At the Movies

This summer I've tried to see one movie a week, it hasn't always happened but I've tried. What I've discovered is that I like a movie best when I go alone and the theater isn't super packed, which is when being unemployed has its advantages, I can go during the day and not have to worry about the crowds.

Yet, today I went to see Tarantino's latest flick Inglorious Basterds, at 2:45 in the afternoon and the theater was basically at capacity. Perhaps it was the sweltering heat and humidity or simply Brad Pitt starring in the film that had all of these people in their seats.

Which brings me to the point of all of this. What actors can open a movie? Last week, at a picnic, it was posited that Basterds was not going to be a hit because Pitt can't open a film. I disagreed, mainly on the point that I thought that people would want to see this film, not because of Pitt's box-office prowess. I'll be totally clear and say that I think Pitt is a good actor and usually like his performances (though The Mexican was the pits (ha ha), but I chalk that up to poor chemistry with Julia Roberts, not all pretty people click on screen, but I digress).

Brad Pitt, aside I the main attraction of this film is the director Tarantino. The movie is billed as a Quentin Tarantino film and that has a certain cache. Tarantino is a character in his own right and can draw a crowd based on that alone. As EW said, this film is "vintage Tarantino" and they're predicting that it will be #1 at the box office this weekend. Whether that comes to pass is of no consequence to me, I'm more interested in the fact that the draw of a film is not always the actor, but rather the director and sometimes a producer, District 9, last week's #1 was presented for a while as produced by Peter Jackson.

Just food for thought. The New York Times is saying that A-list stars aren't doing so well at the box office these days.