31 Day July Challenge at the Movies #NaBloPoMo #Heckyeah #Blogher

Join me in tackling the 31 Day July Challenge by trying to keep track of most, if not all of the new movies that I watch this summer, along with some extra tidbits that have less to do with them and more to do with my seasonal activities. Many of these movies are not new as in newly release or "Now Playing" but they are new to me since I haven't watched them before this summer. The list here is my attempt at playing catch-up with the days in July that have passed so far in the challenge.

1. What are your summer highlights so far?
Watching "X-Men: First Class" and "Bad Teacher" at the movie theater and taking a trip to New York to attend VISIONFEST 11 for the premiere of Steve Balderson's "The Casserole Club" at TriBeCa Cinemas.

2. It’s the Saturday before the 4th. Are you going out of town for the weekend?

No, because I just came back from New York and decided to spend some time watching movies that I never saw before, starting with Ben Affleck's "The Town" on DVD.

3. What is your favorite summer time snack?
Passion fruit water-ice.

4. It’s the 4th of July. How are you celebrating our nation’s independence?
By watching "Armored" starring Matt Dillon, Laurence Fisburne and Jean Reno aka Leon (or "The Professional") on DVD with my teenage cousin and trying to blog despite the annoying and highly distracting illegal firecrackers that people were blasting off in and around the city of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department and the Philadelphia Mayor, Michael Nutter should be ashamed of themselves for allowing such a public disturbance to occur without enforcing the laws of the city and/or state.

5. Did your plans change last minute last night? Describe your evening.
No, my plans did not change that night because I didn't have any special plans for July 4th. My plans were about the same as any other day.

6. What is your favorite summer time activity?
Private cookouts with family and friends.

7. How do you dress for the summer time?
My summer time dress code is generally casual, consisting of colorful t-shirts with flowers or stripes, tank tops and jeans, with the occasional summer dress thrown in here and there.

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Wordless Wednesday: VISIONFEST 11 Snapshot Trivia! #NaBloPoMo

Name the actor in this photo who attended VISIONFEST 11 and name his most recent film and I'll write a post on a film related topic of your choice.

Leave your answer in the comments section!

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The Most Absurd “X-Men: First Class” Pre-Show at Regal Plymouth Meeting 10 #NaBloPoMo

My most recent visit to Regal’s movie theater in Plymouth Meeting, PA was a disgrace due to their 47 minute long pre-show. Yes, you read that correctly......47 (friggin) minutes!

On Tuesday, June 21st, a friend and I bought X-Men: First Class tickets at the Regal Plymouth Meeting movie theater in Pennsylvania. These tickets totaled $22 and were for the 10:00pm show. We were seated a little before 10:00pm that evening as the pre-show began, starting with this movie theater’s First Look Program that lasted for approximately 25 minutes.

Next up on the pre-show schedule was commercials that included an advertisement for a mega church. I looked at the time on my cell phone and noticed that it was well after 10:00pm and there was still no sign of a movie until the theater gets darker and title credits start rolling on the big screen. It looks like The Green Lantern is coming on and I get relieved until my friend tells me that the previews are starting now.....which made me realize that I forgot that we came to see X-Men: First Class, not The Green Lantern. Now, you know you’re sitting in a movie theater too darn long when you forget why you came there in the first place.

A second glance at the time showed 10:38pm as movie previews continue at Regal Plymouth Meeting 10. Several movie previews were shown that evening, making the wait for X-Men: First Class even longer. I could've stayed at home or went to a friend’s house and watched two half-hour sitcoms or a one-hour crime drama during the time that I and fellow audience members spent sitting in this movie theater, watching commercials and advertisements for what seems like an eternity when all we are doing is sitting in a room while companies try to sell their wares to us. I did not spend money on this movie ticket to watch commercials for 40+ minutes straight!

X-Men: First Class finally started at about 10:47pm

The movie theater pre-show at Regal Plymouth Meeting 10 was so long, I wrote the majority of this blog post on my iPod while sitting in the theater waiting to be entertained. This experience almost makes me want to reduce my visits to movie theaters and rent more. Another solution to prevent a similar experience in the future may be to only visit movie theaters who screen short pre-show programming and just rent whatever movies I want to watch that they don’t have playing there.

The average movie theater probably shows 15-20 minutes of pre-show content before playing a movie; probably less than 15 minutes if it’s an independent movie theater or small arthouse cinema. Granted, this particular screening was not sold-out but Regal Plymouth Meeting 10 had several people including myself waiting for twice as long as movie theater audiences should have to wait when they show up for a specific showtime.

“Are you not entertained?” - Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) in “Gladiator”

NO, I was not and am most certainly NOT entertained....at least when it comes to movie theater pre-shows at Regal Plymouth Meeting 10.

What was the longest movie theater pre-show that YOU ever experienced?

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