror on their faces were priceless; I wish I had photos.  It took them a a few seconds to realize that I was yanking their chains, and then we all started laughing uproariously.  As Bugs Bunny would say, “Ain’t I a stinker?”

In hindsight, I’m amazed that I came up with that.  It was entirely spontaneous, and in fact I don’t think I could possibly have pulled it off had I planned it. Ever since, that’s been a running joke whenever we talk about movies.  “How was the Simpsons movie?”  “Really good, but kind of sad at the end when Frodo died.”

When it first hit the theaters, I didn’t even want to see it.  Fortunately for me, my friends forced me to go.  It’s in my top ten list.