I watched this movie on Spectrum Cable and was forced to turn the volume of my tv up to 100% just to hear it. Terrible sound quality. I wouldn't know if the same can be said for anyone else. This was my experience and I've never had the issues before.
This was a low budget movie with a large cast. It used a lot of references and flashbacks to famous movies and comic books in the plot. Some of it worked well on screen, but I think the flashback scenes should have stuck with old movie references. Adding comic book references took away from the story and was unneed complexity. The film is about concessionaires trying to save an old movie theater. It should have focused only on movies. The addition of comic books was probably because of Stan Lee's involvement as Producer and actor. The scenes remade from other movies were a hit and miss. I didn't get some of them because it bounced around from different eras. A black & white Charlie Chaplin to some 1970's rifs, and most of the 1980's. I wish they would have stayed in the 80's.
There was one very uncomfortable scene with Ashley unconscious from a drug overdose, and it didn't fit with the flow of the movie. It should have been left out. Which reminds me of another scene were Jon died. You expect him to die because of a previous voiceover, but it happens within a split second. Jon was slumped over in the movie theater and Scott yells, "Call 911". It was as fast as a jumpscare. The character was killed off to make an Obiwan Kenobi reference. The whole setup could have been shown with more thought. It's like the director didn't want to do the scene.
I don't remember how many people did the voiceovers. I think it was three. All I know is that it wasn't needed for the plot to unfold. Consider the original Bladerunner when Harrison Ford did the voiceover, and how much better the movie was when it was rereleased without it.
I liked bits of conversations between the characters. Some were talks I've had with my own friend, but the script focused on characters I didn't care about. I wanted to see more between RJ and Heather. I really liked the character Kira and I definitely liked the old wise man Jon. They were all very sweet and endearing, but the movie doesn't give them enough screen time. The character of Jon was more down to earth than Scott and he should have been the lead. Scott was too smarmy and sarcastic for a hero role. He came across like he was mocking the friends around him. Everything was a joke to him. He had a smirk on his face when he slapped his friend RJ out of a shyness attack. I also didn't like Ashley. The character was a former child star turned addict and she was bitter & cold. She treated her friends with indifference. I couldn't understand why Scott was in love with her other than superficial desires.
Writing wise this tried to be another Clerks. If this movie were more self-aware it might have succeeded as a comedy. It stumbled on too much detail rather than keeping itself simple. The movie had end credit bloopers which I usually enjoy, but not with a cast and crew of unknown actors. It might be funny for the actors to watch themselves. But for an audience member, I thought it was pretentious. This might be a good movie for a film school review. It has enough obvious errors as an educational how to.
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