Movie Theaters & Ghost Town

On friday I went to the movies for only the third time this year.
On my first two outings I saw Wall-E and The Dark Knight, both of which were pretty good but somewhat over-rated in my humble opinion.
I used to go out to the cinema much more often but lately I have found myself waiting for the DVD to come out and watching movies at home.
A few of the reasons for this change are:
- The ridiculous price of the snacks. I honestly don't mind paying $12 or $13 for admission because I realize that making films costs a lot of money. However, the price for a large popcorn and drink at my local googleplex is now (I checked) $12.50, for what is probably 17¢ worth of syrup and corn kernels. It's truly mind boggling to me how they can charge so much and baffling to me that there are still so many people who are willing to pay it. I figure, for the price of admission, popcorn and a drink I can own the movie on DVD later and still have a buck or two left over.
- The manners, or lack thereof, of my fellow movie goers. People talking, letting their phones ring, answering their phones, proceeding to have a conversation on their phones, texting, checking e-mail, talking, kicking the back of my seat, putting their feet up on the empty seat beside me. (Sometimes you can still smell the dog poo they stepped in, not that same day of course but about a week prior and it's still just barely lingering if you know what I mean.) Did I mention talking?
- Then there's the candy noise, or should I say wrapper noise. It always seems to happen just at that moment in the movie when the tension is highest, the major twist is about to be revealed, and you could have heard a pin drop, if it weren't for the guy who chooses that exact moment to rummage frantically for his last M&M while he simultaneously sucks in about three litres of air from between the remaining ice cubes at the bottom of his drink which hasn't actually contained any real liquid for the last half hour. It still amazes me to this day that such thin and seemingly delicate plastic can make such a noise as to fill the entire theater with ear piercing snaps, crackles and pops that would surely put those Rice Krispy elves to shame.
- I'm sure there are more reasons but that is what comes to mind at the moment. In the old days having people, who ranged from mildy inconsiderate to just plain rude, ruin the movie was a fairly rare experience but it seems nowadays it happens literally nearly every single time. So I tend to go less often.

Anyway, back to the real reason for and topic of this post. (And here I thought my last post got away from me.)

The movie I saw this time is called Ghost Town. You may wonder why I chose this one to see on only my third outing of the year. Basically I wanted to see it because I'm a Ricky Gervais fan. You may not have ever seen him or heard of him but if you have ever seen the show "The Office" he is the one who started it all. The American version with Steve Carell is of course a remake of Gervais' original British version. I'm a big fan of both and also liked Gervais' next project called "Extras".
I was hoping to see more of his particular brand of humor and wasn't disappointed. I will admit that some people don't care for him much but that is bound to happen when someone is doing something that noone else really does in the same way at all.

This is a romantic comedy but don't let that put you off. Also, I know movie trailers often contain the best bits of the whole movie but that is definitely not the case for Ghost Town. It is much better than the trailer lets on. I won't spoil anything for you but if you like comedy that's quick witted and razor sharp, thanks to Gervais' unmatched delivery and his impeccable timing along with some genuinely touching moments, you might want to give this a try. It's not the greatest movie of all time by any means but I quite enjoyed it and think you might want to consider it as well.
At the very least, see it once it comes out on DVD.

P.S. I'm not the only one who liked it either. As of now it's at 87% on Rottentomatoes.com which is significantly better than all seven of the movies that outsold it at the box office this weekend.