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Gothamist admits to being part of the mass of unwitting Americans who decided to see The Day After Tomorrow two days before yesterday. And, yes, it might be the stupidest movie since the Roland Emmerich Godzilla. Besides getting distracted by the usual the moviemakers-are-deliberately-making-this-annoying-for-NYers moments ("Why are Dennis Quaid and Dash Mihok, former boyfriend of Alanis Morrisette, suddenly on the frozen-over East River, when they were just near the Statue Liberty - wouldn't it have been faster to get to the Fifth Avenue branch of the Public Library from Broadway?") and feeling bad for the animals (they didn't do anything to screw up the equilibrium of greenhouse gases - humans did!), our top five cliches of the movie (and while some might feel these are spoilers, Gothamist is simply envious of your unsullied moviegoing souls):
- The divorced couple coming together
- A wise homeless man
- Nobody believing the protagonists until it's TOO LATE
- Best buddy's self-sacrifice
- The melting pot that is American blockbuster movie development: Black nerd, female Asian scientist, British actors (so it plays well on the continent)
Rotten Tomatoes on The Day After Tomorrow. And someone on RT's boards has a great list of disaster movie cliches.
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That was supposed to be a movie? With a plot and everything? And the whole time I sat there watching it, I thought it was Discovery Channel CG disaster reel. Still good fun though.
i have never disliked a movie so much without having seen it.
Amen for the "deliberately-making-this-annoying-for-NYers" moments! Is it so hard to look at a map, for Pete's sake?
A great one for this is the old show Mad About You. Good show on most accounts, but... let me get this straight, they live on 5th and 12th, he's at Lincoln Center and decides to walk home... so next he's in Soho, then Union Square? Maybe he got hit on the back of the head and got on the wrong bus... oh, skip it. :>)
this was the best bad movie I've seen in a long time - the plot was painful and rediculous, but if you got past that (oh, and the crappy acting) it really very beautiful. The opening ice shots, the space shots, the library shots... all tasty eye candy.
Another cliche - protaganists being chased by stuff that doesn't chase - ie the "super cold troposphere air" (duh) in Day after, earthquake cracks in 10.5 & superman... um, run ther other way?
I agree with those who enjoyed it (daresay loved it), despite the hackneyed dialogue and predictable plotline. Saw it yesterday on the Lincoln Square Imax with a varied crowd that was just trying to escape from the Memorial Day rain (!) and have some fun.
I found it the most enjoyable summer movie so far...much better than Troy ("Gladiator Lite"), Van Helsing (blenderized horror movie conventions in a story that lacked a consistent tone) and Shrek 2 (bloated, without the frivolity of the original).
Part of me was wondering if Tamlyn and Dennis reminisced about all that had occurred in their lives and careers since "Come See the Paradise".
Haven't seen it. But that said, I'm still annoyed by it so much that I'm actually against seeing it, and I get annoyed when people I love want to see it.
Reasons it annoys me? Let's start with the title. "The Day After Tomorrow." I still remember "The Day After," which was terrifying in a different way. Anything that reminds me of "The Day After"? Not good.
Then there's the radio ad campaign. The week of the release, the radio "said": "The Day After Tomorrow is Friday," when the day after tomorrow was actually Wednesday. Why confuse people who aren't hooked into the entertainment world? Why not say "The Day After Tomorrow starts Friday at a theater near you"?
In this case, my ignorance of the movie is far from bliss, but I'd still see Shrek 2 again before I saw TDAT.
My fave subway snafu: In "The Warriors" the gang is trying to make it back to Coney Island, yet they somehow end up on the IRT going north, get off at 72nd street, and run into Riverside Park at 100th street. Sigh.
We also have a good one in DC, where in "No Way Out" Kevin Costner escapes through the (non-existent) Georgetown metro station.
i can't believe anyone would willingly go see a movie "from the makers of independence day" in the first place. gits. :)
go see saved! instead. it rocks.
