Academy Row Media

Archives August 2023

Serving Your Community

 I received a good part of my cinematic education at the Plaza. The theater itself was by modern standards a bit dingy, but that didn’t matter, the concession stand was simple and for some reason sold granola, the seating was circa 1940’s. The whole place had a well worn patina that exuded legacy. The screen had seen better days. The projectors were old Simplex’s and the doughnut appeared on the upper right side of the screen, the faint ring of a bell was heard and reels were changed, most of the time seamlessly other times not.

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Enduring Love Of Movies

People love the movies. Barbie and Oppenheimer have shown that audiences still have a profound curiosity for what goes on the big screen. There, though in our society, is a pollution of choice. If you take a look at the choices we had or our parents had available we begin to understand a bit why there are inherent challenges … .Now the audience should be the final arbiter of what is good and what is bad, often the audience is being usurped by rampant egoism.  Online reviewers often present convoluted opinions which, if you pay attention to them, are contrary to market development and the growth of cinema.

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Missed Opportunities

Last Saturday, I spent five hours at what is euphemistically called a horror convention. About 20,000 people descended on a convention center in a city in the Midwest. Celebrities came to meet their fanbase and charged them, on average, $40 for an autographed picture and more for a picture taken with the celebrity. They often were lined up a hundred deep for an opportunity to spend this kind of cash. For the celebrity, this was a much-welcomed source of cash in the middle of a historic strike action.

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