Term Paper #2: Movie Review

 I have always enjoyed watching movies but watching them in theatres is a different experience. There is something so surreal about the big screen, surround sound, and being in the atmosphere that is different than watching at home. There is a sort of excitement you feel while seeing the previews and eating all the popcorn and candy before the movie even starts. Streaming services have become very accessible and make it easy to watch movies from anywhere. However, nothing can replace the feeling of going to the movies. 

On Friday, October 9, at 6:30 p.m., I went to the AMC Chenal 9 to see the film Primetime. I did not want to go by myself, so my girlfriend went with me, and we turned it into a date night. When we arrived, there weren't very many people there. It isn’t a very popular theatre in the area, and I had never been there. I wanted to watch a movie that wasn’t a horror movie, however, since it is around Halloween time, that is the majority of movies out right now. I was going into this blind because I had no clue what this movie was about. We purchased our tickets at the ticket booth, and two adult tickets were $25.50. After purchasing our tickets, we made our way over to the concession stand area. I wanted a diet coke and so did my girlfriend, so we got the biggest one to share. We had already eaten dinner, so we decided to only get the drink. The drink was $8.50. After we got concession, we made our way to Theatre 2. When we made it to our seats, we had a pretty good view, but the seats were limited because it was a small theatre. We got there about 15 minutes early so we sat through the previews and ads. 

As I was sitting in our seats, I was looking around and noticed the majority of the people were younger couples. There were about 12 people in the theatre and they were all couples. Since the movie was rated R, I expected it to all be people over the age of 17. 

I chose this movie because I heard it was a good movie from a few other people. My favorite musician, Phoebe Bridgers, is in it. So, I thought it was surely a good movie. I didn’t read up on the movie before going so it was a complete surprise. The only thing I knew before going into this movie was, I knew I didn’t want to watch a horror movie, and this seemed like the only one that wasn’t a horror movie. 

During the movie, I noticed that there were a couple of recurring ads. Like the promotion of their app and how to order food. After the ads, they showed all the previews. The previews were for movies that were similar and were in the same target age group. A preview I remember is for a new movie called ‘Digger’ which seemed very interesting to me. Another preview I remember is for the new Hunger Games movie. This was particularly interesting to me because the hunger games series are my favorite movies. Right before the previews ended, I decided I wanted to go get popcorn. When getting popcorn, they only had a very small size or a huge bucket. The small size wasn’t enough for me and my girlfriend, so I had to get the big one. The popcorn was $12.16 after tax. I made my way back to the theater just in the time for the movie to start. As I was walking in the room went dark for the movie to begin. 

After the movie started, I was confused because I wasn't sure what was going on in the movie. I learned that the plot of the movie was set in 2006 with Chris Hansen’s NBC productions To Catch a Predator. The show is about trying to catch predators. They try to lure suspected predators to sting houses, where Hansen will then confront them on camera before the police arrest them. As the show goes on, the movie follows Dan Plum, who is an aspiring actor hired as a decoy to lure the predators. In the beginning he was disturbed by the work he was doing. As it goes on, he becomes more passionate in his work. While all of this is going on, Chris Hansen gets caught having an affair with his wife. 

As the movie went on, I was more and more disturbed by the movie because it was just a gross movie. No one wanted to think about predatory events. This film was disturbing me and about three fourths through the movie I decided I am too disgusted. Me and my girlfriend both decided the best thing to do was leave. We were walking out of the movie, and it was very awkward because no one likes people who get up in the middle of a movie, but I couldn’t sit through that movie any longer. 

In summary, the movie was very expensive. Going to the theater is always going to be expensive; they make their money off the concessions. In total for the whole experience, it was $46.16. I personally don’t think the outcome of the movie was worth it because it was such a bad movie and it is so expensive. I don't regret going though because it will be a funny memory I can look back on. I have learned a lesson from this experience. Always research movies before you go to watch them, so you don’t waste almost 50 dollars on a bad experience.