Yes, I agree with Heather. Go see Saved instead. Having seen both, I can attest to the fact that during Saved, unlike The Day After Tomorrow, you won't have to sit in a theatre with a bunch of subhumans who are saying things like 'OOOH SHIT NO HE DITTINT' and 'OH YEAH YOU GO GIRL'. It's an interactive movie-going experience with these people. Anyone else have this experience?
Yeah Chris, I did. I saw Dawn of the Dead with no one but the sort of screaming movie goers you refer too. I think the trick is to let the movie be open a few days and then go. Or try going in NJ, I notice the ushers there are far more on top of things.
What? No mention of the noble doctor and the orphaned cancer child named Peter, who carries around a Peter Pan book, because he too is a boy who will never grow up? *wipes tear* So help me, it was the best bad movie I've ever seen.
Wait, you mean people are going to a movie and enjoying themselves? Good lord what's wrong with you people!
I saw the Star Wars rerelease back in 1997 and EVERYONE was screaming at the screen and everyone enjoyed themselves. I saw a Kung Fu film fest and the same thing. Everyone had fun!
In contrast I saw some Shaw Brothers martial arts films in Lincoln Center and everyone was a bunch of stiffs.
Get over yourself and realize that the best well done mindless action flick can inspire poeple to enhgage with the film and let loose. If you can't stand that, then staty in your apartment, listen to your iPod, order Fresh Direct and wait for your NetFlix while enjoying life in a very sterile/non-engaging way.
It's a disaster film people!?!?!? Not a Merchant Ivory film! Yell at the screen!
I'm with the Shaw Brother. Chris and Ari, your comments struck me as elitist, if not quasi-racist.
For me, there are some films that deserve quiet and reflection. And there are others---summer popcorn movies, in general---that are more like amusement park rides...I want a clear view of the screen, I want to be able to hear the dialogue and score, but I also want to share the experience of being scared, of cheering the hero, of laughing out loud, with others who simply love movies.
One of my favorite movie-going memories is of seeing "T2" on a warm summer night in a theatre filled to the balcony with a cross-section of New Yorkers. We were astonished by the then-novel CGI effects, excited by the taut action sequences, and cheered Ahnuld through every battle.
That, and sharing a near empty theatre with an Upper East Side dowager who noticably gasped at every "fuck" uttered in "Glengarry Glen Ross".
Quasi-racist? How so? I think you're the real racist for construing my comments to be directed at a certain group of people. It's YOUR stereotypes that are playing into my statements, I think you are the racist. Plus, I'm black so I can't be racist. Or, 'quasi-racist'.
I think you know what I mean though, certain theatres and or movies attract a crowd that is all about audience participation. Cell phone use in these theatres is also sky high...the Flatbush and 7th theatre, the Court Street/Borough Hall one...you get the idea.
Chris, the race issue is getting more than enough coverage elsewhere in Gothamist, so I'll drop that line of discussion. No need arguing for arguing's sake, and I'll accept your point.
I agree with you that certain theatres attract certain types of crowds. Movie exhibition is a retail business like most others, and distributors place their "product" where their target market happens to "shop". For example, I've noticed that, over time, Loews 84th St has become the home of action adventure movies, slasher films, and teen comedies. And I'm familiar with the Court Street phenomenon you refer to.
Recognizing this, I choose theatres based on what sort of moviegoing experience I want to have that day.
"Plus, I'm black so I can't be racist."
Actually blacks can be racist. Whites can be racist. Reds, yellows, browns. All people can be racist.
The biggest racist is often the person who cannot see that racism is a two way street.
Regarding the Court Street theater, it gets a varied crowd mainly because of it's great matinee policy. $6 to see any film on weekdays before 5:00pm. That's incentive enough to get as many people as possible from varied groups into a theater.
You don't like that? Then walk over to the Brooklyn Heights Cinema, the Cobble Hill Cinema or even the BAM theaters.
The choice is yours you just have to make it.