Art House

[Division56]

I was wondering how many of you are into art house cinema. I have a movie theatre in my town that plays many of the independant movies that make it over here. I know I should go more often, but my introvert self likes Netflix too much.


Here's mine
Pocono Cinema (http://www.poconocinema.com/)

[Johnny]

I, for one, have not been to many...but I have enjoyed the few movies I saw. Sorry I can't remember the names of any of them.

[Division56]

Do we have anyone from France here? I was told that there are an abundant amount of of Art House cinemas in Paris.


*looks around excitedly*



:nerd:

[Spartan26]

I put sometimes, but the truth is that my venturing to art houses has diminished greatly over the years. Since the mid 90's, most major distributors have started arms or bought into the indie film world. Disney buying Miramax, Warner Bros buying New line, which in turn started Fine Line, Sony Pictures Classics releases foreign (non-US) films and lower budget, character driven pices such as In The Cut with Meg Ryan.

Another thing kinda happened in the late 90's, exhibitors started going belly up. A few like Lemelle's would buy up art houses nationwide and try to increase their numbers. This allows studios the assurance of profitable release because they can promise are wider release.

What this also did was force consolidation or an over expanse of the mega theater complex, depending on your chicken/egg pov. Anyway, now, because of the success of mini-majors (Castlerock, Dimension, USA Films) films before that would've been relagated to art houses are now shown next to the big summer blockbuster. Studios will plan out a couple of quarters in advance of when to release certain films and where. That's why so many indie films, ones with big stars and lower budgets get released towards the end of the year horror and date movies come out between Jan-March, summer has the big actioners.

Often times, a film like Traffic or Blair Witch will only be released in NY & LA at first and then build from there. I guess I mainly bring this up to say that my actual patronage of art houses has gone down but I still see art house faire.

And because of being a writer out here in LA, I get to cite privillege for not going to art houses as I get to see some screenings on studio lots and certain venues. There are also Academy Screening Copies, where production companies and studios will release films that have yet to be released or still in theaters on VHS and DVD for people to watch to vote on for various awards. So, then if you're a member of say the Director's Guild, you get a copy of Harry Potter a couple of weeks before Christmas when the rest of the world sees it. It'll be in letter box, (the black on top and bottom of the screen) and will have For Voter Consideration Only super imposed like subtitles that will pop up from time to time. Not enough to really distract you but enough to kill black market resale. They also try program the DVD's to show a large green stripe in the center of the screen if you try to copy them to VHS.

All of this info also presents a platform to rant against. Because studios saw the success of art house films and bought up indie production companies, they then gained power in deciding what films will be shot & distributed. There is a danger of film that was supposed to be made for the sake of art now being saddled by decisions of people only concerned with profits. Which can mean less originality and creative risk and more movies based off of TV shows.

[Division56]

Yes, the classic tale of greedy people with no talent trying to own it all and destroying everything in the process.

[The Architect]

Hollywood sucks.

I go to art house movies at the local independent theatre whenever I can, but not as often as I'd like. The plus is that I'm a chain renter at the local independent rental store, so I'll usually end up seeing whatever I missed in the theatre eventually at home.

[adamjaskie]

There was a theatre here for a while (gone now) that played a lot of independant stuff called "Madstone". I went there a couple times. Also, there is the Michigan Theatre, which plays independant stuff all the time, and every year hosts a film festival.

Oh, also, once the main theatre in town showed a movie called "Escanaba in da Moonlight", which I don't know if it was ever released outside of Michigan and perhaps Wisconsin. Jeff Daniels movie about a weekend at deer camp in the upper peninsula. Quite funny, although my friend from Iowa didn't get most of the jokes.