AMC Killed the Moviewatcher Program

I loved the Moviewatcher Program at AMC.  And this is why I was really kind of pissed last night when I went to see Limitless and my Moviewatcher card didn't work and they were instead asking for something called the Movie Stub card.  I went up to customer service and the nice girl told me that for a dollar a month Movie Stub was actually a better deal.  I was too pissed to process this.  I told her that the main reason I came to AMC was the Moviewatcher Program, like my protests would suddenly bring it back to life.  Like some pre-programed corporate automaton she just kept repeating that Movie Stub was replacing Moviewatcher and it was better because at some point I got 10 bucks.  I can't remember when that would have been and I didn't care.

As you can see from the above picture, I've had my card since the beginning of time.  Actually, it was more like 2001.  The Moviewatcher Program was great because for every movie you went to you received 2 points. Then for every ten points you would receive a small popcorn or a soda or a movie and then at 100 points you would get a free night at the movies with a popcorn, soda and free movie ticket.

If you were a Moviewatcher member you got a free small popcorn on Wednesdays, which you could then upgrade to a medium or large.  And if you couldn't make it on Wednesday, they would send out emails where you could print up a coupon for a free small, upgradeable popcorn.  I loved it.  It was even better when I donated blood because I would get two free AMC Movie Passes that I would use on Wednesday and get my free popcorn and buy a soda and spend like 4.25 for the whole night out.

I know.  You think I'm cheaper than those bastard Republicans.

Over the course of the almost ten years I was a member I received 442 points, or 221 movies.  I go to a lot of movies and not all of them at AMC but I still was seeing at least 20 movies a year at AMC, mostly because of the Moviewatcher Program.  The first Moviewatcher Movie I saw was Bandits with Billy Bob Thorton and Bruce Willis.  I saw it on October 14th, 2001 and can only remember a joke about juice boxes.  I don't remember the joke, but I remember there was a joke and because I remember it the joke must have been funny.  The rest of the film, not so much.

It turns out the last Moviewatcher film I saw was Battle: Los Angeles, which I reviewed here.

I was going to add more movies from my Moviewatcher history but as I type this the site suddenly went down.  I am sad.  Fuck you AMC.

Les

P.S. I've been outlining a novel so I haven't been keeping up with my posts.  I will have a review of Limitless either today or tomorrow.  Thanks for your patients, all 3 of you. ;)

Movie Review: Battle: Los Angeles

Battle: Los Angeles

2011

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Will Rothhaar, Bridget Moinahan, Ne-Yo and Jim Parrack

Written by: Christopher Bertolini

Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman

Although I'm a bigger fan of the Halo video game series, I've played Call of Duty and enjoy it. When you're in a firefight while traversing the roofs of a shanty town in Rio de Janeiro the game shines. You can't go in guns blazing. Instead, you need to crouch behind walls and systematically take out your enemy before you can move forward. It's urban combat at its finest and the first thing I thought of while watching Battle: Los Angeles.

The film opens at Camp Pendleton, just North of San Diego. It also opens with a checklist of clichés. We have the guy who is about to get married, the virgin who can't handle his liquor, the staff sergeant whose last battalion was lost in battle, which leaves a cloud over his head. There is the new lieutenant, fresh out of officer's school, who has been placed in charge of the marines. And since the staff sergeant is the lead character, he also needs to be retiring. In fact, his retirement papers are signed right as the supposed meteors are hitting the Earth. We soon see that the staff sergeant was forced to join a group of marines who supposedly are going to Santa Monica to help with the evacuation. It's then that they find out that these aren't meteors but actual ships crashing into the oceans and it seems that the Earth is being colonized. When this happens, the professor CNN brings in tells us that they are probably there for the resources and will kill the indigenous species, which would be humans.

The plot of the film is a lot like the missions in Call of Duty. You get a location and an objective, like getting to a police station in Santa Monica to evacuate the civilians hiding there. They have a ticking clock: 3 hours before the Air Force starts bombing the shit out of all of Santa Monica. The first half of the movie is about getting the civilians out of harms way and learning what they're up against, alien-wise. The action is frantic and the editing even more so. I don't know what happened that we need to cut so much? During the action I know it's supposed to build the urgency of the scenes, but it feels too fast. I think you could have accomplished the same thing without so many edits. Also, there are times when I want to get a good look at the surroundings, especially on the bombed out streets of Santa Monica, but we cut away and I can barely take it in. That's one of the great things about bombing the shit out of someplace you know. Don't take away my enjoyment.

The performances are what you'd expect from an action movie like this. There isn't a lot for the actors to work with but they handle it fine and Eckhart and Michelle Rodriguez do their best to inject quality. But it's not that kind of a movie. Actors are basically robots to the set pieces and they functioned like a well serviced Roomba 572. Liebesman's directing owes a great deal to Saving Private Ryan, Blackhawk Down and District 9, as well as the Call of Duty games. Some of the battle scenes look like they're directly from Saving Private Ryan and while I was never bored I never had a “wow, that's cool” moment from seeing something original.

One of the film's saving graces is that it's not in Real 3D, or what I refer to as the Sarah Palin of cinema. 3D is obnoxious and it seemed like this film was suited perfectly for it, so I thank the producers for not taking us down that road.

On the whole, Battle: Los Angeles is not original. It's an onion of clichés that feels like every other film I've seen in this genre. And while I sometimes wished I had a game controller in my hand while viewing it, I was never really bored.  That said, I can't fully recommend the film. 

I give Battle: Los Angeles a C+

Les

Here is the trailer: